Who is John Galt?

[GrpCaptMandrake]

Many DU'ers will recognize that question from the odious, miserably written semi-fascist screed authored by Ayn Rand and published almost exactly fifty years ago as a sort of prophecy on our nation's future. "Atlas Shrugged" is an exercise in tedium and the ability of an author to completely miss the point.

In the book, Ms. Rand imagined an intellectual "strike" by the best and brightest in America; one in which the intelligentsia (whom she equated with industrialists) would withdraw their talent and their minds in order to let a wayward country "hit bottom."

At the center of this "strike" was a philosopher/mechanic named John Galt, who disappears, only to become the watchword for the declining state of affairs. Question: "Why don't the trains run on time?" Answer: "Who is John Galt?" It's rather like a form of social "Jeopardy" that has only one correct answer/question.

But this isn't about the book. It's about the query.

"Who is John Galt?"

Al Gore is John Galt.

Al Gore will not run for president because America does not deserve Al Gore, just as the America of Ms. Rand's loathsome book didn't deserve John Galt.

Al Gore came to us as an intellectual scion of an old-line Tennessee political dynasty. He got a blueblood education, engaged in military service, studied widely and deeply, entered politics and treated it as public service, a sort of Kennedy with a southern accent.

He paid attention to coming trends in science, technology and society and tried to talk about those things.

After eight years as the understudy to the most powerful man on earth, he stepped forward in his own bid to rise to the challenge.

We all remember the results. We remember the excoriating screeds penned by the likes of Maureen Dowd as she gleefully sharpened her nails on Gore's hide. We remember the "Love Story" lie, the "invented the internets" lie, the "not military enough" lie; here in West Virginia, we remember Charlton Heston coming to tell us ignorant hillbillies that "Al Gore's gonna git yer guns;" yea, verily, we recall all the scorn that was heaped on this decent man by a press that was too lazy to actually do journalism and instead took its cues from the blast faxes that flew out of the smoking machines at the Repiglican National Committee.

And we remember Florida. Lord God Billy Bob, but we remember Florida. And we remember "Sore/Loserman" and the Brooks Brothers Revolution when thug operatives from Repig congressional offices all over the country converged on a single Dade County office to stop public officials from doing their jobs; we remember the screaming neo-cons encamped outside the Vice Presidential residence screaming "GET OUT!"

And we remember the Supreme Court. And a 5-to-4 decision that still leaves at least one member of that court in tears.

Guess what: Al Gore remembers it, too. And no matter how high he rises in the Court of Public Opinion, no matter what kudos he may garner elsewhere, be they Academy Awards or Nobel Prizes, he remembers the agony and the humiliation. And he remembers the old saw about "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." And, unlike the idiot who stole the election from him in 2000, Al Gore knows what that saying means.

So, as the southern saying goes, Al's cuttin' a fat hog now. He has everything and then some. He will never want for anything: not luxury, not money, not security. He has money in abundance, the best socialized medicine money can buy and government can provide. When he flies, he doesn't have to take off his shoes and get his toenails inspected. He can stand outside our political process and see it for what it is: a charnel house with a thinly plastered facade painted in the gaudy colors of a baroque whorehouse. And he can recognize that this nation is past changing, let alone saving.

I'd love for Mr. Gore to run for President. How honored I'd be to work for him, to help elect him (again) and to participate to the best of my abilities in re-shaping a nation that, if it isn't now, absent major surgery will soon be terminal in its illness.

But it won't happen. It won't happen because it shouldn't happen. It won't happen because the American people don't deserve for it to happen. More than sixty percent of Americans disapprove of George Bush and the things he's done to our country. A lot of those people voted for him. They don't deserve rescuing.

Who is John Galt?

Al Gore is John Galt. And I don't blame him one iota.



Get On The H.O.R.N.
America's Liberal Voice
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[baldguy]

1. And the freepers' heads explode...

[hatrack]

2. Wonderful literary/political jiujitsu!

And I agree - this is exploding-Republican-head material of the first water!

:evilgrin:

[Heidi]

3. Thank you for this!

:kick:

:kick:

:kick:

[hang a left]

4. Well,

my kids deserve John Galt.

