>> Nothing scares me more than subjectivists in government positions, >> because they are the ones who have the greatest potential to become >> tyrants.
There are a few rational people in high office; Judge Posner comes to mind. And of course the most powerful man in the country--Fed Chair Alan Greenspan--was one of the original members of Rand's "collective". You think the President has power? Last year, one casual remark by Mr. Greenspan about the market's "irrational exuberance" was overheard, and that day 200 billion dollars vanished from the planet.
Rand herself did not object to the idea of using public office to accomplish things; if a robber hands you a gun, would you not defend yourself with it?
P.S. For the nitpickers out there, yes, I know the Fed is not technically a government office, much like the USPS is officially a private enterprise. Greenspan's job, however, is subject to political pressure.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC