Ayn Rand wasn't equivocal. She understood the context you referred to and knew how to apply her principles to it. She urged spreading the correct ideas to change the culture, not sacrificing yourself to the one you were born in to.

Ayn Rand did not argue that collectivism is seductive. She showed how the course of a culture depends on its dominant ideas and urged the spread of the right ideas.

"Atlas" turned out to be prophesy, didn't it? It's uncanny how it portrays the Obama administration.

there is talk about "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness". But I dont see anything about how the government should not take from one to give to another. If that could be put into the constitution, I think that the lobbyists would disappear from washington to a large extent, along with the $200 m that people give to elect a particular president (and then want goodies in return)

No, no. That was to _you_, not general discussion. Your prior email made me think that you would be interested in such feedback. I cannot seem to send you a private email.

Jan

"cg did not grow up in Madison. "
I actually am from Madison. I was born in Madison General hospital, the same place my wife and two kids were born. She lived in DC working at Arnold and Porter. We moved back within a few years of each other and met at a bar (technically it was a "young professionals" event) downtown. :)

We are independent-minded, none of the stuff you say. My wife knows Hillary Clinton only through a colleague. I think if she got involved in the sausage making, she'd get disgusted. I am in no way close enough to any politicians to know which stories about shenanigans are true.

Our neighbors have chickens. I heard you can't have roosters b/c of the noise. One of our kids is nicknamed the rooster b/c he makes a lot of noise first thing in the morning.

You should not take into account the emotional aspects of the story, which I said were not relevant to this at all. I stand by the need to be cautious in assessing others' motives. I'm amazed at how my mind has come up with narratives that turn out to be false, even when I'm think I'm not drawing conclusions before I have facts.

Regarding the part about emails, I was just saying in other forums I would have more room to share ideas.

Regarding this stuff about me being tricky, I don't get it. Policy is strictly an avocation for me. I go through periods of not reading the papers, depending on what's going on. You've come up with this narrative that I'm in the world of selling policies, and it's just not true.

"short comments, lots of unpleasant labels, and no discussion"
Yes. Not hard to find, for sure.

"But if you are not a troll, but your communication style makes people you find interesting repeatedly think that this is your goal, then you might wish to take that under advisement."

If we're taking the impression of other people's goals under advisement, let me speculate on why people might think I'm malicious: "But wait, Rand is about dividing people into group identities and asking all members of the group to agree on everything. You either accept the list of pre-agreed-upon conclusions as a whole, or you're being tricky. You cannot think for yourself in this group, but you must pretend to."

We do not need to take these guesses under advisement. We should just stick to the actually topics.

Or civics.
I had to pass civics in high school, and support the few states that are trying to bring this course back.

I agree with Ayn Rand's basic tenets of her philosophy. I'm a Revolutionary at heart. I even took one semester course in college back in the early seventies on Revolution. (graduated with a BA in 1973) So, I have a mixed philosophy on how I see the world. But, this is an excellent forum to express various ideas on Objectivism and other associated schools of thought.

I have misplaced my copy and have not read it for decades. This is not bad because I re-read it so many times when it came out that I was really burned out on it for a while.

I think it is time for me to get another copy now. Thanks for the reminder.

Jan

The KOS? I love it. I used to zing it under a variety of name, such as, Elmer Gantry, Lucy Indastars, and Gaye Cava Lear. That was years ago when it was getting started They are probably more sophisticated today.

I am a fan of Ayn Rand, but by no means an expert or strict adherent of.

Why am I here??

Because I enjoy the company and interesting discussions.

Even with the ones I disagree with the most...

Have you ever tried running, hosting, and developing a website? It is a lot more expensive and time consuming than most people think. Yes, there are ads with the free version (I think, I don't remember anymore), but the storage, bandwidth, electricity, backup, development time, maintenance.. all of that adds up. My company has a relatively simple website and it cost us $80,000 just the first year (including development). It is not a cost to be taken lightly.

I wonder how they would have done if crony capitalism wasnt allowed in our constitution somehow. I suspect enron relied a lot on government to do what it did

Actually this the best reason I have heard. Maybe there shouldnt be a "producer" upgrade at all. Just a subscription charge to keep the regular website going. I just didnt see why I would want to be a "producer". I thought AS1 was good, but fell off the mark on AS2 and particularly AS3. Must be the cost to produce it, and the lack of attendance at the showings.

Since public schools do not teach critical thinking, we should expect the politics we have.

What she said. Value for value.

http://i.imgur.com/4CxcF4x.jpg

My love for my husband is based on reason. My love is an expression of my admiration for the person he is. I see that with my rational mind.

Hmmm, is a fan of Howard Stern fundamentally different from a fan of AR?

I've often called Atlas Shrugged the greatest book ever written even though it contains one-dimensional main characters and a number of other literary flaws. AR made those characters one-dimensional for a reason, though. They stood as archetypes. The greatness wasn't in any single aspect of the characters or the writing, it was in the message that was so well delivered - the introduction of Objectivism to the general populace.

I submit that, without the underlying message of Objectivism, AS isn't a compelling book. I'm going to take a LOT of dren for this, I expect, but purely as a novel the plot and characters aren't top-notch. (Stop, don't shoot, PLEASE!) Based on that I'd say that it's likely that a fan of AR is a fan of her message, the philosophy, and less a fan of the more superficial aspects of her novels.

To quote Dennis Miller, "That's just me. I could be wrong."

Where's the address I asked you for?

There is nothing wrong with emotion after all we all have emotions. Just as long as our decisions are made on rational objective reasoning.