Michelle Malkin » “Going Galt” and the next Tea Party wave

“Going Galt” and the next Tea Party wave

By Michelle Malkin • March 4, 2009 10:51 AM

My syndicated column today spotlights two related phenomenon: the Tea Party revolt on the streets and the “Going Galt” revolt with our wallets. For new readers who are just learning about the protest movement and want to join, the best organizational resources are Tax Day Tea Party (nationwide April 15 events), Twitter #teaparty, PJTV’s list of upcoming protests,
Re-TeaParty (send teabags to Washington and find July 4 events), and TCOT Report. And one more good one: New American Tea Party.

Some tinfoil-hatted kooks are still pimping their conspiracy theories about the movement. The latest: Aha! Malkin once gave a speech to Americans for Prosperity and AFP organized the Denver anti-pork protest two weeks ago before Santelli went on his Tea Party rant last week, ergo it’s all a vast plot!!!!!!

Protesters should take this nonsense as a sign of success. You haven’t really made it until you’ve aroused the paranoia of the unhinged Left.

***

“Going Galt:” America’s wealth producers vs. wealth redistributors
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009

Enough. In a word, that is the message of disgusted taxpayers fed up with the confiscatory policies of both parties in Washington. George Bush pre-socialized the economy with billion-dollar bailouts of the financial and auto industries. Barack Obama is pouring billions more down those sinkholes. The camel’s back isn’t just broken. His neck and four legs have all snapped, too.

Enough. Last Friday, thousands of Americans turned out to protest reckless government spending in the pork-laden stimulus package, the earmark-clogged budget bill, the massive mortgage entitlement program, and taxpayer-funded corporate rescues. Contrary to false left-wing blog smears that the hastily-planned impromptu events were “Astro-turfed,” the crowds were packed with first-time grass-roots activists. They were people with families and day jobs whose usual definition of “community organizing” involves neighborhood yard sales or their kids’ soccer matches. They were members of the silent majority who decided to be silent no more.

Enough. These “Tea Party” protests spanned the sunny Santa Monica pier to the icy streets of Chicago and Cleveland to rain-drenched Atlanta, overflowing grounds of the St. Louis Gateway Arch, massive crowds in Greenville, S.C., several hundred each in New York City and Washington, D.C., and all points in between. Like those who demonstrated before them in Seattle, Denver, Mesa, Arizona, and Overland Park, Kansas two weeks ago, the Tea Party participants held homemade signs that said it all: “Your mortgage is not my problem;” “Liberty: All the stimulus we need; “No taxation without deliberation.”

The speed and scope with which they mobilized were due not to nefarious outside conspiracists, but to social networking websites Facebook and Twitter (where a burgeoning network called Top Conservatives on Twitter became the central clearinghouse for information). Planning for a new wave of demonstrations on April 15 has begun at www.taxdayteaparty.com.

Enough. While they take to the streets politically, untold numbers of America’s wealth producers are going on strike financially. Dr. Helen Smith, a Knoxville forensic pathologist and political blogger, dubbed the phenomenon “Going Galt” last fall. It’s a reference to the famed Ayn Rand novel, “Atlas Shrugged,” in which protagonist John Galt leads the entrepreneur class to cease productive activities in order to starve the government of revenue. (Not coincidentally, Rand’s novel sales are up and John Galt references punctuated many of the Tea Party demonstrations.) Dr. Smith was inundated with stories like these:

“I have frozen hiring in my firm…No investments will be made in taxable accounts (only 401k/IRAs). I am buying silver and gold instead of CD’s or stocks with non-qualified money/savings. I have stopped taking new clients (thus freezing my income). I barter more and more. Spend less. I stopped Leveraging assets (don’t borrow).”

