What contribution, if any, did Ayn Rand make to philosophy?

[Liberal]

She is the only popular political philosopher that could be considered a libertarian, so her point of view is unique to many first-time readers.

She called libertarians “hippies of the right” and “anarchists”. See “Brief Summary,” The Objectivist, September 1971 and “What Can One Do?” Philosophy: Who Needs It, both by Ayn Rand. Also, see “Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty,” by Peter Schwartz in the Ayn Rand collection, The Voice of Reason.

Her principle living disciple, Harry Binswanger, with whom I’ve corresponded on more than one occasion, said:

The “libertarians”…plagiarize Ayn Rand’s principle that no man may initiate the use of physical force, and treat it as a mystically revealed, out-of-context absolute… In the philosophical battle for a free society, the one crucial connection to be upheld is that between capitalism and reason. The religious conservatives are seeking to tie capitalism to mysticism; the “libertarians” are tying capitalism to the whim-worshipping subjectivism and chaos of anarchy. To cooperate with either group is to betray capitalism, reason, and one’s own future.