Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
8/4/07
Who is John Galt? To understand you’ll have to read the book, but in essence, he is the voice of capitalism. Ayn Rand uses a good story to illustrate the woes of government regulation that taxes capitalistic endeavors. It is about rules that strip the competitive marketplace of its competition and kill the marketplace and the economy. The story tells how this might happen. One must take into account that the book was written in the 1950’s and the results of the themes, Objectivism, as it is called, looks a lot like what globalization looks like today.
What I enjoyed the most was the spirit of the characters. The industrialists were driven by nothing but desire to succeed. Never mind the financial reward; though they slowly learned how it could be enjoyed, rather, the best reward was the running of a successful enterprise.
Additionally, the book teaches that the best industrialists, or business persons, have unquestionable character and that is impressive. The concept is that every deal is a trade where both people can win. Get rid of the tricks and you have a better marketplace. The tricks are that of the looters, attempting to cheat and get ahead.
“Nobody stays here by faking reality in any manner whatever” – Ayn Rand
“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine” – Ayn Rand