“I have cut WAY back–I’m no longer buying retail, driving out of a 10-mile radius, spending money on eating out, and am no longer putting my money in a savings account. I am using the money to pay off all of our debt. It has made our family closer, more appreciative…”

Another blogger at Pursuing Holiness wrote: “Last year my family paid nearly a thousand dollars a month in federal taxes, and we are not by any stretch of the imagination rich. I’m going to make it my business to cut that amount in half, using every legal means possible and reducing my income so there is less to tax.”

Enough. Those business owners are not alone. This week, ABC News spotlighted upper-income earners going Galt in response to President Obama’s proposed tax hikes on families with incomes of $250,000 or more. A Lafayette, La. Attorney told the reporter she was cutting back on her business to avoid the tax threshhold: “Why kill yourself working if you’re going to give it all away to people who aren’t working as hard? Tax hikes have consequences. Incentives matter. Only self-deluded wealth redistributors living in la-la-land believe otherwise. Another business owner, Dr. Sharon Poczatek, explained:

“The motivation for a lot of people like me — dentists, entrepreneurs, lawyers — is that the more you work the more money you make,” said Poczatek. “But if I’m going to be working just to give it back to the government — it’s de-motivating and demoralizing.”

The perpetual Borrow-Spend-Panic-Repeat machine in Washington depends on the capitulation of the wealth producers. There’s only one monkey wrench that can stop the redistributionist thieves’ engine. It’s engraved with the word:

Enough.

(Photo credit: Free Colorado)

***

I’ve pulled together a video round-up of last week’s events. Enjoy!

Smart Girl Politics put together a nice video of the nationwide Feb. 27 Tea Party protests:

Find more videos like this on Smart Girl Politics

Here’s video of the Houston Tea Party via reader Morris:

And Dallas:

Ft. Worth:

D.C. from Reason TV:

Seattle:

Sacramento:

Sacramento Tea Party from bob humphrey on Vimeo.

New York City:

Chicago:

Atlanta.

Greenville SC: Flickr set.

St. Louis:

Posted in: Going Galt, Tea Party

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#639145

On March 4th, 2009 at 3:17 pm, happyscrapper said:

On March 4th, 2009 at 2:44 pm, Danceswithdachshunds said:

I sent that graphic to my daughter and she wrote back…”NO!! Sending them to the recycle bin means we will continue to get them over and over and over!” I replied that we also have the option of deleting our entire recycle bin! Yes!
#639187

On March 4th, 2009 at 3:44 pm, granite said:

On March 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pm, Ed Mahmoud abu al-Kahoul said:

Tax brackets are always adjusted to account for inflation. In 2000, you didn’t hit the highest bracket until $288K. Now its $373K, I believe.

Always?

Where did the term bracket creep come from, then?

No, I do not believe always.

I remember when the inflation adjustment was instituted.

Since the early 1980s, tax brackets have been adjusted for inflation…but, as far as I am aware, they had not been before then.

Form a table in one of the links, the 35% rate for tax year 2008 kicks in at $357,700.

These automatic, annual bracket adjustments were enacted as part of the so-called Reagan tax cut in 1981 but with a four-year delay so that they didn’t start until 1985. They can amount to an invisible, annual tax cut, or merely keep a person’s real tax bill the same. Before 1985, the opposite occurred each year. A large, annual tax hike occurred as inflation pushed people up into higher tax brackets even if their purchasing power hadn’t increased at all. Bracket levels were never adjusted unless Congress passed a tax law, and with inflation as high as it was during the 1970s, those annual tax hikes were huge. However, not all tax parameters are adjusted for inflation. The child tax credit amount of $1,000 is not adjusted, and the AMT exemption amounts are not annually indexed for inflation.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/22663.html

Thanks to “bracket creep,” the inflation of the 1970s pushed millions of taxpayers into higher tax brackets even though their inflation-adjusted incomes were not rising. To help offset this tax increase and also to improve incentives to work, save, and invest, President Reagan proposed sweeping tax rate reductions during the 1980s.

