As I survey the absolute savaging of Ron and Rand Paul, libertarianism and the philosophy of Ayn Rand taking place in the comments of a recent profile of Ron and Rand Paul's family life (which, by the way, was not mentioned in the article yet somehow appears to be relevant strawman for the incensed NYT-commenters), I can't help but to imagine these same commenters writing bitterly about people trapped behind the Iron Curtain circa-1950s:
The average Soviet citizen claims he wants freedom and liberty from his "oppressive" government, following mindlessly the ignorant and immature philosophy of the ex-patriate hypocrite Ayn Rand. But what would happen if these whiny Soviets got their wishes? With their food produced by the "evil" communist state and their livelihoods dependent upon its factories, with its policemen watching their neighborhoods and its schools educating their children, Soviet citizens seem to want to enjoy the benefits of the Soviet state without the Soviet state itself.
How can they be so oblivious as to miss the fact that without the Soviet government, they'd be lost and reduced to fighting over what few scraps of food remain outside their mud huts?Of course, the Soviet Union is gone now, it has been for a long time and yet many of the citizens of that former Leviathan have managed to get by without it. For some, it's hard to imagine how or why, but one day, hopefully, many in the United States of America will manage to do just the same.
