I’m hoping someone can help me locate a quote. I read all of Rand’s non-fiction and fiction books many years ago and I recall reading something she wrote that I have been trying to remember or figure out where it comes from. The quote goes something like this:
“Between morality and politics, morality always wins.”
The idea being that people will vote based on their morals even if it is contrary to the politcal policy they desire. For example, a pro-life person will always vote for the candidate that supports por-life laws even if their other policies would hurt them economically such as promoting higher taxes. Because morality trumps everything else.
The closest statement that comes to mind is in The Anatomy of Compromise, where she says that in a contest between opponents who share a basic premise, the more consistent one will win, and that is not very close.
The opposition you describe, between one’s advantage and one’s convictions, strikes me as un-Randian.
At OP you are misremembering, as that was not a statement Miss Rand ever made. Politics is the result of moral premises as all knowledge is formed and integrated in hiarchy starting from the correct metaphysics to the correct epistemology to the correct ethics which produces the correct politics. And as is the case currently in the world the starting from incorrect metaphysics leads to incorrect ethics which leads to incorrect politics.