You've seen the bumper stickers, you've heard the shrill tremulous voices on the right, and the question on everyone's mind is "Who is John Galt?" Now for those of you who have read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (I refuse to until the birthers take the white house and make it mandatory reading), you will be aware that throughout the book the question on the lips of the people is, "Who is John Galt?" According to wikipedia "Galt is acknowledged to be a creator and inventor who embodies the power of the individual capitalist." Furthermore, "The phrase becomes an expression of helplessness and despair at the current state of the novel's fictionalized world." So the phrase may make sense to use as a rallying cry but let's take a look at how this phrase reveals much more about the Republican party than they would probably like.
"Who is John Galt?" basically amounts to a woe-is-me sentiment of impotent whining. This is the new hotness for the Republican party, get up on that cross and cry foul. That is why Sarah "The Big Quitter" Palin is so appealing, she encapsulates all the vapid foolishness of the Republican Party with a big side helping of persecution complex. The media is out to get her, or is it those special interest groups, maybe its lawyers, possibly the english language, couldn't be her gross inability to do her job and her complete lack of morals and ethics.
"Who is John Galt?" is also a terrible bumper sticker. For it to make any sense you already have to be familiar with Atlas Shrugged, if you are you are more than likely a John Birch Society member, or opposed to the romaticized fantasy land that Ayn Rand wrote about. If you are trying to win people to your cause you might want to go with a less obscure reference. But this to is symptomatic of the new failing of the Republican party, they are increasingly out of touch with America. Remember when Bush was in office, the PR wing of the Republicans was in full swing:
Operation Enduring Freedom (previously known as Operation Infinite Justice)
This is the name the Bush Administration gave to what is more commonly known as the War in Afghanistan. They didn't choose Operation Dagny Taggart
Shock and Awe (aka rapid dominence)
Inspired the Country Music's Toby Keith to produce Shock'n Y'all
We can only hope that some country star will make Atlas Chugged real soon
Cut and run
Although highly inaccurate, it framed the debate for pulling out of the Iraq War, if you were pro-responsible drawdown of forces, you were a cut and runner. It's schoolyard name-calling but it was effective.
Stay the course
Although this one was later abandoned, it was basically a big STFU to critics of the Bush Administration
Patriot Act
Sure it curtailed your Constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, and had dubious effect on terrorism, but you try standing on the Senate Floor arguing against a bill named the Patriot Act.
At the end of the day "Who is John Galt?" is not a rallying cry, but a perfectly distilled symbol of all that is wrong with the current incarnation of the Republican Party. So completely out of touch with the mainstream, a helpless whining minority, and mostly they are looking for some leadership and they would prefer a person who is "unrealistic, ... 'more a symbol than a person' ... 'two-dimensional.' ... 'more icon than character.' Rand's own notes ... [a man with] 'no inner conflict' because he was 'integrated (indivisible) and perfect.'"
The current leadership of the Republican party is wanting (except maybe on that two-dimensional part). This is not the powerful call to arms that every jackass slapping it on the back of their SUV thinks it is, it is in reality a pathetic whimper of a party so lost in the woods that its only viable option is to cry out for a fictional leader.
The party still clings to the idea of sloganeering but with cries like "Who is John Galt?", "socialism", "Obama-care", "facism" and the like, to borrow a phrase, "there is no there, there." It completely lacks any substance, it offers nothing, it is simply the collective belly-aching of the enfranchised (not a typo). Socialism (taken too far) and Facism are both legitimate threats to democracy, but that's not what the Right is concerned with, they want to scare the base into voting their way. A botched health-care reform could be a nightmare, but they don't want to ensure that the result is good, they only wish to stop anyone from trying.
The ideology they espouse is one of fear, hate, and persecution. It can not stand, it has been rejected, and it shall be defeated. This regional rump party has seen its day, and it is my fervent hope that "Who is John Galt?" will go down in history as their last timid attempt to hold on to a fantasy that never was.
It's in my sig line, but I think it bears repeating in the face of such brazen self-interest, corruption, and unscrupulous greed as we have seen in the last 3 decades.
The People United Will Never Be Defeated.