The “Going Galt” phenom spreads; Whoopi goes on anti-tax rant
“Going Galt” is going viral.
The phenomenon Dr. Helen Smith first diagnosed last fall has spread noticeably since our discussion of it at CPAC/CS2.0 last week and my column/blog posts/your comments throughout the past week.
The NYTimes (disparagingly, of course) picked up on it today. The Liberty Papers has a comprehensive round-up of recent blog coverage from all sides. And here’s an interview with Dr. Helen. Excerpt:
Smith was a little ahead of the curve of what has become an incredibly popular meme. Across the broad conservative movement, from members of Congress to activists to economists, Rand’s final, allegorical novel is being looked at with fresh eyes. According to the Atlas Society, a think tank that promotes and analyzes Rand’s work, sales of “Atlas Shrugged” have tripled since the presidential election. One congressman says that Rand wrote a “rulebook” that can guide conservatives through the age of Obama; another calls Obama’s policies something right out of the mind of Rand. One economist says that Rand’s fantasies have become reality. Smith is one of many activists citing Rand to explain their decisions to sell their stocks, or to explain why the president’s “demonization” of run-amok CEOs is aggravating the economic slowdown. The popular meme is giving critics of the president’s policies a way to explain why, they believe, it’s doomed to fail — because Rand predicted all of this…
…he activists who have latched onto “Atlas Shrugged” don’t spend as much time thinking about the heroic-capitalist side of the analogy. For Dr. Smith’s readers, like their counterparts writing in to libertarian blogs and protesting Obama at “tea parties, ” the novel is most useful for the concept of “going Galt.” “I do some consulting on the side and the taxation on that income is unbelievable,”wrote one reader to Michelle Malkin. “So, to heck with this. I’m ‘going Galt’ on my consulting.” “I’m considering moving to a small family farm in a foreign country,” wrote a reader to Smith, “and looking into the practical side of the issue right now. It will take a year or two of preparation, but might be feasible and even comfortable.”
Smith, who’s still mulling over ways that she can “go Galt,” sees a possibility for a moral stand. During the Iraq War, she read about a painter who’d painted less, reducing his income, in order to dodge taxes and thereby make sure he didn’t fund the war. “I’d go John Galt just to not pay for programs I don’t believe in,” said Smith. “If we’re opposed to socialistic concepts — if we know they don’t work — why should we pay to support them?”
***
Well, well, well: Whoopi doesn’t like getting taxed out the wazoo. She went on a little rant today, complaining: “I don’t wanna get it comin’ and going’…BACK OFF ME! (fast-forward to 3:30):
(hat tip – reader Glenn)
Reap what you have sown, sister.
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Trackbacks
- Going John Galt? | Radio Vice Online
- The Tea Party is Here: Mr. President - We didn’t ask for socialism! The One Trillion Dollar Takeover of Health Care « Jim Blazsik
- Wow! Even The View’s Whoopi Goldberg is “Going Galt” | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- Good Richard's Almanac
- Whoopi on taxes: BACK OFF ME! | Liberty Confidential
- What Did You Think Was Gonna Happen?! « Patriot Burr
- ‘Okie’ on the Lam » Blog Archive » The Taxinator — Time For Impeachement?
- The Liberty Papers »Blog Archive » Where Was the Republican Outrage Before Obama Was Elected?
- William Ayers and Ward Churchhill speaking at University of Boulder Colorado « Goodtimepolitics
- Michelle Malkin » The “Going Galt” phenom spreads; Whoopi goes on … | Blogs In Maine
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- Can Democracy Fail With Obama’s Socialist Help? « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- The Other McCain: Full Metal Jacket Saturday
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- The Bells start to ring: « DaTechguy’s Blog
- Hope For The Rest Of Us | America Needs Me
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- “Who is John Galt?” | The Great Illuminator
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- Texas Tea Parties » Blog Archive » The “Going Galt” phenom spreads; Whoopi goes on anti-tax rant
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Whoopi doesn’t want to get taxed too much, but when tax-cutter Reagan was in office she was insulting him as sodomizing ordinary people. I find her comedy routine now much more entertaining than the one then.
