Objectivism is the formal name author Ayn Rand gave to her philosophical system, and it was a whole system, with positions on everything from the validity of the senses to the nature of abstractions to the factual basis for morality to the psychological function of art. Her pro-capitalist politics was only a part of this larger system which stressed the primacy of the individual and individual striving for excellence and achievement as the source of human wellbeing.
In Ms. Rand’s celebrated book Atlas Shrugged she posited a dystopian future in which the welfare state and what we would today call political correctness had become so oppressive that the world’s creators, entrepreneurs, inventors, industrialists and most diligent workers were persuaded by the mysterious John Galt to drop out and disappear from society.
In Rand’s vision of the future the country, bereft of their competence and creativity, soon fell into chaos, overcome by the incompetence and self-dealing of those who benefited from a corrupt system which very much resembled our current self-appointed elite’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) schemes.
As the Biden-Harris Democrats moved further toward undisguised Marxism the notion that conservatives might want to follow in the footsteps of Ayn Rand’s imaginary John Galt gained currency.
Marxist Democrats were clearly on the other side as the authors of DEI and other oppressive policies. However, establishment Republicans were indifferent (even hostile) to those at the base of the economic pyramid who were most likely to suffer from elite politician-made economic disasters and to be oppressed by the abandonment of meritocracy in favor of DEI and political correctness.
For an example, see a cover article in National Review by Kevin D. Williamson, wherein the foundational publication of the conservative movement sought to explain in Malthusian terms why the “benighted white working class” should just blow away and die.
Of course, for the average working family there is no idyllic “Galt’s Gulch” where they can join the world’s creators, innovators and entrepreneurs in a safe retreat. But the idea of the average guy on the street saying, “screw it” and disengaging from society and civic pursuits gained traction through the absence of sympathy for their plight at the highest levels of society, and in both political parties.
Then along came Donald Trump to challenge both the idea of dropping out and the notion that our self-appointed elite oppressors could not be defeated.
The result became a movement that was the complete inverse of Atlas Shrugged.
While many elite creators and entrepreneurs, such as most of Hollywood, Coke, Delta Airlines, Kellog foods, etc. bought into DEI and joined the oppressors, or like Chick-fil-A, simply disengaged from the battle, the equivalent of dropping out, the “little guys” at the grassroots of the MAGA Movement decided to take back their country.
Here’s what Newt Gingrich told the Heritage Foundation in a 2017 speech:
I'm arguing he [Donald Trump] is an anti-John Galt.
If you look at Atlas Shrugged, John Galt is a billionaire who withdraws from society because he's so sick of the welfare state and so sick of redistribution and so sick of the idea that creative people are being dragged down by noncreative people.
It is both defensive and cowardly.
All of these people are so incompetent that he's withdrawing from the fight. They are going to go on strike and all the creative people are going to refuse to be creative and society will grind down.
This might have seemed plausible if you read The New York Times coverage of the Soviet Union.
[However] where John Galt retreats, Trump attacks.
Where John Galt goes to a mountain fastness, Trump goes to the American people.
Where John Galt withdraws, Trump says let's have a movement.
John Galt says it's over and all we can do is hold up in the mountain fastness, Trump says why don't we make an American great again?
It's a wonderful civil overlay that says the road to opportunity is to arouse the American people and with them, take back their country and he is living it out. That makes him, I think, an extraordinary figure…
He knew was going to be vicious, nasty and personal because it had always been that way in New York. He said trying to lead America is worth paying the price both financially and personally.
He announced, we can solve our problems, we can make America great again. He went to the American people, aroused their spirit and gave them hope.
Trump is an optimist where Galt was a pessimist…
I think, as is often the case, Newt was on to something and in Tuesday’s election Donald Trump defeated the Democrats and John Galt and the forces of pessimism.
2024 Election
2024 Election
Kamala Harris campaign
Military Readiness
Cultural Marxism
Hispanic male voters
Male African-American voters
Democrat contributions
price gouging
price controls
first-time home buyers
25th Amendment
public housing
ActBlue donations
Donald Trump campaign
Kamala Harris campaign
Kamala Harris senate record
Insightful article and I agree with it. The question now is how desperately are the forces of evil going to fight back? IMO they're not just going to go quietly.