If I can add to the discussion here it is to point out that people miss the entire point of Rand in obsessing on her libertarian views, her apparent worship of selfishness and her personality.

While I agree with many of the critiques of selfishness, libertarianism's ignorance of the tragedy of the commons, and her prickly person - her writing was not a prescription for how everyone should think and behave, at all. It was an insight into the thinking, character and struggle that produces great humans who go on to produce great things. She was actually quite explicit that not everybody was like this, or even could be if they wanted to be.

Her insights into those people and the effect they have on human progress - is stark contrast to many of the other characters - was meant to point in the direction of not destroying, taking out, or even limiting those people, for the good of all the rest of us who NEED these individuals or face stagnation and regression...