A fascinating announcement via the Free State Project:
Lucille Davy, Special Counsel to the Acting Governor of New Jersey, Richard J. Codey, presented a Governor’s Proclamation to Ethan Nappen, State Finalist in the national reading-writing contest sponsored by the Library of Congress, Center for the Book. The contest is called Letters About Literature. After reading Anthem by Ayn Rand, Ethan composed a letter to the author as required by the contest rules. The Library of Congress received and judged over 50,000 entries. There were over 2,300 entries submitted from students across New Jersey. Ethan, who is in eighth grade, was one of 34 Level II (7th-8th grade) finalists.
New Jersey, which was just named the third most-indebted state in the U.S., is infamous for its overregulation of business, political corruption, erosion of personal freedom, distain for individual rights, aggressive enforcement of Malum Prohibitum laws, legal embrace of political correctness, and high taxation. Rand’s Anthem deals with a future society in which collectivism and the good of the State reign supreme over the individual and even the concept of individuality. It is therefore quite ironic that the Acting Governor of New Jersey “recognizes and commends” Ethan for an essay in praise of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism.
See the Free State Project’s original announcement for links to the winning letter, the governor’s proclamation, and a photo of the award ceremony.