Atlas Shrugged — VOICES for REASON

A lot of people are asking that question, which is inspired by Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. (Ayn Rand didn’t originate the phrase, however. As best I can tell, it was originated by conservative fans of the novel sometime in the last few months. Full disclosure: I don’t particularly care for it.)

To “go Galt,” the way the phrase is being used, is to protest our mounting tax burden by ratcheting down our productivity. We’ll work less, so the government can take less. A sort of partial strike. This is supposed to be in homage to the hero of Atlas Shrugged, John Galt, and the strike he leads against collectivist oppression.

But this notion of “going Galt” misses the point of Galt’s strike, and reveals a sadly superficial understanding of the novel. Galt’s strike was not merely a tax revolt, but something much more radical.

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After Atlas Shrugged hit #1 in its category on Amazon.com, Thomas Bowden was invited to Radio America’s G. Gordon Liddy Show to discuss what accounts for the surge in sales. The show includes recorded excerpts from Ayn Rand herself and from The Fountainhead movie.

Here’s U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, on March 26th, 2009 before the House Financial Services Committee on “regulating risk”, when he outlined his plan for a “comprehensive framework for regulatory reform”:

Supervision and regulation failed to prevent these problems…U.S. law left regulators without good options for managing failures of systematically important non-bank financial institutions…We must end the practice of allowing banks and other financial companies to choose their regulator simply by changing their charters; regulators must choose who to regulate. Moreover, our regulatory system must be comprehensive and eliminate gaps in coverage. Our regulatory structure must assign clear regulatory authority, resources, and accountability for each of the key regulatory functions….

What’s Geithner really saying here? Consider the following as a translation: Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of commentary recently on the relevance of Atlas Shrugged to our economic woes and our government’s response. But the novel’s relevance to current issues extends far beyond the financial crisis.

Consider the phenomenon of Earth Hour, which takes place this Saturday (March 28), and which I criticized in a recent op-ed. During Earth Hour, participating cities turn off the lights of major skylines and landmarks to signal a commitment to fighting climate change. In my article I discuss why I think this is a travesty.

So how does this relate to Atlas Shrugged?

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I’d like to direct you to an excellent blogpost by Dr. Greg Salmieri (visiting assistant professor of philosophy at UNC Chapel Hill) on the attention that Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged have been receiving of late. Much of the hype, he observes, is missing the point.

Most of the recent discussion of Atlas has focused on its political themes, creating the impression that the novel is essentially a condemnation of government intervention in the economy. However, its scope, its relevance to the current crisis, and the reasons for its enduring appeal go much wider and much deeper than this. Galt goes on strike not simply against high taxes and unjust regulations, but against the morality of altruism, which Rand identifies as the cause of such measures, and against the world-view of which this moral code is an expression-a philosophy that denies the efficacy of reason and the absolutism of reality.

If you’re intrigued by Dr. Salmieri’s comment, you’ll be able to read more in an upcoming new book: Essays on Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”. See the table of contents here. (Dr. Salmieri is one of the contributors to that forthcoming collection of essays.) This is the latest and final volume in Dr. Robert Mayhew’s Essays series, which focuses on each of Ayn Rand’s major works of fiction. If you’re interested, you can check out the others in the Ayn Rand Bookstore.

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If you found VOICES for REASON after reading Yaron Brook’s oped in the Wall Street Journal, thanks for stopping by! We invite you to read more about Atlas Shrugged. You may also be interested in the Ayn Rand Center’s distinctive commentary on the financial crisis and the government’s response. On our blog, check out  The Czars Come to America – part 1 and part 2; as well as posts related to the crisis.

It seems like everyone is talking about the parallels between Atlas Shrugged and today’s events–for instance, see here, here, and here. But more often than not, they focus on the novel’s political aspects and miss its deeper meaning. In a new interview with The Objective Standard, ARC’s Yaron Brook discusses the true significance of Ayn Rand’s magnum opus.

On March 4, 2009, a public symposium on Atlas Shrugged will be held at the University of Texas at Austin. Titled “Atlas Shrugged: Celebrating the Best Within Us,” the event will focus on the novel as philosophy and as literature. ARI’s Onkar Ghate and Jeff Britting will be featured speakers.

Here’s a quick rundown of the event:

* 4:00 – Ayn Rand: Evidence of a Life (Jeff Britting, manager of the ARI Archives)

* 4:15 – The Benevolent Universe Premise in Atlas Shrugged (Dr. Allan Gotthelf, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh)

* 5:00 – John Galt as the Hero of Atlas Shrugged: Leader and Lover (Dr. Shoshana Milgram, English, Virginia Tech)

* 5:45 – The Appeal of Atlas Shrugged to Young People (Dr. Onkar Ghate, ARI Senior Fellow)

* 6:30 – 7:30 – Reception

The free symposium is sponsored by the Anthem Foundation Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism and the BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism. Admission is free and open to all. For detailed information, visit the event’s web site or contact the organizers by e-mail.

Also, on the day before the event, ARI and the UT Objectivist Society will present a free screening of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, for which Mr. Britting served as associate producer and composer. The screening will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Belmont Hall (BEL 328). For details on the screening, email the UT Objectivist Society.