moralist Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 What does "going Galt" mean to you? And in what ways have you expressed this idea in your life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdegges Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 I think of it as always striving to do better, learning more, working hard, and enjoying life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrolicsomeQuipster Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 I thought the term is pretty well defined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairnet Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 (edited) It means withdrawing from a society that isn't worth participating in. Retreating into the mountains or underwater and remaking civilization would creat a drastic decrease in the standards of living. So going galt isn't something one does when a democrat gets elected. I would do this if there was a draft or I thought our government was doing something that would end civilization. Then again fighting could be a better option depedning on your numbers. Edited December 14, 2012 by Hairnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicky Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Well, even in the novel, going on strike wasn't primarily about Galt's gulch. As you may recall, the gulch had few permanent residents, most of them only went there on vacation. Producers "going Galt" meant choosing to participate in society only as manual laborers, who follow basic orders in exchange for enough money to survive on, refusing to apply their minds and creativity in any way that would contribute to the advancement of society. I think that in today's world starting over in another country, in the face of government takeover of one's industry, also counts as going on strike against that measure. In today's world, that is in fact the rational alternative to what producers did in AS (where they did not have such an alternative, the world was even more collectivist than the US). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted December 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 What going Galt means to me is independence. In real world terms, I interpret that independence as being as free as possible from being entangled in the third party payer system which can be found in the sectors of govenment, credit, law, education, debt, healthcare, insurance, and unions. Inherent in how I personally interpret going Galt is giving up the need for feelings of safety and security those sectors seem to offer... which boils down to giving up the expectation that other people will pay my bills. I also adopted some of the physical features of How Galt lived in Atlas Shrugged by living on the edge of a rural area that borders open uninhabited land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrell Cody Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Going Galt today is an indolent person's excuse for not trying harder. It's pathetic. We can still win; it helps if you fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted December 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Going Galt today is an indolent person's excuse for not trying harder. It's pathetic. We can still win; it helps if you fight. I agree. It's good to be decent responsible productive solvent and frugal, which is the essence of American Capitalism. So what is there left to fight that is not already within us? Conquer sloth, and the world graciously acquiesces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oso Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 I agree. It's good to be decent responsible productive solvent and frugal, which is the essence of American Capitalism. So what is there left to fight that is not already within us? Conquer sloth, and the world graciously acquiesces. What does frugality have to do with the essence capitalism? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicky Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Going Galt today is an indolent person's excuse for not trying harder. It's pathetic. Textbook argument from intimidation. We can still win; it helps if you fight. Finally, an actual argument. Yes, it does help if you fight. But it is important to establish one thing: it helps who? It helps you. But it doesn't help a 60 yo. who's about to become a government employee by no choice of his own. Why should he fight? He doesn't owe you anything, let alone "to fight". It also doesn't help a 25 year old entrepreneur with a great idea, who has a choice: stay and fight in the US, or move to Singapore and enjoy economic freedom that won't be matched by the US anytime soon. Going Galt (giving up on one's country, and acting accordingly) is a personal decision. You're trying to make it out to be a collective one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiuol Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Going Galt (giving up on one's country, and acting accordingly) is a personal decision. You're trying to make it out to be a collective one. I agree with your points overall, but no, I don't think Darrel is thinking of "Going Galt" as a collective decision. The first line you quoted doesn't seem to be an argument at all, just a statement of opinion. Actually, that sounds like Dagny's reasoning in Atlas Shrugged about why she refused to ever give up on Taggart Transcontinental. Her attitude was "try harder if things get bad" probably in part because of a belief that it's bad to ever leave anything before its last moment. Of course, she learned otherwise over time. I wouldn't consider moving to Singapore "going Galt", though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiral Architect Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 If I read you right, you are looking for how someone might reduce it to essentials as a principle to be applied in life, which is a little problematic since as Nicky said it well defined in the book as a dramatization of the novel’s central conflict. But to distill it down into essentials then integrate it as a principle I would say “Going Galt” would be the negative of the trader principle: Refusal to trade your virtues for other’s vices. moralist 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted December 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 What does frugality have to do with the essence capitalism? It's good not to waste your profits. Just ask any successful businessman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted December 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 (edited) But to distill it down into essentials then integrate it as a principle I would say “Going Galt” would be the negative of the trader principle: Refusal to trade your virtues for other’s vices. And that's possible... for there are always virtuous people to trade with... and to find them, simply become one. Edited December 15, 2012 by moralist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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