The public interest ..."

“'The common good' (or 'the public interest') is an undefined and undefinable concept: there is no such entity as 'the tribe' or 'the public'; the tribe (or the public or society) is only a number of individual men. Nothing can be good for the tribe as such; 'good'' and 'value' pertain only to a living organism—to an individual living organism—not to a disembodied aggregate of
relationships.
    “'The common good' is a meaningless concept, unless taken literally, in which case its only possible meaning is: the sum of the good of all the individual men involved. But in that case, the concept is meaningless as a moral criterion: it leaves open the question of what is the good of individual men and how does one determine it? ...
    "So long as a concept such as 'the public interest' (or the 'social' or 'national' or 'international' interest) is regarded as a valid principle to guide legislation [however, then] lobbies and pressure groups will necessarily continue to exist. 

    "Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others."

~ Ayn Rand, a composite quote from her essays 'What is Capitalism?' and 'The Pull Peddlers,' collected in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal