You keep saying that phrase…

Dr. Helen Smith is looking for people who are considering “going John Galt,” since our new socialist overlords are making that the best available option,

If you’re one of them (the go-John-Galtians, not the socialist overlords), Dr. Helen might want to interview you. Click the link.

I think it’s important to note: we’re not talking about “going John Galt” in the same sense as the characters in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” In “Atlas Shrugged,” the characters removed themselves as entirely from society as possible, to avoid any economy-building whatsoever.

This is how Dr. Melissa Clouthier described “going John Galt” yesterday:

Here is what business people do, or rather don’t do, when the government goes too far with taxation: they stop.

They stop advertising.
They stop hiring.
They stop expanding.
They stop investing.
They stop risking.
They stop paying more taxes.
The stop earning.
They stop buying.

Screw the government, small business owners say, if I make the same amount of money whether I grow or not, why grow?

The last two – earning and buying – are not like the others: you have to earn and buy something. You don’t have to do any of the rest.

But I interpret her list as limitations on economic activity – not a complete stoppage. And I believe there will never be a complete stoppage. Not as long as we’ve got the Hope of another election only 20 months away*.

See, the kind of people who could “go John Galt” won’t. They may take steps to reduce their liabilities, as Clouthier described, but they aren’t going to drop out.

Why? Because it would be stupid. It would be stupid for them personally. And we’re not talking about stupid people.

It’s like the woman Charlie Sykes mentioned earlier this week, who had a job but quit because she could live better on welfare. I wrote that that’s a great plan for the present, but without earning any work history, she’s only hurting herself long term.

Same thing here. Potential Galtians are go-getters, entrepreneurs. They’re the kind of people who make things happen. They’re not going to risk losing whatever ground they could have once the recession is over; once President Obama is former President Obama.

No: they’re out buying as much stock as possible. Because things are at bargain levels right now.

Just wanted to point that out. When we say “going John Galt,” we’re really talking about something less severe than Rand-style “going John Galt.”

* He really does bring the Hope!