BY SHARON MARTIN

If you read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, you know that Hank Reardon and his cronies were all in on the downfall and rebirth of the economy, even though they had achieved great fortunes as citizens. Reardon considered everyone but entrepreneurs as takers; his fortune was entirely the result of his intelligence and hard work.

Sound familiar?

Reardon’s wife and family? Takers. His workers? Takers. After all, only he took the risk.

He also had the advantages. But in the selfish world of Ayn Rand, everyone has the same advantage, regardless of their underfunded schools, low-wage jobs, and lack of health care. And we can make it even more fair for the risk-takers if we just go ahead and bury what’s left of the low-wage work force and the disadvantaged.

Which brings us to the current crisis. A group of traitors refuses to pay our bills. They will undermine the full faith and credit of the United States, despite the fact that many of the debt holders are U.S. citizens whose portfolios include Treasury Bonds. These reckless legislators refuse to fund the government. Bring her down, they say, so we can build a utopia for the rich.

This utopia resembles the dystopia in too many science fiction novels. Authors of speculative fiction may possess the best crystal ball, a logical mind. Too often, they have turned out to be right.

What we’re talking here, what Ted Cruz, Eric Cantor, and Paul Ryan want is an overthrow of the government as we know it.

Call it what it is – treason, dangerous, not good for 99% of the American people.

Yet, a good many citizens have been brainwashed into believing that what is good for a precious few is good for them. By the time they find out otherwise, it will be too late.

What can we do? Refuse to bow down to despair, although the situation is desperate.

Call your lawmaker. Let those with the power to end this crisis know that you want America to stand.

Bombard Speaker Boehner with e-mails, phone calls, and sacks of mail. Tell him that his only hope is to follow the will of the American people, not the traitors in his own party.

Talk to your neighbors and educate them to the danger if citizens fail to take action.

Only we can stop the selfishness. Only we can stop the believers in Ayn Rand’s me-only philosophy from taking this country down.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer