[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Those who profess a Randian philosophy today have conveniently forgotten the second half of the John Galt creed -- a second half that changes everything:

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

A similar quote states,

"If ever the pleasure of one has to be bought by the pain of the other, there better be no trade. A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud."

A Libertarian philosophy only works if all parties can safely be presumed to be forthright and fairminded -- giving honest "value for value" -- and we all know the actual truth of that.

and unfortunate side effect of their drive to power.

However, they are aided and abetted by a Southern "patriot" movement made up of people who are pissed at the abolition of first slavery, then segregation.

It cost too much to house, feed, and provide medical care for a slave, better to pay minimum wages.

K&R

... i.e. The John Birch Society (that is if you call the Koch bros. "libertarians.&quot Are all libertarians John Birchers?

They're varying levels of paranoid ranging from the Birchers at one end to the Penn Jillettes at the other, but they're all selfish. Being as self-centered as a top is their unifying quality.

... the "Me-Me-Me-ers." Thanks for the explanation.