Okay, my plans for this site in brief:
- Complete a To Do list for a two-year plan in January
- Decide on a 2009 Job Action by March
- Convert this site to a dedicated planning and organization site for the Job Action by June
- Start Recruiting once site is complete
- That’s enough for now
. And for now, while this blog is still the main thing going on here, I’ll be posting when I can about ideas for Job Actions, inspirations from successful civil rights struggles and lessons from unsuccessful ones, and any other thought I deem relevant.
And please, if there’s any part of this process you’d like to help plan or participate in, email or comment away! Or if you’re waiting to see what develops next, I don’t blame you . Just know I’m not giving up, so don’t you either!
(Also, if you’re wondering if someone who uses smiley faces as often as I do could possibly be serious about this project, I assure you I am 
.)
I’ve been considering this for days, and this “job action” won’t work. Oh, it’ll earn attention, no doubt about that, but not the kind we want. Let’s say we all disappear for the whole month of June, like in the book. All the productive people in all the world, out on strike. Maybe it could just be the US – that might be enough talent. Anyway, we vamoose and live on canned beans, chlorinated water and backyard vegetable gardens, then suddenly jump back out and shout, “SEE!” Then the pundits will smile and scratch their heads and say, “Well, I guess you guys got us good, we’ll get better.” To our faces. To each other, they’ll be swapping ideas on how to chain us further so we can never do that again. And their fertile little mystic minds will come up with enough of *those*, don’t you worry! Then, men of ability will hate their jobs, hate the world, hate themselves. The suicide rate will leap through the roof, and the world will slip quietly into another Dark Age from which it might not ever recover.
We can’t try to make terms with them. There are no terms they can offer which will benefit us in the slightest. What can they possibly offer us in exchange? “‘We’re driving an express, and they’re sitting on the roof making a lot of noise about being leaders.” Why do we let them? We have two choices: shove them off and watch their bloated bodies shred to hamburger on the crossties and gravel, or stop the train and leave them to starve in the wilderness.
The first option is out, because we don’t have the manpower. Goodness, do you have any idea how many of them are out there? No, the only way to do it is to stop the motor of the world, like in the book. Quit our jobs, produce what we can where we can, trade goods and ideas only with each other, and wait for the road to clear. There’s no middle ground — it’s us or them
Now that’s a wonderfully provocative comment! Thank you. You’re absolutely right that there are no terms they can offer. But you and I have a key disagreement, the substance of which is significant enough that I will now make it my next post
. I think there are a lot fewer of “them” and many more of “us” then you suspect. Our potential allies are waiting on the the sidelines, observing that moral fervor seems only to reside in those who are calling for sacrifice. No wonder they don’t get involved! My suspicion is once people see that we mean what we say, yes, certainly a few will become scared and even more radicalized against us. But even more will be inspired. Living by the principle of freedom is a liberating, inspiring experience on a personal level; we shouldn’t discount how inspiring it can be to those around us as well. But like I said, I’ll elaborate more in my next post, and please weigh in with any response you may have. (And if it turns out I am wrong, then maybe I’ll just have to join whatever movement you organize 
.)
Well, I’m not so sure. Consumer Reports released a survey in which 56% of the respondents felt the government should do more to help out private citizens, and not pour so much money into bailing out big corporations. 77 to 88 percent favored supporting eight large social programs, among them: tax cuts, Social Security, energy exploration, increased regulation of financial institutions, and reducing national debt. Very few people, aside from an even fewer prominent voices in the news media, are asking how it will all be financed. Those who are, advocate seizing the money from rich people and big private companies.
“Atlas Shrugged” is a work of fiction. Many of its elements were deliberately exaggerated by Rand to make her point, and were written from the standpoint of the 1950s. As such, many of those elements don’t translate directly to our current situation, but the thinking among us see where those elements draw parallel with modern society. Hence, this blog and many other related blogs have come into existence. “Adjusted for inflation,” (sic) I think we’re almost to the point where the novel picks up.
As for my own movement, I don’t see that happening in the near future. I don’t really know anyone I could trust enough and who is as fed up as I am to fully shrug. And I won’t go Dan Conway and end up like Dagny at her Berkshire cabin, building fields and contraptions to feed myself and my cats and having no better world in sight to aim my talents. I do know that current society will never benefit from my creations, or any other effort of which I am capable. Until and unless I can hook up with one of the rumored underground free markets, I shall remain silently in place, earning my living and no more.
1) I still need to get around to explaining my disagreement with you; I had to do a quick post on comment policy that I had been meaning to publish for a while.
2) Maybe it’s a side effect of having five kids, but I will not just remain “silently in place” waiting for salvation. If I have to fix this whole damn planet myself, I will.
3) Shh! Ixnay on the undergroundyay eefray arketsmay!