[cilla4progress]

7. I agree.

And our children/s' children. What do we do about it? Roll up the moatbridge and take care of our own? Throw in to the greater good and work within the frustration? Wait and watch helplessly the maelstrom about us? I don't think we can ask or expect Al to go back up on that "cross" for us - who will lead us into the future, or try to anyway, at their own great expense? That's what it's about: leading and self-sacrifice.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

19. As do mine

Perhaps that's part of the answer. The next generation.

As the song goes "Teach your children well . . . "

[JNelson6563]

5. Bravo!

I give it a 10 out of 10! :applause:

Julie

[mcscajun]

6. Outstanding.

:applause:

[bryant69]

8. Isn't this a complicated way of saying "Fuck America?"

Or am I missing something?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[GrpCaptMandrake]

12. I didn't think it was that complicated

but it's more a way of saying "America has fucked itself."



Get On The H.O.R.N!
America's Liberal Voice
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[King Coal]

18. You missed something.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

24. What? n/t

[wuushew]

9. Question about Atlas Shrugged

Why would the intellectuals of the world cause the purposefully destruction of society?

This seems to run contrary to short term materialist imperatives of objectivists. I guess all the Randians will be fat and happy in post-apocalyptic Mad Max world that would follow.

[Tesha]

10. Libertarians aren't reallly known for thinking things through to their logical conclusions.

They kind'a stall out at the "I'll stop paying taxes and my
wealth will increase!" point.

Tesha

[SergeyDovlatov]

15. She was also a lousy economist.

Remember Howard Roark. The architect that thought that there are objective measures of the worthiness of his work.
Sorry buddy.

In a free market consumers calling the shots. Lamenting that people did not appreciate your work of art simply means that, by objective measures (success in the market) your work sucked!

[GrpCaptMandrake]

16. From the looks of things

She was a lousy pretty much everything.

I highly recommend satirist Eugene Finerman's take on Ayn Rand over at Your RDA of Irony: (www.finermanworks.com)

"I want to pay tribute to my fellow satirist Alicia Rosenbaum, who actually made a cult of bad manners. Jack Kirby or Stan Lee could have immortalized her as a comicbook heroine: Super Yenta. However, she preferred to reinvent herself as Ayn Rand.

Her philosophy, Objectivism, is a synonym for Chutzpahism. At my local supermarket, I frequently encounter her disciples, the Hadassah Kamikazes, who ram their shopping carts into you and then complain about your clumsiness.

This is the 50th anniversary of her novel “Atlas Shrugged”, a sociopath’s guide to ridiculous writing."



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[EugeneF]

22. Atlas Kvetched

I highly recommend me, too.

Here is my "tribute" to Ayn Rancid:

Today I want to pay tribute to my fellow satirist Alicia Rosenbaum, who actually made a cult of bad manners. Jack Kirby or Stan Lee could have immortalized her as a comicbook heroine: Super Yenta. However, she preferred to reinvent herself as Ayn Rand.

Her philosophy, Objectivism, is a synonym for Chutzpahism. At my local supermarket, I frequently encounter her disciples, the Hadassah Kamikazes, who ram their shopping carts into you and then complain about your clumsiness.

This is the 50th anniversary of her novel “Atlas Shrugged”, a sociopath’s guide to ridiculous writing. If you can’t get enough of bombastic prose, I’d recommend “The Ayn Rand Cookbook.”

Just savor her recipe for brisket.

First, take an inferior species: the unimaginative would use a cow; if you really want to assert your superiority, use a family pet.

Then, place yourself and the animal in a vat of boiling water. If you scream, start over and repeat until you master your weakness.


EugeneF

www.FinermanWorks.com

[GrpCaptMandrake]

23. Welcome to DU

Enjoy yourself, Eugene!

Hopefully, folks will get a steady dose of Your RDA of Irony.

[Dark]

29. If I remember correctly, it was because they believed the "common man" was trying to take

all of their profits and distribute them equally among everyone for things like food, shelter and healthcare.

[regularguy]

11. He's that asshole from that dreadful book, no?

[cmkramer]

13. I thought John Galt was in "The Fountainhead"

Was he in both books? He came across as a ridiculously self-righteous lunatic in "The Fountainhead".

[GrpCaptMandrake]

14. That was Galt's "evil" twin:

Howard Roarke. He was sort of a proto-Galt.

I'm getting a headache now, remembering all that Randian garbage about "Noble selfishness" and giant killer rayguns and tall buildings and train tunnels.

