Atlas Shrugged Premieres Tomorrow

The movie Atlas Shrugged premieres in movie theaters tomorrow. If you have not read the book, I’d urge you to read it before seeing the movie.  It’s not short.  The book has many layers to it, and it’s not an easy read because you have to think and explore the depths of your beliefs as you digest it.  Donald Luskin has a great column today summarizing some of Ayn Rand’s concepts and their real world examples.  It’s incredibly difficult for a director to transfer the many details of a book to a movie screen.  Atlas Shrugged is so deep and developed with character descriptions and various plot lines that it must have been overwhelming for director Paul Johansson.

If I told you I knew a person that was against war, unless it was taking up arms against communists or fascists; was for school busing; was pro-choice; was an atheist; was a strong proponent of women’s rights; was a poor immigrant-how would you categorize them?  That was the melting pot that was Ayn Rand.  Luskin sums it up perfectly when he says she was for the individual.

Conservatives increasingly flock to the concepts in Atlas Shrugged.  It goes to the root of the American psyche.  The Founders’ were individualists at their core.  The rights and laws that they elucidated in the Constitution were not always about the rights of a person, but limiting the ability of a government to capriciously infringe on the rights of the individual person.  Clearly, we have lost our way over the years.  The government moves over the last eleven years have caused people to revisit and explore the themes in Atlas Shrugged.

The question today is not, Who is John Galt?  The question today is Who will be John Galt?

Read more at Points and Figures