FREE BOOK: Atlas Shrugged Giveaway

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Ayn Rand and especially Atlas Shrugged. This book changed my life in so many ways* when it comes to politics and government intervention. The events in the book are being played out everyday with our government. We live in an extraordinary time and right now is an amazing time to read/re-read this book to understand what all is happening. I am giving away one new copy of Atlas Shrugged to readers who leave a comment below. See how to win below...

*one which I do not agree with Rand is complete objectivism(religion), I lean more toward neo-objectivism based on my Christianity beliefs.

If you are not sure you want to read Atlas Shrugged, check out the Quote of the week section and see if it would be something interesting for you to read. It is over thousand pages and you have to read it slow to absorb everything, trust me you don't want to read it fast!

I am honored that a publicist from the The Ayn Rand Institute reached out to me and gave me a copy to give away to a lucky reader. She has been awesome with sending me articles and asking me if I want any interviews or editorial needs. You can find out more information on the The Ayn Rand Institute by clicking here.

To Win all you have to do is leave a comment and let me know why you are intrigued by Atlas Shrugged and why you would want to read it.

• Please leave only (1) comment below
• Contest will run for week and half till the weekend of Sept 12th, 2009
• Check back on 9/13 to see if you have won (I will also e-mail)
• Make sure your state allows you to win free prizes

Please tell your friends to check out the site and leave a comment

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Thomas Sowell: The Pattern of Failure

A coworker of mine who is a Ron Paul supporter gave me a book to read. Already 2 chapters into the book and it is blowing me away. The book is The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell

The interesting perspective I see is that it was written in 1996 and the ideas still apply today as they did in the past. I will give you an example how we are still seeing his thoughts played out. He starts off by pointing out the elitist, government-expanding crusaders share several key elements:

The following excepts are from The Vision of the Anointed by Thomas Sowell ©1996

1. Assertion of a great danger to the whole society, a danger to which the masses of people are oblivious.

2. An urgent need for government action to avert impending catastrophe.

3. A need for government to drastically curtail the dangerous behavior of the many, in response to the prescient conclusions of the few.

4. A disdainful dismissal of arguments to the contrary as either uninformed, irresponsible, or motivated by unworthy purposes.

He also points out patterns that have developed among the anointed for dealing with repeated failures of policies based on their vision.

The "Crisis"
Some situation exists, whose negative aspects the anointed propose to eliminate. Such a situation is routinely characterized as a "crisis," even though all human situations have negative aspects, and even though evidence is seldom asked or given to show how the situation at hand is either uniquely bad or threatening to get worse. Sometimes the situation described as a "crisis" has in fact already been getting better for years.

The "Solution"
Policies to end the "crisis" are advocated by the anointed, who say that these policies will lead to beneficial result A. Critics say that these policies will lead to detrimental result Z. The anointed dismiss these latter claims as absurd and "simplistic," if not dishonest.

The Results
The policies are instituted and lead to detrimental result Z.

The Response
Those who attribute detrimental result Z to the policies instituted are dismissed as "simplistic" for ignoring the "complexities" involved, as "many factors" went into determining the outcome. The burden of proof is put on the critics to demonstrate to a certainty that these policies alone were the only possible cause of the worsening that occurred. No burden of proof whatever is put on those who had so confidently predicted improvement. Indeed, it is often asserted that things would have been even worse, were it not for the wonderful programs that mitigated the inevitable damage from other factors.

There you have it...

The Significance Atlas Shrugged

From The Ayn Rand Institute

"I refuse to apologize for my ability -- I refuse to apologize for my success -- I refuse to apologize for my money."

The U.S. economy is in shambles, with every nightly newscast bringing word of new government interventions. Americans are alarmed and desperate for answers: How did we get here? How will we recover? That might sound like a description of today's world, but in fact it's also a sketch of the world Ayn Rand created in her classic novel Atlas Shrugged.

The tea parties testify to the outrage that many Americans feel toward Washington's explosive growth in the past few decades -- especially under Presidents Bush and Obama. Atlas Shrugged not only gives voice to this outrage, it provides both a profound explanation of the cause of today's crisis -- and a positive, radical solution to it.

Why is it that every problem seems to call for increased government intervention at the expense of freedom? Why is it that businessmen inevitably take the blame for any crisis? Why are the most competent, most successful Americans smeared as greedy and selfish? To these questions and many others, Atlas Shrugged gives answers unlike anything you've ever heard.

"Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns -- or dollars. Take your choice -- there is no other -- and your time is running out."


* * *

"If we who were the movers, the providers, the benefactors of mankind, were willing to let the brand of evil be stamped upon us, and silently to bear punishment for our virtues -- what sort of ‘good' did we expect to triumph in the world?"

* * *


'Yes, this is an age of moral crisis. You are bearing punishment for your evil. But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will now take the blame. It is your moral code that's through, this time. Your moral code has reached its climax, the blind alley at the end of its course. And if you wish to go on living, what you now need is not to return to morality . . . but to discover it."

Learn the meaning of these quotes -- and the revolutionary ideas behind them -- by picking up Atlas Shrugged. Discover why Ayn Rand held that nothing less than a total separation between state and economics can save this country. Discover Ayn Rand's defense of the individual's moral right to pursue his own happiness -- the indispensable precondition of his political right to pursue his own happiness. Discover a gripping novel that challenges today's intellectual mainstream and provides an alternative to the anti-freedom ideas that are undermining American liberty.

Discover Atlas Shrugged.

©2009 The Ayn Rand Institute