So you consider a federal government confined to supporting a military to defend the nation, a police force to defend us from criminals, and a judiciary to mediate property and civil disputes between each of us and protect our rights from the government to be anarchy? I guess the evil Libertarians want to do away with state and local governments too? The constitution defines what the limitations of the federal government is and leaves the rest to the states or the people.

The message of "Atlas Shrugged" is that we don't need to return the country to morality, but to discover it.

Rand wanted to use 'existentialism' over 'Objectivism' but it was taken. She is an athiest so she cannot concieve of existence outside the corporal realm. She chose 'Objectivism' because her morality is based on analyzing reality in an objective way as opposed to a subjective way.

Your premise starts by assuming that Galt is a petulant teenager and tries to prove it by articulating what a petulant teenager might say. Galt recognizes his value, he invented a motor that would run for free and power all of society. His argument is that society needs his genius more than he needs society because he is able exist without society, where it is dubious whether society could advance without him. Now obviously, society will not miss one 'John Galt' like genius in the scheme of things, but if all of them were to disappear, what would happen? And he is not just taking those with superlative genius, but all that are capable of thought, or more importantly, wiliing to think. That all of the people who created the...

Reason has everything to do with it. If you fail at something it is because your reasoning is flawed. You may not have the capability to reason some endevour to success, in which case, your reasoning should divert you to some other endevour worthy of your skills. Yes, it is possible, regardless of your effort and flawless reasoning that your endeavor fails because of an act of God. But I would prefer that God upset my apple cart than to have some know nothing beauracrat upset it.

That blood argument was the same one they used in the military for keeping blacks out of the military way back when (sickle cell). If I am bleeding out and only have gay blood to save me, I'll take it. If a heterosexual male propositions a heterosexual female, their relationship is changed as well. How each party deals with it is based on their level of maturity. I have been propositioned by gay men and while I was uncomfortable, my response was to express being flattered but that wasn't my thing. No harm to either party. A 'sin' is a volitional act that violates one's morality. If the actor has no choice, it is not sin. Your morality is based upon Christianity. Homosexual acts are sinful according to your belief system. It...

The main character (John Galt) came from a poor family, left home at age 12 to seek his fortune, put himself through college, and stopped the world from being looted. With the exception of stopping the world from being looted, are there no examples of such people in history? Carnegie (of Carnegie Steel) immigrated from Europe without any money or education yet he was able to build an empire that was responsible for the New York skyline (lots of steel girders). What is NYC worth? How much did Carnegie get for his contribution? I doubt that he got a millionth of NYC's value compared to his contribution, but people living in buildings he was responsible for making possible now damn him as a parasite of society he helped build because...

I think you are replying to the "Thomas" who asked the question of my definition of "Religious Right". I don't agree with the notion that minimalist government envisioned by the founders are just shy of being 'anarchy'. The constitution clearly states that any rights not described would fall to the states or the people. It also provided for a mechanism for defining the rights of the individual via the amendment process. For example, there is a town on the coast that was founded by retired pastors, ministers, etc. as a town that was dry and did not operate businesses on Sunday. But being prime ocean front real estate there are people who want to do away with these laws who don't live there except in the summer. It is wrong for...

"I object to any philosophy/ideology that lays claim to answering all issues" This is the 'there are always gray areas' argument. Contrary to that belief, all issues are black and white, right or wrong. What happens is there are situations where there's a little black and a little white to varying degrees. It requires a great deal of effort and thought to separate these black and white bits, so the lazy tendency is to compromise. The Objective philosophy views compromise as a worse evil than just being flat out wrong. If you are wrong, at least you made the effort to decide upon right or wrong. "The compromise between food and poison is death"

Fair enough. By "Religious Right" I mean those with religious conviction that wish to impose their morality on others by legislative means. These usually manifest themselves in 'conservative social issues' such as abortion and gay marriage. My objection to abortion is based on the fact that I believe that a fetus has a right to exist. It is an unalienable right. It has nothing to do with God's wishes. I am willing to teach my children to learn the consequences of sexuality and that they must prepare for it, either by abstinance or birth control. I do not object to the school curriculum discussing birth control as it is a fact of our nature to wish to engage in sexual activity. This nature is not sin, but a biological imperative...