Atlas Shrugged is a good text on the nobility of selfishness and industry, but its by no means a "manual" to how to achieve a free society.
Rand never predicted the sheer level the industry would be co-operate with government, and how much government action would decentralize power of private individuals and organizations.
Not only are there virtually no 'Hank Reardens' who would ever throw away a multi-billon dollar company over principles, but due to the way regulation and corporate licensing has been crafted, no single
Even Warren Buffet, one of the most singularly rich people complains that he does not get charged enough taxes. The idea that all great businessmen are somehow principled anarchists who feel every tax as a dagger to the heart is a load of crap.
The "Atlas" analogy is now dud because there is no "Atlas" anymore. The government is very careful in not letting any one factor threaten its control. What do you think the Governments interest in Anti-Trust laws is?
Also the idea that without "industrial minds" that government won't be able to run the mines and the factories is bullshit. We do not live in a world where a handful of minds contribute to the majority of wealth, if a bunch of businessmen went missing, their competitors would merely eat up the empty market share. Not only that, but most of the really huge corporations have no single figure, and are highly diversified with many committees and boards of directors.
Take a large multi-national like
Rio Tinto, say the CEO leaves the company, does the Rio Tinto group come crashing to the ground? No. And what are the chances that all of the directors, owners, and committees would agree to the CEOs whim of destroying the company before he left.
The idea of "withdrawing" from government control is a fine one, but it is much more analogous to a slave escaping from a plantation than Atlas refusing to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.
Withdrawing is good because it sets you free, not because it will lead to government collapse.
In which case NH is definitely not Galt's Gulch, and is unlikely ever to be. The cases of Ed and Elaine brown and other disobedients simply goes to show how the government is sincerely committed to enforcing its legitimacy, and that no one really cares when someone is stolen from and put into a cage for refusing taxes.
The vast majority of media coverage is in fact negative, and portrays the "victims" as cheats, lunatics and
anarchists, not peaceful hard working victims of an oppressive state.
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Topic: Atlas Shrugged rolls along page to page in the real world (Read 1839 times)