# "Who Is John Galt?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [February 27, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-john-galt/7848 "2000-02-27T05:24:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 38
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-john-galt/7848/38 "2021-04-28T20:33:22Z")
Eh, I not only enjoy it, it’s in my pantheon of novels. A 1950s science fiction drama where the science doesn’t work (and, really didn’t work in the 50s either, lol), but the fascinating thing to me is that it… in my experience… is the only apocalyptic end-of-civilization story I read where civilization is failing because of philosophical contradictions. I even enjoy its faults - Ayn Rand is possibly the worst writer of sex scenes in serious literature, for a minor criticism, and, of course, her philosophy is laughable and she completely misses the point about what makes men evil… but, then, as mentioned below, she’s working through issues. She thinks she’s being logical, but she’s working through issues. And there’s Ms Rand herself, a Russian emigre who was so pissed at how her family was treated that she decided to learn English, establish a new philosophical train of thought, effectively working through her personal issues via philosophy-dense science fiction novels, all while starting a cult of personality. What a life! The last five years have been especially enjoyable to me, getting blocked by Trump-supporting Randian after Trump-supporting Randian by asking questions like “So, is Jared Kushner Wesley Mouch… or is that Steve Mnuchin?” or “When Trump uses tax money to enrich his properties, is he being a Randian ‘moocher’ or a Randian ‘looter’? I’m confused on this issue and want some clarification, thx!”. Given that _Atlas Shrugged_ provided much of the Libertarian justification for their beliefs, and that having a “businessman” like Donald Trump as President was the closest thing to having John Galt take over, a lot of Rand fans were also Trump fans, even though he was _precisely_ what she argued against. And I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning. It’s the smell of Conservatism. And, to close it off, I will quote something I said in one of the Rush Limbaugh threads: > [@Rush Limbaugh, you are dead to us](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rush-limbaugh-you-are-dead-to-us/933143/171): > > And now, here we are, as the people of Texas huddle in the culmination of Rush’s desires on the very day he passes to Hell: in a GOP-lead state, one which focuses on business more than people, millions hungry, cold, without power and, most of the time because of spotty internet service, entertainment or interaction, with our GOP leaders dunking on everyone over cultural and fake-science issues, _still_ confident in their Rush-lead belief that Reagan was correct, that the worst words you can hear is “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”, confident in their ideological reality while their constituents are dying. > > Looking at it, I’m wondering if I’m in some bizarro _Atlas Shrugged_ which _literally ended with the population impoverished and desperate because of a blizzard_ , ready for the Randian supermen to take over… except, in our world, it’s Rush’s supermen and their Randian philosophy who have led to this disaster. > > In the end, Rush was John Galt. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-john-galt/7848)._