Thursday, April 30, 2009

Three Easy Steps to Go Galt


It’s been only a hundred days but it feels like a century. At least that’s how long the “100th day” celebration seemed to have taken. The good news: Fox, in choosing not to air the Prime Time Obama Love er, I mean “Press” Conference, won the ratings sweep for that time period. Maybe people are starting to suffer from Obama fatigue. The bad news: Arlen Specter decided, after forty years, he really was a Democrat after all. We now officially have a one-party government with no systematic checks or balances. Great. Kremlin on the Potomac. We better be careful or Napolitano might banish us to the oil fields in North Alaska.


So, what’s a proud red-blooded American to do in these dire times?


Survive.


Sorry, but that’s the greatest priority. Sure, we can (and should) have fun at regularly scheduled tea parties, but we’ve got to accept the hand fate has dealt us. From the moment W modified the honorable label “conservative” with the lame Alda-esque qualifier “compassionate,” we ought to have known this day would soon be upon us. Yes, just as society lampooned Michael Dukakis for being a “card carrying liberal” in 1988, so, too, the vast popular culture looks with disdain upon “card carrying” conservatives.


True conservatives – those who understand what Liberty meant to our Founding Fathers and why America was and always will be that “Shining City on the Hill” – cannot make the same mistake Dukakis and George W made. True conservatives never will and never should apologize for their love of liberty. We shall wear it like a bold scarlet C emblazoned across our bosom, defying those who choose to stone us, daring those who think they can debate us.


For, you see, imbedded within our very soul lies a deep realization of why Aristotle feared pure democracy. Our form of government – a Republic – as Montesquieu aptly states, demands virtue of its citizens. We embrace the morality that implies it’s more than simply counting all the votes – virtuous policy demands a reasoned debate. Nothing said this more than Benjamin Franklin’s answer to a woman who asked what type of government the Constitutional Convention had agreed upon. Franklin’s terse response: “A republic, if you can keep it.”


But, while survival may be our primary objective, it remains by no means our only objective.


Fortunately, in modern America, the lifeblood of politics comes down to one simple equation: E = mc2. In Washington parlance, this translates to “winning Elections equals Money to Campaign the Citizens.” Without money, therefore, a politician’s electoral hopes vanish faster than the speed of light. Take away an elected official’s money and you take away his mouthpiece. Take away his mouthpiece, and the citizens start worrying about other things like Swine Flu, staying employed and, yes, even paying taxes.


If we are to truly “go Galt” – go on strike, if you will – we need to sacrifice. We need to stop buying products that support our political enemies. Many people think the discipline required to successfully strike represents too high a hurdle for free marketers like us. But, look, it worked (unless you really like ’57 Chevys) for three generations with Cuba. Now is the time we need to shield our collective wallets from the socialist fiefdoms sprouting up across America.


Allow me to offer three effortless ways to Go Galt in our current environment:


1) Identify all public, private, profit and not-for-profit institutions you currently do business with – both directly or indirectly.

2) Understand who gets the money you pay to these institutions and identify on which side of the free market aisle they reside. In other words, are they defending the ideal of America or merely looting the American Dream?

3) Do more business with those who have a kindred spirit and less (hopefully none) with those who are enabling the socialist path Obama seems intent to take us on.


Bear in mind, the opposition is already doing this. They don’t believe in free markets, so every purchase they make becomes a political decision. We need to buckle down. Start small. Start with your accountant, lawyer or financial adviser. These are individuals you ought to know well and who reside in highly competitive businesses. You might not be able to do this with your doctor, so just skip your doctor and move on to easier targets. Share ideas with your like-minded friends.


On a national scale, don’t do business with the banks now beholden to the government and, by all means, don’t buy GM or Chrysler if they become nationalized in any way. Ford might not be perfect, but, of the American car manufacturers, to date it continues to have a better idea.


That’s it. Pure, simple and relatively easy, though not necessarily painless. But, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: How much do you love America? Enough to give up your Cadillac? Enough to stop buying Apple products? Enough to forgo the next Dreamworks or Pixar film – or even the movie version of Atlas Shrugged (I mean, come on, Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart?!).


