Changes

In the next springtime, John Galt made the final decision. The outside society was now collapsed, and as John Galt stated the case, the road was now clear. The strike was now settled—by default.

In the next springtime, John Galt made the final decision. The outside society was now collapsed, and as John Galt stated the case, the road was now clear. The strike was now settled—by default.

The novel does not make clear the future history of Galt's Gulch. Doubtless Midas Mulligan decided to keep the Mulligan Bank's central offices in the Gulch, and the other strikers decided to maintain a presence there at least as long as it had resources to exploit. That, furthermore, Galt and Mulligan would decide to keep the location of the Gulch secret is only logical to suppose; the experiences of the strike would convince them that they would need a place to retreat to, should their newfound fortune reverse itself yet again. Contrary to the ridiculous accusation by [[Whittaker Chambers]], John Galt never intended to be a dictator, "technocratic" or otherwise. His goal had been liberation, not conquest. And because there can be no such thing as conditional liberty, he could never be sure that future generations would not decide to revert to the same failed principles that had destroyed their world once before. ([[William Taylor Bradford]] might have been shocked to learn that today the people of the society that inherited his own legacy are now repeating exactly the sort of experiment that he himself tried, and then discarded, while serving as governor of the [[Plymouth Colony]], namely to run it as a [[collective farm]].)

The novel does not make clear the future history of Galt's Gulch. Doubtless Midas Mulligan decided to keep the Mulligan Bank's central offices in the Gulch, and the other strikers decided to maintain a presence there at least as long as it had resources to exploit. That, furthermore, Galt and Mulligan would decide to keep the location of the Gulch secret is only logical to suppose; the experiences of the strike would convince them that they would need a place to retreat to, should their newfound fortune reverse itself yet again. Contrary to the ridiculous accusation by [[Whittaker Chambers]], John Galt never intended to be a dictator, "technocratic" or otherwise. His goal had been liberation, not conquest. And because there can be no such thing as conditional liberty, he could never be sure that future generations would not decide to revert to the same failed principles that had destroyed their world once before. ([[William Bradford]] might have been shocked to learn that today the people of the society that inherited his own legacy are now repeating exactly the sort of experiment that he himself tried, and then discarded, while serving as governor of the [[Plymouth Colony]], namely to run it as a [[collective farm]].)

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