My Love-Hate Relationship with John Galt's Speech

Okay, so basically John Galt’s endless speech could be posted on Sparknotes as the summary for Atlas Shrugged. After nine hundred pages of a fictional society that Ayn Rand uses to portray her opinions through, we finally get the answers to any remaining questions. Ayn Rand could have literally taken every other page out of the book and the same message would have still come across to the reader. We learn everything in this speech, including the real answer to the first line in the novel, “Who is John Galt?”. John Galt’s speech is my favorite part of the work not only because it finally concludes the novel, but also because of how perfectly structured it is. 

One of the first things that Ayn Rand presents to the reader through the speech is the idea that people are motivated by survival. In other words, she allows us to understand that the laziest of lazy people we get off their asses when it starts to affect their ability to stay in this world. I concur with this idea and I believe that it can be seen in America today. Moreover, I do not understand how the United States’ government can decide to literally just give away money to the lower classes. These people only deserve to survive. They should only have food, water, and shelter. They should NOT have any computers, phones (did I hear someone say ObamaPhone?), televisions, etc. I say this not because I do not care about these people, but because it makes no sense for these people to have all these things. In fact, my uncle is a laid off mechanic himself and he and his wife complain that the government is not giving them enough. Meanwhile, he has just enough to not only support his family, but he even has two computers and a 3D TV that he bought after being laid off. I find this incredible, especially when he and many others in the same situation as him show up to the doctor’s and claim that they cannot afford healthcare. 

From my previous points, we can easily transition into Ayn Rand’s next major topic of discussion. In John Galt’s speech, the author tells the audience that people are only motivated by positive things. In other words, if successful people continue to have their salaries docked more and more to keep giving welfare to the poor we just talked about, there will no longer be motivation to succeed. Again, I completely agree with Ayn Rand. Heading into college now, no matter how much I love the idea of becoming a cardiologist, I am forced to understand that if Obama gets his way I will not be paid a favorable amount in return for the amount of years it will take me to get there. If I am not going to be rewarded for my efforts, why study at all? I can just be average and get paid enough to live and support a family...and maybe even have a 3D TV! Anyway, although I have constantly criticized Atlas Shrugged for its lengthiness and monotonous tone, I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion of the novel.