Not many people do get it, so don’t worry - you’ve got plenty of company.

“Rife’s Torch” is a literary reference. In Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the government begins seizing property from successful businesspeople. Their justification for doing so follows the same logic espoused by today’s collectivist lemmings (insert your favorite socialist adage here; something to the effect of “equality at any cost!” would be just fine). As private property is gradually confiscated, the implosion of Western Civilization follows. Not willing to surrender the fruits of their labor, industrialists begin disappearing, leaving their businesses, property, lives, etc. behind.

I’ll stop here, as any more explanation would be a huge spoiler. Which reminds me: I highly recommend Atlas Shrugged. It’s long, but a great read.

Anyway, as the world crumbles around him, an oil tycoon (insert scary music here) named Ellis Wyatt lights his oil wells ablaze immediately prior to disappearing. The resultant fire becomes known as Wyatt’s Torch - a kind of “up yours” to a culture bent on self-destruction. Throughout the remainder of the novel, it exists as a symbol of Wyatt’s refusal to surrender to the “looters” - that is, economically ignorant bureaucrats who place the equalization of wealth distribution above everything else, including human rights.

So… this is my torch. It’s not as cool as the one in Atlas Shrugged, but it will do.