I have been reading a number of new biographies of founding fathers and Lynne Cheney’s “James Madison-A Life Reconsidered” strikes me as having special relevance to current events (I see intent on the part of the author and her spouse.) A common theme for each bio to me is that a number of great men that could have been successful in their chosen lives, risked everything, absorbed unbelievable public abuse and loss of fortune to create a Republic based on unalienable, individual rights.
This has caused me to wonder what did Rand really mean by Galt’s Gultch? I have, like most, always thought that it was a “solution” where men of the mind went on strike to rid themselves of the leaches that had usurped the power to control society on the false premise of altruism. The strategy was to let the system collapse quickly so there would still be producers that could rebuild it. I have never known a John Galt-like person and he always seemed to be a character out of Marvel Comics. I have known a few people like Hank and Dagny that held out until the end and I find them most believable.
What if Galt’s Gultch is not a “solution” but a “warning”? A warning to the leaches that they are driving the producers into hiding mentally, not physically, and gradually instead of abruptly. A warning to the men of the mind that they cannot afford to focus on being producers of goods and services but that they must lay down their science books like Jefferson and Franklin, their academic pursuits like Madison and Monroe their production of commercial goods like Washington, their financial acumen, like Hamilton and get into the realm of the political refurbishing of our Great Experiment in self-government.
I have always thought that politics was so corrupt and dirty that no truly qualified person would ever seek elected office. Perhaps too many have been of a like mind.