Laissez-faire Capitalism OR Gulch T-Shirt

What guides one's understanding of reality? Critical reasoning to identify objective reality? Or haphazard emotionalism, never venturing beyond the subjective? The Age of Enlightenment, as the defining period of human history when critical reasoning displaced emotionalism, began the ideas that led to the creation of the United States of America. These ideas identify that reality is objective, unalterable by one's feelings or arbitrary beliefs. Moreover, they represent the recognition that one's life belongs to oneself, not to any government, ideology or collective. The values of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" enshrined in the Declaration of Independence are direct products of the rational primacy of the Enlightenment. In writing "Atlas Shrugged," Ayn Rand gave the world a clear understanding of the consequences of abandoning Enlightenment values. Why should capable, productive traders, who violate no one's rights as individuals, be forced to accept the expropriation of their wealth and ideas? Because the need of others somehow justifies it? Galt's Gulch represents the answer. They didn't accept. Will you demand individual rights or accept the immoral notion that needs overrule rights?