Ouch!

Get On The H.O.R.N.
America's Liberal Voice
www.headonradionetwork.com

[cmkramer]

33. Oh Okay

I stand corrected. So it was Howard Roark I found to be a nutcase.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

44. Not so fast

"Atlas Shrugged" is chock-a-block with nutcases, too.

[cmkramer]

53. Well, to be fair

you could say that about all of Ayn Rand's novels.

[flashl]

17. Eloquent. n/t

[earth mom]

20. Sorry, but I don't like Al Gore to be equated to anything Ayn Rand spewed.

Not only that, but that book is simply unreadable! :puke:

[GrpCaptMandrake]

21. Can't disagree that the book is miserable

But I'm hard-headed. If I start a book, I finish it. Thus, I can guarantee that it CAN be read. I don't however, recommend it for anyone who doesn't have a steady supply of mind/mood-altering substances close at hand.

The sex scenes alone are enough to put you off sex. I read the famous "slapping" scene aloud to my lovely wife and she laughed so hard she rolled out of bed.



Get On The H.O.R.N.!
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[AntiFascist]

25. Ayn Rand gained notoriety around the time of McCarthyism....

when the idea of striking against the parasites of capitalism struck a certain chord against communists. Now we know that the true parasites of capitalism sit at the top of the control structure, where their very ineptitude threatens to bring the entire system crashing down. The idea of waging a strike is still relevant, yet misapplied by the Randians.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

26. Precisely!

I've heard folks excuse Rand's opinions based on the fact that she came of age just as the Soviet Union was gearing up and therefore had an overly rosy view of capitalists and industrialists.

You're spot on, though: she backed the wrong horse. Can you imagine America being threatened by, say, Neil Bush withdrawing his genius from American society? :rofl:

[AntiFascist]

27. I still would consider myself a capitalist...

I just don't support unrestrained, laissez-faire capitalism and also believe that certain social(istic) programs are not only vital, but they "optimize" a capitalist society. When you analyze their history, the Bush family are remnants of the fascist industrialists (including Prescott Bush) who placed Hitler into power and benefitted from Nazi trade. They have always been, and still remain, a bane on worldwide society.

[ralps]

28. Thanks a lot GrpCaptMandrake!! K&R

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[Cronopio]

30. Except for the promotion of Objectivism on the back on someone who has little in common with it ...

... well said.

[Swamp Rat]

31. NeoGore is "The One!"

:D

[GrpCaptMandrake]

35. Love that graphic, Swamp Rat!

Another gem!

[understandinglife]

32. Al Gore is Al Gore. And, he will be President in 2009.

Period.

[The Inquisitive]

34. I dunno, but Dagny Taggart is Angelina Jolie

oh boy, when that movie comes us the following months are going to be a shit show of self righteous morons that have deluded themselves into thinking they are of the same "caliber" of the characters in that book who go on strike. I remeber my objectivist month way back when, man was I a loathsome prick.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

36. I spent too much time

loathing the book all the way through it to have even an "Objectivist second."

What a train wreck that thing is!

Hard to imagine Brad and Angelina wanting to even DO that miserable thing. I thought they had fairly decent liberal street cred.

[The Inquisitive]

41. It was easy to fall into its trap

I was a 17 year old, sheltered, unappreciative white kid with wealthy parents growing up in one of America's wealthiest suburbs. I was politically naive and was foolish enough to believe poor people were simply poor because of poor decisions they alone made. I took it super literally, believed altruism was inherently flawed, and potentially dangerous. Naturally the extremist elements faded and I became a libertarian. Then I went to college and lo and behold education and worldly experience quickly showed me the world was otherwise, the inherent flaws of the market, the social reprecussions of the past etc. I always laugh now when I see people go through the same phase, and always hope they get through it quickly.

Though I will admit, the emphasis it put on importance of personal work ethic, self improvement, personal responsibility, and integrity stayed with me.

