Random Nuclear Strikes

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?

Observe how seldom and how inadequately the issue of human intelligence is discussed in the writings of the tribal-statist-altruist theoreticians. Observe how carefully today’s advocates of a mixed economy avoid and evade any mention of intelligence or ability in their approach to politico-economic issues in their claim, demands and pressure group warfare over the looting of “The Total Social Product�.

Ayn Rand: What is Capitalism – 1965

I observed on one of the drums belonging to the Marines… that there was painted a rattlesnake, with this modest motto under it, ‘Don’t tread on me.’ It occurred to me that the rattlesnake, being found in no other quarter of the world besides America, might therefore be chosen to represent her. Having frequently seen the rattlesnake, I ran over in my mind every property by which she was distingushed. I recollect that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders; she is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. …[she] never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her. …She strongly resembles America in this, that she is beautiful in youth and her beauty increaseth with her age, ‘her tongue also is blue and forked as the lightning, and her abode is among impenetrable rocks.’

–Benjamin Franklin, letter to the Pennsylvania Journal, Dec. 27, 1775, from The Compleated Autobiography (Mark Skousen, ed.) pp. 112-113.
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