moralist

Are you able to describe what it is that causes your thoughts to come from your brain?

That's a strange belief to hold... when every businessman knows full well that it is impossible to hide from the government. Galt's Gulch as I interpret the metaphor, is a place of safety on the outer edge of civilisation, in contrast to being encapsulated by heavily populated urban centers with all of their social and economic issues. On the outer edge there is far more freedom of action. That you feel this is wrong is not my concern, as each of us gets what we deserve as the consequences of our own actions. I'm satisfied with the consequences I've set into motion and fully accept them as my own personal responsibility.

(from the article) This is true... and even an atheist can recognize the non material spiritual world of their own thoughts. Your well thought out writing demonstrates that it is more productive to build bridges than to burn them.

Each person who reads her words freely chooses to take from them what is useful to them. I found what she wrote to be a precious map of valuable principles that leads vast hidden treasures... and the adventure of a lifetime awaits anyone who chooses to follow it. You are free to hold that opinion... just as I am free to choose how my actions express a metaphor in the real world. I agree that it's not for you... but it is for me. That's absolutely true, Nicky... and each person is totally free in how they choose to act on those abstract philosophical principles to make them real in their own lives. I don't watch television.

That's very well put. Whenever I see completely independent parallels they are evidence of the trustworthiness of a basic principle. Just one small example. Ayn Rand said: "Existence exists." God said to moses: "I am that I am.

I'm as much against liberalized religion as she was.

That's in interesting observation, because I've been searching through the threads here for practical things which people have actually done to implement Ayn Rand's ideas in their own lives.

I know... that comment about government solvency was facetious. The completely liberal Democrat controlled state government of California has 200 billion dollars in unfunded public union employee pension liabilities, and there is no way this 10,000 ton chicken isn't going to one day come home to roost. So, in your opinion. do you think that the California state government is solvent or insolvent? Or an even more specific question: Would you still buy California Municipal Bonds knowing that, for years, productive Capitalist businessmen have been fleeing the state government's bureaucratic taxation regulation and litigation? To borrow a term of Ayn Rand... ...the strike is on. I view economics as being like the story of Noah: Build an ark before the flood comes.

Yes. Real world consequences are the final judge who evaluates the validity of the ideas upon which I act... and it is never wrong.

Due to macro level human nature never changing, legitimate lending always leads to a debt driven economy. No nation on earth has yet to escape that inexorable causality. This is why my own personal approach is to avoid becoming collatoral damage from the economic sectors which have become corrupted by Creditism when they inevitably collapse... and instead to focus my activities in those sectors which are still largely Capitalistic. By that standard, the US government is solvent. You're right. I do hold a far more narrow personal definition of solvency than is generally accepted. And because I do, I have no problem with anyone else who freely chooses to assume the financial risks of involvement in the debt markets. In a similar manner I have absolutely no sympathy for what happens to them when green double zero comes up on the roulette wheel as it did in 2008, because I'm already a safe distance from the casino with no bets on the table. And only speaking for myself alone, I truly enjoy doing business on that principle as it has allowed me to consistently prosper regardless of political or economic cycles. I refuse to link the quality of my own life to the economic policies of whoever happens to be in public office.

Your point is well taken. There was still edit time, so I remove the remark.

I totally agree with you here, Kate. It is impossible to reconcile the liberal political interpretation of Christ as a weak feminised limpwristed indolent left wing Marxist hippie with the decent courageous upright responsible productive Capitalist ideals of Ayn Rand.

It's a huge difference between small micro groups of people agreeing to pool resources in much the same way as a family does... and huge macro governmental bureaucratic coerced transfer of wealth programs. (edit: removed unappropriate remark)

Ayn Rand was far less antagonistic to religion properly practiced than most of her followers are. And I have no problems with my own Christianity and Ayn Rand's ideals. She positively nailed it when she referenced the melding of leftist politics with religion. Today the secular political religion of liberalism has almost totally consumed religious organizations in America.

You're right, Nicky... Ayn Rand didn't say anything directly to me because I never met her. (The closest I ever was to her was living about 10 miles from her home.) But she did describe how Galt and the others built a place of safety from the inevitable economic and social collapse. So I took her words to heart and followed the example in her book by doing the same to protect me and my loved ones. With so many of Ayn Rand's predictions coming true all around us, isn't it just simple common sense to actually do something about it? When I read, it is not just for intellectual ideas as they're totally useless if you don't actually do anything about them. So I read for practical things which I can actually do to make those ideas come alive in my own life, because I'm much more of a doer than a thinker. (shrug...) Whenever you manifest a highly stylized literary ideal into the real world, there are always concessions to be made, and that's an insignificant one. And I read Atlas Shrugged with different eyes than you. To me it is a practical business operations manual and a useful survival guide.

Yes. If you want to argue you are free to critique anything I say. When no agreement is possible, it's better for each to simply state their own view and how it differs from the other.

It's for the best that you let it go.

If it sounded that way to you, then I obviously wasn't clear enough so I'll try to do better. My point is that the same moral action can arise from many different ideas. This is why I am more interested in what people actually do, than in why they do it. The "why" is their own personal business, not mine. However, the "what" directly affects the world.

Ayn Rand was the inspiration to create my own business and to build my own Galt's Gulch. So you see, for me this was not merely intellectualism. I acted on what I read.

I might provide some useful context to consider that abortion is the attempt to eliminate a consequence of an action. And just as hitting the ground always follows jumping off a cliff, that attempt to eliminate a consequence sets into motion consequences of its own.

Understanding the relevance of that comment is dependent upon the willingness to reflect upon your own actions and to observe the consequences they spin into motion.

To the extent that those ideas become manifest by your actions... yes. But the ideas themselves and how you come to accept them... no. I couldn't care less why a person does good... because it is only our actions which make the world what it is, not our ideas.

When I say I know... it is by the direct first person person experience of direct observation of how the consequences that unfold from my own actions are completely consistent with a moral law which is greater than me. You can easily prove for yourself that you are completely subject to moral law. Just do something which you know is wrong and observe the consequences that your own actions set into motion. Moral law is as impersonally universal as the law of gravity from which no one is exempt. And like the law of gravity, moral law does not require your belief in it for you to be subject to it. So give it a try... and discover for yourself how utterly helpless you are at escaping causality.

Yes. But roads are not personally provided for my use. They are there impersonally for anyone to use. No problem. I pay plenty of other taxes that do. No. I don't care. I protect my own rights, so it's up to you be an adult enough to take care of yourself. I don't live my life for your sake. Isn't that paying the victim routine just a little over dramatic? And here I thought only liberals did that. What else can you do except to complain, when you have absolutely no power to implement public policy? I'm in the same boat, as I don't have any power over public policy either. But I do have the power over what I can do about it. Simply by being a productive Capitalist, I'm able to turn an injustice into a business asset. Now that I've already fully described how I resolved this... what are you actually doing about being the victim of this perceived injustice? How have you made your Objectivist ideals a reality in your own life?

I don't wield any political power. For if I did, the government would be small efficient and solvent. It obviously isn't, so there ends your fantasy. The only real power anyone has is to do what's right.