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Next Person Who Asks 'Who Is John Galt?' Gets a Smack
http://strangeherring.com ^ | January 7, 2009 | Anthony Sacramone

Posted on 01/07/2009 11:39:36 AM PST by This Just In

Next Person Who Asks ‘Who Is John Galt?’ Gets a Smack

Posted by Anthony Sacramone on January 7, 2009

The more appropriate question is, Where is John Galt? And the answer may be “prison.”

I remember my Randian days, late-70s/early 80s, when libertarianism and the virtue of selfishness and the integrity of the individual were high on my list of values. I had read The Fountainhead and, yes, all of Atlas Shrugged, as well as several of Rand’s smaller philosophical works. I found her vision compelling, especially during the late Carter years, when collectivism was not only fashionable on campuses but heralded as the unified field theory of economic and social life by many on the Stupid Left. (I also had little use for religion back then — for any form of authority, for that matter.)

Here we are again, with free markets and deregulation in tatters, at least in the thinking of those who now wield political power. Big Government is not only back but deified. And Republicans have played their fair share in that turn of events. But what goes around, comes around. Big Government will become Big Brother and there will be a revolt, although unclenching the adamantine grip of the bureaucracies from the lives of citizens will take decades.

And then the free-market/entrepreneurial right will go nuts again, and people will be left homeless and jobless, and the wheel will turn another 180, and so on and so on …

I think I will take up Anthony Burgess’ prescient The Wanting Seed once again, what with its Augustinian and Pelagian antinomies.


TOPICS: Humor; Politics; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: johngalt
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1 posted on 01/07/2009 11:39:37 AM PST by This Just In
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To: This Just In

John Galt? Who’s he?


2 posted on 01/07/2009 11:41:44 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: This Just In

ok. WHEN is John Galt?


3 posted on 01/07/2009 11:42:33 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll)
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To: Lancey Howard

I am John Gault.


4 posted on 01/07/2009 11:43:26 AM PST by Poser (Willing to fight for oil)
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To: This Just In

I would rather know who is Dagny Taggart.


5 posted on 01/07/2009 11:43:29 AM PST by mnehring
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To: JohnGalt

Who are you?


6 posted on 01/07/2009 11:43:41 AM PST by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: This Just In
OK, so who is he? (wwnn)
7 posted on 01/07/2009 11:44:28 AM PST by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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To: This Just In
I remember my Randian days, late-70s/early 80s, when libertarianism..

They lost it right there, Objectivism is not Libertarianism. Rand hated Libertarians trying to compare her philosophy to theirs. (Objectivism is also not 'selfish' but that is an argument for another day..)

8 posted on 01/07/2009 11:45:28 AM PST by mnehring
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To: This Just In

Someone forgot to put a ‘barf-alert’ in the headline. Apparently this nutjob never knew who John Gault was in the first place and doesn’t understand the root causes behind the crisis.


9 posted on 01/07/2009 11:45:53 AM PST by mbraynard (You are the Republican Party. See you at the precinct meeting.)
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To: This Just In

Where is John Galt? And why?


10 posted on 01/07/2009 11:46:31 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: mnehrling
I would rather know who is Dagny Taggart.

Amen...

11 posted on 01/07/2009 11:47:20 AM PST by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: This Just In

“I am Spartacus!”


12 posted on 01/07/2009 11:47:27 AM PST by CholeraJoe (Don't it make you want to rock 'n roll all night long? Mohammed's radio.)
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To: mnehrling; All

Two words, folks....

Satirical commentary.


13 posted on 01/07/2009 11:47:38 AM PST by This Just In (Support Christian Homeschoolers)
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To: This Just In
Another correction for the author..

Here we are again, with free markets and deregulation government regulated markets in tatters...

14 posted on 01/07/2009 11:48:06 AM PST by mnehring
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To: This Just In

Screw John Galt - what the heck are “Augustinian and Pelagian antinomies.”? ;-)


15 posted on 01/07/2009 11:49:20 AM PST by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here. ;-)
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To: This Just In

Why is John Galt?

I am actually re-reading Atlas Shrugged now.

I figured why not?


16 posted on 01/07/2009 11:49:20 AM PST by Rightly Biased (Gentlemen, please. Rest your sphincters.)
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To: This Just In

Who is Mrs. Galt?


17 posted on 01/07/2009 11:50:09 AM PST by NonValueAdded (once you get to really know people, there are always better reasons than [race] for despising them.)
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To: Who is John Galt?

Please pick up the white house phone....


18 posted on 01/07/2009 11:50:29 AM PST by DouglasKC
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To: Tunehead54

Grab some Kant.


19 posted on 01/07/2009 11:50:54 AM PST by mnehring
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To: This Just In
I was John Galt.............on the NewsMax Forum.
20 posted on 01/07/2009 11:51:53 AM PST by Roccus (I am a RINO...............I am a Conservative.)
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