Whoopi’s channeling her 2004 character.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-9dsbCt8eE
Wish we could just rewrite this a bit, it would be even funnier now.
My Dad WAS a milkman back in the early 60’s. Lots of women on his route always invited him in for pie and coffee and were surprised when he ate the pie, drank the coffee and LEFT!!! My dad was hopelessly in love with my mom and could not keep a secret from her, so he was safe with the wild women on the milk route!!
What kills me is that Republicans will go to all sorts of lengths not to pay taxes (hey, I do too), but then line up to pay money to Hollywood and NBC … basically bankrolling a good chunk of Obama’s propaganda fund. If Conservatives and Libertarians stopped patronizing these groups for two years they’d be toast. Tragically, most people don’t have that sort of self-control.
Good Gawd, now Bill O’Rielley is going to have to apologize because some conservative used the word “Idiot” in a disparaging manner. Someone get him the DNC address.
And Whoopie – You go girl!
Up is down, black is white, right is wrong…..Whoopie is complaining about taxes being too high. I have been saying since election day to anyone who cared to hear that “buyers remorse will be setting before Obama’s term is half up” I was wrong, it is happening already.
Joy Behr has to be the most ignorant woman alive on the face of the earth. She makes Maxine Waters look like a scholar.
Great quote Pappa Louis
Poor Whoopi. How about the “tax breaks” for the working class. Cigarette tax; 80% of smokers are low income folks. Cap and Trade will dramatically raise electric, natural gas, fuel and everything from groceries to shoes. When are the Obamidiots going to wake up?
First part of the clip was what really nailed me.
Now for the Cackling Class, dissent is OK, but we need to respect the office of the president!?!? UN. FREAKING. BELIEVABLE. Hypocrisy you can believe in.
Oh, the irony.
Goldberg can read a script and act. That’s makes her an expert on life, politics and anything else important in many people’s lives. People live vicariously through celebrities. People, like Goldberg, know that and make money and increase their “status” in the spotlight. In reality, she doesn’t know anything more about politics than most bloggers here. In fact, she probably knows less. She ought to stick to acting, and, during breaks, read a good book on history. She was great in Star Trek. I wish she had stayed there.
I heard somewhere that BHO’s ancestral tribe was one of the groups that captured other Africans to sell into slavery to the evil white guys.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, then.
I haven’t set foot in a movie theater in nearly four years. It isn’t due to a desire to actively boycott Hollywood, but that the stuff they churn out just damn well isn’t interesting. Sometimes I wonder if I might like to see a movie, skip it, then see it on TV a few years later. It turns out to be awful, but I get the consolation of knowing that I didn’t give money to those third-raters.
DITTO!!!
I haven’t gone since “Return of the King”. Most out there is nothing more than poor rehash of the same old stuff. Either that, or poor remakes of older films. Rather than spend a fortune in tickets or snacks, we will wait until the dvd is out. I have over 110 films in my collection. All Oscar winners or close, or funny.
On March 7th, 2009 at 8:07 am, graysonret said:
I found her character incredibly annoying and politically correct – second only to Wesley Crusher in terms of blazing stupidity.
A bumper sticker that says “honk if your paying my mortgage” satirizes a POLICY, not the person. I agree with the lady that we should respect the office of the Pres, but it is once again stunning that Dems say that with a straight face referring to Obama, and forget the excoriating ad hominem attacks against GWB for the past 8 years, and continuing. There has to be a better word that combines hypocracy with psychosis, self-delusion and mind numbing ignorance, to describe such behaviors.
I do see a common thread in the thinking ability of pseudo-sophisticated liberals and socialists such as Bill Mahr, Goldberg, Behar (one of the most genuinely unwatchable individuals I’ve ever seen). That is they are only surface thinkers, shallow thinkers. To them a plane and a butterfly have much in common because they both have wings. They truly are intellectually incapable of thinking very deeply, and analyzing the nuances; the various layers of an issue. They just jump on mantras, they demagague, and make transparently populist statements, especially the idiots in Hollywood. But they have enough ego to really believe that what they are saying makes perfect sense.
