For some background on the concept, check this post from Michelle Malkin.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

OK, so now that you understand the basic idea (summarized for those that didn’t follow the link):

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.

So, I have decided to “Go Galt”, and I recommend that everyone that cares about this nation do the same.

What I am going to do?  After all, I am no John Galt.

But I am a productive citizen, and consumer, and I intend to leverage that power.

As a consumer, I will no longer patronize Chrysler or GM.  Ever.  Not one more dime.  I loved my Saturn Sedan, and I am still planning to buy a largish crossover vehicle (to support my business).  While the Saturn Outlook was a possibility, it is now off the list.  I will encourage everyone that I interact with to also move away from those brands.  If you must buy American, I recommend Ford.  I need to check out the Ford Edge, and see if it will meet my needs.

As a small business man, my business plan for 2009 included building sales to support another one or two salespeople.  That plan is now shelved.  I will grow sales to a sustainable level for myself, and leave it there.

I have almost completely stopped flying for business (goodbye, Alaska Airlines MVP Gold), and renting cars.  I have downgraded from business hotels (hilton and marriott families) to budget chains.  I have seriously cut back on customer entertainment – no more dinners, less lunches and breakfasts.

I am canceling my last remaining land line (though it is VOIP).

If things continue to decline on the government tax and spend binge front, I may close the doors, and return to the workforce, filling a job that would have gone to someone less qualified.

I will reduce consumption overall, to reduce the sales tax load I pay to the state of Washington.  I will put off purchasing any “big ticket” items until absolutely necessary, and then only to replace an existing (defunct) device.

I have already increased my planting of vegetables over last year, and have planted some nut trees to supplement my fruit trees.

I know that these things do not apply to everyone, but there is something everyone can do. 

Your government, and the American Aristocracy (that is, the Political Class) not only have no respect for you, but they have no fear of you.  We need to remind them that this is a Reprentative Republic, and they are answerable to the people.

Going Galt is a first step, to get their attention, and take away one of their favorite tools to remain in power:  Money.  Your money.  From YOUR effort.

The next step is to let your elected representatives know that you will refuse to vote for (and will actively vote against) anyone who does NOT pledge to reduce government expenditures, and work to return the government to its proper Constitutional role – which does NOT include owning part of a car company, or bailing out banks and insurance companies for making bad business decisions.

Thnik about it.

Technorati Tags: Going Galt

Courtesy of Time:

…what we need is an ex post facto international regime with real teeth: You test a bomb, and you face certain and total economic embargo, one that will make the pre-emptive sanctions we have in place now seem like a day at the polo club. Right now China should be closing its border with North Korea, cutting off everything except food. It is only when the lights go off in Pyongyang that the North Koreans will seriously consider giving up the bomb.

I would go a little farther than Mr. Baer.

The US should announce a policy of overwhelming retaliation in case of Nuclear Attack against ANY of our allies; to include the bombing of all medium and large cities (say, over 50,000 population) and all military facilities.

I would also inform the North Koreans that any attack on South Korea, or ANY US ally, will be considered an act of war, and will result in the complete destruction of their nation, and, more importantly, their military.

I would also have charges brought before the United Nations of Crimes Against Humanity against the entire ruling party of North Korea.  There is ample evidence of their prison labor and “re-education” camps, the the routine use of starvation as a tool to keep the population in check.

But then, unlike the Obama administration (and pretty much all the administrations since 1953), I actually care about the suffering of the Korean people who are trapped in Kim Jog Il’s “workers paradise”…

Tags: North Korea

Courtesy of Pravda:

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

USA Today has a wonderful (and interactive graphic) piece today, which presents some truly horrifying numbers about the Average Liabilities Per Household in the USA Today!

Taxpayers are on the hook for an extra $55,000 a household to cover
rising federal commitments made just in the past year for retirement
benefits, the national debt and other government promises, a USA TODAY
analysis shows.

The latest increase raises federal obligations to a record $546,668 per
household in 2008, according to the USA TODAY analysis. That’s
quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car
loans, credit cards and other debt combined.

Bottom line: The government took on $6.8 trillion in new obligations in
2008, pushing the total owed to a record $63.8 trillion.

So, again, using the numbers USA Today has, the average US household owes $121,953 in personal debt (mortgages, cars, credit cards, etc), and their share of the federal debt is $546,668.

