John Galt is the protagonist of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged and expresses her vision of the ideal man. The title of this article flashed at me during a discussion with a fellow who argued adamantly against idealism. He wanted it stamped out of libertarianism because harping on ideals impeded "the art of the possible." Apparently being "too" radical (by some standard) only alienated reasonable people.

I argued: Anyone who advocates a society that is remarkably different than what exists is an idealist already: that is, he is a person with a clear vision of what things might be or should be rather than being stuck on things as they are. Marxists are often idealists, I pointed out, even though their ideals are appalling. They are also a strategic success story in terms of assuming control of society even though they administer it rather poorly thereafter. Ideals are not disadvantages; they are prerequisites for real change.