"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck.”
– Robert A. Heinlein
I sat and read "Atlas Shrugged" a couple of summers ago for the first time. My friend Chan (of WeekendPundit – I always read his Thoughts on a Sunday) warned me to have some kind of anti-depressants around as I read through the first 100 pages or so. Thought that advice was a bit of an exaggeration.
I was wrong.
Since Obama’s inauguration, how the Congress has neglected the Constitution more and more and shucked off its law making responsibility, and Federal agencies seem to want to make law by executive fiat more and more in larger and larger contexts, I have become more and more distraught. Indeed, some are of such consequence, they should be the result of Congressional action, debated in the open, instead of by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. This is the Progressive technocrat state and not the governance model promulgated by our Founders. The parallels between what has been building up over the last few decades in our Government and the plot in Atlas Shrugged (even if overdrawn over too many pages) is scary.
This story, of Ronnie Bryant, has gone viral. David McElroy has this story of a coal mine operator that decided to "go Galt", the essence of the book. Which means, instead of operating his business and providing good paying jobs and providing the fuel that keep our electric lights on, he has had enough:
…Mine operators and state environmental officials say the mine can be operated without threatening the water supply. Environmentalists claim it will be a threat.
I’m not going to take sides on that environmental issue, because I don’t know enough to stake out an informed opinion. (With most of the people I listened to today, facts didn’t seem to matter as much as emotional implications.) But Ronnie Bryant wasn’t there to talk about that particular mine. As a mine operator in a nearby area, he was attending the meeting to listen to what residents and government officials were saying. He listened to close to two hours of people trashing companies of all types and blaming pollution for random cases of cancer in their families. Several speakers clearly believe that all of the cancer and other deaths they see in their families and communities must be caused by pollution. Why? Who knows? Maybe just because it makes for an emotional story to blame big bad business. It’s hard to say.
After Bryant listened to all of the business-bashing, he finally stood to speak. He sounded a little bit shellshocked, a little bit angry — and a lot frustrated.
My name’s Ronnie Bryant, and I’m a mine operator…. I’ve been issued a [state] permit in the recent past for [waste water] discharge, and after standing in this room today listening to the comments being made by the people…. [pause] Nearly every day without fail — I have a different perspective — men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County. They can’t pay their mortgage. They can’t pay their car note. They can’t feed their families. They don’t have health insurance. And as I stand here today, I just … you know … what’s the use? I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I don’t know. I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them. So as I stood against the wall here today, basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine. I’m just quitting. Thank you.
So, 125 families will go without a paycheck and continue dependency on Daddy Government. Fuel that we need to keep the lights on will not keep those lights on; no energy means no ability to do work. As David observed:
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Michael Patrick Leahy, TEA Party activist and author, will be joining us to talk about his new book, "I, Light Bulb: A Death Row Testimonial". Back in 2007 under President Bush, the Republicans passed an energy law that by mandating that Americans could purchase light bulbs meeting certain standards, the Federal Government decided that the American people were too dumb to "make right decisions" regarding their lighting needs so 100 watt incandescent bulbs will be illegal (efforts are still underway to reverse that mandate by the Nanny State). A small item, perhaps, but it shows the growing intrusiveness into the free marketplace.
Right from the mouth of one of the biggest Progressives around: former Speaker Nancy Pelosi who decided to use that argument over raising the debt ceiling (thus allowing Democrats to spend even more). Face it, who wants to shoulder the responsibilities of taking care of family members. After all, they’re only your parents! After all, there are things that only Government can do – you cannot! 