http://www.heritage.org/research/taxes/wm327.cfm

Disclaimer: “Preview” has decided not to work on this particular thread.
#639195

On March 4th, 2009 at 3:49 pm, happy2behere said:

In a way “Going Galt” is a cool idea, but I would rather work hard and make more money so I can give it to those groups/candidates that will kick these people out!
#639211

On March 4th, 2009 at 3:56 pm, MNUSMCDavid said:

Happyscrapper, Oh I understand not accepting Objectivism in it’s entirety. I haven’t, either. My Catholic faith tells me to help others and have faith in a power stronger than me. This is anathema to Rand, but I felt so what?…. I still find her words expressed in John Galt’s soliloquy accurate for the most part. I choose who I will assist and help and I expect the same from others. I won’t have a government taking my money from me( defense and infrastructure repairs and protection excluded) for entitlement programs or telling me where and what to contribute. This is the essence of what all this about Galt’s Gulch on this and other threads is for me.It resonates perfectly.
#639263

On March 4th, 2009 at 4:26 pm, deusexmachina said:

Alinsky’s (modified) rule for Conservative Radicals: Pick your target income; Freeze your production to remain at or below it; Personalize a lifestyle to accommodate it; and Polarize the authorities who want to tax it.
#639264

On March 4th, 2009 at 4:26 pm, emjem24 said:

Regulus said #32:

I’m afraid that I’m going to agree with you. While many Conservatives feel that by demonstrating they’re doing something, anything, to show Washington that their policies stink, it won’t have any effect. Sorry, but the only thing they care about is the next election where they’ll butter up their constituents into voting for their sorry asses again.

Only a few are listening in Washington and they aren’t the ones in power. The Dems, including Obummer, think that my money (or my tax money anyway) is their money. They are beholden to no one. If these weasels cared in the slightest, they wouldn’t be putting in earmarks and handing out money to Citi like it’s candy.

Then there is the electorate. The ones who are truly to blame on all sides. The “proud” citizens who feel they’re nothing in this world without some phoney baloney politician kissing up to them and promising that voting for them means enhanced riches for their district.

It’s all just a game. Same old politicians (including Obummer) beholden to no one and same old, lazy, clueless citizenry who vote away their rights so that Big Daddy Government can take care of them.

Protest away…. I believe that there will be a net effect when the people who voted for Obummer give a damn and are out there protesting just as loudly and vehemently.
#639273

On March 4th, 2009 at 4:35 pm, T-Bone said:

We get the government we deserve. I don’t think I deserve it but I still get it. I am only one vote and it wasn’t for any of these people in power.

Fellow citizens, I beseech thee. Pay attention not taxes.
#639314

On March 4th, 2009 at 5:51 pm, AmericanPatriot said:

I haven’t read Atlas Shrugged but will immediately
I guesss I was “going Galt” about a year ago.

I have a nice little 3 acres in the middle of nowhere,Pa. 2 acres tillable

I have my dad’s Farmall Cub with all the attachments and digging a lot of dirt.
Never had a taste for sheep or goat, but I guess I could acquire it.
be ordering chickens in about a month.

I’m really into reducing my footprint.
#639361

On March 4th, 2009 at 7:04 pm, Boomer said:

Thanks Michelle for posting this compilation of the growing discontent of the American taxpayer. It is great for morale to know we have friends and allies all over this country that still believe in the founding principles of this nation. Give me liberty or give me death!

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
#639368

On March 4th, 2009 at 7:22 pm, Mercy4Me said:

is it possible that Obamacommie is doing this on purpose? Totally tanking everything so fear rules the day and he will be able to take total CONTROL?

at what point do we call him out for breaking the constitution?

when do we move to Alaska and declare our independence?
#639373

On March 4th, 2009 at 7:29 pm, Mercy4Me said:

Plus, I have no sympathy for wall- streeters who voted in droves and financed Obama’s campaign who have lost their pants in this downturn. YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE! LOSERS, you have killed this country, for now.
#639384

On March 4th, 2009 at 8:03 pm, zorro said:

Great round up. It warms the heart to see true Americans taking peacefully to the streets to express their (our) views!

