• The Party of Work 
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Individualism  | [The original American creed] evolved with the decades. Starting in the mid-20th century, there was a Southern and Western version of it, formed by ranching Republicans like Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Their version drew on the traditional tenets: ordinary people are capable of greatness; individuals have the power to shape their destinies; they should be given maximum freedom to do so. This is not an Ayn Randian, radically individualistic belief system. Republicans in this mold place tremendous importance on churches, charities and families — on the sort of pastoral work Mitt Romney does and the sort of community groups Representative Paul Ryan celebrated in a speech at Cleveland State University last month. But this worldview is innately suspicious of government.      View blog reactions

• Workers of the World, Unite! 
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Individualism  |Syndicated  | The Republicans harvest their votes but have done a poor job responding to their needs. The leading lights of the party tend to be former College Republicans who have a more individualistic and even Randian worldview than most members of the working class.      View blog reactions

• A partnership of minds 
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I find [Douglas] Hofstadter’s social, dynamic, overlapping theory of self very congenial. It emphasizes how profoundly we are shaped by relationships with others, but it’s not one of those stifling, collectivist theories that puts the community above the individual. It exposes the errors of those Ayn Rand individualists who think that success is something they achieve through their own genius and willpower.      View blog reactions

•The dream of first-class reconciliation among rival blue bloods 
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I dream of a great harmonic convergence among the obscenely rich — between Randian hedge fund managers on the right and helipad environmentalists on the left.      View blog reactions

•A house divided, and strong 
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Lack of internal philosophical debate as the cause of liberal failures.
In the early days of National Review, many of the senior editors didn't even speak to one another. Whittaker Chambers declared that the writings of Ayn Rand, a hero of the more libertarian right, reeked of fascism and the gas chambers. Rand called National Review 'the worst and most dangerous magazine in America.'      View blog reactions