Bernie Sanders Supporters
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PJL_FeMdpLw

Never. The United States (and then the whole world, after a certain period of time), would accept the rules of reality and work according to them. A perfect, ideal world. That was the point of the revolt, otherwise Galt would never have done it in the first place.

I guess it would depend on how well the youth embraces their new freedoms. Bernie Sanders is a huge wake up call. Not even the Democrats expected him to do this well.

I'm not sure that it would happen faster but I certainly don't think it would take longer. It is my belief that it takes a many generations to completely forget why a drastic change was made in the first place. Frog in the pot of warming water.

If we consider what we (think) we know about history, people tolerated tyranny for many years prior to the American revolution. (I suspect this has occurred for all of history.) It took a long time for enough people to stand up to it. I think the same thing is going on now. The more time that passes the more people don't realize how bad things are until finally someone stands up to the tyranny again. Consider MM's comment to this post. I agree there are many things that are way better than it was 200 years ago but IMHO these were all a direct cause of the freedoms established in America 240 years ago. With out this freedom, I personally don't believe we would have the level of technology that we do today. I think we would be years behind.

From my perspective, we are worse now on the tyranny scale than we were prior to the American revolution. I don't doubt for a second that we would have even more advancements if we had the same freedoms as the people after the founding America.

I love all this new technology but I would give it all back to be as free as the people were 200 years ago. But that is just me and it is the part that believers in big government don't understand, for if they did they would see what I see and feel as I feel. Of course others are welcome to believe as they want but the question I ask is, what gives them the right to take my freedom because of their beliefs?

The number of young people embracing Socialism is growing. I am concerned that even if we regain Freedom and Liberty that an under current of Socialism would remain and rise again. My thoughts are that it would be even faster than in the past.

How many democracies can you list? (I allow that by "democracy" you would include republics such as Genoa.) When did Athens stop being a democracy? The reign of the 500 and then the 30 Tyrants ran only a few years. Even if you mark that as the end of the first era, the subsequent centuries would still contradict the thesis.

If anything like that ever played out, the world would never be the same again. Going back would be impossible.

As I read the broad sweep of history, the curve is upward and outward. We have been steadily improving both morally and materially. The two are inextricable. It is not that "socialism comes back" but only that the advocates for reality do not advance evenly or completely. But the world is better now than it ever was.

In a sense, Atlas Shrugged itself was "Galt's Speech." As I have pointed out in other discussions, the consequences can be seen in the lives of 40 million people.

Consider today's news about Apple and the FBI. You would not have seen that in 1957.

Looking at it from another angle, I just judged a regional science fair. We have another day tomorrow: 2200 entrants from 3rd through 12th grades. There was a time that the entire world did not have 2200 scientists -- or even 2200 literate people.

In The Economy of Cities Jane Jacobs pointed out that old forms of production do not really disappear. We left the horse-and-buggy behind, but you can still make a good living shoeing horses because today, they are a pastime for rich people -- well, them and the Amish. So, it is no surprise that we still have tribal leaders, witch doctors, and rites of passage. But they are no longer the defining norms of human action.

I figure around the time of the Civil War as well. Wondering if it would happen even faster now. Probably the only to slow the deterioration would be to eliminate the U.N. at the same time.

I have heard it said that no Democracy has survived for more than 200 years. Seems we started the transition from a Republic to a Democracy in the late 1800's, so less than 200 years would be my answer.

Where we are now. I'm thinking that Socialism never dies it just goes dormant. If a John Galt type person were to restore the country to it's original framework I'm wondering how long it would take to decline again.

Rich, are you asking how long it would take for the country to deteriorate to where it is now, or how long it would take for the country to return to a technologically advanced state?