Jim Willie's latest article

ksammut

Long article but it is worth reading.

JW's latest

yellowkid

There seems to been Ayn Rand resurgence, after not having heard her name mentioned in 25 years, I have read or heard about her a half dozen times in the last few weeks. Older members here may remember the question "who is John Galt," from one of the Objectivists novels. I remember trying to get through them as a young man.

jmski52

I just finished "Atlas Shrugged" and I must say that I wish I had read it 40 years ago.

mhammerman

"There seems to been Ayn Rand resurgence, after not having heard her name mentioned in 25 years,..."

Good observation. It has been about 25 years since I read Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged before that. I too have seen a couple of articles that reference her, one of them even offered a few passages. Yep, things just keep getting weirder and weirder. Who is John Galt? It was a strange time, Stranger in a Strange Land, Siddartha, Fountain Head, (edited to add: Atlas Shrugged) Lord of the Rings trilogy, reading used to be such fun... 1144.40

"Francisco says this to Dagny in Part Two, Chapter V, after they discover the words “Who is John Galt?” scratched into a table at a restaurant. She says there are so many stories about him, and Francisco tells her that all the stories are true. Metaphorically speaking, they are, and Francisco’s Prometheus story is especially apt. Prometheus was a figure from Greek mythology. He was a titan who stole fire from the gods and brought it to men to improve their lives. In return, he was chained to a rock and tortured. Vultures ate his liver each day, only to have it grow back at night to be eaten again. In Francisco’s comment, Prometheus (personified by Galt) represents the great industrialists who have provided men with prosperity and improved their lives with their inventions and products, but have received only condemnation and government interference in return. These men, led by Galt, have disappeared and taken their prosperity-generating minds (the “fire” they had provided) with them. They will no longer allow themselves to receive torture as payment for their talents, and they will only return their talents to the world when they are no longer punished for bringing them."