Last night I forced myself to watch Mahr just to see what the enemy is doing, though it is truly something I cannot subject myself to more than a couple of times a year. There were 3 guests. Mahr wondered allowed why Americans feel the economy has to “grow”, why do we always have to be better and improve, why cant we be happy being #2. or #3?? (Yes, you cant make this sh*t up, that was his question!). Two of his guests, with their response, made him look completely stupid (and one was a lib dem, the black mayor of Newark, NJ), and the only one that agreed with Mahr was uber-America-hating Peter Singer, a preachy Aussie american citizen with his head so far up his ass, I dont know how he breathes. But Mahr posed the question not understanding, that other than to his slurpy audience, and to marxists like Singer, he sounded like a complete moron. Thus the “thinking” of your average gasbag liberal.
Screaming out the window is not enough, Whoopi. I’m waiting for you to get buyer’s remorse. At some time in the near future successful blacks will get a clue. You said six months. I’m hoping you see the light sooner because I don’t think you are stupid, just misled and poorly educated.
Not like that Joy. She is stupid and I think incapable of being educated
Can’t watch Mahr or even The View.
OK, don’t hate me but: I like Whoopi Goldberg, and I like it that she’s speaking out against obama’s tax policies. I disagree with her on most things, but I have found her to be among the most rational of liberals. She can sit down with O’Reilly and have a fair and respectful debate. She can sit down with Hannity and do the same. I think it’s because she has an air of self-possession that most on the left lack. She’s confident in who she is and in what she believes. The others are sheep, going along with the “flavor-of-the-day” liberal policies.
Her comedic routines have rarely, if ever, left me anything but offended, but she seems to me to be a fair-minded liberal. She’s certainly the kindest and most rational of everyone on The View, saving Hasselbeck.
Well, there you have my honest personal appraisal.
Like I said, she can learn and is learning. Perhaps a light will go off and she will switch sides. Cramer is seeing the light, although he still believes in the liberal goals.
Cramer believes in nationalizing health care. What he doesn’t realize is that Obama really wants to internationalize it. This will lower our health care to 1930’s levels. If the majority of the world uses outhouses we have no right to indoor plumbing.
Just reading some comments from a liberal blog because I love to laugh. I’m convinced we cannot reconcile. We need a split:
How does one get that wrong about things? The hatred of the rich by these people is insane, since their standard of living depends on them.
Hey red, exactly what i was thinking during the clip. Whenever dems I know have to say that the govt is wrong now, they always say well both parties are wrong.
I think Whoopie can be rehabilitated. I saw her on an interview where she admitted that most of her political views are based on emotion and she looked as if she was thinking that may be a bad way to form opinions. She is pro 2nd amendment and c’mon, she likes being rich. I don’t begrudge anyone who used their talent to make a lot of money. When it comes down to it, I would not want to be famous, what a sucky life it would end up being. I doubt this would ever happen, but to see her stumping for a repub as a reformed dem would be great PR.
She asked McCain if a return to Constitutional law would equate to a return to slavery. That’s the depth of her political intelliect.
Of course, his answer was “good point!” which also spoke volumes about the GOP candidates depth.
Mine answer to both was to bang my head, really hard, on a nearby wall.
It was a dumb question and it got a dumb answer. I’ve said plenty of dumb things that, by themselves, would legitimately call my sanity and intellect into question, I admit that. Thank heaven that, in a rational world, we are not judged by the few missteps and people can examine us on the whole of our character.
Because as I said in my post above, liberals are classic shallow thinkers. They dont think of the consequences of the policies they favor. They are generally intellectually not very capable.
@#107
We don’t support Hollywood either. As a matter of fact the last movie my wife and I saw in a theater was was “Return of The King” too!
If we want to support a certain producer or star we wait for PPV or the DVD.
sbw,
I’m with you, but still stumped as to why these people can’t think beyond the most superficial of levels.
Half the country, at least, thinks this spending is good for the future, with no thoughts on how it will affect inflation, taxes, etc. It will ripple through almost every aspect of our lives.
I went to see Cadillac Records, because I love blues, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, etc. I found the treatment rather shallow and could have waited for the DVD.
This is why he’s on Larry King so much. BTW, King and Behar are identical twins, one wears suspenders, one wears a dress.
Please see “Public Education”, and cross-reference “Education Students Have Lowest SATs”.
