Fundamentally, I agree with Ayn Rand. I take care of me, and you take care of you, and we can come together as equals. I’m not a caretaker kind of guy. No, seriously. My wife was sick this one time, and she had passed out trying to get to the hospital, and I stepped over her inert body to get to work. Well, it wasn’t that bad, but almost.

I had breakfast with an Ayn Rand fan, and he had a VERY interesting take on our girl, Ayn. Yes, she believes in selfishness, but it’s a selfishness that allows us to exist in the world. I take care of me, you take care of you, and we come together as equals. Yeah, I already said that. Feel like your reading Atlas Shrugged? It’s all in the archetypes and the repetition.

The Ayn Rand Fan, or ARF from here on out, made it clear that charity, like taking care of the mentally ill or those who simply can’t take care of themselves is common sense. What is the wickedest form of evil, according to the ARF, is when you coerce a capable human being into charity and take away their right to struggle and achieve. When you give charity to people who don’t need it for the sake of power. It’s like parenting.

If my daughter can make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I make it for her, I’m robbing her of her independence. And as my children get older, I need to let them work things out for themselves because Lord knows I am not going to be around forever, and this whole boomerang thing? Boomerang generation, as in your children go away, and then come back to live with the parents. Let me tell you, once my kids are in college, I’ll be somewhere in the Micronesia Archipelago, and if they can afford the plane tickets, they can visit. If not, good luck.

I loved Atlas Shrugged because it was a critique of mediocrity, and you know, most people want everyone to be mediocre. If we’re all mediocre and dull, then we won’t feel bad about ourselves. Like with eating. If you eat well around people who aren’t, it makes them feel bad. Ayn Rand is all about eating fruits and vegetables, to be the best, to give our best with passion.

I won’t get into the whole free market capitalism, less government, blah, blah, blah stuff. I don’t understand enough to have an opinion. But I will say this. Americans do better with less government. We really are by nature anti-government. Get out of our way and let us pursue our happiness, dammit. And those evil corporations have fed us for a century. If you love to farm, well, let’s get rid of the evil corporations. Better yet, create your own evil corporation and make millions and be that wicked 1 percent. Mwa, ha, ha.

Bottom line is this. After talking to the ARF, I felt hopeful, I felt impassioned, I felt good. I felt like the world was good and we can make a difference and things will work out. I felt empowered. And that is why I think people are drawn to Ayn Rand, because there is an optimism and an energy in the work. That we can make millions and fly planes and create new ideas and be powerful in the world.

Okay, this is my last blog post on Ayn Rand. You know why? Because I’ll be too busy starting up my own business selling my books and making millions of dollars and touching the lives of billions. And flying my own plane. Because in the end, I wanna be Dagny Taggert.

Kisses.