{"id":3229,"date":"2013-02-09T08:43:38","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T13:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/?p=3229"},"modified":"2013-09-20T15:08:21","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T19:08:21","slug":"who-is-john-galt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2013\/02\/09\/who-is-john-galt\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is John Galt?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write the topic line for this post I am thinking of my mother and her coffee mug and mouse-pad that say just that:\u00a0 ‘Who is John Galt?’ – the disillusioned anthem of the independent hard-worker in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.\u00a0 <\/em>Mom gave the book to me to read when I was 15 and I read like a demon through every class break and into the early morning.\u00a0 But why talk about it now?\u00a0 I just came across an article in The Spokesman-Review<\/em> : Bill requires all Idaho kids to read \u2018Atlas\u00a0Shrugged.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, the perpetrator of the bill is painting it as a lesson to the board of education regarding other rules and repeals.\u00a0 He isn’t really going to follow through, but the article brings up popular opinion on the book that I wanted to ponder.<\/p>\n

“The 1957 novel has been embraced by libertarians and the tea party movement, in part for its opposition to \u201cstatism\u201d and embrace of capitalism, as Rand expressed her philosophy of \u201cobjectivism,\u201d focusing on \u201cthe morality of rational self-interest.\u201d In recent years, the novel has been touted by conservative commentators including Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.”<\/p>\n

It’s been a while since I’ve read it and perhaps my 15 year old mind was being dazzled by themes in the book that it wanted to see, not the themes that everyone else was seeing.\u00a0 Honestly, I don’t quite get conservative adopting of the book.\u00a0 Maybe it’s my 33 year old mind not really understanding politics outside of seeing how they’re practiced.\u00a0 But here goes, here’s some pondering:<\/p>\n

I’ll admit that Ayn Rand pitches a hard line in Atlas Shrugged<\/em> and that all of her hard lines in all of the books I’ve read of her’s have glowed with capitalism.\u00a0 Though capitalism, to me, has always been a non-partisan, non-denominational love.\u00a0 In fact, economic systems are not political systems, no matter how much they are confused.<\/p>\n

Rand’s “morality of rational self-interest” seemed a meaner, seedier quest for human perfection and self reliance along the lines of Louisa May Alcott’s Transcendentalism.\u00a0 Though where Alcott may suffer the public because it is embiggening, Rand leaves the public because they are insufferable.\u00a0 The public here are the masses of fictional devices who rely and profit completely on another’s talent, success, and drive.\u00a0 These devices may or may not reflect actual persons.<\/p>\n

What I got from Atlas Shrugged is that a person’s utmost responsibility is to himself, and that, whether admitted or no, everyone functions in their own self-interest.\u00a0 No action is without selfishness.\u00a0 This self-interest must be balanced to the needs of the society one chooses to function within.\u00a0 It’s almost anarchic when you consider that the ultimate self-responsibility exhibited in the book is leaving\/disappearing from\/abandoning the society that doesn’t blend with one’s own ideals and needs.\u00a0 This is why I never considered Ayn Rand’s writings to have anything to do with politics and why I wonder at their adoption by conservative groups.\u00a0 Don’t political parties need government?\u00a0 Isn’t anarchism about having none?<\/p>\n

Oh, but you may say they are trying to change government for the better in line with “rational self interest.”\u00a0 Changing the society you live in admits to loving\/needing it the way it is as well.\u00a0 It is supporting the structure put in place by those who oppose you.\u00a0 Consider, when you cannot win an argument the energy you put into arguing is wasted.\u00a0 You cannot argue someone out of their beliefs.\u00a0 You can leave them be and go do something productive with your time and money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I write the topic line for this post I am thinking of my mother and her coffee mug and mouse-pad that say just that:\u00a0 ‘Who is John Galt?’ – the disillusioned anthem of the independent hard-worker in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.\u00a0 Mom gave the book to me to read when I was 15 and… Continue reading Who is John Galt?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[74,178],"class_list":["post-3229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-books","tag-ranting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8934,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2020\/04\/08\/10-movies-books-to-know-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":0},"title":"10 Movies\/Books to Know Me","author":"leems","date":"April 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I heard from my informants that social media has thing thing: 10 movies to know you, and I was inspired. These are the 10 movies, and then 10 books that have shaped me (in no significant order). Movies Alice in Wonderland (multiple versions, but mostly the one with Carol Channing)The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/LeE036c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4816,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2013\/12\/01\/animated-atlas-of-american-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":1},"title":"Animated Atlas of American History","author":"leems","date":"December 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I have found that searching out my family's genealogy invariably leads me to questions of obscure history.\u00a0 I want to know why so many branches of family were migrating from Vermont to Pennsylvania in the same three decades. My genealogy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"usblm-small","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/usblm-small.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8036,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2018\/07\/04\/remembering-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":2},"title":"Remembering America","author":"leems","date":"July 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Before there was an Uncle Sam, the original thirteen colonies that made up a young U.S. were known as Brother Johnathan. He was a rougher version of the U.S., elaborated on at Atlas Obscura, that was balanced by the compassion, liberty, and pride of Columbia. Columbia (above) hasn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/starspangledbanner-402x600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9674,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2021\/07\/14\/what-mrs-fisher-knows-about-old-southern-cooking\/","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":3},"title":"What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking","author":"leems","date":"July 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Until ten years ago, Abby Fisher was known as the first African American woman to publish a cookbook in the United States. 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