I'm a novice writer, or, at least I like to think I am. I was introduced to the books by Ayn Rand almost 50 years ago when I was serving in the U.S. Air Force. It's funny to look back to then (the early 60s) and see what the cultures and philosophies were like in the U.S. then and compare them to today's. While it might be funny it is also sad because we've come a long ways but the travel seems to have been on a road downwards. We've made some great strides in dealings with our own fellow countrymen and people from other countries. But we've let ourselves be enticed to too good a lifestyle from our own government's rise in power and offering the downtrodden a chance to live the life like the middle class here at the expense of the rich and middle class.
That will never work. In any society there will always be the rich (people who are committed to strive and prosper) and the poor/downtrodden (people who will always look to the government for their handouts and power over the rich). It is happening here now in the U.S. and if the trend doesn't stop this country might not survive it. The competents here will surely be looking for a "GALT'S GULCH" and leave the poor and their governments to fend for themselves.