• • • Sen. Ron Johnson tells the Atlas statue’s story 
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Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  |Ron Johnson  |Video  | Chances are, if you’ve driven in or out of Oshkosh on County Highway A, you’ve noticed a statue of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders, with the phrase, “Fight to be free” emblazoned at the base. The statue sits in the yard of Ganther Construction, a business owned by Oshkosh businessman Ben Ganther — and it was a topic of discussion in a recent interview with Sen. Ron Johnson.  

• • Voters deserve to see beyond the packaging 
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Atlas Shrugged  |Ron Johnson  | I think that candidates who want to represent us in Washington need to answer lots of questions. For instance, if Ron Johnson’s foundational book, “Atlas Shrugged,” is fundamentally flawed, is his entire philosophy on shaky ground?  

• • • Criticism of ‘Atlas’ is misunderstanding 
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Atlas Shrugged  |Egoism  | Rand’s is the only system of ideas ever conceived that both treats individuals as ends-in-themselves rather than the means to the ends of others, and claims that morality is declaring “I love my life” and acting accordingly, neither sacrificing oneself to others nor others to oneself.  

• • • Atlas Shrugged poor doctrine to follow 
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Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged  |Egoism  | I have called ‘Atlas Shrugged’ atheistic, materialistic and selfishness. Perhaps a better criticism of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is that it treats people as economic units instead of spiritual beings. ‘Atlas Shrugged’ considers John Galt a great man. ‘Atlas Shrugged’ would not think much of St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Theresa or Dorothy Day.  

• Becoming full-fledged husband a definite journey 
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I [...] considered myself an individual capable of independent thought and self-determination. Heck, Ayn Rand is one of my favorite authors. I self-employed right out of college. I was in control of my destiny, or so I thought.  

• •Author answers: Writer bands together with peers 
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Interview with author J.T. Ellison.
Q: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you? A: I'm a big Ayn Rand fan, and a big Plato fan. I think my favorite must be Rand's slim volume Anthem, which is a parable for Plato's Allegory of the Cave – humanity is shackled in a dark room and only shown interpretations of what reality is. [....] Anthem takes this timeless story and creates love out of hate, beauty out of ugliness, and freedom out of horrendous captivity. It's beautifully written and inspiring.