The virtue of justice requires that individuals should be esteemed for their accomplishments, and not because of their family heritage or "noble" birth. The cult of aristocracy remains strong even in the United States, a country supposedly founded on the principle that all are created equal and that persons of humble origins could rise to high positions. A popular fascination not only with wealthy American "dynasties" but even with members of the British royal family reveals an atavistic strain of snobbery, as if the American Revolution had been repealed. Elitism of this sort is incompatible with a rational ethics and is firmly opposed by the egoist. The obsession with aristocracy again has its roots in the failure to take the mental responsibility to evaluate individuals by applying a standard of objective value to their actions.

The same failure can be observed in a trend that Rand called "the cult of moral grayness" (). Because "there is some good and some bad in everyone," it is asserted, we should not make moral judgments. By similar reasoning, one might contend that because perfect health is rare or non-existent, doctors should not make medical evaluations, and their patients should not aspire to healthy life styles. Both arguments rest on the same fallacious assumption: that only all-or-nothing assessments can be meaningful or useful. In both ethics and medicine, discriminating judgment is needed, even when all is not black and white. Whatever minor virtues a Hitler may have exhibited, we need to condemn him and his actions in the clearest terms. Whatever minor flaws our heros may possess, we nevertheless need to extend our praise and gratitude to them.