Who is John Galt? - Winning essay

Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years, 2 months ago to Books
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  • Posted by Dobrien 8 years, 2 months ago
    How do l shake the the depression I have felt after reading Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. I refrain from reading the newspaper or watching the mind controlling broadcasts of network pawns.I believe Ayn was a genius story teller and very profetic.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
      The world is better than you know. Sometimes it is just winter that makes things look depressing. (Winter is a good time to read Atlas. Spring is the time to read The Fountainhead.)

      Do you realize how many million copies of books by and about Ayn Rand are out there? (Maybe 40 million) Or how many book titles that is? (Over 50)

      Ayn Rand continues to be popular with young people, generation after generation.
      https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

      It just takes time for the seed to sprout, and grow.

      Sure, in the mean time, the powers that be would have you believe that they are in charge, in total control. But they are not. We know that they are not - as long as you do not confront them with guns. That is all they understand; and they understand it well. But a paradigm shift changes everything. (In the Gulch here: https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post... )
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 2 months ago
    Hoo-whee young Mr. Thorpe.
    If he were a disease, I would want him to start a pandemic. He exhibits as deep an understanding of the phrase as any I have heard. The parallels between mythology and John Galt, and the different result as to the way Galt is portrayed is brilliant. Give me 20 years and 10,000 Thorpes and the world is freed.
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
    This contest has been annual for 30 years. Ninth graders have Anthem, 10th through 12th do The Fountainhead. High school seniors and college students write on Atlas Shrugged. Other choices and alternatives were used in previous years, but the format and function has been constant and successful.

    Note that the winner for The Fountainhead in 2014 came from St. Joseph Academy. They are not handing the books out there. Kids find them on their own... just as we did 20, 40, 60 years ago...

    For students who want to participate, navigate here:
    https://www.aynrand.org/students/essa...

    Follow the links to see all of the winners. You can also follow links to see the lists from 2014 and 2013.
    The influence of Ayn Rand's philosophy is deeper and broader than is apparent if you watch broadcast television. (http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/20...)

    Even the US Postal Service nodded to Ayn Rand:
    http://uspsstamps.com/stories/how-the...
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  • Posted by term2 8 years, 2 months ago
    I really do resent being forced to choose between being productive and feeding the statists, or not feeding the statists and wasting my life living like a hermit.

    If John Galt came to me today, it wouldnt take long for me to go with him I think.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
      You do not have to make that choice. Several people here have read and recommended How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne (1976). Browne was inspired by Atlas Shrugged, as millions have been. A few years before HIFFUW, some other libertarians posited a theory of "vonu" as "invulnerability to coercion."
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  • Posted by ISank 8 years, 2 months ago
    Congratulations John Thorpe, glad to see a law student share such a clear understanding of who this AR character is.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
      Go to the Ayn Rand Institute website and read the other contest essays going back 20 years. You will find many from students in Catholic high schools. Over 50 books have been published by and about Ayn Rand. Total sales are over 40 million. That is a lot of influence ... If you think that a lawyer would not be an Objectivist, you have not read much here by Dale Halling.
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      • Posted by ISank 8 years, 2 months ago
        "If you think that a lawyer would not be an Objectivist, you have not read much here by Dale Halling"
        Nothing like that, can't I just praise a potential esquire?
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 2 months ago
    These lines struck me hard. It 's what I've chosen to do and the way I've chose to do it as regards the entire structure of the country and especially it's political charade called elections.

    The young essay winner learned at his age what took me half a century.

    There is hope

    In the meantime i recommend applying the following to the upcoming elections.

    "But Galt realizes that withdrawal is the only way to avoid being victimized."

    " He gives the strike its full moral significance by identifying it for what it is: victims withdrawing their sanction from a parasitic society."

    Some years ago I published a newsletter with a short reader list for about two years. The prophetic name was Consent Withdrawn.

    Having done that I followed my own advise and went in search of m own answers. Only to find them thrown back at me by the contest winner.

    I had carried them with me all the time.

    Passed them on to others

    It just seemed the right thing to do.

    Now I have justification.

    Enouogh for me and that is enough.
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  • Posted by plusaf 8 years, 2 months ago
    Richard Halley's "opera"?!
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
      Obviously, you have read Atlas Shrugged fewer than ten times. Halley wrote Phaeton which was rejected by fans and critics. When it was performed again, years later, it was received with wild enthusiasm. What cut Halley - and opened his mind to Galt's proposal - was the tone of the accolades: he was expected to suffer while the world caught up with him; no apologies or thanks were offered.

      Like, "Galt's Speech", Halley's career was abbreviated for the movie. You cannot do everything in two hours.
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      • Posted by plusaf 8 years, 2 months ago
        I apologize, Mike... I've only read it three or four times... maybe another six readings will turn the light on for me.
        I just had the weird memory that "concerto" seemed to be the more frequent reference in the book.
        My bad. Sorry. But it's still one of my favorite books ever.
        I think I can live with that.
        :)
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