Who is General Ludd? Surely, I'm not the only one who
immediately thought of the Atlas Shrugged reference: Who is John Galt?
I won't pretend I've read Atlas Shrugged by taking a stab at a deep comparison between Atlas Shrugged and The Blacklist. But with only my precursory knowledge of Atlas Shrugged, something still stuck out to me.
Both questions come as a result of a cause devoted to overturning the economic zeitgeist. One seeks to destroy business that is seen as corrupt while the other seeks to build wealth by rejecting government meddling. Both philosophies are right to reject corruption and government meddling, but both philosophies do more harm than good.
Equality through bringing the top down as General Ludd would do has been a proven dud. The world has seen Communism at work, and only the most foolish (or blood-thirsty) individual would consider it a success. Yet wealth building without morals produces a greedy and harsh society where corruption festers and many suffer at the hands of a few. I, for one, am glad not to live in the Gilded Age of the robber barons.
Allow me to suggest a third way. What if profit, while of importance, took a back seat to care for fellow man? What if removing government from the affairs of business were followed by businesses not taking advantage of the public? This ethical capitalism could produce wealth yet not at the cost of misery for many.
Sadly, Red's actions at the end (stealing the hundred dollar bill making drive for his counterfeiting business) tell a different story - a story of man being unable to keep to the ideals of this ethical capitalism. Perhaps we are merely General Ludd or John Galt and can be no other.
