Ayn Rand - Liberty vs Socialism

Mike Wallace interviews Ayn Rand regarding socialism and individual liberty. http://www.LibertyPen.com

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  News & Politics

[gomyhomy]

Its funny to me how the interwiewers points seem tired and outdated yet rands word still have power and wieght even 40 years after

[PixelPariah]

Rand, people either understand her, or hate her.

[TheHomoludens]

"Of course there is right and wrong, whether one understands that or not"

Keep proclaiming truths like you were the pope...

You "freethinkers" are really funny!

[rtcell]

Of course there is right and wrong, whether one understands that or not.

E.g. initiating violence and killing or enslaving innocent people is wrong. Generating wealth so life of many people will be better is right. If a democracy (i.e. a bigger mob) votes for killing Jews or enslaving Blacks, it is still wrong, even if your God The Democracy voted for this. An attempt to avoid this fact is just a mental exercise to rationalize and excuse doing wrong.

[TheHomoludens]

Lol, there´s no clear "right and wrong" in morals and society. That´s why I favor democracy, even if that means the stupid have a say, too...

[rtcell]

Who cares if it's new? It is only important if it's right or wrong. And saying something is "nonsense" does not make it so

[TheHomoludens]

So, what´s new about that?

That kind of thinking is way older than Rand´s nonsense...

[rtcell]

"weak" and "limited" are different concepts. "strong limited" state can protect borders, assure individual rights, run justice and police, and stay away from what do you eat, how you raise your kids and who do you sleep with. It was supposed to work close to the Constitution - what State can do is explicitly enumerated, the rest is off limits - that is called "limited".

[TheHomoludens]

"That's exactly what the state is supposed to do - prevent and punish violence, and have very limited (aka balanced) powers"

Thus it needs to be strng enough to fight the strong?

And at the same time weak?

How´s that supposed to ever work?

[rtcell]

Yep, and finally I agree :-). That's exactly what the state is supposed to do - prevent and punish violence, and have very limited (aka balanced) powers. The state is there to safeguard everyone and prevent strong from violently taking advantage of the weak (and the other way around - a mob of weak is pretty tough). I wouldn't trust Rand in that either, but unfortunately the modern state has proven even less worthy in that.