As I’m sure everyone noticed while the banks were being bailed out on the American tax payer’s dime, the rich only see government assistance as an evil when it’s the peasants that are receiving it. A nicely concrete example of this has emerged in, of all places, the life story of that doyenne of “free” market selfishness, one Ayn Rand!
Despite all her claptrap about how evil altruism and government assistance are, Rand did not fail to become the beneficiary of said evil when her smoking habit caught up with her in the form of lung cancer.
Then of course, it was a matter of “Stuff principle, just get this freaking cancer out of my lungs!” So off she went to have the result of her own stupidity treated at the cost  of what little safety net the US has! Yes, Social Security and Medicare  paid to keep Ayn Rand alive, so there is some consolation for the far right in this story – it proves that at least some times government aid is a waste of money!
Apart from being a great example of conservative hypocrisy, the other lesson we can take from this is that, to put a twist on an old saying about law and order, a conservative is just a liberal whose health insurance hasn’t run out!
P.S
It’s amazing how pervasive this woman’s balderdash has become. I first heard about her ideas back in the nineties in articles written by, wait for it, a Mr Universe called Mike Mentzer! A little evil goes a long way…
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4 Comments
Even St Peter denied three times. No-one is as perfect as they like to think they are.
Welfare regardless of the recipient is not a good thing. Far to much room for abuse. It has been used to often to pay off political dept.
There is nothing wrong with giving someone help when they need it. Charity gives control to the giver what his moneys and time is used for. When compared to Gov run Welfare its also more efficient and successful. Guaranteed Government “bailouts” and unending assistance breeds foolish risk taking and dependency. Look how many country’s (3rd world) are given aid by the US. they have yet to get any better they actually have gotten worse even if you take into account the corruption.
I’d seriously like to take this article and shove it up the nose of the pretentious, self-absorbed pseudo-intellectuals that love to tout this bitch.
Yes that’s true, the banks and insurance companies were bailed out on the taxpayers’ back(the film Wall Street 2 even shows this) But this doesn’t mean a free market is bad it just means that there really is no free market and the system is corrupt. A “free market” really just means that production is not entirely under the control of some government commisar who dictates what products will be made.
As far as Rand, I see no problem with her collecting her SS Ins. benefits. She was forced to pay into the fund so she’s entitled to the benefits just as if she paid some private ins. co. premiums and then took benefits.