It was Late in the Day...

...and the sunshine poured in through the glass windshield of my new 600hp Bentley, prompting me to pull down a visor. Driving a Continental GT Speed as part of the proceeds of a fear driven "market adjustment" seems almost sinful, in fact the whole purchase process suffers when the money isn't so obviously earned by active effort of body and mind. Those who inherit wealth must feel like this all the time - guilty. No...not guilty, simply unsatisfied. Is one not entitled to earn money just by being faster and knowledgeable with one's earned resources? Of course. What would Dagny say?

I reach down and adjust the polished steel gear shifter. Suddenly, I see her beside me, her pale, slender but wonderfully curved legs glistening in the sunlight and sweating ever so daintily on the carefully cut and stretched cowhides. She wears a red silk dress with a white gardenia pinned to a trim white hat. Her auburn tinted blond rivulets of hair peeking out from underneath.

"If you hadn't profited on the rebound, someone else, someone bankrolling socialism would have."

Dagny looks at me and smiles.

"D'Anconia was right. The world deserves what it gets. You can fight the tide of decline only so long. I went through all sorts of agony trying to keep the Taggart line running. Good men were disappearing every day, men of mind. The government was working hand in glove with the looters and the moochers and the economy was socializing more with each passing day, further crippling the nation and setting the stage for a deep depression."

"And it's happening again Dagny. Both parties are now parasitic to the health of the nation. I can't explain it, but folks I thought I knew have turned and behaved like strangers. Their actions leave me completely nonplussed. They know better - but they do them anyway."

"Yes. Do you remember when you were little? Do you remember how it felt to wake up each day eager at what wonder it would bring? Do you remember the thrill of adventure that accompanied interfacing with nature?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well what happened? As the years past the eagerness left and the adventure passed. Replaced by the knowledge of man's ignorance and having to live in the shadow of this ignorance all over the world has robbed you of much of the joy of living, as it had myself. You awaken to see irrationality elevated to the highest form. Where vices are lauded, cherished and defended by the weak minds whose only steady character trait is to scream in defense of their failings. They seek to create a world in which stands on its head - a world of the irrational. Where spreading the wealth and taking it from those who earn to those who don't is considered the highest form of morality. A world where irrationality reigns supreme and the incompetent not merely ask, but demand to be carried by the labor and work of the competent."

"Charity."

"No! Charity is voluntary. This forced redistribution of wealth comes at the end of a gun. This has nothing to do with charity. This is about getting the guns of the government to rob the man of means and hand it out to the man of no means - and taking a cut for themselves at the same time. This is about subsidizing and entrenching irrationality and seeking to destroy those who are capable - and more importantly poison the system so that not only is capacity disdained, but eventually makes the self-sufficient man a freak of nature - an oddball in a world that scorns him and then robs him."

"But someone has to care for them, right?"

"Check your premises. No one has to do anything for another. Force poisons the whole concept of true charity. Each person is only responsible to and for themselves. Anything else is immorality posing as morality. Forced charity is simply robbery and nothing less. The robbers tell themselves they are moral and caring, when they are merely looters and moochers who enjoy telling themselves they are moral - when they are too weak minded to understand the obvious difference."

"But they will protest. A moral society..."

"What? Forces others to feed others? Forces the man with "too much" to give to the man with too little? Is that really what a moral society does? And who becomes the arbiter of what constitutes too much and too little? Who gets to force others to do their bidding? Force is the evil here. Anytime you force your will on another for their own good - you are robbing them and destroying yourself."

"Yes, isn't it ironic Dagny, those who say the US war is illegal and applying force on others unjustly, sees nothing wrong with force being used every hour, every day and every year on those that they feel should have force applied to their lives."

"Of course. They don't see it. They are most emotional about that which they live their lives by - seeking to force others to comply with their whims."

"So what should I do Dagny? This will be a dark depression under Obama. FDR started it, and it's plain either Obama or McCain will finish it."

"Do you remember my brother Jim? He married someone he thought was trashy, poor and cheap. He wanted her to worship him for his "charity" and his wealth. She all too soon realized he brought her to social functions to show off his "charity" and prove to others how enlightened he was. When his wife proved to have a brain and resent his actions, he turned on her and drove her to a nervous breakdown and suicide. He hates to compete in a world where virtues are rewarded as he has none. His love was supposed to be accepted as charity because she was unworthy and unable to earn it - and she was supposed to know this. As soon as she started working and learning, the less he loved her. Soon he hated her for her mind and her abilities. She was supposed to stay, dumb, poor, trashy and worthless - so that his "love" would be such a "noble sacrifice" for him. Well the way my brother looked at his wife, the sponsors of government charity look at the underclasses. They need them to stay poor and dumb. They need them to beg for handouts and solutions. If they had a group of self sufficient people - where would they be? They would be out of a job and actually have to earn a living. Men like Obama or McCain don't earn livings - they feed on the masses and play Robin Hood, while taking a big cut for themselves."

"Then this coming depression will be a paradise for them."

"Yes. They love it. They will want to sustain it. They now are "needed" and they carefully craft the preposterous notion that non-producers, the government, can somehow provide for the needs of all - when they know absolutely nothing about creating wealth! It's irrationality elevated to art. It's going to be a robber's paradise and immorality will be elevated to new highs."

"Is there still room in Galt's Gulch for men of mind?"

"Yes. You will be able to live according to your ability and skills. The community is now 100,000 strong and growing. Just drive and I will show you the way."


"Ok Dagny. Buckle up. Let's roll.