Atlas Shrugged - The Prequel

One of the reasons I started this blog was the frustration I felt see letter after letter rejected by the local newspapers. So, while some of the next few posts may be dated by a few months, I think there messages are as timely today as the day I pecked them out on my keyboard. Enjoy...

Atlas Shrugged - The Prequel (12/6/08)

For those of you grasping for an understanding of the tumultuous and seemingly contradictory times in which we live as 2008 draws to an end, the answer is much closer than you may be willing to admit.

We are writing the unwritten story that is the prequel to Ayn Rand’s 51-year old apocalyptic epic Atlas Shrugged.

As Rand taught in Atlas Shrugged, contradictions cannot exist. As Rand writes, “A is A”, “A cannot be not-A”. We can claim that ‘A is not-A’ but saying so does not make it true. To claim “A is not-A” is simply a lie – the language of idiots, brutes and tyrants – not the language of free, honest men and women.

The government tells us that if we take money from those who produce the most and give the money to those who produce the least (in other words, the “Stimulus Package” of 2008) then our problems will go away. Of course, as we know, the “Stimulus Package” did not “work”, because of the moral contradiction inherent, but unchallenged, in its premise.

A society does not create wealth through consumption; it creates wealth through production. Our government fed us the unchallenged lie that we can consume our way into prosperity. When in the history of the planet has a society ever consumed its way into prosperity?

The other contradiction in the original stimulus package is the definition of what defines “success”. What was the desired effect of the “Stimulus Package”? To consume our way into prosperity? We know that to be false. No, the true purpose of the “Stimulus Package” was for those in power to take money from a group of people that has few votes and give that ill-taken loot to a group of people that has more votes.

When viewed within this context, there is no contradiction. Our politicians took, at the point of a gun, earned money from those who produce most and gave this unearned loot to those who produce least (or not at all) to buy their votes. There is no other explanation that does not contain a contradiction.

The initial “Stimulus Package” is all the more sinister due to its secondary and tertiary effects. First, the precedent is set that the government possesses the power and moral right to take (at the point of a gun) earned income from one American and give it to another. Obama said, “it’s a good thing to spread the wealth around”.

Less than a year after the first “Stimulus Package” our politicians are tripping over each other to give the money earned by one to anyone with a tin cup (the bigger the tin cup, the better).

Secondly, the government looters demand the fruit of production but vilify those who produce it. Who are the greatest “villains” in the eyes of the government, media, and, I dare say, Americans under the age of 25? Big Oil and Big Pharmacy. We demand oil products and miracle drugs like crack addicts and then crucify the CEO’s of the companies that produce the products we demand most in sham kangaroo courts called Congressional hearings. Do we not see the contradiction here?

The Big Three auto manufactures, with their $34B tin cup, make good cars (and to argue otherwise is immaterial) but do so at a price that Americans have been unwilling to pay.

Congress, this week, entertained placing further demands, at the point of a gun, upon my money to force a purchase of automobiles from Detroit that I refused to buy in the free market. Upon what legal or moral basis do we allow this?

Pelosi, Reid et al will claim that the Big 3 situation represents a potential calamity for all Americans if the Big 3 are allowed to fail. It is a lie. The political class is willing to give my money to the Big 3 in order to pander to the unions and to provide a quid pro quo for political contributions. There is no other conclusion that does not contain a contradiction.

18 months from now, the failed economic policy of wealth re-distribution that we are witnessing today will have only accelerated the destruction of the freedom of honest Americans.

Pockets of violence will crop-up as frustration devolves into despair. A new special police force will be established due to the “temporary emergency conditions” and firearms will be banned “for the public good during these trying times.” High profile cases of “greed” will be brought, not before rump Congressional Hearings but in front of Federal District Courts.

Production levels will drop precipitously as we continue the policy of consumption vs production and continue to vilify those who produce most. We will tax the biggest producers at unheard of levels “due to these temporary emergency conditions” and because the highest producers “don’t need” money nearly as much as the useless.

At least 52% of Americans believe that they are entitled to that which they have not earned. Until we have at least 50% of voting Americans stand up and say, “I am entitled to no more than that which I can produce as valued by those who would pay money for my products”, then there should be no mystery as to where America is headed. Ayn Rand documented that journey in 1957.

Craig Powers