....you have to explain the fascination the American Christian right has with Ayn Rand.
I've been dealing internationally for 37 years and I think I can answer this because I know and work with people from Europe and Asia every day. I once went to Athens to interview an Indian national who worked in England for a Swiss pharmaceutical company for a position in Osaka Japan for a German company that operated in 140 countries when I consulted for them.
Americans are fascinated with more existential things, in general, than most Europeans, for example, because of our inherent nature. Our founders were very smart people that left a Europe where only royalty owned property and had the means to build wealth. If you were not part of the oligarchy, it didn't matter how smart you were, or how hard you were willing to work to build a better life and future for your family. Your 'common' place had to be accepted. That's why no fewer than seven of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were actual geniuses.
So we do not accept our position and have a hard time believing that something better is not just right around the corner because we see others achieving greatness every day through hard work and/or education. This inherently gives us hope, and hope breeds dreams and aspirations that our ancestors from Europe were never able fulfill until they came here.
As for John Galt, because we as individuals feel closer to our government, we feel closer to the powerful that make decisions, and the game of power and politics is more exciting when we feel we can make a difference. There are many books and movies about power, money, and politics, gone wild, and the fact the average citizen can be manipulated by a few, is revolting to us, as are those that embraces mediocrity in the name of egalitarianism. I never felt close to my government when I lived in New York, but here in Florida, I have a lot more access to local and state government. My neighbor was the Mayor, and now she is a state rep, and we can actually make a difference at the grass roots level. Unthinkable in NY, so I can only imagine, and dread, the unreachable levels of the federal government in D.C.
A big federal government scares me and should scare everyone, because this type of access is not possible, and abuse is easy and usually unaccountable. That's why we try to keep this nation a republic and not a democracy because when a big federal government slips it leash, things happen for the few with the power and money, and rest of us slide further and further down the toilet of federalism to the oligarchies that our ancestors did everything they could to escape.
And yes... NOW we have really gone off topic.
