I love this article. Possibly because it makes me think of my high school literature teacher. When I was a Junior, I noticed a book sitting on his shelf. It was called "The Ayn Rand Reader." I asked my teacher if I could look at it as I am a huge lover of her work. He was not. In fact, he asked me to see the book. Opened the cover, wrote something on the inside. It said, "Use this as a door stop." I thanked him for the gift.

I still have that book 7 years later. I have read it from cover to cover and will never use it as he suggested.

Snowden is a hero in my eyes. He has risked so much to do what is right. Maybe not "legal" per our laws but none the less right. I am eager to see if he releases anymore information....

AR would have understood better than most, just exactly what those consequences were. It gave what she wrote such stark truth, that I fail to understand what so many find fault with in her writings. Boggles the mind, really!

Hello Mr. Desapio,

I very much enjoyed this piece. It is quite an interesting comparison. The parallels are plain.

Snowden may have broken the law, but the law was made by fallible men, and justice is not served by such a law.

Injustice is promoted when laws violate the supreme law.

O.A.

I enjoyed your article, thank you. I've read a couple of her books and they had a profound effect on me, I'm no expert but I did get it and just believed you. Anyway while Snowden is interesting the content of what he has is the focus. The prism slides were telling and I hope the content get's more coverage than he does. I hope he get's to publish all he has and never gets apprehended. You listening NSA?

He's my hero...by any name.

at first I felt the pivoting between characters was going to be a hard sell, but the dynamite analogy was wonderful and apropos.
“I’m not brave enough to be a coward,” she once said, because “I see the consequences too clearly.” It’s the kind of thing Edward Snowden might have said, explaining why he turned himself into the world’s most wanted fugitive."

I noticed!

But I bow to your knowledge of Ayn Rand, and admit that I am an amateur by comparison! If you had doubts, then I want to find out why.

Let me figure this one out by myself, and I will raise the 'white flag' if I get stuck.

Actually, I see Snowden as a combination of several of the Rand characters, but not a perfect example of any one.

"Snowden is Galt but mostly resembles Roark? Hunh?"

I can see that, based upon the op-ed.

I actually am sorry to have read this article, since it gives away the ending of We The Living, which I am just reading for the first time...!

I added a "SPOILER ALERT" note to the post description as well.

My assessment? My assessment was that I didn't get the writer's assessment. :S

I hope that we just did this for others!

Great find, and I will be rereading it until I come to your assessment. ;-)

I was thinking that same thing as I was reading - "it'd be nice if this guy would say SPOILER ALERT once in a while."

An interesting article. I still believe the country and the Constitution can be saved. However if I were a Quinten Daniels in my workshop and heard the words "Are you ready?" I would go to the Gulch.