Ayn Rand published Atlas Shrugged in 1957. It’s a cautionary tale about the doom loop created by destroying one of mankind’s most distinguishing characteristics – our drive to achieve. Her tale is beginning to look disturbingly familiar.
Atlas Shrugged is a fictional story of a dystopian world in which government functionaries – led by a bureaucrat named Wesley Mouch – attempt to control all aspects of the economy. Mouch and his merry band of regulators use the power of government to assist some companies, while hindering others, so that all may share the country’s wealth equally. But Mouch’s application of unlimited government power manages instead to destroy the incentives driving the world’s most industrious to excel.
In opposition to Mouch, an engineer named John Galt leads a movement in which the world’s most efficient producers go on strike. They simply quit. One by one, the titans of industry close their businesses, liquidate their assets, and disappear – leaving an ungrateful country to continue without them. At Galt’s encouragement, those who had gladly born the weight of the world on their shoulders – for a profit – choose to shrug off their burden, and go their separate way.
But without those capitalists the machinery of commerce slowly grinds to a halt. The cities fall into darkness, the railroads stop moving cargo, store shelves run empty, and the population descends into a struggle to survive.
“Who is John Galt?” becomes a common expression of despair for people that have lost hope.
Is Ayn Rand’s fictional world beginning to look familiar? Our government subsidizes some businesses while it chokes others – because the mismanaged are “too big to fail.” Our most efficient producers are villainized as price-gouging profiteers and are punished with confiscatory taxes – to make them “pay their fair share.” Energy sources are left untapped to "save the planet." Commitment to ESG practices encourages investment for social justice rather than business performance – rewarding mediocrity. Our engine of commerce is showing the neglect.
- California accepts roving blackouts as the new normal.
- The streets of our largest cities are littered with the homeless.
- Interest on our national debt is corroding the foundation of our economy.
- The cost of energy is bankrupting consumers in the most energy abundant country of the world.
- Trains are derailing and parts are falling from airplanes as we direct our attention at the racism of our highways.
- Government work has become the fastest growing employment sector in our country.
As we witness the beginning stages of civilizational failure, our government demands that we accept less freedom so that it may have even more control. We’re to trust the very government that can no longer effectively perform the most basic functions prescribed by the Constitution. It assures us that centralized control will address the problems we face … this time.
Who is John Galt? He is everyone who manufactures a product which consumers want, or provides a service which society needs. He is the “deplorable” that the elites deride as they depend on the crops he grows, the products he forges from raw materials, the life sustaining goods which he delivers to their doorsteps, and the 21st century infrastructure which he maintains.
John Galt is everyone who wants the government to leave him alone as he works to enrich himself, his family, and his community. He is everyone the radicals seek to enslave – demanding that he produce what he can, while receiving only what the regulators deem he needs. History is replete with civilizations which have failed trying to realize that Marxist vision. Voters should consider that when politicians ask us to give up freedom so that they can control prices, “spread the wealth around,” and transition to a “green economy.”
It’s unsurprising that almost 8 out of 10 Americans think the country is on the wrong path. We see the engine of commerce struggling, and we instinctively understand that destroying initiative undermines our ability to survive. “Who is John Galt?” hasn’t become popular lexicon … yet. But the despair signified by the phrase is inevitable – unless we change paths.
Our elected representatives have promised to bring the Wesley Mouches of our government to heal for over 40 years. They have failed. To change the path of our federal government, we must act ourselves – with amendments to the Constitution. Visit conventionofstates.com to see how.
