"because... they're lazy... they steal... they're incompetent"
What about being trapped in a political system and/or culture that makes it impossible to live the life they imagine?
Every one of her novels touches (EDIT: focuses) on this. Anthem, We The Living, and Atlas Shrugged dealt more with the political, exhibiting characters who were unable to achieve their potential because of the political systems they had to endure. In The Fountainhead Roark spent decades suffering professionally and personally for living in a culture that values subjugation of the self to the interests of the crowd.
Also, Rand never promised that in her ideal society every individual would necessarily achieve whatever life they might imagine. Consistent with America's Declaration of Independence, it was the right to pursue happiness that she argued for.
What about being trapped in a political system and/or culture that makes it impossible to live the life they imagine?
Every one of her novels touches (EDIT: focuses) on this. Anthem, We The Living, and Atlas Shrugged dealt more with the political, exhibiting characters who were unable to achieve their potential because of the political systems they had to endure. In The Fountainhead Roark spent decades suffering professionally and personally for living in a culture that values subjugation of the self to the interests of the crowd.
Also, Rand never promised that in her ideal society every individual would necessarily achieve whatever life they might imagine. Consistent with America's Declaration of Independence, it was the right to pursue happiness that she argued for.