I love the Silent Majority and God Bless America.
#639389

On March 4th, 2009 at 8:06 pm, CJ said:

AmericanPatriot said:

be ordering chickens in about a month

Here’s a neat tidbit for anyone who lives in a swampy area prone to mosquito-borne diseases. Our jurisdiction has a “sentinel flock” program to track West Nile/EEE outbreaks. They place flocks of chickens (4 per location) around the jurisdiction and test them for WN/EEE exposure every 2 weeks during the summer. When we found out about the program, we called the office and volunteered our property as one of their locations.

Every May we are given 4 white leghorn pullets (about 13 weeks old). The local gov provides the feed; we do the work of filling the bins. The eggs are ours to keep. At the end of mosquito season (late October here), we can keep the chickens if we wish.

(We currently have 6 hens, which provide us with more eggs than we can eat. We donate the extras to the men’s prayer breakfast at church.)
#639404

On March 4th, 2009 at 8:38 pm, madmonkphotog said:

I was at the Houston event, thanks to the notices posted on this blog.

I got blisters on my head from not wearing a hat, but I got some really good photos (under Politics).

I met a radio talent who started a conservative website.

I fully intend on attending the next demonstration, as well as continuously voicing my outrage to Mein Fuhrer and Congress.
#639436

On March 4th, 2009 at 9:24 pm, old trooper said:

It always starts out as orderly and peaceful protest. I hope that America gets turned around. If the Government is not responsive or fails to heed the message other things can happen.

Then the Party is over.
#639455

On March 4th, 2009 at 9:51 pm, FilmLadd said:

On March 4th, 2009 at 9:24 pm, old trooper said:

It always starts out as orderly and peaceful protest. I hope that America gets turned around. If the Government is not responsive or fails to heed the message other things can happen.

Then the Party is over.

Start paying attention to your local state legislators.

They make little money, love graft, and are MUCH easier to intimidate than the idiots sent to Washington, D.C.

Find out who your local representative is. Go to his or her office with a big crowd of like-minded people.

Demand that your state recall its national guard pass legislation to protect its citizens from the tyranny of the federal government. Demand that they pass legislation outlawing the IRS in your state.

Have fun with the wanna-bee’s in your State legislature, and cry havok, and let loose the dogs of war.
#639458

On March 4th, 2009 at 9:59 pm, terristeelmagnolia said:

I am going to get some friends and go to the Las Vegas one!!
#639459

On March 4th, 2009 at 9:59 pm, DigitalCameras said:

Finally some momentum! No rally scheduled here yet, though
#639587

On March 5th, 2009 at 4:19 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

On March 4th, 2009 at 9:24 pm, old trooper said:

It always starts out as orderly and peaceful protest. I hope that America gets turned around. If the Government is not responsive or fails to heed the message other things can happen.

Then the Party is over.

And so other action can and must be taken.“Going Galt” perhaps but at the moment I am remembering the Continentals and the militias defending country, home and hearth: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed”.

These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Thomas Paine
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
#639591

On March 5th, 2009 at 4:47 am, 4USA said:

Going Galt is a double-edged sword. If the economy collapses and we sink into depression, then Obama wins. He will use it as justification for complete government (Obama) control over everything. He’ll surpass Chavez in terms of control.

This has been his plan all along. What do people think a Marxist means when he promotes “change?”

The best thing we can do is continue protesting, continue raising our voices and standing up. Eventually it will hit critical mass and even the complicit press will turn on him.

All democrats are not Marxists. Most of them don’t even know what it means, but they’re learning. Once our country starts figuring out a thing or two, we will be strong enough to stop this insanity.

