Ayn Rand is an author and writer whose works include "The Fountainhead," "Atlas Shrugged," "Anthem," "We the Living," and more. Her philosophy that is described in these fictional reads (although "We the Living" takes plenty of inspiration from her real life experiences of living in the Soviet Union,) is named "Objectivism." In short, it is the argument that individualism is needed for man to be truly happy, and that one can prove this by looking at mankind, and life from the most objective lense possible. I just finished reading "We the Living," and these are my thoughts on it right after I finished the book.

In short, individualism is freedom, true freedom, and collectivist groups of people lose sight of their individualism and view all that live as themselves as an enemy that needs to be crushed. But why must that be the case? Why must individuals that live AS themselves, as they were born to be have their freedom stripped away because it makes collectivists feel uncomfortable, and scared, and threatened? How do we slow our (America's) slow descent into collectivism, and bring back true freedom for the individual before the individual, and as a consequence, freedom, is crushed under the boot of misguided empathy?