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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWho is John Galt? In the GOP, everybody is John Galt!
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/21/paul_ryan_is_an_arrogant_s_o_b_drunk_on_years_of_flatterers_lying_about_how_smart_he_is/Ryan is a major fan of the works of Ayn Rand who has said that we are living in an Ayn Rand novel and that now, more than ever, we need Rand to explain to us the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism. Of course he imagines that hes a Galtian superhero, the kind of man who deserves to have the unquestioning obedience of his underlings and the opportunity to spend his weekends relaxing on a boat while the lesser people have to toil away working overtime.
Alas, the problem for Paul Ryan is that everyone who subscribes to Randian philosophy thinks the same way: That they, by dint of their self-appointed status as smarter and better than everyone else, should also be the masters of the universe.
Thats the problem with Ayn Rands worldview. In order to be John Galt, you need the hordes of nameless plebes to lord your alleged superiority over. But the Republican party is made up of self-appointed John Galts. When everyone in your party believes theyre meant to be giving orders, not taking them, its really hard to have basic discussions, much less organize effectively to get anything done.
...
What would Ayn Rand think? Real Galtian heroes just stomp into a room, issue their demands, and refuse to play ball until all the little people acquiesce. But that relies on dealing with people who agree with your view that theyre the little people, and most definitely your average conservatives, who have also been feeding on a steady diet of Ayn Rand, do not see themselves that way.
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Who is John Galt? In the GOP, everybody is John Galt! (Original Post)
DetlefK
Oct 2015
OP
Kablooie
(18,572 posts)1. Rand's world is a comic book world.
With simple minded right and wrong and superheroes to battle supervillains.
Nothing in her world is more realistic than in Superman's world.
Her heroes have super intelligence and super stamina that exists nowhere in the real world.
But the right is convinced that it is all real and that they have those super powers.
They are like the 5 year old that ties a towel around his neck and jumps off a roof thinking he can fly.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)2. Yeah... But we have to pay the boy's hospital bills.
hatrack
(59,446 posts)3. Who is John Galt? A cardboard character in a fourth-rate novel.
I only wish I'd said it first . . .