Atlas Shrugged page 1169 what's next?

Posted by j_IR1776wg 11 years, 2 months ago to Politics
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Personally I don't believe that the control freaks and property thieves can be kept out for an indefinite period of time. I doubt that Moses would have written the eighth commandment (thou shall not steal) if there were no thieves in his time. I don't believe that Men are innately either good or evil but that we learn to be so. The U S Constitution basically held together for 100 years. How long will John Galt's gulch last?


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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 11 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    "I think Galt's Gulch is a place we create in our own lives."

    Harry Browne, "How I Found Freedom in An Unfree World" 1973. Another book that changed my life.
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  • Posted by jneilschulman 11 years, 2 months ago
    Atlas Shrugged was not the last word of fiction written on this subject. Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) recapitulates the American Revolution in a lunar prison colony. L. Neil Smith's The Probability Broach (1980) reexamines the American Revolution in a parallel universe.

    If there's any forum where being self-serving is not a problem this should be it.

    My own novel, Alongside Night, portrays a near future where one doesn't need to retreat to a hidden valley in Colorado; the clandestine free markets are embedded all over, waiting for the government to collapse under the weight of overspending and totalitarian controls. That novel was published in 1979 and now it's a feature motion picture just being released into movie theaters.

    Official Alongside Night Movie Website: http://www.AlongsideNightMovie.com

    Official Alongside Night Movie Facebook Page:
    http://Facebook.com/AlongsideNightMovie

    J. Neil Schulman
    author of the novel
    writer/producer/director of the movie
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm hoping enough States agree to an Article V convention. The States, collectively, are the only entities powerful enough to bring the Feds to heel. BO would no more allow a peaceful secession than Putin is going to allow a non-Russian controlled Crimea.
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  • Posted by spark- 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I really don't think that war or revolution would be necessary if the states retain the right to secede. Now that Congress lacks the will do fulfill their mandate and continues to fund the illegal actions of the executive, the best option is to leave the dysfunctional organization. The problem is in getting the popular support for peaceful secession. With 17 trillion in debt, that’s about $45k per person for a state to pay off is liability to the federal govt. This debt is manageable, but the trend is going the wrong way and time is running out for this to be a good option.

    Even in the revolutionary war, there was only about 40-45% popular support and no more than 3% of the population in active combat. The majority certainly did reap the benefits of the 'illegal' actions of the minority. History shows that this is how real changes come about in governments. The majority of today’s population are too ignorant of their rights, and are too irresponsible to do what is right.
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Unfortunately, the truth your friend spoke has not been taught in our schools for several generations.
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I deep in my soul want to agree with Churchill that "jaw jaw is better than war war" but I'm afraid that the time for talk is rapidly ending.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The problem is that most liberty loving people see no need to seek elected office, as they have no desire to implement their views on others.

    Contrarywise, the progressive/collectivist only seeks to impose their will on others, and thus seeks positions of power, particularly elected office.

    Thus, we have a situation where the enslavers actively seek power, and the freedom lovers actively rejecting power. Eventually, the enslavers will hold enough power that the freedom lovers will lose what they cherish.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Because it's easy. Why work when I can get a politician, more interested in wielding power than truly doing what is best for the people, to steal from the productive for my benefit?
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Unfortunately, the progressives have spent the better part of the last century trying to hide that fact and get the populace to believe that it is the government that grants all rights to the citizens.

    I have this discussion every few months with somebody that wants a new law to ban something or make something illegal. They often say that it is the government that grants the ability for people to do things so that the government should have the right to restrict things as well. I have to inform them that it is only the people (and the states, in some cases) that have rights, not the federal government. And we actually created the constitution to ensure that we retain our rights and only give very specific authority to the government to very limited things, but that this has been warped over the decades. This often comes as a surprise and shock to them, and most don't really believe me, until I pull out my pocket Constitution and read to them from it. Then they start to awaken.
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I hope you are wrong as well Herb. It's the reason I put this post up. I cannot understand why the human race always seems to backslide toward collectivism. Many people around the globe sing the praises of freedom and individual rights but few seem to achieve these goals. In America, too many people don't even seem interested anymore.
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  • Posted by spark- 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    John Philpot Curran - "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."

    I also like this one - "We have had 13. states independant 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half for each state. What country ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." - Thomas Jefferson
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    For me, Galt's Gulch began in 1792. We must work collectively to regain our individual rights ratified in the constitution. It is important we all adhere to the principles expressed in Atlas Shrugged or else we are lost.
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  • Posted by RonC 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think Galt's Gulch is a place we create in our own lives. For me it started out as a fleeting thought now and then. Over time I acquired more skills and better self discipline. At this time I have managed to create my own little world that for the most part is oblivious to the moochers. I have to settle up on tax day like everyone else, and I always go to the poling place on election day. Who knows? Someday my vote may be for a winner. Beyond that, Washington and the Federal government doesn't bother me much here in Ohio. Taxes aren't so bad when you can figure out a way for someone to hand you the money to pay them with.

    Is this paradise available to anyone? Yes! But you have to see it in your mind, believe it to be possible, work in that direction, and recognize it when the pieces come together. Can it be destroyed? Yes. By neglect, or by the envy and ill will of others. What is there that mankind and mooches cannot destroy?

    A dear friend of mine taught me how to build this place. He had done so himself and in the 2008-09 financial collapse he told me he felt like he was on an island, completely oblivious to all of the financial disaster around him. He has passed away now. Instead of leaving me his fortune and property, he left me something far more valuable, his knowledge! With that a person can build their own Galt's gulch.
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  • Posted by ShruginArgentina 11 years, 2 months ago
    Since (in reality) there is no Galt's Gulch that control freaks and property thieves need to be kept out of, what is the point of this question?
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  • Posted by ShruginArgentina 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    And I actually shrugged 45 years ago.

    Now I have a place for (at least a few) others to do the same.

    And, hopefully, survive the chaos of the collapse.
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  • Posted by ShruginArgentina 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Click on my name, read my posts, and perhaps you will learn more about me.

    I have already shugged and have prepared a real life place for others to do the same.

    Am I a hero?

    That is not for me to say.

    But it is my great desire to make it possible for others to save themselves by joining me.

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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm here in galtsgulchonline because I want to be a hero and live with other heroes and I'm willing to pitch in to help it become reality. Why are you on this site?

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