re: #275 Sharmuta

I have had a lot of people try to push that book on me. I’ve decided not to read it now that I’ve read A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell. I see the undermining of society in this notion of retreating.

The “strategy” Rand advocated in AS would only be appropriate in a society that had already gone so far down the path to totalitarianism that no recovery was possible short of total societal collapse followed by rebuilding. The trouble is, those most desirous of such a situation would be the very “looters” Rand railed against (Nomad syndrome).

In The Last Centurion by John Ringo, his narrator, Bandit Six, dismisses Rand’s book in two sentences. He basically says that her heroes, in “going on strike”, fail in their responsibility as members of society to not harm that society. (Also, as a U.S. Army officer, doing what they did would, in his opinion, require him to violate his oath.)

Also, for such a “strategy” to work, the people doing it have to have something of irreplaceable value to the economic life of the nation. Put simply, most people don’t, at least not as individuals. Without such a club to hold over the “looters’” heads, their “strategy” is nothing but a meaningless gesture.

BTW, there’s supposedly a film in production based on the book right now, starring Angelina Jolie as the heroine, Dagny Taggart. I’m personally going to wait for it to hit DVD. If indeed it ever gets finished at all.

cheers

eon