 “Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins” (Atlas Shrugged 1023). Not only actually shooting someone, but also threatening him with a gun, is an act of force. The non-initiation of force against others is the basic moral principle guiding our interactions with others, whether in a political society, or in the state of nature.  It is also the basic political principle: “no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. … Men have the right to use physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use” (1961b, 1964a: 36). This political principle binds not only individuals in their interactions with each other, but also, importantly, the government. Rand’s ideal society is a society of independent individuals who respect each other’s rights to life, liberty, and property, and who trade value for value, materially and spiritually.  They live, in her words, by “the trader principle”.  Individual rights and the trader principle are both dictated by the fact that, as rational, independent beings, we need to think and act for our “proper survival” (1961b: 31). Both are based in human nature, and required by respect for individuals as ends in themselves, not mere means to others’ ends. But what exactly is a right? 