Yeah. I know neither side thinks compromise is a good solution, but: considering that each extreme is half the world's nightmare, being somewhere in between is a good way of giving everybody a chance to alter things.
I think that being black-and-white in terms of your personal self is always a good way to be: if you always try to do the right thing for yourself regardless of what other people choose, then you're to be completely respected. But people who take that attitude and then try to cast it over an entire society (like Ron Paul, or Ayn Rand - though I think that the latter didn't actually think an entire society could work like that) ignore how incredibly complex any collection of people becomes, and how disastrous a black-and-white worldview would become.
There is a considerable span between free markets and laissez-faire capitalism. Most modern "left" political movements accept free markets as a good thing, and mainly differ with the right on the level of regulation.
I mainly read Ayn Rand as a criticism of the "truths" of the left wing, not as a very useful proponent of a laissez-faire society.
Anyway, free markets "punish" greed, by forcing those who want material wealth to work for it, instead of leeching of others. The reason taxation and politicians is a problem in free markets is exactly greed: anybody on the receiving end of public funds have little rational motive to seek to end that stream.
She's not somebody to be taken entirely practically, no. However, she's invaluable in that she teaches that man should exist for the sake of himself, and in that she writes in a captivating manner that has drawn millions of people in.
I would never call myself Republican (I hate social conservativism with a passion) nor libertarian (I hate that they've made such a mockery of themselves), but Rand certainly showed me that the far left was as crazy as the far right.
I think that free markets go too far in their "punishment" when they start punishing companies who ARE working for their wealth. As things stand right now, one side isn't being punished enough, while the other site is being punished too much.
"Free markets" are a disaster; without protectionist measures the United States would still be pursuing its comparative advantage against Great Britian--we'd be selling them beaver skins and acorns in exchange for their manufactured goods. All of the protectionist Asian countries have done gangbusters in the last half-decade or so; meanwhile all of the countries that have had "free markets" forced on them (which certainly does NOT include the United States) have in comparison done terrible (think Africa, Latin America).
I think that being black-and-white in terms of your personal self is always a good way to be: if you always try to do the right thing for yourself regardless of what other people choose, then you're to be completely respected. But people who take that attitude and then try to cast it over an entire society (like Ron Paul, or Ayn Rand - though I think that the latter didn't actually think an entire society could work like that) ignore how incredibly complex any collection of people becomes, and how disastrous a black-and-white worldview would become.