[David Zephyr]

37. A fun read! Thanks, GrpCaptMandrake.

:thumbsup:

[w8liftinglady]

38. I was a Randian Objectivist.

Don't hold it against me.I saw the light a long time ago...but at the time...there were few outlets for intellectuals(before the internet,mind you)

[GrpCaptMandrake]

42. You seem to have recovered nicely n/t

[Raksha]

39. But you left out the one important fact that trumps all the rest.

Re So, as the southern saying goes, Al's cuttin' a fat hog now. He has everything and then some. He will never want for anything: not luxury, not money, not security. He has money in abundance, the best socialized medicine money can buy and government can provide. When he flies, he doesn't have to take off his shoes and get his toenails inspected. He can stand outside our political process and see it for what it is: a charnel house with a thinly plastered facade painted in the gaudy colors of a baroque whorehouse. And he can recognize that this nation is past changing, let alone saving.

All of this may be true...but Al Gore loves his country.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

40. I don't doubt it in the least

Most of us do.

Love of country, however, is insufficient rationale if one has already decided that the greatest good can be accomplished outside the realm of our toxic political arena; that or perhaps that love of country is the rationale that keeps one out of the poisonous dance.

Far more than love of country, a passionate, single-minded desire to occupy the office is the sine qua non to a presidential bid. Is there any evidence out there that Mr. Gore is manifesting any such desire?

[Fly by night]

43. " ... a passionate, single-minded desire to occupy the office ..." for what purpose?

At this point in his career, it appears that Al does not simply love his country, he wants to save our world. And there is no better position from which to make a difference than in the Oval Office.

Nixon wanted power.
Carter wanted a pulpit.
Reagan wanted a stage.
The Bushes wanted keys to the vault.
Clinton wanted a ....
Gore wants to make a real and lasting difference.

I hope that is enough to propel him into the fray. If he believes he's above it, the rest of us are properly fucked.

Thanks for your OP, 'cause it motivated me to post mine.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2050169

I hope they were both thought-provoking. Discouraged or hopelessly hopeful, I am glad we both love our country and that we both want Cool Hand Al to run.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

45. There are those, and I am one of them,

who think the Presidency is probably the last, most hopeless place on earth from which to "save our world." It is, on the other hand, a great place to talk about saving it. For that reason, I sense that Mr. Gore would far rather know that he's accomplishing something.

Because our system is founded on compromise, it makes taking the profound actions necessary to avert global disaster all but impossible. Governments tend to lag behind necessary change. The problem is compounded by our current celebrity-fixated, sensation-driven media. We are further hog-tied by the "brain-drain" or "greatness-drain" that our poisoned political landscape has bequeathed us.

Why this is is subject to a much larger debate. I, for one, sense that the assassination of JFK was our America's Rubicon.

I read your post and appreciate your optimism. As I noted, I'd be more than happy to eat my words and see Mr. Gore run for the Presidency. I can even postulate reasons why he's still holding back. I try to be honest with myself, however, and for every reason I can come up with why he should run, I can come up with one why he likely won't. Part of the latter has to do with the shabby way he's been treated by a whole lot of Americans who now cry "Lord, Lord!" as in the old line from the new testament (not asserting, however, that you're one of those).





Get On The H.O.R.N.!
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[Yavin4]

47. Gore has been Freed

Intellectually and spiritually, he is a free man. In order to run for president, you have to dumb yourself down. You have to take positions that won't "offend" anyone in the slightest. You have to listen to highly paid consultants as they give talking points from focus groups. You have to be marketed to the public.

However, I do disagree with you that Gore has "quit" like John Galt. Just the opposite, Gore is much more of a potent force where he is right now. Just like other true progressives before him, Susan B. Anthony, John L. Lewis, and Martin Luther King, these progressives improved the lives and rights for ALL Americans without ever running for president.

True progress in America occurs when the issue is championed, not the personality behind the issue.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

49. My analogy was as it pertained

to Gore and politics. No one could assert that he has withdrawn altogether.

[Fly by night]

48. "the Presidency is probably the last, most hopeless place on earth from which to 'save our world.'"?

I think this statement belies recent experience with an inept and brain-addled Smirking Chimp at the helm or, in Clinton's case, a very divided and divisive federal government more focused on stalemate than statesmanship.

What I am envisioning, with a Gore Presidency and the coat-tails effect his candidacy would bring, is a Washington environment much more akin to the LBJ period, when the President led -- and achieved -- much social reform that had an immediate and lasting difference. (LBJ had flaws also, but ram-rodding civil rights and health care reform that changed the lives of millions for the better were not among them.)