That gives each US Household, on average, a debt load of $668,621.  Right now, today. 

And what makes up that huge Federal Government Debt component?

$284.288 (52%) is Medicare.  $160.126 (29.3%) is Social Security.  $54,537 (10%) is the General Budget Debt.  Military Retirement is $29, 694 (5.4%).  Civil Service retirement adds $15,851 (2.9%), leaving another $2,172 (.4%) of miscellaneous “other” debts.

And this assumes that the money was set aside TODAY, earning interest, to meet these future commitments.  Which, of course, it’s not.

Now, here is some Fun With Numbers.  You would have to collect Social Security for over 13 years (at the average $12,098 annual benefits) to get back your share of just the SS debt load.  This does not count any of the money you have paid into the Ponzi Scheme.

The Median Household Income in the US in 2007 was pegged at $50,740.  So, the average household would have to work over 13 years to payoff the their total debt load, today, if they contributed 100% of their income to their combined debt.  Over 27 years, if they gave 50% of their income to debt reduction.  Or more than 54 years, if surrendering 25% of their income.

The average household owes almost twice as much to Social Security debt than on their home mortgage.  More than their total annual income to the Federal Debt.  More than 5 times their annual income to the Medicare Debt.

And the budget deficits, even after cosuming the trust funds, is still looking at over $1,000,000,000 per year.

But look on the bright side.  As of next week, we all own 72% of General Motors.

Tags: Debt

One – Courtesy of Doug Ross:

Red State, American Thinker and Joey Smith provide anecdotal and
quantitative evidence that would appear to confirm a decided bias
against dealers who donated to GOP causes or to anti-Obama Democrats.

Consider the partial list of Chrysler dealership owners, listed below.
You’ll notice that all were opponents of Barack Obama, most through
sponsorship of GOP candidates and organizations, but a handful through
Barack’s Democrat rivals (Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in 2008, for
example).

• Vernon G. Buchanan: $147,450 to GOP candidates and organizations
• Wallace D. Alley and Family: $4,500 to GOP.
• Robert Archer: $4,600 to GOP and conservative causes.
• Homer S. Higginbotham and Family: $2950 to GOP.
• James Auffenberg and Family: $28,000 to GOP; $6,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Michael Maroone and Family: $60,000 to GOP; $8,500 to two Democrat candidates.
• Jerome Fader: $6,500 to Democrats; $2,500 to Independent Joe Lieberman.
• Stephen Fay and Family: $13,500 to GOP.
• William Numrich: $20,000 to GOP.
• Robert Carver: $10,000 to Democrats including $1,950 to Hillary Clinton, nothing to Barack Obama.

Lot’s more at the link.  More research ongoing.  Anyone have any info on the local dealers, and their political leanings?

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, a couple of hundred times is Democratic Hack action…

Two – Courtesy of the Washington Post – Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate

President Obama is expected to announce late this week that he will
create a “cyber czar,” a senior White House official who will have
broad authority to develop strategy to protect the nation’s
government-run and private computer networks, according to people who
have been briefed on the plan.

Now, I don’t have a particular problem with having a “point man” for Cyber issues, but I am about feb up with the whole “Czar” thing, and not just because the name is massively and inappropriately misused, but because I am sick to death of Presidents creating these positions out of thin air, with absolutely no congressional oversight or reporting criteria.  These people weild very real authority and influence in the administration, but answer ONLY to the President.  In Obama’s own words:

Obama pledged during his presidential campaign to elevate the issue of
cybersecurity to a “top priority” and to appoint a national
cybersecurity adviser “who will report directly to me.”

Three - Courtesy CNS News:

According to an analysis of climate legislation performed by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the cap-and-trade system favored
by President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats could
potentially damage the U.S. manufacturing sector and force jobs to move
overseas.

This is so deep into the “No Duh” category that I am almost shocked (though not amazed) that they actually had to do an official Study on it.  The failure of Leftist politicians in general, and the Democrat party in particular, to understand even the basics of economics and human nature has moved far beyond stereotyping into near parody.

Tags: Obama, Quick Shots

Victor Davis Hanson courtesy of Pajamas Media:

Cracks in the Facade

Fissures in the Obama Totem

Oh, I know that President Obama’s approval ratings are still around
62%. But I also remember that George Bush’s at the end of 2001 got even
higher — and stayed at or above 60% through most of 2002, explaining
why he increased his congressional majority in the midterm elections.

