I am a huge fan of the writer Ayn Rand. Many people deride her writings as being
jingoistic and simplfied.
I couldn't agree more.
That's what makes this so powerful - even the progressive fool raised on the pablum of John Lennon and Doctor Spock where nobody loses and everybody wins if we could all just "get along" gets what this all means to them:
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power
to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them.
One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live
without breaking laws."
"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when
you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men
who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who
deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by
graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against
them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being
rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your
society is doomed."