This analysis from the March, 1962 Objectivist Newsletter reads like a prophesy of the 2008 election, in which John McCain selected Sarah Palin to appease religious conservatives. Or a prediction of the Bush presidency:
The implications to tying capitalism to faith have come nakedly into the open in the explicit irrationalism of many “conservative” groups. Intending to bring the mystical concept of Original Sin into political theory, they declare that man is depraved by nature, that reason is impotent, that man should not attempt to create a perfect political system or to establish a rational society on earth — but should settle for capitalism instead. …
The greatest single threat to capitalism today is the attempt to put capitalism, mysticism and Original Sin over on the public as one “package deal.” No attacks by collectivists could do more to discredit capitalism than is done by this kind of attempt.
Thanks to the faith-based politics of Bush and McCain, the collectivist Barack Obama is now president. And capitalism needs rational defenders more than ever.