Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of competitors into a given field, by legislative action.
Ayn Randevery man is free to rise as far as he's able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he'll rise.
Ayn RandFor the coming of that day shall I fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor.
Ayn RandWhen men abandon reason, physical force becomes their only means of dealing with one another and of settling disagreements.
Ayn RandBut I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word "I," could give it up and not know what they lost. But such has been the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them.
Ayn Rand