In his Aug. 23 letter critical of Congressman Mike Kelly, Bill Neel specifically attacks Kelly’s support for the ideas of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, whom Neel derides for his admiration of philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand, whom, he writes, demonstrates “bad writing and sophomoric economics.”

Neel’s proclamation, devoid of any supporting argument, is completely arbitrary and amounts to an ad hominem attack on Rand, Ryan and Kelly.

Rand presented in her novels and non-fiction works an integrated philosophical defense of laissez-faire capitalism in which individual rights are sacrosanct and the government is limited to the courts, police force and military. She courageously rejected the morality of altruism — which is utterly incompatible with capitalism — and championed reason, rational self-interest and the political embodiment of this philosophy: capitalism, the social system that enabled the creation of unprecedented prosperity.

Neel’s advocacy for the continued looting of the productive to pay for the entitlements of the welfare state is based on his mistaken belief that it is his responsibility to do so.

There are no unchosen obligations, and Neel’s mistaken belief does not justify the perpetuation of a system of wealth redistribution that all must be forced to comply with.