Hypothesis: Dictators aren't altruists
This struck me today while I was reading a book. My thought is that totalitarians like Schicklgruber or Stalin or Mao didn't choose to do what they didn't because of "altruist" premises. Rand's argument is that no selfish (Randian sense) would commit the horrors that they committed. But, while I was sitting down, I reflected on how much time I spend thinking about politics and I came to the idea that these men did the things that they did because they had the desire to shape society/the world.
Well, there's a question. To what extent are you accurately portraying Rand's view? I do think that Rand's view on altruism is an important example of her (1) redifining language, and (2) producing umbrella categories which include way too much all under the same rubric. Both are aspects of what I see as a poor job of salesmanship of the good stuff in Objectivism, a poor job which hands the advantage to people whose interests are served by misrepresenting the good stuff. For instance, the depic