Rand's book was an allegory, based on a science fiction hero with secret electrical weapons and devices for creating energy from nothing. His heroes were ideals representing various industries and archetypes, and in that context, there was nothing odd about three or four people building a steel mill in a hidden valley somewhere.

In real life, civilized comfort is a lot harder to maintain in severe isolation. Sooner or later, you end up with a subsistence, "Robinson Crusoe" lifestyle. Sure, a lot of farmers will be able to live the way their great-grandfathers lived, but they're going to start missing things like refrigerators and electricity after a few years.

I'd rather not lose the country in the first place. Liberals who are convinced we are simply going to become a larger Netherlands fail to realize how the "bedroom nations" of Europe have been supported for half a century by the United States. When I read about Sweden having only founded two large companies since the 70s, I was thunderstruck. When I posted that information here, the response was "so what?"

We may be on the verge of shutting down one of the last major engines of advanced civilization. If the U.S. becomes a "bedroom nation," who's left?