"Government is a group of individuals organized for the purpose of extracting wealth and exerting power over people and resources in a given geographic area. Government is founded on opinion. A nation must have learned to respect a king, before a king can exert any authority over them.

For more on government abuses, check out Alex Jones (www.infowars.net).

Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, saw government as a group of individuals organized to solve problems that individuals were unable or unwilling to solve themselves. Rand's notion seems hopelessly myopic considering government services - police, fire, clean environment - etc that we all have come to expect and willingly pay for. I wouldn't want to live in Rand's dystopia.