Well, here’s a little integration that caught my google-alerted eye: “John Galt Republican.”
A libertarian columnist at nolanchart.com coined the term for himself, and now lays it out for the rest of us:
I submit, to a candid world, my explicit definition of what it means to be a ‘John Galt Republican’. And since Ayn Rand was agnostic with regards to political parties during her life, I’ve also realized that you can prefix your own political party affiliation with ‘John Galt’, if you agree with the items of definition, below.
These three of the 14(!) elements pretty much say it all:
1) You’ve read one or more of Ayn Rand’s works, and by doing so, your world views have either been changed or strengthened to a positive degree.5) You do not care to talk about Ayn Rand’s (or anyone else’s) metaphysical views.
13) OPTIONAL: You have an affinity for laissez faire capitalism.
Good grief, what a mess. Capitalism as optional?? And in a political context, no less?
Rand/Galt advocates an integrated system of philosophy — each element is essential and intertwined with the rest. As I commented there,
This part of a candid world can only say: Rand understood that her politics flowed from her metaphysics, and she showed how capitalism was its only valid expression. I know who John Galt is, and he would have nothing to do with the vast majority of those meeting this confused “definition.”
What’s the point of adding that Galt qualifier if it doesn’t really mean anything? Sheesh.