I know she can sell books, and I know that libertarianism is an attractive philosophy for the modern mind.
The fact remains that the intellectual attraction did not result in a libertarian society. Moreover, the trend is in the opposite direction, toward more and more statism. This is unfortunate, and Rand shares some of the blame for this.
There are pockets of acceptance of libertarianism, mostly in economic thought. Thanks to her and her fellow-thinkers such as Hayek, Friedman and Mises, planned command economy has been discredited.
But I think that her inability to reach beyond that is in the falsehood of the ethical system of Objectivism. Intuitively, all have an understanding of good and evil, and most find her ethical system inattractive. The falsity of her moral philosophy shows through in her sneering attitude toward charity, acceptance of abortion (I know that many libertarians these days are pro-life, for reasons extraneous to libertarianism), indifference toward cultural values, and myopic views on immigration and foreign trade.
Do you believe that a person can be best satisfied by charity or earning their own way with their own abilities. Is man more moral living off their own accomplishments or off of other people's efforts?
I admit that I haven't read everything she has written, and I have a lot of reading to do. As a result, I have never seen her official view on abortion. Where does she discuss it?