Julian Assange IS John Galt

I’ve been thinking a lot about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, and putting together some notes for a post little more substantive than WikiLeaks Sux! or WikiLeaks is teh awsum!11!

But, last night as I was reading some interviews with Julian Assange, I was struck with his attitude toward the “free market” and capitalism.

Forbes: Would you call yourself a free market proponent?

Assange: Absolutely. I have mixed attitudes towards capitalism, but I love markets. Having lived and worked in many countries, I can see the tremendous vibrancy in, say, the Malaysian telecom sector compared to U.S. sector. In the U.S. everything is vertically integrated and sewn up, so you don’t have a free market. In Malaysia, you have a broad spectrum of players, and you can see the benefits for all as a result.
Later Assange makes this assertion:

“WikiLeaks is designed to make capitalism more free and ethical.”
And it struck me. Assange is like a character out of a Ayn Rand novel. Julian Assange IS John Galt. And what makes this doubly interesting is how it highlights the faux libertarianism of populist demagogues like Sarah Palin who want to see him hanged for treason.