TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022 - WHO IS JOHN GALT?

 TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022 - WHO IS JOHN GALT?

The first book I’m highlighting this week is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

My high school English teacher along the line said to me (individually, not to the class), don’t read Ayn Rand.  So, I had to read Ayn Rand!! <grin>

I read Anthem and The Fountainhead.  It wasn’t until my junior year in college that I tackled “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.  It is a long book and I read it at the same time as another friend.  I’ll admit I have never seen the movies (and I’m not sure I want to).  

One synopsis reads:

“Atlas Shrugged “is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder — and rebirth — of man's spirit.” Follow along as industrialist Hank Rearden and railroad executive Dagny Taggart struggle to keep the country afloat and unravel the mysteries that confront them.”

Another view talks about banning the book:

“While there is no evidence that the book has been banned in the U.S.  Many have expressed their dissatisfaction with the book's promotion of selfishness as moral fortitude, as well as its critical view of government.”

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KAREN’S VIEW:

Dagny Taggart is the Vice President of Operations for Taggart Trains. I view her as the story of the little Dutch boy who puts his fingers in the hole of the dike to keep the ocean from flooding.  There is one crisis after another and somehow Dagny keeps the trains going.  There aren’t enough boxcars to help get Minnesota’s grain harvest to market - and if they don’t get to market the country might starve.  Her brother is the President and he is spending his time hobnobbing with the rich and powerful and seemingly, not at all concerned with running a railroad.  

Hark Readen is an industrial entrepreneur who develops new composite steel - stronger than regular steel which makes the other steelmakers make.  Work smarter, keep innovating.  He is fighting not against his steel competition, but the ‘good ole boys’ who find ways to tax his work or thwart him.

The world is going to “hell in a handbasket”.  Greedy folks disguised as ‘nice folks’ are taking over.  They say one thing - like love, care for others, help out the brother who is struggling - but they really don’t seem to mean it (other than some saps who really do love and care for others).  They conspire with the government to make fairness a law.  

One of the big legal endeavors is the “Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog” law where competition is considered inappropriate.  If there are two rail lines serving an area, cut that back to one - competition is bad.  If there are two steel mills where one might be able to do it, cut it back to one - competition is bad.  (So, Hank Rearden loses out - not to competition but to lawmakers on the dole.

But, what results is mediocrity - where competition causes a company to do a better job to compete, to enhance its products and services in the battle for market share, having only one choice destroys initiative and creativity.  

Love your neighbor as yourself really needs a person to love themself.  Self-love is positive and if you do love yourself then loving and helping your struggling neighbor is good.  

But, at what point is helping your neighbor counterproductive? Can a person love him or herself if he or she is on welfare?  (or taking Social Security and Medicare?) 

There are some in society that will never be productive - possibly a severely handicapped person.  There might be some in society that has given up - in that case, let’s help them overcome that depression and get back into the swing of things.  

“Never give up, never give in”.  Are your aims honorable?  Then keep going.  But, use some common sense.  If I’m a buggy whip maker (to motivate my horse to pull my buggy), at some point, I have to give in.  My trade / my specialty is gone, never to return.  Learn a new trade.  

With Atlas Shrugged, the title concept is that Atlas has been carrying the world on his shoulder for years and it hasn’t improved - so Atlas (a Greek god) decides to give in.  

“Who is John Galt” is also a catchphrase in the book.  One review says:

“John Galt is a hero representing the best of modern civilization — its science, its medical research, its technological progress, and its application of intellect in service to human life. He embodies the novel's essential theme: Only by means of the mind can human beings achieve prosperity on earth.”

*****

To me as a college student, reading Atlas Shrugged caused me to want to do my best - to be competitive (in a good way), to be an awesome teacher.  We can do better - work hard and good things will happen.  But most of Atlas Shrugged is work hard and some bureaucrat will find a way to stymie and stop progress.

*****

Why settle for less than your best?  

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There is no God is Atlas Shrugged.  (I think that is why my English teacher said not to read Ayn Rand).  As I’ve aged I think hard work and innovation does go with helping others and helping others is part of that philosophy that I get from my first-century Jewish rabbi. 

In the end, John Galt stops the world, the world of greed and non-altruistic programs that look like altruisms.

This series will continue tomorrow with a spiritual superstar book!!!

LOVE DOES WIN!!

Karen White

March 22, 2022