Well said, Angrycat. To slightly change the subject, what would be your ideal as far as voter qualifications? I understand that restrictions on voting are very dangerous, but on the other hand letting every lazy, no account freeloader's vote count the same as a hard working, tax paying, responsible person is sort of like two wolves and a chicken voting on what to have for dinner. Stosh
I urge you to read Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Chernow. It is an excellent biography and will illustrate through history the barriers to entry posed in an under-regulated environment. Rockefeller did a lot of things in the name of the greater good. Some were, and some weren't. Anyone looking for a good book to read will find one in Titan. As for laissez-faire economics, where to begin? Please read anything by John Kenneth Galbraith, as his writings are far better than anything I could offer on the subject.
I have not read any of Rand's works, but have had the chance to interact with a number of proponents of Rand's work and almost without exception they were unreconstructed narcissistic assholes. Like all subscribers to preset points of view they spent all their time cherry picking and distorting the facts to fit their world views, anybody who disagreed with their somewhat naive world views was dismissed as 'irrational'. Whilst you certainly cannot judge a band by it's fans, this has certainly not encouraged me to delve deeper into the subject.
This is true, objectivists tend to be extremists who just repeat rand's words and cant think for themselves. rand was right on some things and wrong in others just like any other person
What percentage of the total number of "Objectivists" in the world have you met that you can make such a claim?
I've read and saw a number of interviews from the Ayn Rand Institute people(peikoff, brook and others). nathaniel branden himself has made that complaint, topics in message boards that talk about rand usually invoke objectivists guardians that call anybody who disagrees with her a collectivist communist. I'm sure that there are exceptions(like david kelly) though
Ayn Rand is for little kids. I'm 23 and have already grown out of that shit. Ayn Rand is to philosophy what Scientology is to religion. As far as applications to economics, game theory pretty much refutes the so-called "virtue of selfishness." Non-cooperation often leads to a lower equilibrium pay off for all players. Basically, you cannot try to apply one overly simplistic ideology to create an ideal economic system. Some times collectivism is ideal, sometimes it is not...you have to look at it on a case by case basis.