Having a Gore Presidency, and a more Democratic (and progressive) Congress that his candidacy would help accomplish, could, should and would bring about much-needed and meaningful changes on global warming and the host of other issues that Gore is passionate about.

Instead of having to eat our words, I hope we can both soon feast on the process of takin' our country back by working side-by-side for a Gore victory. (BTW, "I'm Takin' My Country Back" by the Honky Tonkers for Truth was my favorite 2004 election song. If you don't know it, let me know and I'll post the lyrics here or PM them to you.)

[Withywindle]

55. I loved your OP and I agree with this.

I don't doubt Al Gore loves his country. What I think he's figured out is that loving America is all well and dandy but that won't buy you the last bottle of water left when the planet America is part of is dying.

Right wingers think that loving America but loving the whole world more is a form of treason. I think (and I think Gore thinks) it's treasonous, not to mention delusional, to act as if America is some kind of private space island that'll always be safe, no matter what happens to the rest of the planet. When the problem is global, you can't save just one country. You save all of it, or none.

[Tracer]

46. I read Rand's books when I was 15 ...

... and was (I'm embarrassed to say) quite taken with them.

Of course, that was eons ago, and to be honest, I can't quite remember much about them other than some vague idea of "rugged individualism".

Like the above poster, I was raised in a well-to-do, extremely sheltered environment. I'm sure that had a lot to do with my naivite.

Today, you couldn't get more left than I am.

[silverweb]

50. I like it.

The analogy seems to me to be most appropriate.

Every time I read one of these threads screaming against Atlas Shrugged, I get befuddled again. I guess I just didn't take the same things away from the book that lots of other people did.

I've read the book more than once and took some very positive ideas from it, in particular, that:

~ One has an obligation to self to strive to be the best that one can be, both intellectually and morally.

~ One has an obligation to self to do the best, most honest job that one can do, no matter what job that is -- be it running a corporation, cooking a hamburger, or wiping down a greasy engine.

~ Science and free inquiry should never be corrupted by preconditions, politics, or idealogy.

~ Cronyism is bad; thus rewarding incompetence/dishonesty is wrong.

~ Rewarding honest effort is good; thus paying workers excellent wages/benefits is right.

~ The free market of ideas, when not polluted by monopoly and cronyism, will help develop the best and brightest.

~ There are parasites in the world and you should not let them bleed you dry ("I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man...");

~ It is wrong to be a "user" and a parasite on others ("...nor ask another man to live for mine.").

~ Always put your own oxygen mask on first before attempting to aid others, because if you're not functional you can't help anyone else (i.e., a sensible degree of "selfishness").

What we're seeing today is not the expected outcome of a John Galt kind of world, but the outcome of corruption, cronyism, and monopoly run amok.

I like seeing Gore as Galt -- withholding his leadership until sanity is restored in this country and he is given the platform to do what he must.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

51. Thanks!

The more I think about it, it seems to me that many, many of America's best and brightest withhold their talents from government. We don't send our geniuses (genii?) into our representative form of government. Instead, we've allowed a political "class" to arise that has little other social functionality than existing within the rarified air of government itself.

Our government, in other words, is suffering, for the past fifty years or so (or perhaps more) from a rather profound "brain drain."

Why it suffers in such fashion has to do with our poisonous political climate, the dirty money and the "gotcha" nature of what passes for journalism in the U.S.



Get On The H.O.R.N.!
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[silverweb]

54. I think you're right.

"Why it suffers in such fashion has to do with our poisonous political climate, the dirty money and the "gotcha" nature of what passes for journalism in the U.S."

Anyone not kissing RW ass and adhering to RW-approved dogma is stifled, smeared, and marginalized.

How many really creative minds would willing subject themselves to such struggles? They have far more important things to do than play political survivalist games.

Gore has already weathered the storm and far eclipsed all his would-be detractors. I think he's very smart to stay above the political fray and focus on his chosen mission.

Let's hope our Democratic nominee is brave and indomitable in the face of corporate/ideologic adversaries, and gives Gore the megaphone he needs (backed by authority and budget) to forge ahead against this dire global challenge.

[ToeBot]

52. Damn, I was hoping it was time for another Ayn Rand smack-down,

I just finished Bioshock and I'm looking for a purgative.

[annabanana]

56. Thank you for a thoughtful post

Which elicited many thoughtful responses.