Thank you for posting this. I haven't read Atlas Shrugged, but I agree with your assertions on Objectivism 110%. As you said, there will always be people who physically or mentally do not have the capacity to provide for themselves. What should we do with them? The Objectivists and many on the right-wing don't want to have to pay taxes for anything that does not directly and immediately benefit them, so we can't put them on public assistance.
Not to mention, sometimes shit happens. I used to be one of those "pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps" kinds of people...until the bootstraps broke, and I was left to a very long, very hard, fall. A couple of my co-workers were talking about someone's teenage daughter who has recently become pregnant. One of my colleagues said he felt bad for the girl, and the other one replied, "Not me! It's her own damn fault for being stupid. If she was my kid I'd kick her out of the house and she wouldn't get a dime from me." I had to jump into the conversation at that point...basically I said, you don't want your tax money to go to birth control, and you really don't your taxes paying for her pre-natal care or for an abortion. What exactly should she do? The fact of the matter is that in life, mistakes happen. Misfortune happens. I believe in taking responsibility for one's choices and mistakes...but how are people supposed to learn and grow from them if no grace and no second chances are given, and there's not a safety net available.
Sorry for the rant...any discussion of Objectivism tends to really make my blood boil.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Not to mention, sometimes shit happens. I used to be one of those "pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps" kinds of people...until the bootstraps broke, and I was left to a very long, very hard, fall. A couple of my co-workers were talking about someone's teenage daughter who has recently become pregnant. One of my colleagues said he felt bad for the girl, and the other one replied, "Not me! It's her own damn fault for being stupid. If she was my kid I'd kick her out of the house and she wouldn't get a dime from me." I had to jump into the conversation at that point...basically I said, you don't want your tax money to go to birth control, and you really don't your taxes paying for her pre-natal care or for an abortion. What exactly should she do? The fact of the matter is that in life, mistakes happen. Misfortune happens. I believe in taking responsibility for one's choices and mistakes...but how are people supposed to learn and grow from them if no grace and no second chances are given, and there's not a safety net available.
Sorry for the rant...any discussion of Objectivism tends to really make my blood boil.