George Rebane
Many Americans, I among them, are witnessing our country well along its way into the dystopian nightmare Ayn Rand described in her Atlas Shrugged that came out in 1957. The book is being reprised in a three part movie, the first of which is slated to open across the country on the auspicious 15 April 2011. In the book, which she considered her summa, Rand develops and demonstrates objectivism, her contribution to philosophy.
Without giving much away, the novel's story takes place in a United States that is pretty much what we have today, and what our progressive friends are promising to deliver in spades tomorrow. The protagonist is a female railroad executive who is trying to save her railroad in the face of draconian government attack on industry, and worse, the withdrawal and disappearance of the nation’s producers. As these entrepreneurs and captains of industry literally disappear, they leave their firms to the mercies of government break-up and management. This is the ultimate strike of the wealth creators – instead of thuggery, coercion, and/or destruction, they simply leave and let the new collectivist order do what they will. These sacrifices are made as the only remaining alternative to demonstrate to the nation at large, by their absence, the blessings of individualism, capitalism, free markets, and a salutary profit motive.
According to early reviews of its premiere at the Heritage Foundation, this powerful stuff is brought off well in its modern screen version as summarized in the video. H/T to RR reader for the heads up on this.
rebanesruminations.com 
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