Atlas Shrugged

When President Obama was elected I thought it time to pull out Atlas Shrugged and give it a reread. Suffice it to say that many parts were eerily prescient to today’s economic situation but you can also see why Ayn Rand ran afoul of William F. Buckley and others in the 1950’s debates about capitalism and its place and role in our society. “Give is a word we do not allow” Taggart is told when she arrives in the Galt’s Gulch, Colorado hideout of Galt, d’Anconia, et al. One would think you could give as you see fit, without compulsion but I guess not, it doesn’t fit the template. Rand has enjoyed some status as a seer of sorts but truth be told even a broken clock is right twice a day. I will give her the “artistic license” she deserves but seer, soothsayer, Karnack she ain’t. One final criticism, this book needs a serious diet as it is repetitive to the extreme, Galt’s radio address fills a chapter and we are told in the book that it ran for 3 hours!! Only a megalomaniac would have the conceited outlook required to believe that anyone in America would listen to someone on the air talking for 3 - 4 hours, enough already!! It’s fiction, sometimes fun and creative but ultimately overdone, self important and bloated.