Rand showed the way for small business. Is it time to act?

 As Democrats and Republicans in Blue states seek to consolidate power by shutting down small businesses, in the "Name" of COVID prevention, one must ask, is it time?

Businesses, small businesses, are fighting against all odds to stay afloat. They are fighting and losing. But these are not impersonal entities, these mom and pop businesses are the lives of those who have built them. They have poured their lives into their businesses, and like any good parent, seeing their kid in the hospital will do anything to keep them alive. They will work themselves to death, just for their child to have one more breath.

Those who see this pandemic and feel that it isn't the killer, but capitalism, are cheering the death along. They have nightly fantasies of Cloward and Piven, and the collapse of the economy. What even they need, though, are producers. They need people to continue the fight, to provide the last drop of fuel to propel them forward, even for just one more day. The powers that be just do not realize how close that day is.

Can you imagine if when a governor ordered the shutdown of indoor and outdoor dining, that the owners, instead of complaining, or protesting, just shut the doors, laid off their workers, and filed bankruptcy, and not the rebuilding kind. They could then join the ranks of those who are unemployed, demanding of the government their daily bread, and their non-eviction. The same with the small stores, or handymen, or whatever. That they just walk away. Essentially pull the plug on the life support for their child.

The truth is, while they are fighting to keep their livelihood going, in reality they are allowing those that wish to bleed them dry to keep imagining that everything is okay. It is not. There is not a way to even begin to count what is wrong.

Do not make the mistake of assuming these ideas original. The idea of people walking away, or going on strike originates to me, from the book Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. As people walk away from their work, and make no mistake, as government continues its lock downs it will not only happen, but will start to accelerate, more and more will say, "what's the point?". They will give up, either by force, by going broke, or maybe, they will feel like this closure, or that restriction is the final straw. Either way, the life force is being drained out of our society. One job at a time. One opportunity at a time. 

Our education system has failed. Not for a lack of competent teachers, but when teachers have to stick to a prescribed curriculum, and cannot adapt to the needs of individual children, failure is an apt description. 

Even our regulatory system is such that it is difficult to start a business today. Many of the most famous entrepreneurs have stated that they could never have done what they did if they had to start today. It is the small business that pays the bulk of taxes, as many are filed as  individual filers as sub s corporations, these taxpayers do not have the benefit of large amounts of wealth to influence Congress to adjust tax law to their benefit. And as their earnings are income, it is taxed at a much higher amount.

But what if, tomorrow, instead of protesting, they just walked away? What would happen if individuals put 99 exemptions on their W-4 forms, minimizing withholding?

Who is John Galt?

People do not understand the power they can wield. If they would just wield it. 80 million voted for Biden, just a tick over 25% of the eligible voting population. They keep us in check with division, with hatred, with burdensome laws, selectively enforced. They have armed all agencies of the government, for what purpose? 

Some hold the Constitution as a sacred document, but only when it is convenient. Though all have taken an oath to uphold and defend it.

They need you to eke out that existence, to somehow keep your business open, giving you all sorts of handouts to do so. Well, unless you speak out. Who made out during the Pandemic? Walmart? Amazon? etc? yes. At what price?

Maybe it is time to board em up, file for bankruptcy, and when asked why simply respond.

Who is John Galt?

As I am watching the news of the day, and thinking about what to do next, I realize that the hardest decision that one has to make is to walk away from a job. I was fortunate in that the time that I put in, I was able to speak up, even though it frequently cost me the opportunity to move up, so to speak. I frequently voiced the opinion of other supervisors and managers in management team meetings. I never once voiced the names of those who spoke to me, and will not. It was a choice that I made.

There is one occupation though, that would make an immediate difference. Too many cities are passive, or even sponsoring the "defund the police" movement. Too often city councils take the side of the rioters, and protestors, against the ones that uphold the law. Can you imagine if police officers nationwide started walking away? Guess what, they already are. But I am talking about in mass. Every time a city council starts spouting the garbage, officers just resign, turn in their notice, and call in sick until their two weeks are up. That would probably expedite the collapse. Or more likely, bring cities back to the bargaining table, where no deal could be secured without a very public statement of support and denouncement of that movement. That could motivate things. Even more people would say.

Who is John Galt?