by Eric Dondero

One of the iconic figures of the Libertarian Right has become an icon of the Conservative Right, as well, since the Obama administration. And at least one prominent "Conservative" writer from the NeoCon wing is not happy about the development.

At Frum Forum, NeoCon writer Noah Kristula-Green, formerly with the New Republic writes, "Tea Party Embraces Ayn Rand."

He admits that for conservatives Rand is now "the prophetic writer on the Obama Presidency."

He goes on to express dismay that the Individualist extremist now heavily influences the views of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

Rand’s popularity tells us two things about the state of modern conservatism.

First, it suggests that Rand’s atheism and permissive social views are no longer deal-breakers among conservative thought leaders. Jennifer Burns, the author of Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, has explored Rand’s influence through the years. She told FrumForum that while religion had been a crucial issue for William F. Buckley and the conservatives of the 1970s, “someone like Glenn Beck isn’t going to argue about the existence of God or the need for religion. Beck and Limbaugh can use the parts of Rand they want to use and not engage the rest.”

Second and more troubling, the conservative rediscovery of Rand signals an increasing conservative divergence from mainstream America. Conservatives falsely assume that because more copies of Rand’s books are being sold, that everyone who reads them agrees with her. Conservatives are buying into Rand’s extreme views without understanding why many people—and not only liberals—revile her.

As Conservatives are moving more towards Libertarianism, it's becomming clear that NeoConnism is increasingly out of step with the rest of the Right. That is, if NeoCons were ever Right to begin with.