Shrug

Ayn Rand published Atlas Shrugged in 1957. She has said she wrote it to keep it from being prophetic. She succeeded in creating a devastatingly provocative literary and philosophical work. Unfortunately she failed to have sufficient influence to make not be prophetic. Her book asks the simple question: “If you were Atlas and carried the world on your shoulders, and all the earth’s inhabitants cursed you for your strength, hobbled you and resented your every success, what would you do?” Her answer – Shrug.

All around me I see people of goodwill diving head first into collectivist policies and forgetting completely that the free-market principles of our country have performed so well. The free-market has fed more babies, clothed more of the naked, sheltered more homeless, and healed more of the sick than any other economic system has ever done in the past. These are statements that history supports.

What free-market capitalism had as a fault was, and is, that it accomplished these things by way of its natural order. It was not conceived to save the poor, or comfort the sick, or to feed the hungry. It just did these things in route to accomplishing its goals of a profitable existence and a growth of investment.

The free-market was condemned by a vocal minority because of its goals in spite of its results. The free-market producers should have learned from this early condemnation and stood tall proclaiming all the social good that they accomplished in their pursuit of their goals. That did not happen. Producers are often too busy bringing prosperity to fruition to organize politically.

The second sin of the free-market producer was to fail to cover every single person in the USA or even the globe with universal freedom from responsibility. Never mind that millions more had food, shelter, clothing, a color TV and cell phones than in the history of the earth. The producers missed some folks and for that they have earned the everlasting damnation of those who make something other than production their standard.

At some point, it becomes time for the producers of the earth to stand up and cry. “Enough!”  

The point here is simply this: If you are a looter, and if you disagree with this article in basic substance you probably are one, the time is approaching where what you say you want will come to fruition unless a drastic turn around is implemented. When your world becomes reality, the starvation, depravation and collapse of the best of civilization will be at your bidding. You have asked for it for so many years.

At that time will you cry out to those who might still be able to produce and say this is not what we wanted?  Why did you allow this to happen? You could have saved us. In that statement only would there be truth for the producers may have been able to save your world, but instead they shrugged.