Atlas Shrugged

Tuesday, 7 April
0630

Do you wonder what's gone wrong with our economy and our world? Why things seem so out of control, and why nothing the government does seems to help? How did we get into this mess, and what on earth can we do to get out of it? Please take a look at this page, and watch the videos from the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. If you think the message is important, please send the link to others:

The Ayn Rand Institute

The background story:

When I was in high school and would ask my dad questions about the economy or philosophy, sometimes he would just say "son, you should read Atlas Shrugged". Naturally, like any adolescent kid receiving fatherly advice, I ran out and read it right away (NOT!!).

But he said it often enough that when I was in the British Bookstore in Frankfurt a few years later, looking for something to read during an extended Army field exercise, Atlas Shrugged caught my eye and I remembered him having told me to read it. So I bought it and took it with me. I started reading it once we got out to Hohenfels Training Area, and I found I had a hard time putting it down.

That was July 1983.

To put it mildly, I was electrified.

When I got back to Frankfurt I returned to the store immediately and bought every Ayn Rand book they had. Over the next few years I read everything she wrote that I could get my hands on. When I left active duty in the Army in 1985 and went to the University of Michigan Business School, I helped found the University of Michigan Students of Objectivism, which is still in existence today. I still find Rand's work relevant and interesting, and I support the Ayn Rand Institute and their work as best I can.

So, I am one of those people for whom reading this book was truly a life-changing event.

Today's events are strikingly familiar to readers of Atlas Shrugged. We can only hope that the ending to our own story is as positive and hopeful as the ending of the novel.

I recommend this book very highly, now more than ever.


Mood: Hopeful
Music: WoW background theme music