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4. What really bothers Thom & other progressives about Ayn Rand
Thu Apr 5, 2012, 10:23 AM
Apr 2012

Ayn Rand, despite her nuttiness and confusions, did come up with one powerful & practical idea: That society's highest-earning people don't have to put up with this "giving back" nonsense in the modern world, when they can view governments like competing hotels, and shop around for the ones which offer to treat them better than the ones run by progressive confiscators. This shows a practical way to enact the fictional strike of "the men of the mind" in Rand's novel.

For example, Peyton Manning decided to avoid funding progressivism in California when he chose to play the for Denver Broncos instead of the California 49ers. The decision saved him a fortune in taxes:

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/manning-saved-millions-in-taxes-by-opting-for-denver-over-sf.html

Similarly, Tiger Woods, who grew up in California, saved another fortune by moving to Florida, which doesn't have a state income tax.

And many of China's new millionaires reportedly plan to get citizenship in other countries and move their fortunes out of China, before the Chinese government sends men with assaults rifles to pay them a visit with demands that they "give back."

In other words, Rand glimpsed at a key weakness in progressives' ability to bully and exploit the people they depend on to fund their utopian schemes: The victims can simply move beyond their reach, and take their money with them.

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