Ayn Rand in hurting my brain..

I am about 950 pages into Atlas Shrugged, little over 100 pages to go. The book has a strong tie into this weeks topic I had been dealing with about how best to serve the poor, and translating that into personal and political philosophies.

Ayn Rand is a picture of pure logic and would probably agree with her if I was an atheist, as she was.... but I am not. She comes off as viewing the poor as worthless, even though her frustration is rooted in a society that does not educate people to think and value achievement for themselves, and legislated hatred of the rich. When a desire to help the poor is instituted legislatively, it is often misdirected towards policies that punish the rich in the name of helping the poor.

You cannot put chains around the engine of society and then still expect it to run your economy and have enough left over for the care of poverty in your nation. What we are seeing today is the ugliest of socialistic practices... the crippling of our economy through poorly conceived regulations, coupled with the bankrupting of our economy through welfare programs. You cannot do both. I would argue that the former concept is the larger problem than the latter, but my brain is too overworked to think properly at this point.

We need an economically free country in order to create a nation with the lowest levels of poverty possible and the highest levels of prosperity in order to fund the needy in our nation, if we choose that to be a national [preferably state ;)] priority. I still have questions about the wisdom of charity through government and what its influences are as it regards the corruption of the human soul, but have no questions in my own mind about the necessity of a free economy.

I still prefer cheerful willing generosity to government handouts, but there is a legitimate argument whether there should be some sort of safety net to fill the gap. I definitely would like limits placed on such programs, for those other than widows, orphans and disabled... those legitimately unable to provide for themselves. As Milton Friedman points out in the video of the previous post, one of the largest problems that fuels the generational poverty in our nation has its root in the education of our youth. We need to put a higher value on the desire to think and question for ourselves. The best thing an education can do is create in a child the desire to learn and to strive.

All right, Ayn Rand... even though I already have way much food for thought to deal with this week.... I HAVE to know the ending!!!