Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s opus to Objectivism, was published in 1957 and has never been out of print. It sold over 70,000 copies annually in the 1980s, over 95,000 copies a year in the 1990s, and is up over 100,000 copies a year in this decade. This year is different, though. As America moves more toward Euro-style socialism, with Joe the Plumber paying more in taxes to buy Henrietta Hughes a house, sales of the book are up. In the two months since President Obama’s inauguration, sales of Atlas Shrugged are triple what they were for the same period last year.

http://www.examiner.com/x-3339-Republican-Examiner~y2009m3d16-Who-is-John-Galt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine

Perhaps the partisian politics we are dealing with now is really just a struggle between those of us who believe in productivity, personal responsibility, and keeping government interference to a minimum, and those who believe in the socialistic policies of taking from others, using the government as a watchdog, and rewarding those who overspend, underwork, or are just plain unproductive.

Obama talks about taking from those who are productive and redistributing to those who are not -- or who are not as successful. If success and productivity is to be punished, why bother? Perhaps it is time for those of us who make the money and pay the taxes to take it easy, live on less and let the looters of the world find their own way.

http://drhelen.blogspot.com/2008/10/going-john-galt.html

Dr. Helen Talks to PJTV Viewers Who Are Going John Galt
http://www.pjtv.com/video/Ask_Dr_Helen/Going_John_Galt%3F/1504/5357/

I have watched with dismay as every year we have inched closer and closer to the Democrats and the left's goals; goals which I firmly believe will completely destroy American medicine. I have watched up close and personal the utter soul-destroying consequences to both patients and doctors alike, of the pervasive cultural collectivist and looter thinking in my specialty. Every time this madness is killed, it just doesn't stay dead. Like some kind of putrefying zombie, the left just keeps resurrecting it. Logic doesn't matter. Facts don't matter.

Let's face it. To the zombies of the left, reality doesn't matter. With President Postmodern in office, aided and abetted by zombie hordes in Congress; why should I pretend anymore that it does? This time around, I JUST DON'T CARE ANYMORE. If that's what people want, so be it. I'm done. If Congress passes Obama's destructive zombie health plan in any form, I quit.
http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2009/06/this-time-i-dont-care-anymorelet.html

[U]ntold numbers of America's wealth producers are going on strike financially. Dr. Helen Smith, a Tennessee forensic psychologist and political blogger, dubbed the phenomenon "Going Galt" last fall. It's a reference to the famed Ayn Rand novel "Atlas Shrugged," in which protagonist John Galt leads the entrepreneurial class to cease productive activities in order to starve the government of revenue.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michelle/malkin030409.php3

“Tea parties.” “Going Galt.” You’ve probably seen a growing number of references to these in the media, online, and on signs at rallies reacting to new government spending and controls.

“Going Galt!” If you’ve read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, you appreciate the parallels between today’s disintegrating world and the events depicted in that prophetic novel. Atlas Shrugged is the story of how productive people went on strike, withdrawing their services in protest against a society that damned them for being productive and expropriated the fruits of their labor.

http://www.atlassociety.com/cth-13-2176-Going_Galt.aspx

Just like John Galt and his terrific motor, Hank Rearden and his new and creative applications for metal, and Midas Mulligan and his ability to spot a financial winner, as a business person, you bring to the marketplace your expertise and the expertise embodied in your product or service. As such, you are paid, and deserve to be paid, a fee. You never need to justify a healthy fee - providing that you're providing an equal or greater value than the fee you are receiving.

Years ago, when I was just starting out in sales, a wise old man nearing the end of his career told me this: "Burg, if you want to make a lot of money, don't make money your goal. Make serving a lot of people your goal. If you hit that target enough times, you'll get your reward. That reward will be money, and you can do whatever you choose with that money. "But remember that money is only the reward for hitting your target - it's not the target itself. Always keep your priorities straight." I thought this was extremely cool advice then, and experience has only proven it cooler over time... - Read more in Serve People Well (and Be Served Well) by Bob Burg.

I had always known that selfishness is the most natural and noble trait of man, but everyone from my mother to my minister to the worldwide press constantly talked about how we need to be “giving” and “selfless.” I knew that this conventional wisdom was ill-founded, but I had no foundation upon which to justify my own beliefs. I felt alone.

Enter John Galt. Rand’s ideal man has some admirable traits that I could latch onto and see some of myself in. Henry Reardan, the pragmatic capitalist, has more traits with which I can associate, but he eventually becomes attracted to the light of Galt. - Det skriver Brian Travis i en artikel om bogen Atlas Shrugged, der også omtaler The Freestate Project.

Mere om Ayn Rand i en kronik fra Berlingske Tidende den 17/2.

Der er p.t. 38 eksemplarer tilbage i Copenhagen Institutes skrivekonkurrence.