In Rand’s conception, beneath the apparent power of the statist movement lies a hollow, rotten core. One crack of the hard exterior causes the whole thing to come tumbling down. More than 30 years before the fall of the Soviet Union, Rand saw the inherent weakness of a system that survives by crushing freedom.

Social justice, climate change, criminal justice “reform,” gender-affirming “care,” critical race theory, ESG—all of these utopian ideals have made things worse. The great spasm of protests and violence in 2020 following the death of George Floyd aggravated race relations by normalizing “trainings” in workplaces and schools during which openly bigoted propaganda shamed Americans for the color of their skin. Woke corporate executives engage in soft embezzlement as they redirect scarce company resources to profit-destroying social justice objectives. And pushing “gender-affirming” sex surgeries results in more teen suicides not fewer, as the proponents promised. Looking into her crystal ball, Rand got things almost exactly right.
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Political oppression, which the Left has merely piloted thus far, will need to ramp up dramatically if the Left is to maintain power. Promises of freedom, prosperity, and equality soon gave way to oppression as restive citizens asked for new leadership in Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. When you hear the Left promise the “end of democracy” if Americans vote them out of power, you had better listen.
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All of the institutional power the Left possesses will mean nothing if they don’t have the ability to intimidate. And the power of intimidation begins with a great big bluff against the far more powerful American citizenry. The Left’s power rests on the shoulders of a great American Atlas—millions of ordinary Americans who silently seethed through the past six years of left-wing power grabs. And that Atlas need only shrug at the next round of faux crisis hysteria, and the Left’s power will collapse overnight.