Hello all, I'm so excited to have finally found a forum made up of intelligent people! Over the past few years, I've realized how incredibly rare such a grouping is. As for background, I'm 23 and a newly minted survivor of the progressive, logic-stifling higher education system. I am lucky enough to have grown up with parents encouraging me to read Atlas, which I did for the first time at 17. I entered an essay in the ARI Atlas contest right after I read it. This summer, I picked it up again and was astounded, again. I would love to get others' viewpoints on how to apply objectivist philosophies to life. And what I would give to see an Objectivist change politics!