Yes. It’s like Dennis Prager was saying yesterday that these people are diametrically opposed to themselves. It’s the mindset that Government can provide all of this “free” stuff but it won’t affect their taxes at all.
Years ago, I and many co-workers made a killing in our company stock. One of those was complaining about the tax bill for his windfall. Yet this guy was a staunch big government advocate. It was to the point that any Clinton joke made his blood boil.
He really couldn’t see the connection between big government and being personally affected by the tax requirements …and this was a sharp software developer.
It’s as if they believe that their Uncle Sam is this giant sugar-daddy that would love to take care of them; but that evil rich Republicans and CEOs, who delight in the suffering of the poor, have put up road blocks to stop him.
Most big government types make at least two mistakes in their thinking:
1. Man tends to do right and will flourish if his socioeconomic status is improved, and what better way to do that then by government?
The reality is that man was created as good, but corrupted themselves by choosing their own way rather than their creator’s. The Founders realized the nature of man and set up a Republic, where rule of law and checks and balances minimized the affects of man’s corruption. This encouraged the improvement of socioeconomic improvement by the individual’s hard work and ingenuity. Happiness was achieved from within by the individual citizen rather than externally imposed by an overarching regime.
2. Wealth is a zero sum game, whereby the “rich” are hogging all of the money.
The reality is that wealth, simply speaking, is created by transforming relative raw materials into a more refined form. This is done, again, by hard work and ingenuity. If a person wants to better their lifestyle, they must find a way to create wealth or to equip themselves with skills to assist the wealth creators as valuable employees.
Believers in big government want to penalize the risk takers who create wealth, and of course, jobs, by taking their hard earned profits and giving it to those who did not earn it. To the extent this is done, our Country will be damaged.
A friend of mine just sent me an e-mail with this cartoon. I think the author nails what the whole problem is with Obama’s policies – dumbed down so even a liberal can understand.
check it out
You want John Galt? You would really be up a creek if this country’s intelligentsia went Galt on you. No doctors, no teachers, no software engineers, no medical scientists who endure constant wingnut squawking about evolution yet continue doing the research that improves our lives. These people are overwhelmingly liberal (as you keep complaining), yet they are the engine that keeps this country in first place.
lgm,
That’s the point of going Galt. You should read Rand’s book. The people who moved society dropped out and stopped contributing – life ground to a halt. That is exactly what people going Galt are doing. Why put in 80 hours a week just to see the majority of your earnings taken in taxes to pay for the non producers. cut back and just work the minimum and have close to same amount.
And, I disagree with your contention that most of the intelligentsia are overwhelmingly liberal. I have an advanced degree in mechanical engineering (previous job title was nuclear refueling engineer). Most of my colleagues were conservative.
And, just for good measure, please provide for me the theory of evolution’s explanation for the beginning of life. How did life on this planet get started?
In all fairness to Whoopi, this has been her position long before she joined the View. She and Joy got into it before about inheritance. Whoopi feels it is her right (and it is) to leave her estate to her daughter and grandchildren without the govt taking the lions share.
P.S. I give her credit for stating her position, which is a lot more than most liberals in entertainment would do..although I don’t put Whoopi in the liberal category..She really is more of a bluedog democrat.
This is too funny. Whoopi’s finally starting to get it. I guess a stopped clock is right twice a day.
It looks like she’s starting to realize that Hopey McChange is nothing more than another tax-and-spend liberal. In the words of his favorite racist pastor, “the chickens are coming home to roost!”
And in this, and her comments in the video, I totally agree. It is her right to leave her estate to her family. No one else earned that money, it is Whoopi’s to do with what she pleases.
Now, Whoopi, imagine what it’s like to not make a good living, or have income where you have to budget. Then imagine what it’s like when THOSE people have their taxes raised.
All of us – rich and poor – are getting it coming and going thanks to Obama.
And in this, and her comments in the video, I totally agree. It is her right to leave her estate to her family. No one else earned that money, it is Whoopi’s to do with what she pleases.
Now, Whoopi, imagine what it’s like to not make a good living, or have income where you have to budget. Then imagine what it’s like when THOSE people have their taxes raised.
