The nature of compromise…

“When men reduce their virtues to the approximate, then evil acquires the force of an absolute, when loyalty to an unyielding purpose is dropped by the virtuous, it’s picked up by scoundrels—and you get the indecent spectacle of a cringing, bargaining, traitorous good and a self-righteously uncompromising evil.”
-Ayn Rand

Long-shot candidates pose a threat

When Democrats took control of the House in 2006, Michael Montagano was a fresh-faced Indiana University Law School graduate without any serious political ambitions.

Two years later, in the midst of a long-shot bid against Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) in a deeply conservative northeast Indiana district, the 27-year-old attorney could find himself swept into Congress if a sizable Democratic wave hits on Tuesday.
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Just ignore the man behind the curtain…

“It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”
- Ayn Rand

Timeless witticisms from our forebears

“The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who’s going to stop me.”
-Ayn Rand

Bailout action moving at brisk pace

As Treasury plan accelerates, chances increase that Congress may soon vote on releasing rest of $700B.
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The Unfree Market Has Failed

Washington, D.C. – “Everyone is blaming ‘the free market’ for today’s financial crisis,” observed Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. “But we should be blaming the unfree market. The mortgage and financial markets have been thoroughly controlled by government–and that is why they failed.

“It was the government’s hand in the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve Board’s inflationary policy of keeping interest rates artificially low, the irrational lending standards forced on lenders by the federal Community Reinvestment Act, and the quasi-official policy of bailing out large financial institutions deemed too big to fail, that contributed to creating a situation in which millions of people were buying homes they could not afford, in which the participants experienced the illusion of prosperity, in which billions upon billions of dollars were going into bad investments.

“We do not need more regulation or economic ‘supervision.’ What we need to do is remove the government’s power to coerce, bribe, reward and bail out irrational decisions. The unfree market has failed. It’s time for a truly free market.”

Yaron Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and a contributing editor of The Objective Standard. His articles have been featured in major newspapers such as USA Today, the Houston Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Providence Journal and the Orange County Register. Dr. Brook is often interviewed on radio and is a frequent guest on a variety of national TV shows, having appeared in the new Fox Business Network, FOX News (The O’Reilly Factor, Your World with Neil Cavuto, At Large with Geraldo Rivera), CNN (Talkback Live and the Glenn Beck Program), CNBC (Closing Bell and On the Money), and C-SPAN. Dr. Brook, a former finance professor, lectures on Objectivism, capitalism, business and foreign policy at college campuses, community groups and corporations across America and throughout the world. To interview Dr. Brook or book him for your show, please contact Larry Benson: 949-222-6550, ext. 213 media@aynrandcenter.org

Sen. Clinton tells Democrats to fight for Obama

AP – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has urged fellow Democrats to work for Barack Obama’s election as president, telling them “we are on the same team and none of us can sit on the sidelines.”
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Effort aims to get kids outside

A resolution called ”No Child Left Inside” could result in millions more for environmental education – and a windfall for nonprofit groups hoping for more federal help getting children outside.
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Paulson says won’t stay at Treasury past January

Reuters – U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview aired on Sunday he had no interest in staying in his post beyond January when a new administration takes office.
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Timeless witticisms from our forebears

“An election is a sort of advance auction on the sale of stolen goods.”

- H.L. Mencken