What are these workers in sweat shops? How are their lives that much different from woman described in the article? In places with extreme poverty I would say there is no difference to an unbiased observer. It's why I find it interesting that you reacted so angrily to this article.

It's like saying fuck slavery, but share cropping and Jim Crow are fine. The free market controls those.
Jim Crow was state mandated segregation. Pretty sure that isn't free market, in fact, it's quite the opposite.

That's why they are called "Jim Crow

For instance they were never taught that Columbus was a slave owner.

That's the question. Though I criticize the Ayn Rand types I actually admire some strains of her thinking. What I personally find hard to accept though from her fans is the assumption that everyone starts life from the same spot, and that "success," however defined, is the product of one's own efforts. That's a massive oversimplification, to be kind. It also creates and perpetuates false social hierarchies that make a lot of things about our society tough to swallow, like our disgust with impoverished and/or homeless people.

That being said, I think a lot of Ayn Rand types might read that and say something like "well, why should I be compelled to care for or fund the life of someone who chooses not to work as hard as me?" Ignoring the oversimplification for a minute, that's actually true - I do think it's fair to question how much you're going to allow the fruits of your own labor to be siphoned off to support something else, whatever that may be. But that gets into political philosophy when I think folks should rewind and ask a different question: yeah, I should have a right to enjoy the fruits of my own labor, but assuming I have some basic compassion about others, then what is to be done about people who, for whatever reason, have no fruits to enjoy? And why might they be in that sort of position? This is why I find it hard to not knock some of these Ayn Rand types because I do think, like WFR intimated, that the attitude is "fuck them, they deserve it." I'm all about working hard and taking personal responsibility, but I also recognize I got dealt a good hand in life, and that other people don't get the same hand as me. I don't think Ayn Rand types get that - they believe in a fiction.

Most of these "laws" were societal standards. Was no law that said can't serve blacks.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) suggested Friday that he wouldn't have voted in favor of the 1964 Civil Rights Act if he were a member of Congress at the time.

For instance they were never taught that Columbus was a slave owner.

How can you complain about gross oversimplifications in the same post where you are making gross oversimplifications?

Ron Johnson: We really have developed this culture of entitlement and dependency. That is not what America is all about. I mean, America – and that’s of course what ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is all about – it is about individuals aspiring to build things to make their life – and, as a result, the world – a better place. If we shift to a culture where people are saying, ‘I’m happy to sit back and let the government provide me with things,’ that becomes a dangerous point and time for this country.