In Ayn Rand’s famous novel, Atlas Shrugged, the main character, John Galt, faces a fundamentally transformed America. An America that has surrendered to the false promises of Marxism. He decides he will neither be slave nor slave master, and quits his job, disappears, and unplugs himself from the system. He does not end there; he decides to collapse the collectivist system that is dominating America and goes across the country convincing “the men of the mind,” the men that make the world go around, to go on a strike that brings about the collapse of that system.The America that we are currently living in is almost identical in every aspect to the dystopia described in Rand’s novel. It is remarkable how similar our reality is to the world Rand imagined. And the question today is not “who is John Galt?” The question now is where is John Galt? Is there a John Galt out there? Is there someone who is willing to risk everything he has, to walk away from the comfort of his life, in order to challenge the system?
I contend that there is one. Not a John Galt, but a Jane Galt, coming out of one of the most unlikely places, Wasilla, Alaska. Some will be skeptical about this, not seeing any similarities between the objectivist atheist fictional hero, and the Christian hockey mom. However, the similarities are striking.
Following the 2008 election Sarah Palin returned to Alaska to resume her job as governor, a job where she was enjoying a greater than 80% approval rating. She was indeed the most popular governor in America. One of the most popular governors ever in American history.
Then, groups of left-wing progressive radicals declared war on the governor. Showing that they had learned well the lessons of Saul Alinsky (author of Rules for Radicals, the bible of all radical progressives, and a book dedicated to Satan), they tried to destroy her by turning her greatest strength against her. Her ethics. They started filing ethics complaints in an almost daily basis. None of them had any merit. But that was not the point. As Alinsky had taught them in his infamous book, the point was to overwhelm the system. The difference between progressives before Alinsky, and the ones that came after, is that before they wanted to create a Marxist utopia. He taught them (and that was the point of dedicating his book to Satan), that their purpose was to not to create an idealistic utopia, but to create a hell. A hell to be ruled by the progressives. That is exactly what they were achieving in Alaska. Overwhelming the state by having to respond in detail to every complaint filed. The state was wasting millions, Governor Palin had to pay for her own defense, and so she too had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of money she did not have. And more importantly, her democratic and republican allies in the state legislature, not wanting to be caught in the radical progressive fire, abandoned her, making it impossible for her to get anything through the legislature.
Alaska had become an unmanageable hell. The progressives were proud of the work they had achieved. At the national level, their chief radical was overwhelming our economy, bringing about the fundamental transformation of our free market society that he had promised. While in Alaska, they knew they had ended Palin’s political career, since she had become nothing but another enslaved soul, trying to cope as best as she could, in the hell they had created. And more importantly, if they could do it to Palin, they could do it to any Republican who would dare challenge “the one.”
Then, something unexpected happened on the way to hell. Sarah Palin refused to accept the rules of the game as presented by her radical enemies, and decided to do something unusual. She decided to take herself out of the system. Just as John Galt understood that by staying within the system, he was enabling it, allowing the Marxists to use him, and others like him, to make their socialist utopia work. Palin knew she was the one that made it possible for the radicals to be transforming Alaska’s government into a hell. And so, she stepped out. And while the radicals were celebrating, before they knew it, they saw something they were not expecting; they saw her coming right at them.
John Galt, after his disappearance, went into a nationwide tour, recruiting the man of the mind, to do as he had done and step away. To go into a strike, so that they would stop enabling the Marxists and their schemes for control.
Sarah Palin also went across the nation, giving her support to like-minded candidates, and by doing so, she gave them the chance to detach themselves from the system, while still being elected. They were elected without owing an allegiance to the Republican Party, and therefore, they were not going to D.C as enablers of the system, but instead they were free to challenge it.
Much has been said about Palin’s intelligence. However, to do something unexpected, with purpose, and to then succeed at it, is a sign of the highest level of intelligence. The ability to reason and to have insight. This should not be a surprise, because we know that insight is a gift from God. The same gift that allowed the apostle Peter to understand what most of the religious scholars of his day could not. That Jesus was the prophesized Christ, the Messiah.
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Mathews 16:17
There is now little doubt that Palin succeeded at what she attempted to do. She was able to revitalize her name, revived any political future she might have, paid her growing debt, spared her state the ongoing radical attacks, continued to have her agenda moved forward by her former Lieutenant governor, and gave herself a chance to influence national politics. As Ronald Reagan would have said, not bad, not bad at all.
However, Palin is not able to communicate her views with the sophisticated language that would be expected from a person of high intelligence. She instead is able to communicate on simple language, that even uneducated people are able to understand. Contrast that with our Radical-in-Chief in the White House, who is capable of giving a two-hour speech explaining in very sophisticated language how sometimes 2 +2 can equal 5. The media admires him for this ability, because he is able to confuse people like no other politician before him. On the other hand, Palin comes along and says in very simple words, that 2 + 2 can only be 4, and that it is evil to try to pretend otherwise. For this, she is mocked and ridiculed.
However, we should not be fooled, and fall for the false premises of our radical friends. It is amazing how we all recognize that Thomas Jefferson was one of the most intelligent men ever to have occupied the White House. His ability to reason was unmatched by any of our founders, and by any of his successors. Yet, today, the people that reach the same conclusions of logic regarding the freedom of men are called stupid. While those that hold illogical and failed views about the value of wealth redistribution are praised for their intelligence. However, stupidity, even when cloaked with fancy words, still is stupidity.
By going Galt (or going rogue as she put it), Palin proved what she is made of. I would encourage conservatives, tea party patriots, and any one who believes in the power of the individual to take a stand against the powerful and make difference, to take a second look at this real life Jane Galt, as she gets ready to embark in her most difficult challenge ever. To take a stand against the elites of both political parties, the elites that have transformed our great nation into the America of Atlas Shrugged.
The elites of Atlas Shrugged feared what John Galt stood for, and tried to destroy him. The real life elites also fear what Palin stands for, and they will continue their best efforts to destroy her. However, with our support we can help send a signal to them that will give them a shiver down their spine. That Sarah Palin is coming to Washington DC. And a new birth of freedom is coming with her.
Dr. Michael Santos is a physician and a writer. He is the author of the futuristic thriller 2076-Reagan’s Last Word, a novel about an America where liberty has died and tyranny rules.
