December 15, 2008
One of the books that we read in Omnibus is Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. In this massive, philosophically infused novel, Rand who escaped Soviet Communism tells a story about the pernicious effects of socialism in the world. In the world she presents the inventive, hard working, entrepreneurial folks find themselves continually fleeced by other slower working whiners who protect themselves by crying until someone gives them some government protection or subsidy—usually made up of money taken from—guess who?—the hard working, creative capitalists.
Recently, I have seen what appears to be the prophetic fulfillment of this novel in the legion of proposed bailouts. . . .
At times, I have wondered if perhaps concepts, lines and entire paragraphs are being lifted from
Rand
and simply entered into the congressional record. One almost has to wonder if some of these guys who were taking giant salaries while their company was failing have been reading Shrugged and have missed the point of the book.
Rand
and simply entered into the congressional record. One almost has to wonder if some of these guys who were taking giant salaries while their company was failing have been reading Shrugged and have missed the point of the book.
I am not, however, ready to declare Ms. Rand (a militant atheist) a prophet yet. We will put her to some sort of test first. In Atlas Shrugged, she describes what will happen next. She supposes that as the incentive to work is decreased (because government is going to take the money and give it away to someone whom they deem needy) people who love their work will begin to stop working as hard…or will stop working all together. Thus, Atlas (the ones who take the risk and do the work) will shrug and stop doing the work that provides for those who whine. This, doubtless, will occur if we continue down the path of bailout roulette. Seeing this is not enough to make her a prophetess. She also claims that those who live off of subsidy will eventually become violent and try to make the producers continue to produce with a gun to their heads. If she nails this one, I think that she should a least get consideration.
Has anyone found John Gault yet?
