Read Your Own Links, Bil
Oops, sorry. If I read the second link to the Ayn Rand Institute in the previous post, I would have noticed that it had nothing to do with foreign aid or disaster relief at all. I assume Mr. Sucher meant to link the same article I did. I guess no one here noticed either, which is good (no one noticed my goof) and bad (I link these things for a reason, yo).
If you did take the time to read that misplaced link, though, maybe this nugget jumped out at you:
When reason is categorically abandoned, people can deal with one another only by force. People who accept reason as their sole means of knowledge can settle differences by persuasion; the one with facts and logic on his side will prevail. But if faith–i.e., the embrace of beliefs contrary to reason–is one's ruling principle, there is no peaceful way to resolve conflicts. There can be no appeal to facts, no logic, no rational arguments–there can be only the insistence that some non-provable belief be accepted. And what could back up that insistence other than fists or guns–or airplanes smashing into buildings?
In light of the "museum" opened recently by creationists (yes, more of the excellent Digby's blog), the above quoted is a little too scarily close to home. If I could remember reading Rawls a little better, I'm sure I'd have an excellent quote about how no matter how swell your God is, we really shouldn't be making it mandatory that every citizen live their lives solely under His or Her authority. For now you just get that muddled sentence and a reminder to read the links! You never know what you'll get (apparently I don't know what you'll get sometimes, either!)