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To chime in on the pessimism, taking a cue from The Only Path To Tomorrow, man is continually faced with the choice to go forward or to go back. Aside from an individual living on a desert island, where men live in a geographical area, some social system will exist. If you lived in Iran, it would be under a theocracy. Imagine trying to live as an individualist, or be an advocate of individualism there. If you lived in Russia, it would be under communist rule. Do you think you could be an outspoken advocate of Capitalism, or be left alone to quietly pursue your own goals and values? Civilization, as Miss Rand wrote, is the process of setting man free from man. The idea that Objectivism can be a Phoenix waiting to rise from the ashes rests on a false notion that a collapse of civilization would result in being able to start with "a clean sheet". Both the Magna Carta and The Declaration of Independence were met with violence after their inceptions. Here, in the United States of America, to use the boiling frog metaphor, Capitalism is perishing for lack of a moral base and full philosophical defense. Thanks to Ayn Rand, a moral base, founded on the fact that existence exists and the choice to live, laid the way for the identification a "right" being a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man's freedom of action in a social context. While I agree that an understanding of this cannot be bought with money, books and ARI activities can. The alternative that remains is to be a Active Man in pursuit of an individualist's independence, or a Passive Man with the unacknowledged hope that Active Men will continue to pick up the slack.

I don't doubt it means exactly that to the moochers... and even more to the phony compassion government looters who derive their economic security from servicing them.

The answer becomes obvious when considering the devolution of the United States into just another dime a dozen cradle to grave big government benefits dispensing European welfare state. The moochers and looters are understandably ecstatic... while the producers are naturally less than thrilled.