No one represents the Tea Party more than the founder of objectivism, Ayn Rand. So, I’m sure you’re not shocked or surprised that Ayn Rand relied on Social Security and Medicare.
Ayn Rand was not only a schlock novelist, she was also the progenitor of a sweeping “moral philosophy” that justifies the privilege of the wealthy and demonizes not only the slothful, undeserving poor but the lackluster middle-classes as well.
Her books provided wide-ranging parables of “parasites,” “looters” and “moochers” using the levers of government to steal the fruits of her heroes’ labor. In the real world, however, Rand herself received Social Security payments and Medicare benefits under the name of Ann O’Connor (her husband was Frank O’Connor).
As Michael Ford of Xavier University’s Center for the Study of the American Dream wrote, “In the end, Miss Rand was a hypocrite but she could never be faulted for failing to act in her own self-interest.”
It kind of says it all doesn’t it that she took her earned government benefits under an assumed name. Perhaps why her books are considered fiction, because they don’t apply to real life.