All of us – rich and poor – are getting it coming and going thanks to Obama.
Oh really…and where would your “intelligentsia” be w/o capitalists and us “plebeians” to provide them w/ grants and to do the grunt work?
Man, when you decide to delve into the Democrats’ standard mode of class warfare, you sure do go full tilt.
I agree with Whoopi on that, but her side of the libtards also have Mark Lamont Hill the other night who said on Gag’O Rielly, he believes people are “entitled” to his wealth.
What do these people smoke?
Fine. If he believes people are “entitled” to his wealth, he’s free to leave it not to his family, but to whatever charities he deems fit. That should be his right.
Just don’t make that choice for the rest of us.
Englishqueen- I didn’t make myself clear. Mr. Hill thought everyone was entitled to O’Rielly’s wealth through exorbanant taxation.
lgm said:
Really. Overwhelmingly liberal huh. Not in my city, dude. Lemme guess, you live in San Francisco?
Whoopi will probably be on Fox News by next year. She is seeing the light and has some legit comments. Joy however will continue to be in the dark and… looking from the same old ‘View’ forever- Some people just can’t change.
If not living in San Francisco, I’m guessing in the Hollywood/LA area, or Massachusetts. I’m a technical writer for an engineering design firm in AZ. PhD’s, master degrees, double master degrees… loads of smart, imaginative, productive, hardworking people work there. And all are overwhelmingly conservative. Except one nice old guy who is a moderate liberal – he’s married to an aging cabaret singer/entertainer. ‘Nuff said.
Congratulations, Whoopee, you’re starting to get it. How about you (whoopee), me and the people here at MM, Cramer, Santelli, and everyone else at these tea parties go on a tear and try to get D’Ohbama and these big DC spenders to stop taxing us to the hilt!
Whoopi, you’re part of “the rich”. The government feels you make too much money when there are people who need it too. Therefore, you must pay. But don’t be too upset. Eventually, we all will be in the same boat…paying lots of taxes to support an even more failing economy. The only difference between a man robbing you of your wallet and the government taking it away before you even see it, is that one is illegal theft and the other, legal theft. I think a lot of celebrities will be running to their lawyers when they see the reality of Obamanomics. Of course, there are people, like Oprah, who make so much money, that, if the government raised their taxes, they wouldn’t even know it.
MarcoPolo said:
Please don’t remind me. It makes me cry.
Oh, one more thing I forgot. I heard on talk-radio yesterday a listener describe Obama’s economic policies as:
Trickle-Up Poverty
If you buy a dvd, you are still putting money into their coffers. If there is a movie I really want to see, my husband says, wait for it to come out on dvd. Then when it does, he says, wait until it shows up on TV. Within a year, it usually does! Or, instead of buying the dvd, which you may never view again, renting is another option. We do, however have about 20 of my all-time favorites…Titanic, The Patriot, Last of the Mohicans, Double Jeapardy, and Grumpy Old Men! My husband and I watch Grumpy every few months and laugh our butts off every time. Best.movie.ever! And filmed right here in good ole Minnesota.
Having said that, my husband and I do go to about one movie every 6 months or so. We are retired, so we go on a weekday afternoon. The Lakeville Theater has stadium seating, tons of movies to choose from, and we sometimes have the whole place to ourselves! I still feel a “guilty pleasure” out of going to a movie during the week! Kinda like playing hookie.
(Goldberg)can sit down with O’Reilly and have a fair and respectful debate
You need to put that remark in the context of where she was when she made it. She was on The Phew, where she gets paid to say dumb, outrageous things, as they all do. She knew darn well it was stupid, but, like Allen Colmes, she is being paid to sound like a fool sometimes.
First, create an “enemy”. For this government, it is the “rich”. Second, steer the people toward hatred of the enemy. Then pass laws to “protect the people” against the enemy. Tell the people how you are “saving them” and how you are going to make everything better. Out of the limelight, sit, smile and plan more power-grabbing schemes. Substitute “jews” for the “rich” and you will understand. Or, in the case of Kim and Chavez, substitute “U.S. invasion”. Old tactics that have worked, when dealing with a dumb-downed population.
Um, there is.
“Liberal”.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a burn.
Kudos, James.