All, please check out my new post

http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/bf...

That's awesome :) Thanks for taking the time to add this. You made my morning!

I don't reside in Texas, but I've traveled the entire state and I'd have no problem with living there. I too, live in what you call God's country and spend a lot of time in the mountains.

You got that exactly right.

I ran across something interesting tonight: excerpts from Ayn Rand's voluminous journals regarding the psychology of Dagny Taggart. This is dated 18 Apr 1946:

"Her error ... is over-optimism and over-confidence....

"Over-optimism -- in that she thinks men are better than they are, she doesn't really understand them and is generous about it.

"Over-confidence -- in that she thinks she can do more than an individual actually can. She thinks... she can make people do what she wants or needs, what is right, by the sheer force of her own talent; not by forcing them, of course... but by the sheer over-abundance of her own energy....

"The mistake? Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone...."

So, we (you and I, at least) have now come to this same realization ourselves: the time to persuade people has ended. The sides have been chosen and it's time to, as you say, stop trying to waken the dead.

I think the choice has been made. I wasn't MY choice...but it has been made.

I am sure that many of you are familiar with this quote "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". For conservatives, the seemingly correct answer to this warning is to stand and fight. To vote, to work harder, to protest, to write our elected officials, to run for office ourselves. To be Dagny Taggart. The problem we face today, is that the people we seek to protect from this "evil" are seemingly no longer interested in having us do so. To use an analogy from the movie 'The Matrix' they are willing to swallow the Blue Pill and live a dreamworld, rather than do the hard work of living in the real world. Ayn Rand's answer was to Shrug, to give them what they ask for and allow the world to fall apart. To allow conditions to become so bad that they will come crawling back on their knees and beg for a second chance. This is the nuclear option, and we must all acknowledge that to go down this path is a very dangerous gamble that may not turn out as we would like. Should American society collapse we will lose the best nation that humanity has ever seen. I believe we have come to that most brutal of crossroads where we must either "Go Galt" and endure the consequences, perhaps for generations - or we must stand and fight and endure the pain, sacrifice and frustration that comes with that choice.

Free State Project:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_...

You are light years ahead of me. And I can see how having "only what you need" is the key to happiness...everything else is just clutter. :) (Soooo many people wouldn't be able to handle even the thought of that.)

I know what you mean, Re., make a living doing what you enjoy. Going "Galt" was very painful for me in the beginning. I stopped producing taxable income and liquidated everything. I took a financial and emotional beating. It hurt, but I'm over it and happier than I have ever been. To me, going Galt doesn't only mean hiding out in a cave in the mountains or joining some mythical group of super-heros in a mountain valley. I'm doing just fine in a metro area. Obviously, I'm not completely off the grid, but that isn't the point. I have stopped feeding the moochers and THAT IS the point. The best part is I still know how to "do it" and I can come come back so to speak if conditions change, but I don't count on it. I'm happy and I have only what I need.

That's the problem for me. No mountains.

I go nuts without mountains around me.

Yes, I have heard of the hill country around... Austin/San Antonio I think? But I've only ever been through the panhandle.

Maybe after you guys secede you can start going up the Rio Grande and annexing it. If you go far enough up you'll get to God's Country and then I can move there.

ugh...I just typed out a whole thing about what I supply on eBay and then erased it. There's several reasons why I don't want to blab about it on here. Let's just say, I make kids happy again and their parents LOVE me for it. :) And I love what I do. (I also have a day job with kids and love that as well.) I am a lucky girl.....I know, I know...itisntluck...it's determination to find a way to make a living doing what you enjoy. And I did just that. Yay me! lol

OK.

It would be hard to explain..... heh!

I love AZ. What do you sell on eBay?

You've never been to the Texas Hill Country? Fredericksicksburg, Texas, home of Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, is a wonderful place. No mountains like CO or WY, but a temperate climate and pleanty of water and wild game.

Ah. Understood. We're in America and this is the conversation we're having. My grandparents are rolling over in their graves. oy

Ahh, I was not clear enough, my apologies. I want the choice to REFUSE to vote, by my will, not as a result of the will of others imposed on me.

Our last "choice" was close to fictitious. And from what I'm hearing on the news shows today....the only way for us thinking folks to win is to pander to everyone who doesn't think. I could puke at that thought. But I will shrug instead. :)

LOL Score one for the astute husband.

Your comment about elections is a horrendous thought... Nothing pisses me off more than not being given a choice. :)

Thanks Elemar :) Isn't it amazing how stupid "smart" people are?? It's a real head slapper I think.

Good point :) The first words out of my husband's mouth when the voting results where called was, "The vampire has been invited into the house....again!" (I said, "What?" and he said the same as you. A vampire can't enter a house, and cause destruction, until someone invites him in first.) I, too, am mulling over voting again, but I'll surprised if there's another election in my lifetime anyway.

Jedge, I will also venture to say that we must STOP voting. Consider this: voting is giving the consent of the governed. That's why voting is so important to the candidates - it's not just about winning, it's about your PERMISSION. Like vampires and evil spirits (LOL - don't laugh - go with the concept), they have no power over you unless you agree to invite them in.

Never clearer than this election, elections are like a mother who picks a yellow and an orange shirt and gives the child the choice between the two. Usually the kid is all excited about being given a choice. But who really made the choice? This election, many "kids" stood there looking at the two shirts and said, "I know I have more than just a yellow or orange shirt to wear. Where's my purple one, or the green one from the laundry basket?"

Look up "You’ve Got to Stop Voting – by Mark E. Smith." The same essay is found on a couple of sites.

I have come to virtually the same conclusion as LetsShrug. A young (early 30s) vibrant, creative coworker with whom I have had several discussions about politics, trends, and the state of affairs in concrete and philosophical terms over the past 10 years we've worked together, said she stood paralyzed in front of the ballot on Tuesday. She was tempted to write in Ron Paul (which I championed), rejected Romney because of - among other things - his Big Bird remark (we support public TV but we've discussed the PUBLIC - not government - pay for it), and ultimately voted for Obama.

Really?

My state (Rhode Island) not only re-elected the most corrupt and clueless legislators and Congressmen, they voted OUT a few good state legislators and supplanted them with known looters.

I am done trying to counsel the suicidal and delusional. I am seeking Galt's Gulch.

Good to hear that, Eudaimonia.

I am (was?) actually a member of the FSP. I moved there, participated in one election, moved away two months later.

I just don't like living back East. Good to hear about Wyoming, I could walk to there if I had to.

But honestly, it looks to me like Texas is going to be the first state to secede. I don't think I could stand living in that flat, barren wasteland but I'll cheer them on.