Atlas

[TheMercenary]

This was so good I thought I would share it.

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years


By STEPHEN MOORE

Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read "Atlas Shrugged" a "virgin." Being conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If only "Atlas" were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I'm confident that we'd get out of the current financial mess a lot faster.

Many of us who know Rand's work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that "Atlas Shrugged" parodied in 1957, when this 1,000-page novel was first published and became an instant hit.

Rand, who had come to America from Soviet Russia with striking insights into totalitarianism and the destructiveness of socialism, was already a celebrity. The left, naturally, hated her. But as recently as 1991, a survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found that readers rated "Atlas" as the second-most influential book in their lives, behind only the Bible.

For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.

continues

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146363567166677.html

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Hmm... popcorn and watch this?

Or take to the streets?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Rand never grew up and remained as selfish as a three year old her whole life.

[Beestie]

The premise of the book is pretty obvious.

Of course government spawns new programs and new laws. Government is additive - to govern is to create a context in which to govern which is to add laws and programs in order to give substance to the desired context.

Administrations that claim to shrink government are either delusional, deceitful or both. All the so called "small government" administrations do is squeeze the balloon, point to the spot that got smaller, give each other a BJ and hope no one notices where the displaced hot air went. Unfortunately, this is the best we can hope for. The worst case is when they just keep blowing more hot air into the balloon, create a dependency between the citizenry and the new hot air then accuse anyone who criticises the increase as being a heartless jerk.

Government will not stop until every two party transaction is converted into a three-party transaction with the Government situated smack between the original two parties.

And who the hell spells ann ayn anyway?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Government is a condom.

[Griff]

It was a very formative book for me but any false illusions I had about either party showing restraint died on 9/11. Ayn was too radical but she did foster a debate we needed to have.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Rand never grew up and remained as selfish as a three year old her whole life.

Well said.

Originally Posted by Griff

It was a very formative book for me but any false illusions I had about either party showing restraint died on 9/11. Ayn was too radical but she did foster a debate we needed to have.

Also true, she does engage the reader and forces one to look at some thought provoking topics and perspectives.

[TheMercenary]

The book remains an important part of historical prediction.