As I've seen in some of the other John Galt threads, a lot of people have misunderstood Ayn Rand's views on charity. It isn't too hard to do, considering how long John Galt's big speech is (I figured it at over 30,000 words) and how hard it is to find any particular bit in it. But for the curious, here's the essential paragraph:

p.970, John Galt's speech, on charity and giving to those in need

As a basic step of self-esteem, learn to treat as the mark of a cannibal any man's demand for your help. To demand is to claim that your life is his property - and loathsome as such a claim might be, there's something still more loathsome: your agreement. Do you ask if it's ever proper to help another man? No - if he claims it as his right or as a moral duty you owe him. Yes - if such is your own desire based on your own selfish pleasure in the value of his person and his struggle. Suffering as such is not a value; only man's fight against suffering, is. If you choose to help a man who suffers, do it only on the ground of his virtues, of his fight to recover, of his rational record, or of the fact that he suffers unjustly; then your action is still a trade, and his virtue is the payment for your help. But to help a man who has no virtues, to help him on the ground of his suffering as such, to accept his faults, his need as a claim - is to accept the morgage of a zero on your values. A man who has no virtues is a hater of existence who acts on the premise of death; to help him is to sanction his evil and to support his career of destruction. Be it only a penny you will not miss or a kindly smile he has not earned, a tribute to a zero is treason to life and to all those who struggle to maintain it. It is of such pennies and smiles that the desolation of your world was made.

Who is this guy, and why is he so verbose? [:d]

[img]http://messenger.msn.com/Resource/emoticons/77_77.gif[/img]

Now if we could only get someone like John Galt to run welfare.

The Iron Maiden strikes again.