Did someone mention Ayn Rand?
Ayn Rand’s Perspective
1. “Tax the rich, pay the people, spread the power.” ? She’d call this moral theft. Rand believed that:
- Wealth belongs to the people who produce it,
- Taking it by force (through taxation) is sanctioned robbery, and
- Redistributing it is punishing virtue to reward non-virtue.
To her, this slogan would represent altruism as coercion — forcing successful individuals to serve others by law.
She’d call it:
“A moral inversion in which creators are sacrificed to non-creators.”
2. The idea that “billionaires shouldn’t hold the power.” ? She’d call that envy disguised as justice. Rand argued that:- Political movements aimed at diminishing the wealthy are fuelled by resentment, not fairness.
- “Equality” movements often attack excellence, productivity, and achievement, not actual injustice.
She’d say this group defines “power” as “success,” and seeks to destroy people because they are successful.
3. A group of wealthy people advocating higher taxes on themselves? ? She’d call it moral preening. Rand called this “the sanction of the victim” — when achievers endorse the forces attacking them.
Her view:
“If a millionaire wants to give his wealth away, let him.
But he has no right to demand the state force others to do the same.”
She would see “Patriotic Millionaires” as:- collectivist,
- altruism-worshipping,
- virtue-signalling, and
- acting as “useful idiots” for statism.
4. Eliminating wealth disparity? ? She’d call this the destruction of freedom itself. Rand believed that:- Inequality is natural in a free society,
- People unequal in talent, effort, intelligence, and ambition will produce unequal results,
- Attempts to equalize outcomes require government totalitarianism.
She’d say:
“You cannot make men equal except by bringing them down.”
5. “Making sure politicians know who really holds the power… and it’s not the billionaires.” ? She’d call this a lie. Rand argued that political power = the power of force,
and economic power = the power of voluntary exchange.
So she’d reject the entire framing:- Politicians hold the guns.
- Businesses hold money but cannot force anyone.
Her famous line applies:
“Political power is the power of the gun.
Economic power is the power to create.”
Rand’s Verdict in One Sentence Ayn Rand would call this movement:
“A collectivist campaign of moral cannibalism — the sacrifice of the productive to the unproductive.” |
