Michele Bachmann and Ayn Rand

Jonathan Chait links the conservative Christian movement to Randians:

The religious right has its origins and deepest roots in social issues, as Goldberg shows. But it has evolved into a more full-fledged worldview with coherent positions on economics and foreign policy that often motivate its believers just as strongly. That is a key development that the many analysts who have been dismissing Bachmann have failed to grasp. Twenty years ago, a figure like Bachmann would represent a sizeable but still minority constituency in the party, speaking to a cadre motivated by social issues but unable to represent the concerns of most Republican voters. (For instance, Pat Robertson, the televangelist who turned in a strong showing in the 1988 Iowa caucus but fizzled afterward.)
But Bachmann is a cutting edge religious right conservative, espousing an apocalyptic free market fundamentalism that's become virtually indistinguishable from the apocalyptic Randian worldview of the party's libertarian wing. Bachmann spent months addressing Tea Party rallies where she focused primarily on economics.  Meanwhile, the movement's embrace of right-wing Israeli nationalism has merged with mainstream Republican foreign policy thought. (Not just Bachmann but figures like Mitt Romney* and Newt Gingrich will appear at Glenn Beck's nut-fest in Jerusalem this August.)
The skepticism about Bachmann's prospects reflects an antiquated assumption that there's a natural ceiling within the GOP on the support base of a hard-core religious conservative. Yet both the movement and the party have changed in ways that make that less and less true.
*Update: Romney's campaign now says he will not attend.

I think the strong doctrinaire Biblical fundamentalism of the Christian conservatives has been widened to an American exceptionalism which encompasses some imaginary Capitalistic fundamentalism which overlaps with the economic fundamentalism of Ayn Rand.  I've tried to puzzle through why so many Christian conservatives latch on to the beliefs of Ayn Rand when she is so anti-Christian, but I think that they just welcome fellow travelers who share some core beliefs, much like Jewish Zionists welcome the support of the Christian Zionists who believe that all Jews who do not accept Jesus at the rapture (I think 2/3 of all Jews) will be cast into Hell.

Update:  The underlying story by Michelle Goldberg, which Chait is referencing, is well worth the read, but it may be a little much for those who are squeamish about creepy Christians in politics.