Saturday, October 2, 2010

It's Time For Us To Go John Galt

My friends, whenever I go away for work I always bring a book with me. You never know if you are going to be stuck in a terminal, a hotel room, waiting room, etc. You cannot always guarantee Internet coverage on your phone or an interesting movie in your hotel room. With this past week, even though it had not been that long, I decided to pull out my well worn copy of Atlas Shrugged. It being one of my favorites, I thought I would re-read it as time allowed. Considering what was supposed to be a 1 week trip turned out to be much longer, I was glad I did.

I bring this up because as I read about this and the more I think about it, the more I think it is time for each of us to go John Galt. No, I am not saying that we need to disappear in the cloak of night and come together in some secret society. No. Instead what I feel we should each do is start to disassociate ourselves from our communities. Instead, we should make do with what we can without using that which any government has to offer. Are you or your spouse a stay at home parent, then home school and make the educational choices for your children instead of having the government make them for you. Teach them the way that you think they should be taught. Give them the education they deserve instead of the education that the school system has elected to give them. This is just one of many ways you can unplug yourself from the shackles of the government. If you can, restrict your usage of any government buildings and properties. Do not purchase from companies that support non-defense government agencies. The more you remove yourself from the government, the free-er you become.

I know this sounds seperationist, but it is not. You see, the more that you become reliant on the government, the more you become enslaved by it. That is the beauty of a book like "Atlas Shrugged". Those doers of society, those of us who work hard, pay our taxes and do what we can to improve ourselves are constantly penalized by a government that is trying to create some sort of equality that is not possible or plausible. By removing yourself and as many dependencies as you have from the government, you are taking away their power and influence.

The government, and I mean all forms of government from Federal to state and local, has made each of us dependent upon them. This was done in order to make the government and each of those government employees necessary. Unlike working in the private sector where streamlining and cost efficiency is paramount to survival, the government works with what they believe is a limitless check book. They can justify their spending because of each one of us and the way we use them. By removing ourselves from them, their need becomes less and more prevalent.

The US Constitution is a set of rules and limitations on the government, not a set of rights for its citizens. This is a powerful thing. The way the government has gotten around this is by making each of us more and more addicted to what it has to offer. As of now, there is no way that I know of to be a part of a community that completely disassociates ourselves from the government, but we can slowly remove ourselves. So, as we go into the upcoming elections, vote for smaller government, vote for less government intervention and work to remove yourself as much as you can from the use of any government program.

Go Galt.

Post Script
I wrote this article late in the evening on 9/30. I decided not to post it so I could have a close friend read this article and give me any feedback. This is something I normally do when I write an article at night. This way another set of eyes can look at it and make sure I do not ramble or I made my points. After reading this article, he called me laughing,
"So you listened to Glenn Beck?"
"No", I told him, "I could not find a station it is on down there"
"Are you sure", he said.
"Yeah."
"Well then you two must be mind melding. Check out the link I just sent you."
Opening it, I read the link and started to laugh.
"Well", I said, "Maybe Glenn just got done re-reading Atlas Shrugged too."
I am glad to know that I am not the only one thinking this way.

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