Winning is easy. But it’s up to you to start.


9 comments:

  1. Hello Don:

    I loved it!!! You have a special gift in getting a point across to your readers. It is so refreshing to hear someone speak of that "shining city on the hill". Though the words were Reagan's, the very ideals that they envelope are those of our Founding Fathers! I respect those men more than I can express and it breaks my heart, for them, to live through these frightening days in America's history.

    I agree with your ideas on going 'Galt' to make our point as conservatives in what is supposed to be a 'Republic', honoring the basic principles
    of our Constitution. #tcot As long as the Tea Party "radicals", of which I am one, stand by their convictions about bringing America back to where Her fore fathers intended Her to be...we Will come out the winners in the end! We need more 'heart and soul', Liberty loving, America protecting citizens to speak out! By your example, this IS going to help change our Nation!
    God Bless you and God Bless America~

    Thank you,
    Disa Albanese
    JAlban5@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not enough. You need to stop using Federal Reserve Notes so the Fed can stop leeching away your wealth to pay for the gun the government is pointing at your head. Check out the Liberty Dollar.

    http://www.libertydollar.org/

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  3. You make a lot of good points. However, I have to differ with you regarding the proposed and long-anticipated movie of Atlas. It is INCREDIBLY important. In fact, if it had been made a few years ago, we might not have the problems we have today.

    Popular movies greatly influence society. We desperately need this movie.

    As to Angelina Jolie playing Dagny Taggart, Jolie is a major box-office draw. Liberty lovers will see it because we love Ayn and Atlas. Just think about how many bedwetters will see it just because it stars Jolie.

    Many people will be exposed to "different thinking" precisely because Jolie is the star.

    Keep up the good work. We need more people like you shining light on freedom and liberty.

    Gina Carr
    @GinaCarr on Twitter
    www.AynRandRocks.com

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  4. George:

    You're edging towards the hard way to go Galt, which, really, is the only way to go Galt. But, to go Galt, the gold dollar sign is only a symbol. The true cost is in cents. It's possible. Just hard. Maybe I'll write about that later.

    - Don
    @DonPublius on Twitter

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  5. Gina:

    I agree 100% with your understanding of the power of the cinema. The question is: Will they do Atlas Shrugged right? Personally, I don't have faith they will. Of course, I said the same thing about Lord of the Rings and, except for a few missing scenes, the adaptation was remarkably true to Tolkien.

    Bottom-Line: I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

    - Don
    @DonPublius @ Twitter

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  6. "Survive." Well, that's what I've been telling folks for quite a while. 'Course, time stretches out a lot these hairy days, so it may not be so long ago that I began. When you're on a fixed S.S. income with a wife and three kids still at home, "going Galt" is kind-of a moot point. I believe Obama will succeed in ruining our economy completely -- and that he fully intends to do so -- before we manage to wrest government from the hands of the politicians. If we do. So yes, survival by all means. In the meantime, the onus is upon us to sustain the TEA Party enthusiasm at such a pace that we convince the next congress that "government by the people and for the people" becomes an automatic given. It's our own fault that we're in this fix; it's up to us to dig our way out of it if we can.

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  7. This is a great idea and as I do website design I have thought about putting together a directory of conservative businesses so as to help assist in the idea you have clearly laid out. The drawback is I cannot do it alone and would need a great deal of help to get it done. I am serious about this and would like to find other like minded people to accomplish this. Conservative do business very well and we need to leverage the best we have to combat this destructive government.

    http://www.allapparel.biz

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  8. JDuke:
    OK, you're on. I believe this can be accomplished with a web-site. It needs to be limited, though, and there has to be an agreed upon vetting process for potential members. It could not be public. I'm sure Ayn wouldn't mind us using the Gold Dollar Sign as our "Union Bug." I have the start of a list of like minded people and I could probably direct a lot more if there was a destination. Biggest rule: who eats the internet fees (by this I mean the web-hosting fees and domain name registration)? Let's talk more.

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  9. John or Liz:
    You're right and you aren't the only folks who've said they're already doing this. Keep it up and keep up the fight. The Teaparties are part of the overall strategy. We need to sustain that enthusiasm.

    ReplyDelete