It is morally obscene to regard wealth as an anonymous tribal product and to talk about “redistributing� it. The view that wealth is the result of some undifferentiated, collective process, that we all did something and it is impossible to tell who did what, therefore some sort of equalitarian “distribution� is necessary – might have been appropriate in a primordial jungle with a savage horde moving boulders by crude physical labor (though even there someone had to initiate and organize the moving). To hold the view in an industrial society – is so crass an evasion that even to give it the benefit of the doubt is an obscenity.
Ayn Rand: What is Capitalism – 1965
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It was suggested in the comments of yesterday’s QotD that some paraphrasing be done for Ms. Rand’s quotes that appear here due to her insistence upon using every little bit of her knowledge of the english vocabulary when she spoke.
Aside from the fact that I believe that I have some of the most intelligent readers in the sphere stopping by RNS (and I’m not just kissing your collective asses when I say that because I don’t pull that crap), I also believe that her words can stand on their own so long as those whose intellectual areas don’t include vast vocabularies keeps a dictionary handy.
But because I think it might be what the wife calls ‘A Hoot’, I’ll give it a shot for a while. But don’t expect any kindness towards the subjects of her high-fallutin vernacular scorn.
So, today’s Rand QotD translation is as follows:
It is disgusting that commiepinkorats can get away with publically saying that the money I work for is as much some booger eatin’ moh-ron’s who sits around all day with his thumb up his ass as it is mine. Their opinion of “Each According to Their Needsâ€? where those who refuse to gather marketable skills or even hold down a job should be given the same luxuries I work for simply because they were birthed may have worked when humans were hunter gatherers and had to band together to survive (although someone had to get up the balls to leave the caves and go look for food). To hold this view when an infinite amount of opportunity sits within the grasp of every man and woman is so gag-inducing that to actually speak it should cause their tongues to turn black.
So, how’d I do?
I love it: I think we ought to start an Ayn Rand paraphrasing contest.
I haven’t read Rand much in the years since I was a college sophomore, so I’ll leave it to you to pick a passage which you think would benefit most by paraphrasing.
Then we post, and cross-link. I bet we can drag GOC-ATL into this (I know you read him, since you have bogarted his favorite term for moonbat), and maybe Acidman, probably Bitter Bitch and maybe even Kim DuToit. SondraK might also invite herself.
What a party, I’ll look for your opening blast!