First, we want to thank those of you who participated in the inaugural Right Scoop contest. We’d also like to thank our friends at FTR Radio for their assistance in promoting this event. We had fun with this and hope you did too. One of the great American novels of the twentieth century, Atlas Shrugged is eerily relevant to what’s taking place in America. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
The competition was tough and as much as we’d love to give everyone prizes, we’re not socialists. Without further ado (drum roll please) the winners are… Ozzie and Christopher DiEugenio!!!! Congrats! Honorable Mentions include Cody Acosta and Rshill7. Take a look at what Ozzie and Christopher had to say, respectively:
Ozzie
We often hear or even use the phrase American Exceptionalism without really understanding what it means, and perhaps that’s because it’s not something can be understood in words….it is dynamic, it has to be seen. Over the past few years, as we’ve gotten to know each other on these forums, there have been times of exceptional accomplishment and, more often, desperation. There have been times where I have been ready to just accept that things are changing because even after major wins in 2010 the establishment government types still spit in our faces. That internalized conflict of hopelessness in the face of an overwhelming enemy is the Atlas Shrugged’s most compelling statement.
Atlas Shrugged is the argument for a necessary human attribute – the will to fight. The unrelenting attitude that says, “Damn it we’re going to make it, and not you or the hand of your bureaucratic god is going to get in our way”. In that way, this movie provides hope, an illustration of what we are supposed to be as Americans, and with it a sort of road map to how to depend on each other and give to each other in support of our America. A society where a single person with courage to continue to fight, while the people around them are abandoning ship or being destroyed, can still make waves and create the world they want to live in. I’ll admit, I have not read the book, and have only seen the movie, so if this message is not exactly the same as that of the book then I might not truly understand it. However, it is something to be proud of if that is the message the audience comes away with. It was an unexpected result from seeing this movie, but it’s the only way to explain it. Even when things are bad, the characters put you in the moment that this country is still worth fighting for, and that the government can take everything you own, but it could only take the immaterial if you give it up. For every conservative in this “battle” this movie should light that fire again, if you have lost it; and for those that are still fighting it should further your resolve. Atlas Shrugged is virtually ‘American Exceptionalism’ played out for all to see and understand. It’s an important message that gets lost on occasion, but thankfully, there are still good people holding the line and I’m glad to see this movie come out, when I didn’t think we were going to get the sequel.
Christopher DiEugenio
I am a former military officer and I served in Iraq as recently as 2011. After returning home from the deployment and leaving the military, I returned home to Pennsylvania from Fort Riley, KS to be with my wife and my dying father-in-law.
Gene was a great guy and a wonderful father in law, even though I only knew him for a short year and a half. He taught me so much in so little time, and I kid you not, the one book that he begged me to read was Atlas Shrugged. He had it by his night stand, even though he could no longer see well enough to read and he embodied the American dream himself; as a retired Air Force Sergeant and lifelong hustler, Gene continued to use his keen capitalistic sense until shortly before he died. He sold coins.
Gene would buy silver coins and then resell them for a small profit, but this activity kept him vital and interested in life. I firmly believe that even though he could hardly even move about his small house, he lived for his little business. It drove him to continue on, and gave him a reason to get up in the morning. He and I would watch “Storage Wars” together, which he told me that he wished he were well enough to go around and buy and sell storage units, too. I know he would have been great at something like that and it made me think that I needed to grab life before it passed me by, as well.
But back to Ayn Rand; Gene always referred to Atlas Shrugged, so eventually I took the hint and started to read. Atlas Shrugged reaffirmed all of the things that I felt or had heard through Mark Levin on the radio and others through the years, but it framed it in such a perfect way and in a wording that seemed magical in the sense that every paragraph was pure gold.
When I left the military, I told myself that I was going to make it on my own and that I was glad to have served but also glad to have gotten off of the back of the taxpayer. It took me 5 months, but it was one of the proudest moments of my life when I was offered a job and really did begin to “make it on my own” in a way that I know Gene was smiling down on.
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In order to claim your fabulous prizes Ozzie and Christopher, you’ll need to email your mailing information to [email protected]. Be sure to put “Contest” in the subject line.
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Atlas Shrugged Part 2 hits theatres October 12, so be sure to check it out on the silver screen. If you missed my exclusive interview with the Atlas Shrugged producer, you can find it here. Not sure if Atlas Shrugged Part 2 will be playing at a theatre near you? No problem! You can demand Atlas here.
Happy watching!