[ReleaseTheHounds]

After Obama's election, I felt the need to re-read "The Fountainhead" which I've done every 10-15 years or so (Atlas Shrugged is too difficult a read to repeat more than every 20 years). So I thought I'd share an occasional excerpt from Ms. Rand when I see one that seems particularly appropriate in this Age of Obama. In case it's not obvious, the emptiness of Ellsworth Toohey's rhetoric reminds me of a certain politician -- and the mindless followers of Toohey remind me of that politician's followers. Lessons to be learned (or remembered) from a great book.

[aWolverine]

What is that quote about those not knowing history? They are doomed to...something, something...

[ArchAngel1983]

Yeah, but what will they do when there’s nobody left to TAX?

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[elkfersupper]

Ayn Rand should be quoted as often as possible, even after enunciating or otherwise disseminating such quotes are deemed to be sedition.

[NavySon]

I recently read “Think Twice,” a play written by Ayn Rand, and I thought this line was appropriate what with all the bailouts, tax breaks for only the lower class, and overall government “help” the liberals are bringing, and will continue to bring us:

“We can protect ourselves against men who would do us evil. But God save us from the men who would do us good! ...I’m setting men free. Free to suffer. Free to struggle. Free to take chances. But free...”

[Elvina]

The girl who introduced me to Ayn Rand in college in 1988 was the same girl who I remember crying hysterically when George H.W. Bush was elected that year. It makes me wonder how any liberal or Democrat could read Ayn Rand and what they are thinking when they read it.

[NavySon]

“So you say money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?” - Ayn Rand

[Disambiguator]

I'm reading Atlas Shrugged right now (for some additional perspective), and now I see why it has never been made into a movie. Some of the "dialogues" are nothing less than full-blown philosophical dissertations. It wouldn't translate well to the screen, and the message is anathema to Hollyweird.

[word_warrior_bob]

The Fountainhead was a great movie.

[Thomas Newton]

John Galt is paying me $250,000 for each sonnet I write but do not publish.

[ladyvet]

I have both, it’s intense reading. Not for the timid. Lent them out never saw them again....I hate that!

So as a matter of fact I JUST re-ordered both of them from Amazon. They arrived yesterday. Winter reading in front of the fire place you know.

[callisto]

Good thread. I find this statement to be relevant lately.

“The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”
(’Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal’ 1966)

[ScottSS]

Just read Anthem, 3/4 through fountainhead right now. Interesting corollaries

[montag813]

Every child must read Brave New World, Animal Farm and The Fountainhead.

[driftless2]

They made a movie of The Fountainhead (1949) starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal (ooh la la) that was amazingly faithful to the book.