Letters to the Editor: Letter writer promulgates Ayn Rand propaganda

It's hard to believe Matt Gillum's letter proclaiming that "nothing in the world is more sacred than exorbitant wealth" is not a weak idea for a prank. Nothing more sacred than "vast sums of money"? Hmm, seems to me that there might be a few things more sacred. Let me think. Oh, this is hard. God, maybe? How about love? Or self-sacrifice? Even more ludicrous than this self-serving remark is his self-justifying assertion that all "exorbitant wealth" is earned, "accrued through effort, thought and production." Yes, I had to work very hard to figure out which mutual funds to put my inherited wealth in. It took a lifetime of work - and by a lifetime of work I mean a few hours in the library with Morningstar and Forbes magazine. Thank God - or should I say thank Exorbitant Wealth? - that the Bush administration wants to cut taxes on stock dividends. Then all my hard work will really pay off - and by hard work I mean liquid assets.

Does Gillum honestly believe that a poor kid growing up in a socially isolated, educationally mismanaged inner-city has the same opportunities that most of the other students at Duke have had? At least Gillum has the honesty to tell us that we at Duke should be proud because our "families have achieved - which gives me an idea. Why doesn't Duke simply make every student pay his or her own way through school - no family support allowed? Then perhaps we could see who truly has "earned" their position and not simply rationalized it through self-delusional Ayn Rand propaganda.