Ayn Rand believed that sovereignty rests in the individual (as did our Founding Fathers) and that the ultimate expression of freedom can be found in the concept of No. In these areas, she is spot-on.
Ayn also understood the enemies of person freedom perfectly. I dont know of anyone who painted the Progressive movement better or who could see the logical outcomes of that philosophy better than her.
I was initially enamored with Ayns me for myself individualism but I came to understand that at its core is excessive pride and hollow selfishness. Her philosophy is Satanic in that it places Man as God, answerable to no higher power. Weve been down that road and it didnt end well for humanity.
I would also point out that Rands characters never try to embrace the organs of power in their pursuit of excellence and achievement. She constructs a fantasy world where the superior, unfettered by any moral restraints other than being true to oneself, reject power in their pursuit of individual goals. Unfortunately, oligarchy is the inevitable outcome, proven by history, when Human nature develops its selfish motives, develops means, and creates its opportunity.
Even Ayns philosophy of the individual sovereignty has no objective basis in the absence of a creator-God.
Rand has a voice at the table of Philosophical discussion, but in the end, I rejected her selfish vision for the loving vision of Christianity.
Rand, La Vey, Nietsche, etc., are caught up in the great fishing net of self vs. other. The issue is simple to reconcile. If your society provides lots of lounge time, you can muse on aspects of the self and independent action. If your society enters a period of emergency, you start choosing a team to play with in collective action. The subject hinges on the levels of emergency or, even more dictatorial, the PRESUMED levels of emergency.
More interesting is Rand’s sense of esthetics which revolves around living in an ethically principled manner. You just better damned well choose your ethics carefully and make certain that they don’t keep you from learning from new and better data.