“He is just one person. This show is much bigger than him.” –
The Tuttle Twins and the Search for Atlas
Worth nearly 200 billion dollars, Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. Founder or co-founder of nearly a dozen companies, from Tesla to Space X, Musk began his first company in his early 20s. Loved by many for his progressive entry into the electric vehicle industry, the same Musk is now hated for his purchase of Twitter/X in his attempt to rescue free speech. Billionaires, in general, are seeing a decrease in their popularity. Souring on the idea of vast concentrated wealth, three in ten adults now feel that the moneyed class is bad for the country, including 50 percent of adults under the age of 30. Now, only 15 percent of Americans believe that billionaires have an important role in society.
But that wasn’t always the case. In 1957, a Russian immigrant, Ayn Rand, wrote her greatest piece of fiction defending the men of the minds. It was the story of how entrepreneurs, who are often envied for their talents and contributions, held the world on their shoulders, and when it became too much, decided to shrug, by going on strike. Hoping to stop the motor of the world, they left to thwart the looters from exploiting their productivity.
In Connor Boyack’s 2017 children’s book, “The Tuttle Twins and the Search for Atlas”, Boyack tells the story of Ethan and Emily Tuttle as they prepare their clown act for the traveling circus. On their first day of practice, the star of the show, Atlas the Strongman, unexpectedly quits and leaves the circus. The twins quickly discover that Atlas did more than just entertain guests but was relied upon to do the heavy lifting behind the scenes. As the highest-paid act, Atlas also received perks that the others did not. At first perplexed, the twins soon began to understand why. A play on Ayn Rand’s 1957 magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged”, Boyack’s Atlas leaves when he feels that he too has been taken advantage of by those who did little to develop their own skills.
After Atlas leaves the circus, ticket sales go down, and the livelihood of everyone is threatened. It was Atlas who had the unique talent that made the circus successful. There may be no “i” in team, but as Atlas proved, no two jobs or people are alike. The rarer the talent, and the higher the demand for it, the harder it is to replace. Some jobs require specific skills that are more highly valued, while other jobs can be done by anyone. And as is often the case, some people simply work harder than others.
But value is also subjective. It was economist Adam Smith who described the paradox of diamonds and water. While water is essential to life, and diamonds are merely expendable pleasures, diamonds inexplicably have more value. Yet, since water is abundant, and diamonds are scarce, water is relatively inexpensive, and diamonds are quite costly because the cost of acquiring something adds to its value. It is also why rock stars make so much more money than nurses. While nurses are necessary but plentiful, rock stars are unique and few and far between.
Growing up during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia where the negation of moral principles and individual initiative drove out merit and replaced it with an equality of outcomes, Ayn Rand abhorred the enslavement of the individual to the whims of the commune. “From each according to his ability, to each according to their need”, citizens no longer worked for their own benefit but were asked to sacrifice for the good of the collective.
But Rand knew that production was a moral virtue that created wealth for a society and that it was the independent minds that were responsible for human progress and increasing prosperity. The inventors and creators advanced society and changed lives because their hard work and tolerance for risk allowed them to reach unique heights. Remove merit and you have a country of tyranny that punishes virtue and robs the productive. When we allow an environment where the hatred of the good for being good results not only in solidifying deep roots of envy but also in fostering a climate that fails to value excellence, we are doomed to fail. For this, Rand sounded her warning.
Atlas the Strongman may not have been a man of the mind, but he was the main attraction that drove sales for the circus, benefitting not only himself but everyone who was employed. Success should be valued and imitated, and men should be free to be rewarded for the fruits of their labor.
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