try's initials: for the United States, "the only country in history where wealth was not acquired by looting, but by production, not by force, but by trade... The symbol of man's right to his own mind, to his work, to his life, to his happiness, to himself" (Atlas Shrugged, 637). It is the country that draws men like John Galt, Henry Reardon, and Francisco d'Anconia. These men use it as a symbol of themselves and of their quest, evident on everything they produce. Galt's ability is what is needed by those of the earth in order to keep them elevated in the universe. What would happen if all these industrialists shrugged the world's expectations off their shoulders? Rand answers this.
Because Galt, like the rest of Atlas's people, has a passion for his work and moralistic code, he is torn by this love of industry and his idealistic hope for the future of the world. A new world without looters and moochers that can begin again with Atlas's people populating and driving it. In order to leave behind the old world and begin anew, he must stop the motor of the world; he must destroy it. He must do two things: understand the looters' moralistic code and annihilate all he holds dear in a calcul
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