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Archive for March 8th, 2009
Congressman: We’re Living in ‘Atlas Shrugged’
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
As government program after government program is instituted to “save our country”, the weight of responsibility is increasingly shoved onto the shoulders of those who produce, those who employ, and those who succeed. In the 1950’s, Ayn Rand’s controversial novel Atlas Shrugged sparked heated philosophical debate regarding the role of government, where a society in which “men of the mind” go on strike due to burdensome regulation and confiscation of profits by an increasingly bureaucratic government waging war on individual rights.
Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), in conversation with David Weigel of the Washington Independent:
“People are starting to feel like we’re living through the scenario that happened in ‘Atlas Shrugged,’” said Campbell. “The achievers, the people who create all the things that benefit the rest of us, are going on strike. I’m seeing, at a small level, a kind of protest from the people who create jobs, the people who create wealth, who are pulling back from their ambitions because they see how they’ll be punished for them.”
In Rand’s novel, creative people (the “Atlases” of the title) are hounded and punished for their labor by an oppressive, socialistic state. In response, they retreat from society to a hidden enclave where they watch civilization’s slow collapse.
How long until our “men (and women) of the mind” start going on strike? Do you think our country is moving towards a real life version of Atlas Shrugged?
Congressman: We’re Living in ‘Atlas Shrugged’
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
As government program after government program is instituted to “save our country”, the weight of responsibility is increasingly shoved onto the shoulders of those who produce, those who employ, and those who succeed. In the 1950’s, Ayn Rand’s controversial novel Atlas Shrugged sparked heated philosophical debate regarding the role of government, where a society in which “men of the mind” go on strike due to burdensome regulation and confiscation of profits by an increasingly bureaucratic government waging war on individual rights.
Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), in conversation with David Weigel of the Washington Independent:
“People are starting to feel like we’re living through the scenario that happened in ‘Atlas Shrugged,’” said Campbell. “The achievers, the people who create all the things that benefit the rest of us, are going on strike. I’m seeing, at a small level, a kind of protest from the people who create jobs, the people who create wealth, who are pulling back from their ambitions because they see how they’ll be punished for them.”
In Rand’s novel, creative people (the “Atlases” of the title) are hounded and punished for their labor by an oppressive, socialistic state. In response, they retreat from society to a hidden enclave where they watch civilization’s slow collapse.
How long until our “men (and women) of the mind” start going on strike? Do you think our country is moving towards a real life version of Atlas Shrugged?
