RoR: Forum

SW: We are suddenly seeing an explosion of Atlas should Shrug columns and stories.

Well, you certainly are seeing them on Townhall.com. I agree that references in the New York Times and other mainstream media are indicative. You should beware of getting caught in the conservative echo chamber.

The question does come back to the liberals who claimed to be willing to move to Canada, but who did not.

I see us (collectively as individuals) being more capable of making those choices for ourselves because (a) it does not require getting the permission of Canada to do it (b) we are self-reliant by nature. Most of us already live this way to some extent or other. I mean, we're stocked up on canned goods and bottled water as a matter of course. We are not emotionally attached to Thanksgiving dinners with unappreciative relatives.

I already said here in other threads that Reaganomics brought me back into the economy. The controls of the 1970s cost America a lot of brain power that never went into corporations that needed it, but in fact, went into the (unregulated; unsubsidized) computer revolution. So, here we are today.

I predict that President Obama will be a one-term wonder and America will move back toward free enterprise in 2012. It is easy to see.

(Edited by Michael E. Marotta on 3/17, 2:40pm)

Post 1

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 10:20pm

Michael,

You said, "I predict that President Obama will be a one-term wonder and America will move back toward free enterprise in 2012. It is easy to see."

I keep learning, again and again, how easy it is to be wrong on economic and political predictions. FDR certainly wasn't a one term president.

As to the sightings on Townhall.com, well, if it were only there it would still be remarkable. After all, that is a very staid conservative column site, and normally would avoid anything Rand related like the plague. Apart from Stossel and one or two others it is more likely to be full of columns ranting about gay marriage or stem cell research.

But it isn't just Townhall.com. It is the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, the recent Conservative conference in Colorado, Rush Limbaugh, congressman being quoted, etc. It may be a short-term cultural fad... or it may be the beginning of a political shift that is more fundamental in its view of government, rather than a single issue interest.

Atlas Shrugged has been selling hundreds of thousands of copies per year. For the most part, each of those copies represent a different person. This adds up after three or four decades. Think of it as a reservoir of unknown size and intensity. And we really don't know what it would take to trigger a significant reaction from that reservoir of potential political energy.

Post 2

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - 5:05am

MEM: "I predict that President Obama will be a one-term wonder and America will move back toward free enterprise in 2012. It is easy to see."
SW: I keep learning, again and again, how easy it is to be wrong on economic and political predictions. FDR certainly wasn't a one term president.

Everything you said after that supports my thesis. In 1932-1945, we did not have the huge reservoir of ideology and commitment that we do today. As you note, "Atlas Shrugged has been selling hundreds of thousands of copies per year." This has been going on for over 50 years. Millions of copies out there -- as also millions of Bibles and Books of Mormon and Dianetic ... Christians have been pointing to their millennial "end of days" predictions, of course, so, they, too, can show millions of people waking up to their revelations. We like to think that our ideas actually work, of course. So, now we will see.

As reality is not to be cheated, the economic directives from Washington will not (cannot) work. This time, however, there will be cogent identifications of their failures and a receptive audience. Moreover, in Roosevelt's day, it mattered what "everyone" did. This time, it is a matter of individuals acting on their own, and their actions being socially additive.

As to the sightings on Townhall.com, well, ... it is more likely to be full of columns ranting about gay marriage or stem cell research.

And you hang out there? How do they respond to your advice that they get in touch with their feelings?

But it isn't just Townhall.com. It is the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, the recent Conservative conference in Colorado, Rush Limbaugh, congressman being quoted, etc.

I don't know about the conservatives; they come to us for the gold, basically, and our disdain for their enemies on the left. Short of that, if liberals are intellectual lightweights, then conservatives are intellectual deadweights. I do agree, though, that the "sightings" in the WSJ and NYT the local newspapers and myriad blogs and so on are indicative of a general awareness -- not so much that "Ayn Rand was right" but that we exist. It is evidence that what we do is consequential. ... whichg brings us back to the top.

Post 3

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - 10:19am