Ayn Rand is the advocate of a misunderstood ideology and the target of those who misunderstood her teachings. But the real Ayn Rand was probably an even deeper thinker than she ever let us know. Those who dismiss her for not having a heart are misunderstanding the basis of her arguments.

Those who misuse her to glorify their particular version of capitalism are misunderstanding the basis of her arguments. Like gnats' attraction to a light bulb, these two groups both disembody the spiritual aspect of her teaching, which was to bring us to our not to our knees, but to our feet - in a sense of achievement and pride.

What Ayn Rand shows us is what man can be, and in this sense, she, too, was a hero. She drew from so much life experience and deep appreciation for the productive genius of the preceding era that we can succinctly put into words the basic principles which would save us from the errors of our current state of affairs. Ayn Rand showed us what hypocrisy is, in virulent unadulterated form, in her characters. Wesley Mouch to Hank Rearden. Like the evil whale to Billy Budd. The innocence of productive genius to the blight of the looters and the moochers. Rational self interest deems that each person does his objective best, and that the best wins. This is the opposite of hypocrisy: meritocracy. Capitalism is merit-based. Commissions are a capitalistic convention.

Now, Ayn Rand was called heartless. Was she? She pointed out in her villains the hypocrisy of the opposing view and she pushed us to want to do better. That in itself should be worth praise. She gave us a consistent platform to expose hypocrisy at its root - and that shows she did so in her rational self interest and love of justice.