Honest people are never touchy about the matter of being trusted.

The libertarian portion of my being has been turgid ever since the fifth of November. It has ebbed and flowed in steep juxtaposition with the markets and my 401k. I have become enraged with the demonization of profits and the exaltation of the ignorant. I have screamed over the snowy beaches of Lake Michigan passages of our Declaration of Independence, that "...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." And to my surprise, I heard an answer coming back from the other side of the lake.

When Rick Santelli called for a Chicago "Tea Party", my libertarian essence wasn't the only thing that was turgid. I set myself a goal to read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" so that I can quote relevant passages to a willing audience.

So you think that money is the root of all evil? Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

Long story short, I ordered a hardcover edition on Amazon for $22.92 from a user named noah74. However, what I received was a sodding used paperback edition worth $6.39!

The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.

BITE ME