Perhaps, however I do not recall any tales of Rand serving food at a soup kitchen though....
Now for me the real question is how much, if at all. the govt should be responsible for the care and maintenance of it's citizenry.
with a almost 3 trillion dollar budget, perhaps America herself has reached that point..
I'm not a big fan of delegating compassion - it should be a personal committment not something left to a bureaucrat. Neither should "giving" be forced at the point of a gun.
And I surely do not want those receiving to feel that it is their right, and will sue you if you don't give them what they feel you "owe" them.
The reward of compassion is gratitude - the welfare system destroys both.
I don't know if Ayn Rand served in soup kitchens - just like I don't know whether Bill Gates has. But both Rand's fictional hero and Gates contributed infinitely more to society in terms of the thousands of jobs and billions in wealth they added to society.
I'm much more impressed by those contributions, than someone ladling a few cups of soup on Thanksgiving (I admire that too, but it's not in the same league. By the way, guess why that person is ladling? Because it makes him feel good - rather selfish, don't you think?)
A propos our discussion, here's a very timely post about the evils of capitalism (your darwinian economics).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1783092/posts