Nevertheless, I think we are beginning — after less than four months
— to see fissures in Obama’s Pentelic statuary. And the cracks will
widen, because in about six areas he has taken on human nature itself,
age-old logic, and common sense-opponents that even a Harvard Law
degree and Chicago organizing are no match for.

Click on the link, and read the whole thing!

In the interests of full disclosure, I am a registered Republican.  When I turned 18, in the great state of Alaska, I registered as a Libertarian.  While I had some quibbles over a couple of planks in the Libertarian platform, over all, it was the best fit for my beliefs.

In the fullness of time, and several relocation’s, I became an Independant (or Non-Partisan, depending on the options), because my political leanings had shifted somewhat, and I no longer felt that I could fully support the Libertarian party, and their predilication to self destruction – but the Republicans didn’t impress me as having the strength of their convictions.

When Washington went to a closed primary, and since I typically support Republican candidates, simply as the lesser of evils, I felt it was prudent to register as a Republican, so I could participate in the primary process.

I have since changed back to Independent, because, as before, I am convinced that the Republicans no longer actually stand for anything, except for being LESS socialist than the Democrat party.

Submitted for your consideration, several bullet points from the GOP 2008 platform:

Republicans will uphold and defend our party’s core principles:
Constrain the federal government to its legitimate constitutional
functions. Let it empower people, while limiting its reach into their
lives. Spend only what is necessary, and tax only to raise revenue for
essential government functions.  Unleash the power of enterprise,
innovation, civic energy, and the American spirit – and never pretend
that government is a substitute for family or community.

The federal government collects $2.7 trillion a year from American
families and businesses.  That’s $7.4 billion a day.  Even worse, it
spends over $3 trillion a year: $8.2 billion a day.  Why? Largely
because those who created this bloated government will not admit a
single mistake or abolish a single program.

The long term solution for many of Washington’s problems is structural.
Congress must respect the limits imposed upon it by the Tenth
Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people.”

Modern management of the federal government is long overdue.  The
expected retirement over the next ten years of more than 40 percent of
the federal workforce, and 60 percent of its managers, presents a rare
opportunity: a chance to gradually shrink the size of government while
using technology to increase its effectiveness and reshape the way
agencies do business.

Judicial activism is a grave threat to the rule of law because
unaccountable federal judges are usurping democracy, ignoring the
Constitution and its separation of powers, and imposing their personal
opinions upon the public.  This must stop.

All sound great don’t they?

But when was the last time the Republicans actually DID something that fits these ideals?  1998?  Certainly not in the 21st century, though they held the white house, and Congress.

It’s easy to publish a platform – it’s quite another thing to commit to support the principals in that document.

But without a party platform – without a basic statement of principals and goals – what is a political party?  It is nothing more than a coalition of people who band together to raise resources in an attempt to gain a share of political power.

And by voting for people that do not actively support a party platform that you agree with, you are not advancing your own agenda – you are just helping them advance theirs.

For what it’s worth, you can also take a look at the Democrat 2008 platform here.  59 pages of Cumbaya feel goodism – and they say High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad for you.  You may need a shot of insulin after you wade through this mess of saccharin like sweetness.  Of course, it is so broad a document, and so over reaching of constitutionality, that it is relatively easy for a Democrat canididate to claim to be in compliance with the platform.  Indeed, as long as they vote for more spending and growth of government, they would be fullfilling the intent, if not the actual letter, of their platform.

So, in the void created by the Republicans, and their failure to live up to their platform, other actors are striding onto the stage.

The Tea Party movement – not a coherent party as such, but a grass roots conglomerate of various groups and citizens that are fed up with the Federal (and State) governments over reaching and over spending.

The Modern Whig Party – A revival effort of a party that had 4 presidents elected in the 1st half of the 19th century – Lincoln was a Whig, before the party shattered over Slavery, and the abolitionists formed the Republican Party from the ruins.  Very basic, Constitutional issues statement on thier site.

The Patrick Henry Caucus - formed to support strict Consitutionalist reform, and specifically the 10th amendment:

“The powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

And others.

The Republican Party can actually start living up to it’s platform, or they can fade away.  It is not a choice for the party to make – it is a choice for the parties candidates to make.