GOOOH May Be Your Last Chance

There is plenty of time during a four-hour bike ride to discuss a lot of things with a fellow cyclist. I confess that having removed my real name from my old custom-painted bike and writing “John Gault” in magic Marker graffiti scrawl (a la the movie poster for Atlas Shrugged – the movie), was a deliberate conversation starter. "Who is John Gault?"  Last Saturday it worked. We conversed. I wish more USA citizens would converse like we did.

By the way, I am John Gault.

As a mere recent reader of Ayn Rand’s last and greatest book, I am often amazed at how many people read her works long ago – really studied Rand’s philosophy of Rational Self-Interest.  Some have read Atlas Shrugged multiple times. Many have read all her novels and engaged in philosophical discussion groups.  I rely on these folks to educate me about the flaws in her philosophy.  I listen to what they say about Rand and her faults. I have come up with two:

1. Rand doesn’t deal with family, and that is probably her most serious specific flaw found in the general accusation that she is “one-dimensional” and sees the world in black and white.
2. She underestimated people’s propensity to ignore the uncomfortable truth while denying reality even after reality becomes undeniable. She gave people too much credit.  Most of us are far worse than she portrayed us to be. I think that George Orwell’s 1984 was a more cynical and accurate portrayal of our character as human creatures.WE LOVE BIG BROTHER!

Getting back to Rand, I have come to see that there are four kinds of people – “looters”, “moochers”, “helpless” and “capable”. It makes me sick to hear so many people espouse their own helplessness. The "helpless" are the reason the looters and moochers are destroying our financial opportunity and, as Rand points out, destroying our world. It is irritating to hear those who once espoused Rand’s philosophy who are nowadays confusing looting and looters with the Tea Party, and equally disturbing to see some Tea Partiers indeed throwing-in with Republican looters, who share equal blame with the Democrats and their transparent loot-and-mooch, tax-and-spend, steal-and-redistribute ways.

Rand is right.  It is black-and-white.  Wealth is created when man produces something of value.  Production = wealth. No production = no wealth. Free men own what they produce.  Slaves are owned by others because their production is owned by others. Nothing gray about this!

I recently asked my mother "point blank" whether our federal government could steal her wealth at gunpoint.  If the federal government decided to confiscate more of her wealth – or even all of her wealth – and she refused, could they send people with guns to take her possessions and property? Does the government already have that power?  Have they already exercised it? She answered “yes” to all these. 

She understands. Do you?

Can you rationally invest your earnings under the current financial conditions, or under the financial conditions you expect in the foreseeable future? Are you looking for ways to “hide” your money?  Do you acknowledge that the only “successful” people are those who can either partner with the government to become wealthy or else “hide” their money from the government?

There are some very serious folks who believe that we face economic Armageddon, and fairly soon. I have met people who are now in business doing things like updating older sailing yachts for resale to survivalists. Increasingly, friends of mine discuss places like Panama when they speak of retirement, while others have already moved offshore to such places and have taken their wealth with them. USA citizenship isn’t such a great benefit when it will ultimately mean confiscation of one’s wealth and subservience to an all-powerful “Big Brother” government. People know that our economy is unsustainable

We are running short of time to change our course.  The best option for gaining a beach head in the war to regain some control over our national government seems to be GOOOH. For those who are stuck here in the USA because of family attachments and obligations, or because they are too old or poor to buy a boat and sail to distant shores, changing our government in this way may be their only recourse. By contrast, voting to retain the Republican/Democrat political power structure that is systematically looting and mooching us into oblivion is an option that can only lead to one thing – destruction. For all her many personal faults, Ayn Rand is 100 percent right on this score!

Columnists in the opinion section of the local newspaper, TV pundits, bloggers, and voices inside us – all these sources tell us we must make a major political course change and make it soon. Change does not mean Democratic or Republican incrementalism. Change does not mean compromising with evil. Compromise only slows the rate at which evil wins. Remember this when you hear folks pining for more "bipartisanship". Wouldn't it be nice to be ruled by "The Party" instead of all this partizan bickering? Rand or Orwell?

Well, NO!

Just ask Winston!