• • • Ayn Rand’s speech on Americas persecuted minority 
Bob Beadles, The Examiner Atlas Shrugged  |Egoism  | The following quote is from a lecture Ayn Rand gave at The Ford Hall Forum, Boston on December 17, 1961.

“If a small group of men were always regarded as guilty, in any clash with any other group, regardless of the issues or circumstances involved, would you call it persecution? If this group were always made to pay for the sins, errors or failures of any other group, would you call that persecution?... If this group were penalized, not for its faults but for its virtues, not for its incompetence but for its ability, not for its failures but for its achievements, and the greater the achievement the greater the penalty---would you call that persecution?

If your answer is “yes”---then ask yourself what sort of monstrous injustice you are condoning, supporting or perpetrating. That group is the American businessmen.”

In 1961, businessmen were not persecuted nearly as much as they are today. In 1961, a president had not yet said of businessmen’s accomplishments, “You didn’t build that.”   Published: 2013-02-09