go Galt

After John Galt, a fictional character in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.

go Galt

1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To become a recluse and stop contributing to one's society, especially in the form of taxes, by reducing one's productivity or work or by refusing to follow societal norms that one believes to be unjust.
   • 2009 March 6, Weigel, David, “Battling Obama by ‘Going Galt’”, in The Washington Independent‎:

     Smith, who’s still mulling over ways that she can “go Galt,” sees a possibility for a moral stand. During the Iraq War, she read about a painter who’d painted less, reducing his income, in order to dodge taxes and thereby make sure he didn’t fund the war.

   • 2012 November 6, Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Comedy Central:

     We job creators are not going to take it. We are going Galt! Just like in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, we are gonna leave you parasites behind and relocate to an island where only rich people can live — Manhattan!

• loggat