UM Mess will Get Uglier

In the Missoulian last week. I made several comments predictiing the rape and coverup mess at the University of Montana will get much worse and uglier. I've lived in Missoula for a long time and I've heard rumors of UM football players getting away with all kinds of things where the UM administration and local law enforcement have looked the other way. I think it finally reached the tipping point and we are going to find out a lot of very ugly and seriously disturbing things in the coming months. I am shocked, but not suprised, that rape and sexual assault have been tolerated at the U, protecting type of student over another (football player over women). I am the father of two daughters and a son and fear for my girls and am glad one is out of UM and one is attending another U. I warned those who are defending the U and the behavior of the few who are destroying its reputation to hang on because we haven't seen the half of what is going to happen yet.

Finally Reading Atlas Shrugged... Wow.

I've had a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand for about 25 years.  I purchased it a few years after graduating from college thinking I would have the time to read that massive volume but quickly discovered that the real world of career, marriage and raising a family was the priority.  I also have to admit I was very intimidated by the sheer size of the book and talked myself out of it every time I considered starting it.

A few weeks back, I was sorting through a a box of old books and pulled it out.  I took it to my chair after pouring myself a glass of Johnny Walker Black Label and started to read.  I've been reading it now almost every evening when I get home from work and I am now kicking myself for putting it off for so long.

The book is incredible.  Ayn Rand is a fantastic writer and the content of the story is relevant even to this day even though the book was published in 1957.  I keep saying to myself I need to get on THR 2.0 and blog about the book.  Today is that day.

I am about 30% though the book and ran across this passage last night that I found so true. It is Dr. Ferris explaining to Henry Rearden, the self made man of Reardon Steel, the reason government has laws as he ( Ferris) is attempting to blackmail Rearden into giving up Reardon Metal to the State Science Institute.

Did you really think we want those laws observed? said Dr. Ferris. We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.

There are many other speeches throughout the book I underlined as they are so clear in explaining the difference between free markets and government controlled markets.  Not only is Ayn an amazing writer, her ability to predict the future we are in now is astonishing.