What we have here is a failure to communicate. Yes, indeed. We have a cult of hereditary millionaires who have decided they are not only above America, but are some kind of Ubermenschen whose mere existence magically "creates" jobs and economic growth out of thin air with no external input from public infrastructure. Maybe some of them actually believe this, but more likely they are simply utter sociopaths who are angling to turn back the clock to the Middle Ages - to become, in other words, Lords and Ladies over all us mere mortals, contributing nothing to society, reaping all of its benefits, justifying themselves through the Church (both literally and in terms of the Murdoch empire), and enforcing their rule by the sword / machine gun. Well, I am a very insolent commoner and blasphemous mortal, so I think I'll go with NO. It's time to finally take up this human garbage on its long-standing threat to "Go Galt" and abandon us ungrateful children - you know, the people without whom they have no money or power.
It's time to let these lazy, vampiric, self-involved bullshit artists know they can either pay taxes the easy way or pay them the hard way. We know what the hard way looks like from other countries that struggle with obscene income disparities, and it's no good for anyone: The average citizen has few opportunities, the poor are forced into the role of bandits to survive, and it is physically dangerous to be even slightly richer than one's neighbors without elaborate security precautions and constant situational awareness. There is no freedom in being rich in a poor, oppressed country. There is only the jungle, and a few gilded cages for the apex predators that stalk it.
Now, the wealthy elites of these other countries are highly adapted to the insecurities they perpetuate, and wouldn't have it any other way - they are quite comfortable hopscotching between one walled, armed compound and another in armored limousines with teams of machine-gun-wielding mercenaries protecting them. They are less idle aristocrats than warlords who treat the chaos they create as proof of their own superiority, and are always active in defense of their little kingdoms. But here in this country the idle, conservative rich are still insulated from the consequences of their politics and lifestyle - insulated by the very things they are now openly destroying: The social safety net, public infrastructure, and equality under the law.
But however vicious these parasites are by proxy, their personal cowardice is extraordinary. These are people, remember, who could not even be bothered to contribute money to the Iraq War they started, let alone volunteer to fight it, and saw nothing cock-eyed about George W. Bush's 7-minute-cower on 9/11, Dick Cheney being in an undisclosed location for most of a decade (in fact, he's still in hiding), or turning the White House into a Normandy beach fortification the whole time they were in power (as seen in Fahrenheit 9/11). They are accustomed to unfettered freedom in all things, at all times, because this country is safe and convenient for them - and yet freedom, safety, and convenience are three things they utterly refuse to pay forward to the countrymen who make it possible for them.
Well, safety and freedom must remain sacrosanct: As hell-bent as these shameless manimals seem on provoking reactionary militancy against them, we fortunately know this to be a trap that has never served the people. Seeing the freedom and security of the rich must inspire people to demand "Why not the rest of us too?" rather than going the darker, self-defeating route of trying to impose an equality of suffering. But convenience is something we can and should deny them while their politics endangers our republic - everything they try to do in our economy, our society, and our civic life contrary to the survival and principles of our republic should be taxing (pun intended) to both their bank accounts and their patience, and in ways that compensate for the negative effects of regressive economic policy.
They are to be publicly denied respect (while still maintaining our own dignity - no Code Pink-style buffoonery). Denied access, wherever they are not entitled to it. Ostracized. Protested. Subject to unwanted but legitimate scrutiny. Questioned. Investigated. People they harm both personally and indirectly should be helped, and informed about the wider political context of their struggles. Where necessary, nonviolent civil disobedience should occur and be supported - disobedience that creates a maximum level of headache and negative publicity for the people harming our country or any sub-grouping thereof. Give them a taste - just the slightest taste - of the fact that there are consequences to their selfishness, and that we are very gently remonstrating them compared to the kind of chaos they are trying to create.
Let their McVeighs, Loughners, and Breiviks come out of the woodwork to terrorize us at their bidding, and let us respond by being even more assertive and committed to reestablishing a peaceful, civil, and equal society where the privileged are asked to contribute their fair share and do so willingly rather than resorting to treason to avoid it. And then, faced with the choice, they can Go Galt if they wish - pack up "their" shit and see if they can survive in the kind of country that practices what they preach: Countries like Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Russia, or other nations where private power is unchallenged or is even the legal basis of the state.
Let them renounce their American citizenship - something they've already done in all but name - and all future claim to its benefits and opportunities. If they find the Middle East, Africa, or South Asia not to their liking, they can try their hand in Latin America, with all its beauty, liveliness, kidnappings for ransom by desperate people, and business competitors who may literally murder them. Surely such a thing must be a dream come true for such heroic, rugged individualists? After all, greater challenges would surely only make these superhumans thrive that much more, and make them even more prolific "wealth creators." I am sure they would not end up dead or in poverty, alone and alienated, their business taken from them by more ruthless and competent predators, bitterly demanding welfare (in English, because Atlas doesn't need to learn new languages) from a foreign government. They could always fall back on prostitution or being drug mules - real Ubermensch stuff.
In fact, maybe we're at the point where we don't need for them to Go Galt - maybe we should just SEND them Galt. The more egregious they become, the more they wear out their welcome in a country they clearly no longer have any loyalty to. So let's make it easy for them: Pay taxes, or you're not welcome in America. Make up your minds, assholes: The suffering your greed and selfishness are creating will not stay bottled up outside the walls of your gated communities, and we surround you. And unlike the delusional complaints of your teabagger monkeys, the people delivering this ultimatum do so because their children are hungry, or sick, or their schools are falling apart, and you are the cause of it.
Make your decision, and make it soon, bastards...or it will be made for you, by people whom we enlightened liberals have no more control over than you. If you wish to live in the nightmare of your own values, there are plenty to be had just a few short flights away. If you wish to be free people in an open society at liberty to enjoy your wealth and be something more than a rat feasting on the corpse of a once-noble creature, STFU and start paying your country back for all that it has given you. You are not superior beings, and you are not "creators" of anything - you simply take, accumulate, and suck the oxygen out of the economy. We cannot tolerate this any longer. You are free to pursue your medieval fantasies elsewhere or live as 21st century Americans, but you will not turn this nation into the Confederacy. Buy in, or get out.