The Right Side of the Bell Curve

Who is John Gault? Many people will immediately recognize this a the refrain form Ayn Rands, Atlas Shrugged. Now don't worry, I am not about to drop into some Libertarian, partisan rant. Far from it. I personally am tired of partisan politics. It has wasted the past 30 or 40 years. Maybe more. It has brought us to the brink.

Therefore what I am about to say is NOT political in nature. In fact, much of what Ayn Rand wrote can be seen an nothing more then her striking out against the attack her family suffered at the hands of an unjust action by an illegitimate government. Don't understand, you should read more so you do. She and her family were victims and this shaped her philosophy. This suited the McCarthyittes of the US during the cold war and still today is the rallying cry of the Neo-Cons and the freeman of the survivalist movement. I am not addressing these issues.

I am looking at the more basic thesis of the story. The simplistic underlying idea that she had through out her literature.That which is often lost in the sophomoric writing and politics of her novels. Some humans strive for no other reason then to improve themselves or something they feel passionate about.

Now though I have loved her writings, and much of the basics of objectivism has struck a cord in my life, there are aspects of the simple black and white that she paints that I can not buy into. there are too many shades of grey. The world is not simply made of of geniuses, leaches evil bureaucrats and noble workers.

The world is full of 3 dimensional people full of virtues and foibles. But there is something here that sticks. At the base of this story, we see individuals that strive, for their own betterment, the premise of her philosophy, not for the betterment of man. Those who are "evil" in her eyes are those who would take the inventions of those stellar individuals and enslave the inventions for the betterment of man or for the illusion of the betterment of man. They would take using force and profit for themselves for the just owner, the inventor, the creator.

Here is where the story fails me. There are people who for some reason exceed above others. They make wonders that are the invention of their own mind. They excel and fly ahead of others. I think we would all be fools to claim that everyone has the same potential as everyone else. I personally do not believe this. If so, then I would have been able to do much better in complex math then I do, because I really want to understand and be able to do very complex math, I simply don't get it like other I have know do. They "just get it" but they can't sing a tune,or paint a picture. We all have strengths and weaknesses. It is simply, some people have "gifts" if you will and they fly ahead and light the way for all of us.

I acknowledge that what she is describing is true. Where she fails me is in her obsessive demand that these people do this only for themselves. That is John Gault's clarion cry. The problem I have with her insistence is that I see people just as motivated by the wish to help others. I see people who, like Thomas Jefferson, who believed in the "Open Source" mentality. That is they want to make things, share the inventions with others to move the totality of mankind forward. They do not feel that what they create with their hands or their minds is theirs alone, but belongs to the totality of mankind.

So I finally come to the meat of this blog entry. There are many individuals in the Pickens plan. We have become a true movement. We are a large group of individuals many very talented and cleaver people. I have no doubt in my mind that we are disproportionately representative of the right side of the creativity, intelligence, ingenuity bell curves. Not all, but many. Many others are just wanting to make a difference. But my point is simply this, that this group, this collection of individuals are here to make a difference. To change the world. Just as much as John Gault's crowd in the little village in the high Rockies. But, unlike that crowd, we are not selfish. We are not doing this only for ourselves. In the long run, I believe that we are here to change the world.

There are people here who are entrepreneurs, people who are looking at making a living. People who are pushing there own vision of the future. We have our ideologues and people who are absolutely sure that their way is the only way. Having said that we are all gathered around one mans plan. His plan is the simple clear back bone of one of the solutions we need. Goodness knows we are going to need many solutions to get us off oil. But we have gathered here because we have seen that this is an area where we all have a similar goal.

That goal is changing the energy path we are on. Some see this for environmental reasons. Good. Some see it for economic reasons. Good. Some see it for National security reasons. Good. All these are valid and valuable perspectives for this goal. Over coming our dependence on oil is a herculean task. Just in case you are not aware of this simple little fact, one barrel of oil,42 gallons when burned gives off 5.8 × 10^6 BTUs. That is a bit abstract. How is this, one barrel of oil does the mechanical work of 1 man, working 21,000 hours. Most all physical labor is done mechanically now, rare is the action of a man or woman doing physical labor when you consider how much physical work is done.

Now that puts things into perspective doesn't it. This is why we need all of you on the bus. We all, for what ever reason you are here, need too put on your thinking caps, pick up your artists brush, sharpen your accountant pencils and get to work. I personally don't care if you do it for yourself, as Ayn Rand claims is the only valid reason for anyone one to do something, or if you do it to save the world. What ever your motivation, you are here and I wish you the best of luck. Who is John Gault? Well in might be you. But then again you might just be someone who give a damn about the future of your kids and your kid's kids. I am just really happy you are here. We are all here to make a difference so lets work together and push this one little piece of the solution into reality, then we can work on other pieces. Lets do what we do best, what ever that is. Let's support those who we can and let us leave those who we don't agree with to accomplish what they can. We do not know all there is to know, what will be part of the solution, so please, lets try and work together and let us keep our eye on the prize, that is getting the Pickens plan moving forward.