Democrats Embrace Socialism:Are We
Headed Towards 'Atlas Shrugged'?
PJ Media,
by
Stephen Green
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
5/21/2019 9:45:28 AM
There's a recurring theme in American science fiction where the country loses its way, endures some horrible but cleansing disaster, and then rediscovers the blessings of liberty. You'll find it in Robert Heinlein's "Future History" stories, where the Crazy Years -- a period of rapid technological advances, decaying social norms, and mass psychosis -- leads to the backlash of a religious dictatorship. The Prophets regime is eventually toppled by a liberty-loving group dedicated to individual rights. The theme is even more pronounced in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, where a socialist regime puts the country into another Great Depression, only worse. The country's capitalists
Reply 1 - Posted by:
bamboozle 5/21/2019 10:12:14 AM (No. 68083)
A couple of our very best conservative radio commentators have said that they were left-wing politically in their early days. Fortunately, they still had the ability to think logically and eventually came to the truth.
4 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
skacmar 5/21/2019 10:20:47 AM (No. 68087)
The current cast of Democrat candidates are competing to see who can sound the most like Wesley Mouch from Atlas Shrugged. Their ideas and plans sound like they are straight out of a list from an Ayn Rand novel.
6 people like this.
The vast majority of Americans embrace some form of socialism, regardless of political affiliation. I don't hear many Republicans seriously talking about ending Social Security or Medicare. The "healthcare reform" argument was more semantics - private vs public socialism labeled "insurance". Public education is more socialism - your government decides how to spend your tax money pursuing a curriculum it develops and promulgates. (Yes, let's teach "values" and "morals"...) Many think our Obamacare Lite system is just dandy, including many "mainstream" Republicans. So, let's not kid ourselves. Until Americans wake up to the fact that a Uniparty is controlling American politics and our lives and culture, nothing is going to deter further socialisim creep. And the majority of Americans will be too busy with their smartphones and Candy Crunch apps to notice.
7 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Highlander 5/21/2019 10:47:31 AM (No. 68113)
I read "Atlas Shrugged" in high school. It was extremely influential in my thinking. Be sure to click on the link at the end of the article. It's a good read.
5 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
MattMusson 5/21/2019 10:49:10 AM (No. 68115)
We hit Atlas Shrugged under Obama when new business formation numbers fell off a cliff.
People realized that working harder and making more money just meant paying more in taxes
and now getting to keep any of it.
6 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
WAN2 5/21/2019 11:08:03 AM (No. 68131)
Thanks to years (generations?) of K-17 indoctrination, few have ever heard of capitalism's superiority. Only free countries embrace it.
5 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
bad-hair 5/21/2019 11:16:21 AM (No. 68139)
Ditto #6 but just not paying more taxes. 3/4 of the "working harder" part is dealing with government regulations and flat out interference in how you conduct business. Iff millennials want socialism, they can deal with the consequences.
3 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 5/21/2019 11:19:44 AM (No. 68142)
I devoured Atlas Shrugged during the Tea Party days. I've read it twice during the eight torturous years of the Obamanation. I was certain a Hildebeast presidency would plunge us into Part III. However, through Divine Providence, we elected a real Hank Reardon instead. I believe Trump will lead our nation through the denouement of the Deep State and a rebirth of our Constitutional government.
MAGA - Rewriting Part III as we speak.
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Plex 5/21/2019 12:02:08 PM (No. 68179)
The Constitution is almost irrelevant because it has been ignored so much. The only things that seem to be in the public's mind are the 1st and 2nd amendment (perhaps the 5th for some). There is no authority for the Department of Education, Energy, HHS, for Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps, etc. etc. So, even though the Constitution doesn't support Socialism, we have much of it anyway. A second term of Trump could set back the Socialist movement considerably but not stop it.
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 5/21/2019 12:37:36 PM (No. 68200)
#3, as a person getting the benefits of both SS and Medicare, I would HAPPILY agree to cancelling both of them any day, and would endure the financial losses from them taking large amounts of money from me during my working years, and then not getting it back if it would mean that the country would be free of these rolling, disastrous Ponzi schemes.
I doubted and still doubt the reliability of both systems to long survive, and my wife and I saved a very substantial part of my income and invested it with excellent professional advice, well compensated. It was necessary to live well below our apparent "means", but it was an easy choice for us. We are comfortable now and have no financial problems, completely independent of these two horrible socialist nightmares. But, since they stole money from us for 50 years, we are perfectly fine getting some small fraction of it back. If we had the money and had invested it ourselves, it would amount to much more.
6 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 5/21/2019 12:53:58 PM (No. 68213)
The last four months, I have been rereading Atlas Shrugged. Most people went along with the Socialists until they saw it wasn't working for them. Its happening in real life too, and its been going on for a long time. We see people all around us that are anti-intelligence, anti-reason, anti-honesty, anti-value, anti-love, and ultimately anti-life destroyers. People are being dumbed down, but they can still think if they want. Tell people that our so-called 'leaders' aren't looking out for them. Most people get that.
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
udanja99 5/21/2019 1:05:28 PM (No. 68230)
I think that the Second Amendment will insure that we ultimately don’t go down the socialist road.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Newtsche 5/21/2019 1:15:27 PM (No. 68239)
In HS senior level English in the late 60's, small town, fly-over country, Ayn Rand's name came up. The teacher mocked Rand and made it clear that reading her was a waste of time.
0 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 5/21/2019 1:46:49 PM (No. 68260)
#14, in contrast in a small city in central Fla, in a poor part of the state in the late 60s we had a required course called "Americanism versus Communism". We read "Animal Farm" and discussed it in detail. I am sure that if Ayn Rand had come up the young, female teacher would have recommended it.
We really do need to have a course like that as a mandatory in all High Schools. But the left, now in charge, would freak out and ensure that it never was taught, or was taught to show the "advantages" of Communism.
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Videodrone 5/21/2019 3:31:51 PM (No. 68313)
about 7 years ago I was doing a lot of long drives (air travel being the joy that it is) I had the unabridged Atlas Shrugged audio book - it was sometimes difficult to tell when the CD ended and the news came on!
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 5/21/2019 4:50:17 PM (No. 68362)
Headed towards?
Nope, Been there for years.
I 'Went Galt' about 30 years ago, much in the same way, same industry and same reasons Fransisco d'Anconia did, without actually knowing anything about Ayn Rand. I only wish I had known about Atlas Shrugged (and The Fountainhead) from high school days. It would have prepared me better for the world I found myself in.
When I did finally discover her works, I was surprised to have found a somewhat kindred spirit.
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At least some of those who are amenable to socialism can plead ignorance. They may be educable, be able to see socialism for what it is and what it has historically done. But about a third of the electorate is in the death grip of stupidity. Write 'em off.