Ayn Rand Has A Point

Ayn Rand, in her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, insists we must decide why humans needs a code of ethics before we select and craft that code of ethics. I agree. Here is what she writes on Page 14: "Let me stress this. The first question is not: What particular code of values should man accept? The first question is: Does man need values at all--and why.". I have my own suggestions. First, good and evil are moral qualities metaphysically baked into all human activity. As a smart species, we have free will, so a moral code of rights and wrongs, and dos and don'ts, will aid us in staying on the right track. Also, God made us, and for us to be happy, loved, loving and fulfilled, we need to become morally and spiritually good or we will be filled with sadness, despair and a bottomless self-loathing, from which there is no escape. As an atheist, materialist and egoist, I assumed Rand is a believer in good human nature, or neutrality of nature, and she will reject out of hand any suggestion of divine command ethics with rewards and punishments meted out by God in this world and the next.