Speak Out: Ayn Rand: Entitlement Queen, Hypocrite

Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 10:55 AM:

Social Security..... the lie foisted off on America by FDR.

Replies (16)

  • So what this is saying is the SS & MC money is only for the moochers and not the people that paid for their benefits.

    Anything that comes from the annals of the Huffington post is usually partly falsified or an outright lie. This time they just want to discredit someone who was an achiever.

    -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 11:56 AM
  • So, if one takes part in a programme that is made available, while not approving of it, one is a hypocrite?

    Isn't that like the 'love it or leave it' attitude which the left proclaims to be so wrong? Can you not advocate change to, or elimination of, a programme while availing oneself thereof?

    I've noticed that the left loves to bandy about the word 'hypocrite'. If my neighbor is handing out $100 bills, and I say he is nuts for doing so, does that mean I am should not take one of them for fear of being called a 'hypocrite'? The fact of my taking the $100 bill proferred does not change the fact that he is nuts.

    Others would say I was nuts for not taking the $100 bill.

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 12:05 PM
  • Theorist, Yes. Are you some kind of nut or what? :)

    -- Posted by Old John on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 12:35 PM
  • The government is handing out the $100 bills. I've paid taxes which provide the $100 bills they are handing out. I do not consider myself 'entitled' to one of the $100 bills, but I am 'eligible', under the guidelines of the government agency which hands them out.

    There is nothing hypocritical about taking the $100 bill from the government.

    Ayn Rand did not believe the government should be taking the taxes for SS, but she paid them. I notice that Spaniard does not call her a hypocrite for paying the taxes, only for collecting the benefits. Is Spaniard being a hypocrite?

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 12:45 PM
  • Spaniard;

    So, then, by your reasoning: EVERYONE who has in the past, does so now, or will in the future, accept payments from Social Security or MediCare, is a hypocrite for the very same reason: others paid for, are paying for, and will pay for their benefits. The same would go for Welfare and MedicAid recipients for the same reasons. That would include your parents and grandparents as well as mine and everyone elses if they retired on SS and MC. And, of course, YOU and I if we do the same.

    Looks like, in the interest of preventing "hypocrisy", we should IMMEDIATELY insist that our government dismantle all such programs.

    Where do I sign the petition?

    -- Posted by Little_Mac on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 12:47 PM
  • Oh, who really cares.

    -- Posted by Acronym on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 1:14 PM
  • Couple of things about Theorist, she is an independant, said so herself, and from reading a couple of today's threads, she is never judgemental. ☻ ☻

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 1:17 PM
  • Spaniard wrote:

    "If you are opposed to social security in principle while you are paying in, but claim it upon retirement because you "feel" or "believe" you are ENTITLED, you are a hypocrite."

    So, it is all a matter of how you feel or believe. If you claim the checques, but acknowledge you are not 'entitled' to them, but merely are 'eligible' for them, you are not a hypocrite. I can accept that. If, having reached retirement age, I suddenly begin proclaiming 'hands off my Social Security', then I'm willing to accept that it would be hypocracy. However, if I choose to draw the checque, acknowledging that my benefits are the result of the largess of the taxpayers, and not an 'entitlement', then I will retain my conservative credentials.

    This, of course, leaves us with an unanswered question. Obviously, we do not know how Ms. Rand 'felt', but the question remains did she anywhere state that she was 'entitled' to the benefits, or did she merely draw them because she was 'eligible'?

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 2:18 PM
  • You do not have the option of whether or not to participate in the SS program, only to what degree. Kind of like, "We have already established what you are, now we are negotiating the price"?

    -- Posted by Acronym on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 2:19 PM
  • Soooo...

    If I have an IRA or 401(k) then I would also be a hypocrite...?

    Why?

    Well, I put money into those accounts. That money is used by the entities with which I invest. They pay me a return based upon the investments they make with those funds. But, that return on the investment is provided by the economic activity of others - by their money and time and expertise; in essence I am forcing someone else to work for me by virtue of the agreement I have with the managers of those accounts. So, if I claim those funds, then I am a hypocrite because I feel I am "entitled" to both my individual investment and the return on the investments? That makes me a member of the "entitlement" class? Same concept. Who the entities are is irrelevant.

    Or, we should all either plan to eat a bullet when we retire or be labelled hypocrites.

    Shap;

    Yes, you can advocate for change and improvement in a system while participating in the system without being guilty of hypocrisy. We do it all the time - every time we vote against the status quo. We are still participants in the Great Experiment, but we are advocating changes. That's part and parcel to our way of life.

    You and I are at the end of the Baby Boomers - some of the last to be told from little on that we would have retirement based upon SS. We are, fortunately, both intelligent enough to have seen the writing on the wall decades ago and to have taken other steps to ensure financial security in our Golden Years. God knows SS would not provide such security alone, at any rate. Would that I could go back in time and reinvest all those wasted SS taxes in something that actually gave me a return on my money.

    -- Posted by Little_Mac on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 2:42 PM
  • "Rick...

    She was a writer who wrote a book called Atlas Shrugged and was a funder of the Libertaian party.

    -- Posted by JoLo on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 2:18 PM"

    She also wrote the novel The Fountainhead which was made into a pretty good movie starring Gary Cooper in 1949. A big screen version of Atlas Shrugged is hitting the theaters in April. It will be interesting to see how Hollywood treats this material. It affects most liberals like garlic does vampires!

    -- Posted by Data48 on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 2:49 PM
  • Theorist and Ike the Spaniard, the Bobsey twins of the irrational, may have just possibly read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It does not follow they understood it. That would have required intelligence to think and reason.

    -- Posted by voyager on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 3:05 PM
  • Spaniard wrote:

    "Saying "I am eligible and I am going to get mine" is equal to saying "It's only FAIR and I'm ENTITLED!"

    Actually, no, it is not. It is equal to saying, it is available and I will avail myself thereof. 'Entitled' implies an obligation on the part of the payor, 'eligible' merely implies meeting the qualifications for receiving largess.

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 3:06 PM
  • Do you not have to apply to receive benefits upon reaching a certain age? 62? 63?

    -- Posted by Spaniard on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 2:34 PM

    Yes, but by paying in to SS, you are already a "participant" in the strictest sense are you not? Drawing SS only makes you a beneficiary of that participation.

    -- Posted by Acronym on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 3:26 PM
  • Ayn Rand hated libertarians. We accept people that participate in organized religion.

    She couldn't stand one of my mentors - Murray Rothbard, either.

    I do owe a great deal of gratitude to Ayn Rand. She introduced me to the truth that the individual is the most persecuted minority on the planet when I read Atlas Shrugged back in high school.

    I prefer her philosophical writings over her fiction. But no American writer could pen a 48 page monologue like Ayn Rand!

    -- Posted by Lumpy on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 4:19 PM
  • They took my 15% for this so called insurance plan and I don't feel bad about taking back the measly return on my investment.

    It is the ones that never paid or paid very little then claiming they cant deal with life or strung out on drugs that irritates me.

    Someone that was hurt or REALLY unable to hold a job are deserving.

    -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Tue, Feb 1, 2011, at 5:14 PM

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