Well I read the whole thing and have come to a few conclusion:
1) you never actually read Rand
2) you never understood it
3) you think people who support her philosophy understood it as little as you.
Here is the big problem, Rand, like any other philosopher certainly wasn't right in every aspect, especially in the case where human societies are messy and people don't act together (which was actually part of her point).
NONE of her points were that people should live outside of society. Your entire conclusion is that we don't. So you agree with her. Where you disagree is that you think people should be forced to do things in the name of altruism, and she does not.
Let's go through some of your "big" points.
Mask Mandates:
There was NEVER any evidence that outside masking worked. There is still none whatsoever. The first (a year and a half ago!) "Masks work" study was done on hamsters, inside, with air designed to contaminate one cage from another. It took over a day for even 1 healthy hamster to get sick with covid. There were BLM marches, Sturgis, and beachgoers crowding up and NONE of the contagion was initiated by those events. Instead all of the spread of the virus was done at bars, restaurants and hotel rooms, not to mention at home (75% is at home).
So government says "lets close the beach", they close the beach, and the kids go back to the their hotel rooms and spread the virus to each other. Puerto Rico had this even stronger, closed beaches, curfews, etc, and their covid rates shot up like everywhere else, because government (the FAA) told them they could not close their airport you know, in the name of altruism and knowing what is best for everyone.
You conflate government and society
New York is a famous example. Due to being altruistic for everyone, Cuomo used taxpayer money to compete against other states to grab all the ventilators and masks and other PPE. He admits himself his actions not only jacked up the price for everyone, but made them less available for everyone also. Did forced altruism for this society function well here?
Speaking of government using for for amazing altruism.... Did governors know or not know that Covid was coming? Could they, or could they not have prepped temporary facilities for covid patients like China did? So let's not pretend that leaders of centrally organized society have any particular ablities that the market doesn't have.
Is it altruistic to forcibly throw covid patients in with old vulnerable people in their nursing homes killing, literally thousands of them? Should leaders of industry trying to accommodate the PPE mandates and ventilator mandates by ramping up production be punished, or should Cuomo be in jail for that? Not just Cuomo either...
What more could leaders of industry have done?
What about those leaders of industry. I'm not sure what you do, but I know furniture makers, electronics packaging suppliers, and industrial filter manufacturers that switched over all their manufacturing to make ppe. Are you under the impression that Trump followed Rand? You must seriously not have read her. Trump is another collectivist, who uses power for self gain just like every other politician. The entire point of removing altruism from the government is to help prevent that. Of course, that silliness with General motors proved utterly useless. What would have helped? Get rid of the outside mask mandates, and the virtue-signaling government caused around masks facilities and encourage other to enter the ventilator market . remove patent protections, preventing people from copying designs and producing them. There are a thousand things that could have been done by freeing industry, rather than limiting it and picking winners and losers.
The supply chain WAS broken, due to government mandates and policies artificially jacking up demand for no reason. Meanwhile, the environmental and economic damage of these "altruistic" policies will be felt for a generation.
Why would there be no public health facilities? Why would there be no outreach? Would people stop being concerned for their families? Their friends? Would people not want good information, instead of the piss poor communication that was delivered by the CDC and government at all levels? Charities would exist, as they are not forced. If they suck and don't meet the goals of the donors, they won't be propped up forever by tax policy and subsidies.
I could go on forever with how badly you misunderstand an individualist position. I can go on far longer about how terrible using government for forced altruism has damaged us, financially, socially, and environmentally.
Let's look at the government that are super collectivist. Russia, india, brazil, italy, spain france. can you really say any of those did much better than anyone else? especially now as the death rates of the first three go totally out of control, 1.5 years later? United states isnt even top 20 in death rate. England, with their famed NHS is higher. we arent even that much different than most of europe.
But really the problem is that you should actually understand the topics you are writing about.
