Archive for the ‘Ayn Rand’ tag
Going Galt, Going Rogue or Going Your Own Way
Ayn Rand is selling more books today than anytime during her career.
And she died 27 years ago.
In her seminal work, Atlas Shrugged, the protagonist John Galt leads a strike of society’s most productive engineers, architects, scientists and artists. And the concept is evidently gaining ground in this recession. Hmmmm. Why?
The industrial leaders of Atlas Shrugged “Go Galt” in a revolt against the increasingly oppressive policies of what Rand terms the bureacratic “parasites” of socialism. It’s sort of a passive-aggressive protest against an insatiable and unchecked federal bureacracy. Galt encourages the American intelligentsia to join him in a hidden Colorado commune and let the national economy collapse upon itself without them. Which it does in her science fiction / mystery / romance / political tome (Beware: it’s about 1100 pages).
It’s a little wordy and the characters are flat, but still it’s a fun, intoxicating read.
Rand wrote the melodramatic novel as her magnum opus and the definitive statement on her political philosophy of Objectivism. It’s all about the rugged and profound supremacy of the independent human mind and the importance of reason. She argues that selfishness is a virtue, organized religion is irrational dogma and that violent, unregulated capitalism is the best hope for human society.
Obviously, she had her critics. But why would such a book be more popular now than ever? What triggers it’s resurgent appeal?
Economists (and Amazon.com) will tell you that sales of Atlas Shrugged mushroom every time the US economy dips. And now there is a national movement to “Go Galt” as a revolt (if only metaphorical) against the recent government bailouts and expanding beauracracies of the current administration.
OK. Sounds appealing to us little guys who aren’t on the receiving end of a billion-dollar handout. But do I really want to live in Colorado?
And what of Sarah Palin?
She evidently liked the idea of “Going Rogue” within the GOP so much that she used the term to title of her new memoir. It’s received lukewarm reviews for it’s apparent attempts to settle the score on several points that left her bitter and battered after her tumultuous addition to the McCain ticket last year.
They lost, by the way.
Then she resigned her gubernatorial seat in Alaska.
Then she took on David Letterman in a PR battle over the late-night host’s disparaging remarks about her family. Now she’s evidently considering another political race in 2010 or beyond. (Get ready, Tina Feye!!)
And yet, Palin’s “rogue” appeal cannot be denied. The book has quickly become one of the top-selling non-fiction books ever. And red-state crowds packed every book signing she attended. In Plano, the line of fans wrapped around Legacy bookstore for hours before she arrived.
And then of course, there is the whole manifest destiny concept and westward expansion and the “rugged individualism” that drove American pioneers into California. Horatio Alger and the American Dream.
I think there’s a connection.
When times are tough, we like the idea of the strong, confident individual who can reject the trapping of society or conventional life, make his or her way through the wilderness and emerge victorious on the other side of the mountain.
We enjoy the story of the protagonist who stumbled, or objected to the shelter of society on principle, or who fell from grace, endured purgatory, and then re-invented himself on the other side.
Think Job, Scrooge, Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca, even Darth Vadar. All guys who started out on the right path, then stumbled, then corrected course and ended up heroic.
That’s the story we love.
It’s the entrepreneurial story, too. More entrepreneurs are birthed in a recession than at any other time. More people who want to throw off the trappings of a monolithic employer and re-draw the map of their own careers. Me included.
A recent cover story in Entrepreneur magazine proclaims 2010 as the “Year of the Entrepreneur” and I believe it. I see more people starting a small enterprise on the side with the hope and intent of seeing it flourish – and then become an exit strategy.
No need to retreat to a Colorodo mountainside and expect the GDP to take a calamatous fall because of your new venture. No need to abdicate entirely. No need to consider it a revolt. But instead a renewal. As we all now, most employers and corporate taxpayers in America are small businesses. We are the backbone of the US economy. The engine. The workhorse.
And I highly intend to see more and more people understand in 2010 that there is a life beyond the 9-to-5.
In fact, prosperity usually follows people who have (1) a good idea for a product or service, and (2) the perserance to deliver it. It’s not easy. And it’s not for the easily-nauseated. Taxes – yikes. Healthcare – wow. And the future regulatory environment is uncertain – at best.
But still – I am certain.
This entrepreneurial venture is the future for me. And I’ll bet a lot more people agree and join the E-team this year.
Just watch.