The key is peaceful demonstrations with huge numbers of people. Just the demonstrations that have occurred so far would have made front page news around the world if it wasn’t for the suppression and oppression of this regime. The press made two or three years of news out of the nut-case that camped outside of Bush’s ranch.

Also, I’m all for Rush Limbaugh ramping up the noise against Obama. I like that he isn’t sitting down or shying away from the spotlight. He’s a strong leader. The reason he’s hated is because people have been told to hate him without so much as ever hearing him speak. He’s been labeled every hate-laced name the left has ever concocted.

Fox News and conservative radio needs to be highlighting these ‘tea-party’ demonstrations, non-stop.
#639600

On March 5th, 2009 at 5:17 am, graysonret said:

Peaceful demonstrations for now. But, as more people become unemployed, and prices/taxes continue to rise, people are going to get more agitated and upset. When a person can no longer provide for the family and government only offers sympathy and a little help, that person will take to the streets and get involved in protests. Enter the local/federal government with “emergency measures” to stifle the opposition. Socialism will be the “savior”. The Constitution filed away. World history is like a wheel; what has gone around, comes around again.
#639648

On March 5th, 2009 at 8:43 am, GaMidnightRider said:

I think anyone who cares anything for themselves and country should get out and stop the madness.
#639665

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:08 am, lgm said:

Nothing conservative here. You’re conspiring to overthrow a democratically elected and still popular government.

The whole thing is childish. There have to be taxes. There will be taxes with Rush Limbaugh as President. You can have your annual hissy fit over them, then shut up and pay up like the rest of us working people. If you don’t like it, move to Russia. They barely collect taxes there.
#639666

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:09 am, jangar said:

A local conservative talk show host in Little Rock is getting one together sometime this month. He always draws a huge crowd. Things are no better down here in Democratville either.
#639686

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:28 am, FilmLadd said:

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:08 am, lgm said:

You can have your annual hissy fit over them, then shut up and pay up like the rest of us working people.

Your totalitarianism is showing, you little collectivist enabler.
#639689

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:30 am, Ed Mahmoud abu al-Kahoul said:

Of course they’re have to be taxes, but when 5% of the population pays ove rhalf the income taxes, and more than half the population pays no taxes at all, you’ve got a recipe for the freeloaders and leeches voting themselves ever greater goodies paid for by the productive, until there is so little incentive for the most productive to produce, the system collapses.
#639713

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:43 am, zeroangel said:

Yes, I think LGM has touched on something that I tend to think as well.

While I agree with Ed and others, I have to say some of this is a bit over the top.

The government isn’t going to tear up the Constitution and there isn’t going to be an armed revolt.

It’ll be 4 to 8 years of your typical Washington bullsh|t and then if we are lucky we will get our bullsh|tter in there instead of thiers.

Then, when that happens we can look forward to perhaps some slightly more “fair” tax plans (perhaps a “flatter” tax) and then have to deal with a different brand of silliness (fill in your own for those of you that don’t tow the party line on every issue).

Thank you.
#639720

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:45 am, Tennyson said:

I would just like this opportunity to say thank you.

Thanks Michelle for leading this fight and thank you to everyone who is organizing and participating in these demonstrations.
#639733

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:51 am, FilmLadd said:

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:43 am, zeroangel said:

Yes, I think LGM has touched on something that I tend to think as well.

Uh huh.

While I agree with Ed and others, I have to say some of this is a bit over the top.

Of course.

The government isn’t going to tear up the Constitution and there isn’t going to be an armed revolt.

To be precise: the government already HAS torn up the constitution, and there will be armed crack-downs by the government. Armed revolt will come after that.

It’ll be 4 to 8 years of your typical Washington bullsh|t and then if we are lucky we will get our bullsh|tter in there instead of thiers.

You underestimate the power of the collective to cause economic damage. LGM and his ilk thought that the Soviet Union would be extant forever, counter-balancing the U.S.A. for all eternity, giving hope to collectivists all over the world that communism could work.

