The_Noble_Cause wrote:S2M wrote:TNC, are you really this dense? Seriously. You can be against something, and still be tied to it's 'policies'. She was against income tax too, but had to pay it just the same. Are you gonna call her a hypocrite for that as well?
She was against the government's hand in anything. So using your logic....governments help build roads, highways...etc. Was she supposed to not travel by road because government funded highway projects - and she was against government aid?
Seriously.....
Nobody is talking about roads or income tax. Ayn was not forced to accept soc. security or go on medicare. That was a choice that flew in the face of her own philosophy. Much like Ted Kennedy advocating wind farms, and then saying "not in my backyard", political hypocrisy should be called out.
First of all, there are alot of libertarians who do practice carefully what they preach. If you want a famous example of a libertarian writer who was true to her word in not accepting government money in her personal life look at folks like Rose Wilder Lane ( who really went out of her way not to accept money from the govt or things part funded by the govt ect.) - as standard I aspire to follow both in my business and personal affiairs That one member of a philosophical movement does some things seeminging inconsisent does not per mean the philosophy is without merit.
Secondly, for all the years of Rand's working life she had income tax, FICA , and all sorts of other tax- which is in libetarain terms theft.
If the government was engaging in theft from her at a rate of nearlty 40% of her earnings wouldn't she have the right to be refunded those moneys that
she had paid ( provided that she didnt take back one penny more than he had paid in). You comment that her social security money had been spend ten times over. (so what it was still her money, stolen from her)
I also point out to you the character of Ragnar Dannesjkold in Atlas Shrugged. Is what Rand did really any different than that. If she justified that activity in her books , maybe she was onlhy being like Ragnar if so, perhaps she wasn't being a hypocrite?
When the govenment holds you in slavery, and you are stuck in the system you have to make the best choices available to you given the system that you are enslaved under..
That said if Rand did take anymore than she paid in , it was injust and wrong . And if she did take money when she had other funds avaialble, then what she did was not unjust but it would have
been an awful stupid thing to do as it would not be in the best interest of furthering her life's work.. But we dont know that for certain. From the little I undersand of her life, Rand didnt earn alot of money from what she did