He does answer his own question. ;-)

My guess is that Ayn Rand is referring to 'altruism' which she considered to be the driving force behind totalitarianism -- whether communistic or religious.

Hindsight is 20-20.

Right on, Logan!

Here's a link to the book - pg 396 is in the last chapter -- good read.
https://absolute-proof.info/25752702-decisive-battles-of-the-u-s-a-1776-1918-by-j-f-c-fuller.html

Classic Woodrow Wilson -- was he ever aware that he was speaking about himself, his party, and his administration? Was he a complete dupe or did he know what he was doing?

Here's the quote in context:

When I went home to my family in May, 1770, from the town meeting in Boston, which was the first I had ever attended, and where I had been chosen in my absence, without any solicitation, one of their representatives, I said to my wife, "I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning, that you may prepare your mind for your fate." She burst into tears, but instantly cried out in a transport of magnanimity, "Well, I am willing in this cause to run all risks with you, and be ruined with you, if you are ruined." These were times, my friend, in Boston, which tried women's souls as well as men's.

Road to hell indeed!

Playing God is as popular as ever! ;-)

Someone ought to remind today's secular humanist colleges. How did diversity become division, dialogue become censorship, and professors become authoritarian (i.e. everything the secularists have condemned the church for)?

Robert, this should be stapled to the door every college campus!

I suppose so, but forgiveness without an atonement is no guarantee of reform.

When Jesus said to forgive one's enemies, was there another qualifier for attacking the enemy? There is a limit to my tolerance. I am first tolerant because I may be the one in error, even though I perceive another's folly. My tolerance may continue out of empathy for the poor fool (like me). But my tolerance is limited by my principles -- if the folly of one violates the rights of another, it must not be swept under the rug, it must be addressed.

The heart is the center -- full heart, full life. That's where the cup runneth over. ;-)

Friendship goes both ways -- there won't be peace until BOTH sides practice it. Is the goal to destroy the enemy or to resolve the conflict? Can't 'friendship' be the goal instead of destruction? I saw a wonderful example of this at a Trump rally where a group of Black Lives Matter protested during the event. The speaker invited the group onto the stage, and the BLM leader made a very honest speech about their issues. The man was applauded by the audience, and afterwards there was some dialogue between the two groups. The BLM folks stopped their protest, and left peacefully feeling good about the interaction. An attempt to make peace and be friendly towards one another was made and yielded peaceful results. Can a zebra be friends with a lion? NO -- because it takes two to tango. The premise is that if we seek peace we seek friendship, not death to the enemy. If you can find Jesus' support for killing the enemy, please show it.

Mick, I do believe there ARE more guitars than guns which is why you hear more music than gunfire. And like guns stored at home, many musical instruments also go unused but are available for whenever the need may arise. Yes, let's make music not war!

Perhaps Jesus should elaborate further on the actual peacemaking process -- I still cannot fathom why so many Christians are so pro-military power. The apparent hypocrisy of putting faith in weapons and war is what turns so many real peacekeepers away from joining the congregation. If Christians do not practice what they preach (and worse, commit sin in the name of God), they are the source of their own oppression. The work of a Christian is of the heart -- it is heart-work. Peace within leads to peace without. Imagine if Christians REALLY practiced that (which is the goal). Salvation indeed! Merry Christmas!

Ultimately they go hand in hand.

Waffler has demonstrated his public schooling well. You see, it isn't YOUR money -- it's the government's, and they will decide how much of it you will get to keep. Waffler worked for the IRS and lives on a government pension -- he lives at the government's pleasure, and he insists that we all accept our fate. How did a free republic of free sovereign states made up of free and sovereign people become working class slaves for Washington DC? Mike is absolutely right -- where and when did America shift from free people to wards of the District of Columbia? What is the legal limit to how much the people may keep of the government's money? I suppose we should be grateful they 'give' us anything! This is communism, little by little. NOTE that it is the American MIND that holds Freedom's fate --what you believe, you receive. Know who you are, and take the needle out of your arm.

RBE, I said "Free lunch strategies do not turn out productive citizens," meaning that if the impetus to attend public school is to get a free lunch or a free anything, that is hardly the motivation for being self-sufficient (i.e. productive).

RBE, I have attended several schools, public, private, religious and my children have been homeschooled, Montessori, British-schooled, Spanish-schooled, French-schooled so I do have experience in the varying possibilities. Government-subsidized public schooling provided the most hostile environment -- students are treated like cattle, and for the most part, it is a government unionized jobs program -- educating the students is hardly a priority. In private school, students pay for an education, and results count -- the schools lose money if they do not do their job. Looking back, those that ended up in blue collar union jobs came from public schooling, while those in white collar positions acquired them through higher (better) education. Of course, there are some who dropped out and went straight to work and even run their own businesses now. Sorry to say, the education industry is a BUSINESS propped up by the banking industry subsidized by the government. Not only do you get a crappy education but a house-sized debt to go with it. This is the education they are getting, trained to be obedient and indebted for life -- the American Dream, eh? And they cannot produce anything, RBE, only tap someone else's production.

Right/Left definitions vary depending on how one initially defines one half of the equation, the other half is simply an opposing definition. I tend to define the Center as Principle, and any variation from the center as the Lesson to be learned -- the farther off-center, the greater the disharmony. It is more a Top vs Bottom situation. Using a right/left argument for Principle implies there is a balance between right and left, meaning Principle should always be countered with Power to prevent its dominance. Does that make it 'right'? There is Truth and everything else -- must Truth be balanced with untruth? Stick to the center -- it takes two wings to fly, and that doesn't mean good on one side and bad on the other... Liberation from dualistic thinking frees the mind.

Just listen to the stories coming out of American colleges and universities these days. The Ivy League schools are completely in the tank to pump out more authoritarians that further the centralization of power and monopolies in the fields of medicine, law, government, education, energy, and of course banking. We must ever obey the authorities in these fields -- no matter how corrupt they have become. The empowerment of the ruling class at the expense of the common people has been the racket for the last 100 years.

The dumbing down of the populace is now accompanied with the loading of debt. Not only are American teens less prepared for the responsibilities of adulthood, but they are required to borrow huge sums of money, backed by government, and thus cannot be defaulted upon. These fresh citizens come into the world yoked in debt and indoctrinated in servitude to the State. Since Liberty is out of the question, Equality they demand, at the expense of the free and responsible. Masters degrees in the fields of dependency pump out social justice warriors whose only source of income is tapping others' income. A country of non-producing academics will starve -- victims of their own activism.

I like "All the characteristics you stress in the Negro people: their beauty, their capacity for joy, their warmth, and their humanity, are well-known characteristics of all oppressed people. They grow out of suffering and they are the proudest possession of all pariahs."