successful businessman makes a horrible governor.

They think that they are running the state for the bottom line of mythical shareholders, but conveniently seem to forget that the ONLY "shareholders" they should be concerned about are actually the citizens of the state. These "shareholders" should be getting services of the state rather than dividends.

To the extent these nincompoops cannot deliver on such services, they are failures. Ricketts can join the long line of GOP Governor failures, although not all of them were businessmen in another incarnation. They are, however, ALL wedded to the "no new taxes," fees-for-services, and privatization-of-public-services ideology of today's Republican Party.

The functions of the private sector and the public sector have different goals. Maximizing profits for the stockholders and owners of businesses is the primary goal of private sector employers. Providing efficient and effective services to the people that need services is the goal of the public sector.

Therefore, I have very little sympathy when I hear some businessowner complain about having to wait in line when they renew their drivers license or pay a fine at the municipal court. They are receiving the service (or lack thereof) that they funded.

My brother also has some libertarian friends who believe that all government is bad--even while they are collecting an unemployment check and trying out how to put forth the least amount of effort possible to collect that check such as not meeting the minimum number of job contacts to collect their checks. One of those friends is already in hot water with the unemployment commission because he didn't report what he earned one week when he did some part-time work, while another was selected for the "random audit" because he failed to log into the state job site to at least give the appearance that he was looking for a job.

shares, TT!

I have one voting-age grandson (still living at home with his parents, incidentally) who seems to be enthralled by Libertarian beliefs right now, although not wholeheartedly wedded to them. As I recall, my undergraduate years were when I first learned about Ayn Rand, as "Anthem" was making the rounds.

After reading more, however, I really couldn't see the point of her so-called objectivist philosophy, finding it mostly nonsense and hypocrisy.

I believe that youth and his companions are more responsible for my grandson's leaning towards Libertarianism right now than anything else and that he will, in the end, make good choices. He is basically quite sweet and empathetic and certainly has better role models in the family than most of his friends do. But it is sad that too many of his friends function along the lines you describe, without ever seeing the irony.

What is tragic is that we have too many in - or seeking - elective office who have "R" after their names and who are essentially sociopaths. Trump, e.g., seems to tick every checkbox. http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html