Soundings, December 2004

"Viewers saw Mr. Trump hire Kelly Perdew, who triumphed over the seventeen other candidates in the course of the season-long reality television show. And who is Mr. Perdew? A West Point graduate who completed the Army's ranger training and, according to the 'Apprentice' Web site, served two years as a military intelligence officer. 'My military experience will really help me,' Mr. Perdew told Entertainment Weekly.

"In promotional material on the show's Web site, Mr. Perdew says that if he had a super power he would use it to 'help the thousands of brave Americans putting their lives on the line to protect our freedom.' He lists The Fountainhead, a libertarian tract by Ayn Rand, as among his favorite books." Ira Stoll, "The Apprentice," New York Sun, December 20, 2004.

"[Michael Crichton's] State of Fear, with a first printing of 1.5 million copies, resembles Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged—about six million copies sold since 1957—as a political broadside woven into an entertaining story. But whereas Rand had only an idea—a good one (capitalism is splendid), but only one—Crichton has information. State of Fear is the world's first page-turner that people will want to read in one gulp (a long gulp—six hundred pages, counting appendices) even though it has lots of real scientific graphs, and footnotes citing professional journals." George F. Will, Washington Post Writers Group, December 26, 2004.

"As with most biopics, the central character [in Martin Scorsese's biographical film The Aviator] becomes a hero surrounded by lesser folk. [Howard] Hughes is turned, rightly or wrongly, into a Nietzschean superman of the kind extolled by Ayn Rand (especially in The Fountainhead), a visionary triumphing over inferior, jealous persons who stand in his way." Philip French, "Howard's Trend," The Observer, December 25, 2004.

"Hey, I love Christmastime. And the earlier it starts, the better. I don't really mind the traffic.

"Or the commercialism. (I love what author Ayn Rand wrote back in 1976: '…the street-decorations put up by the department stores and other institutions—the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only "commercial greed" could afford to give us.

"'One would have to be terribly depressed,' she wrote, 'to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.'

"And a hearty Bah! Humbug! to those who bemoan it, I say.

"But a lot of the seasonal music—and I use the term 'music' loosely—that's something I can do without." Tom Murse, Lancaster New Era, December 6, 2004.

"It is not the function of any company to assume the role of a parent and actively prevent consumers from engaging in unhealthy behavior. As long as a company informs its customers of the potential risks associated with using a product, it has fulfilled its moral obligation.

"Novelist Ayn Rand said, 'Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment, and nothing can help you escape it.' A free society demands the responsibility for choosing whether or not to smoke, and accepting that consequences of that decision rest solely with the individual." Cindy McReynolds, "Truth Campaign Puts Consumers' Responsibility on Corporations," The Battalion (of Texas A&M), November 23, 2004.

"After having led a scheme to distribute cocaine for just under two years, the federal government had charged me with offenses that could result in my spending the rest of my life in prison…. I am responsible for the bad decisions of my early adulthood, despite my not thinking very clearly during that difficult transition between adolescence and maturity. Rather than making independent and prudent choices, I was listening [to] and influenced by those around me….

"By the time my criminal proceedings had concluded, the judge who had presided over my trial had imposed a term of forty-five years. The laws under which I was convicted would require me to serve over twenty-six years of that term in prison….

"My jailers moved me to a walled, high-security prison in Atlanta. That transfer took me across the country, far away from my family and friends in Seattle. Visits would come rarely as I began that nadir-phase of my life. Still, books brought me solace…. Plato ushered me into the world of wisdom, inspiring me to learn more. I began to study formally, setting small goals, steps that would help me work toward an undergraduate and graduate degree. Although I could not attend university, books brought the learning to me.

"Besides the books required for my schoolwork, I sought others that would introduce me to great minds and ways of life that I had not known previously. One of my earliest favorites was Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, which inspired me to make the most of my life, despite the obstacles in which I was mired. Over time, I read all of Rand's published works, as I came to identify with her personal pursuit of excellence." Michael Santos, "My Literary Escape from Punishment," http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-3-2275.jsp

From an interview with Olympic swimmer Kalyn Keller, a student at the University of Southern California: "What's the last book you read and how many stars out of five would you give it?"

"Kalyn: Technically (laughs) that would be a text book! (Pause) The last book I read was Sean Hannity's Deliver Us from Evil. I like the political books. I'd give it as many stars as possible. I also like Ayn Rand. She is my favorite author. I don't watch many TV shows. I know, I know. I must sound like a nerd. But I just love reading, because you can learn and get so much out of it."

"Ayn Rand, the author of The Fountainhead and inventor of objectivism, was perhaps the foremost exponent of the unfettered philosophy of laissez-faire capitalism. She originated 'the concept of man as a heroic being' with 'productive achievement as his noblest activity.' Her books and beliefs remain popular today. Eddie Lampert, the Wunderkind behind the recent merger of retailers Sears and Kmart, is apparently an advocate." Timothy Johnson, "Why We Want to Make Money," The Sunday Telegraph, December 12, 2004.