• • Reagan-interruptus: Republicans are, once again, the stupid party 
Michael Hurd, Capitalism Magazine Altruism  |Capitalism  |Objectivist author  | All those years ago, philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand got it so right. She said that there was no end to the welfare-regulatory state until or unless people reject the morality of altruism, defined as the morality that we are all our brothers’ keepers. In practice, the code of altruism means that the more I produce, achieve and earn, the more I owe to others. The same applies to you. Republicans (usually religious) tend to eschew this attitude applied to government, preferring that self-sacrifice be practiced outside politics rather than within it. The Democrats, who tend not to be religious, say that’s silly, that if we all are our brothers’ keepers, then of course government should uphold this principle under the law. In the end, Republicans, even if they put up a fight, concede that well, shucks, “I guess those Democrats do have a point.”   Published: 2011-03-20