"But the award for absolute worst misunderstanding of Atlas Shrugged has to go to Idaho state senator John Goedde. Goedde said the book taught him personal responsibility and convinced his son to be a Republican. So when he found himself angry with some of the changes in his state's graduation requirements, he introduced (largely symbolic) legislation requiring all students to read Atlas Shrugged before they graduate.

That's right: Worried that your students are growing up believing the government has the right to coerce them into doing things? Why, better have the government coerce them into reading a book against government coercion! That'll do the trick!"
... though schools do assign Anthem, along with Call of the Wild, Lord of the Flies, etc.

Rand's fiction sets such a high bar, she did not create a bunch of follow-on writers, like say, Clancey. Another issue has been the co-opting of capitalism by conservatives who really aren't as interested in capitalism as they are in creating a theocracy (many in this site will disagree with me on this point). Among Objectivists, I find this insular behavior that pushes people away. I am not suggesting we shouldn't be consistent philosophically, but it's the difference between the professor always saying "you're wrong!" and the professor that's happy for what one has learned and happy to discuss the finer details and encourage more discussion.
One turn-off for me with Objectivism, I think it was in the Donahue interviews, Rand stated that very few people are deserving of love. I found that to be outrageous and frankly arrogant. In fact, when the society is freer, one sees everyday heroes all around them. a small example: somebody posted about this documentary in the Gulch recently, I just can't remember who-(if you read this, give yourself credit. lol) Anyway, these people creating these amazing telescopes and studying the stars. just wow. anyway, here is a link to that documentary-a real treat to watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKDjSCx-8...

Well said.