[morbidkk]

a lot like what they did in "Atlas Shrugged"

[yummyfajitas]

Unfortunately, that only worked because Galt personally selected a small and virtuous population (recall that Dagny actively tried not to become the beneficiary of govt subsidies early in the book). In the real world, I don't think it would be possible to keep rent seekers out.

[roc]

In the real world, virtuous vs rent-seeking is most often a matter of timing: circumstances change, people change with them.

Any society based on constant philosophical adherence across the range of human circumstances can only work in fiction.