I'd buy a "Who is John Galt?" magnet sticker if I can find one.
I personally don't like pasting stuff on a future trade-in.

Indeed.

Ayn Rand made an important distinction between the state of politics and the American sense of life. She saw that there was a contradiction between our founding values, our sense of work and optimism, and the political ideas people expressed. She tried to correct it by giving the proper ideas their philosophical foundation. She would have been saddened by the intellectual confusion among her admirers and realized that the American sense of life is eroding from nonsense opinion offered as thought and drugs. offered as consciousness.
She might have suggested that you go back and read the "Monadnock" section of the Fountainhead and try and envision the harmony of man's mind in reason with this earth. Happy 4th to those who remember.

Reading the many comments today it is obvious that we as a group are disgusted with what is going on and yes she probably would have in her way shrugged.
on a good note I saw a sticker on a pickup here in grand junction, co "who is john galt"!

Certainly there is a cronyist component. However, when you say they want to use the government to take things from others and give things to them, isn't that Communism in a nutshell?

term 2.... Take from each according to his ability to produce and give to each according to his ability to need"", the old communist dictate sucks in most Americans.,, listen to the liberal/socialist/neo-communist speeches and propaganda,,,, Until Atlas Shrugs in real life, we are doomed to be overcome with the huge overpopulation of the lazy and stupid..

Simply put, she'd be appalled.

I am not sure if I would characterize the american populace as communists. From where I sit, it appears what they want is to use the government to take things from others and give to them. Maybe I am saying the same thing as you, but cronyism seems to be the rule of the day, and the attraction of Hildebeast.

I think she would be very unhappy that in spite of her great works, americans by and large have ignored her warnings (which are coming true).

I do think that she would like the fact that there ARE a lot of people around the world who are better off because of thinking about and understanding her work.

I think Ayn Rand would shrug and never be seen again.

Likable for an academic leftist :)

Most of the entrepreneurs of our time are state supporting leftists such as those who run Google. Many of the biggest names get their funding from govt. The biggest venture capitalists are among the biggest contributors to Obama and Clinton. Is it protection money or are they leftists?

It only takes 50% + 1 of the electoral college votes to constitute a majority of moochers + looters.

Was Obama personally likable? I have found him at all times, including during his first presidential campaign, to be a condescending, pompous a--. Ayn Rand envisioned Toohey, Mouch, and Mr. Thompson. President Zero makes them look like pikers.

I would argue the point that the 48-49% in America that are the producers in our society absolutely knew what he was, and he has never gone above around 51% popularity. The support he has is from the leaches on society- some obvious work but are government jobs so their lack of work ethic doesn't pose a financial risk.

Faults stated, Obama was personally likable, and no known felonies before his presidency.

We can contrast the Obama positives with Hillary.

I think you forget Rand's explicit statements about war, and about the United States' role. I quote: "Just as the United States had the right to invade Nazi Germany, so the United States also has the right to invade Soviet Russia or any other slave pen."

What would trouble her the more is seeing the United States adopt internal policies that look like something that Wesley Mouch would draft and Mr. Thompson implement.

Mike - If I had written a longer piece, I would have included SpaceX and a whole lot of other things I think would really have excited Rand! A you know, a premise of a lot of my posts is that we have entrepreneurs in this country who have the values of a Roark but who still need the politics of a Galt.

The difference between Communism and socialism is merely a few years. While Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton would not admit it in public, they are Communists. Mr. Sanders at least is forthright about his views. The fact that Obama won two straight elections is sufficient evidence that America has embraced communism even though they do not know what it is, as you correctly state. If you asked most Americans whether they would embrace Communism, most would say no. However, if you were to go through all of Communism's tenets one at a time without mentioning the word Communism, a slight majority of Americans would self-identify their mooching tendencies. Communism in slick packaging is still Communism.

Switzerland has its plusses, but Ayn Rand would not have embraced it. What Rand embraced was the America of the late 19th century. By the time she arrived, she realized that America was starting to go down the perilous path that the Soviet Union had.

I would not say most Americans embrace communism. Most don't really know what it is; the leftists in this country rely on and promote the ignorance of the people in order to rule them. But most people do accept a mixed mess of contradictory principles. And yes, the country is in the most dire situation as I've seen since, as a high school student in the late '60s I've been active in politics. Switzerland would be a nice alternative, but at the moment I'm still here fighting for the principles on which this country was founded!

I have to think that if she could see that a site dedicated to her, her philosophy, and her works had become so 'politically correct' that it was allowed to become so dominated by the statist conservatism that desire so strongly the continuation and even expansion of war and intervention on a world wide stage, the near complete removal of commitment to the individual rights of man for imagined security, the nonsense arguments against only one religion rather than all religious belief, and the emotionally charged 'patriotism' that suffuses our discussion in place of reason and logic--she might well think that her life's work was a waste. For her to have to see what American's, in general think of as Americanism compared to her definition--one can only imagine the shudders and maybe tears.

Those of us alive today in this country will not live to see the expression of the Americanism she so dearly loved and wanted everyone to truly remember and realize. We may celebrate this anniversary in our individual hearts, even though fireworks have been regulated out of our individual hands and the places that we can fly the flag is regulated to ridiculous levels and the dreams of the Founders for a country composed of individuals proudly achieving and accomplishing are only present in words and song--better maybe to wear black arm bands and hum a dirge beneath our breath as we return to our slavery on Tuesday.

The Hollywood Red Scare was complicated. Ayn Rand could not get HUAC to understand the problem: ordinary films, such as romances and comedies, were being used to carry tag lines of communist propaganda. "He's an old-fashioned capitalist...." etc. She testified. So did others, and their careers were ruined.

Some years ago, working for Coin World I wrote about Oak Ridge Tennessee. When they opened the secret city, among the celebrities was Adophe Menjou. Who?? The ORNL historian sort of laughed when she said his name: he was no one now. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe... For testifying against the communists, his career was destroyed. Permanently.

In our time, James Cameron won accolades for Avatar. The film might have have had stunning graphical effects (I have not seen it), but the anti-business propaganda is impossible to ignore. Even I know it, never having seen the film. To me, the crude insistence on "unobtanium" -- used before; already a cliche -- should have condemned the production. But I am not the arbiter of public tastes.

As for the deep question, I believe that Ayn Rand would be enthralled by Space-X and disheartened by our lack of response to ISIS.

Capitalism is alive and well but still an unknown ideal. With some exceptions, the capitalists themselves do not know their own virtues.

Defeating ISIS is not a matter of bombing them into oblivion, easy though that would be... It will take an overwhelming projection of the message of REASON, REALITY, AND EGO to defeat ISIS and the expressions of that are in fashion and music.

Like most of us, Rand would be wondering where to go. While Hollywood endorsed Communism while she was there, now a majority of American society embraces it. My wife and I are celebrating our friendship and mutually agreed-upon values with some friends tomorrow night, but I am planning on flying my flag upside down on Monday.