John Galt Effect
Human Events has a profound article entitled the “John Galt Effect.” The thesis is that although the thinkers and doers on whose shoulders our technological civilization stands seldom actually quit, today they are watching our march toward tyranny with trepidation. Instead of focusing their efforts on their work, which benefits us all, they are distracted by thoughts of survival for their loved ones:
What is the cost of the distraction of our real leaders — of the men of the mind — of the John Galts among us? I estimate that it is greater than the trillions of dollars being lost on government printing presses. Call this Y2009K — and this time it is very real.
That is a profound observation, and almost impossible to quantify; but intuitively we know it rings true. I had not thought of the notion of a lot of little shrugs being perhaps more devastating than a few big ones.
Of one thing we can be certain. When the essentials of our civilization begin to seriously falter and this causes real harm, those who would be our masters and their fellow travelers in the media, academia, business, and politics will cast blame upon some of these men of the mind — and drag them before us for punishment. Our John Galts know this, too, and it is a further distraction for them.
Some of these people are leading great enterprises. Others are in the basements of our power plants and other heavy industries. Some are closeted away in universities quietly at work on the next generations of possible advances in science and engineering. They are easily recognized — by their genius and by the love of their work that permeates their whole beings.
One way to recognize them is that they constantly talk about their work to anyone who will listen.
Now they are distracted.
What are they talking about today?
Indeed. When one hears the Usurper in Chief himself pronounce that the recovery will take years and that now is not the time to make profits, the message to the achievers is that now is not the time to dream, invent, innovate, advance, excel, or even try to achieve – now is the time to hunker down and weather the storm. All a serious thinker, who can see the big picture and notice how ugly it really is, can rationally do is hope for an early and spectacular failure of the Progressive agenda; to hasten the time when capitalism returns.
Socialist government can make temporary work; but it cannot create real jobs. That requires a capitalist with a mind tuned to a frequency utterly beyond the range of a socialist. One cannot compel such a mind to produce; one can only provide an environment conducive to its best efforts, and then get the hell out of the way and let it improve the lot of mankind. â—„Daveâ–º