But collectivism never works, and eventually rips itself apart, unless the country is so small that it can be ruled over with an iron fist (Cuba, for instance).

Silly collectivist, socialism is for dictators.

Then, when that happens we can look forward to perhaps some slightly more “fair” tax plans (perhaps a “flatter” tax) and then have to deal with a different brand of silliness (fill in your own for those of you that don’t tow the party line on every issue).

Your rose-colored glasses must have cost 1/2 your take-home pay. You should be saving that money for the day when tires are smoldering in the street.
#639734

On March 5th, 2009 at 9:51 am, englishqueen01 said:

You’re conspiring to overthrow a democratically elected and still popular government.

Funny, that poll you cite, like all others, is skewed to favor Democrats.

You can have your annual hissy fit over them, then shut up and pay up like the rest of us working people.

No. I’ve decided I don’t want to work. So send me half your paycheck to support me in staying home. Just “shut up and pay up”, lgm. I’ll enjoy being a stay-at-home mother (on your dime, of course).

What? That’s not fair or the point? Funny, because that’s basically what Obama’s doing – punishing those who work to reward those who don’t.

I look forward to my monthly checks.

If you don’t like it, move to Russia. They barely collect taxes there.

If you love this so much, move to Venezuela. Obama’s following Chavez’s footsteps, just don’t take the rest of us with you.
#639834

On March 5th, 2009 at 10:47 am, zeroangel said:

FilmLadd:

Yah OK. Sorry but I don’t share these ideas of doom and gloom.

I’ll be voting in 4 yrs as opposed to stockpiling weapons.

To add, I get the feeling that some people here want the President to fail just so they can say “I told you so.”

I do not feel this way. I want to see our country do well no matter who is in charge.

Though I do not agree with the President’s policies, I would be very happy to be proven wrong and would rather admit my philosophy was somewhat flawed then watch the country burn.

Finally, Obama is not a Soviet-style communist. The difference between democrats and say, Stalin, is about as vast as the difference between myself and advocates of market anarchy.
#639987

On March 5th, 2009 at 11:48 am, FirstSkirt said:

The vast majority of conservatives, and 99% of the posters here, DO NOT want this President to fail just so they can say, “I told you so!” Your statement is an insult to the intelligence of the posters here. Now, his socialist and communist policies and his radical change making people dependent on the “government” IS ANTI-AMERICAN and, so, for that reason, yes, I do want his policies to FAIL.
#640010

On March 5th, 2009 at 11:59 am, zeroangel said:

FirstSkirt:

Oh please, spare me. I never said with certainty that I think anyone in particular is guilty of that. Nor should it be an insult to anyone who doesn’t feel that way. If the shoe fits wear it, if not, so what?

Again, Obama is hardly a communist and as for his policies being “ANTI-AMERICAN” what exactly does that mean?

Does that mean the “AMERICAN” thing to do would be to entertain policies regardless of whether or not they succeed?

I do not think I am wrong, and I worry for our nation’s future, that still doesn’t mean I am going to entertain ideas about the collapse of the nation because its just way too over the top.

If his policies are wrong (which I think they are) they WILL fail. It doesn’t mean I will be rooting for them to fail just because they are “ANTI-AMERICAN.”
#641898

On March 6th, 2009 at 9:34 pm, Marine_NCO said:

Time: March 7, 2009 from 1pm to 3pm Location: Veterans Park, 200 Feu Follett Road, Lafayette Organized By: Leslie A.

Event Description: Team Sarah Louisiana and Louisiana Resistance to Host “Tea Party” and “Anti-Pork” Rally in Lafayette

Lafayette, LA, February 24, 2009—Team Sarah Louisiana and its affiliate group, Louisiana Resistance, will host a “Tea Party“ and “Anti-Pork” protest rally on Saturday, March 7, 2009, at 1:00 pm in Veterans Park, 200 Feu Follett Road, in Lafayette.