Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Galtie Wingers, that is the subset of Wingnuts that see unrestrained free market libertarian capitalism as the key to a Communist Utopia "worker's paradise", are always looking for reinforcement from fictional charters and popular culture, with the analogies between Ayn Rand's hero John Galt and whatever's hot this month on the intertoobs (free market libertarians love surfing the Socialist collective of the intertoobs, you know).

This month as the Rumpies discover, it's "John Galt is just like Iron Man!"  You know, like he's been just like Batman's Bruce Wayne, Rorschach from the Watchmen, The Green Lantern (some of them, but not that black guy John Stewart, that green Jade chick, or any of those weird alien Green Lanterns dammit!), the Green Arrow (despite being named Oliver Queen), yadda yadda forever and ever amen.

And actually, the best Galtie in pop culture is a villain, industrialist Andrew Ryan from the Bioshock series of games, who built his own underwater city to get away from everyone else and staffed it full of people who were the best and brightest in their field, scientists, artists, industrialists, doctors, and anyone who could afford a ticket to his city of Rapture, then said "free markets rule!  You're on your own!"  Major genetic breakthroughs were discovered that turned man into superman, and the place turned into a bunch of crazy people with shotguns and super-powers trying to kill each other.

And that's basically what Galtism boils down to.  Look at Greece, the Gulf Coast, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan...that's what your "free market" has gotten us.