The global economy is on the brink of collapse. Unemployment has risen to 24 percent. Gas is now $42 per gallon. Brilliant creators, from artists to industrialists, continue to mysteriously disappear at the hands of the unknown. Dagny Taggart, vice president in charge of operations for Taggart Transcontinental, has discovered what may very well be the answer to a mounting energy crisis – found abandoned amongst the ruins of a once productive factory, a miraculous motor that could seemingly power the world. But, the motor is dead ... there is no one left to decipher its secret ... and, someone is watching. It’s a race against the clock to find the inventor before the motor of the world is stopped for good. Who is John Galt?

THIS is a blurb for the movie, “Atlas Shrugged Part II,” which opens in local theaters today. This is the second installment in Harmon Kaslow and John Aglialoro’s trilogy based on Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel.

Ah, Ayn Rand! Now I’ve got your attention. You can’t talk about Ayn Rand without being judged. She’s either a dealmaker or a dealbreaker.

Though she was pretty much a libertarian, Rand has been a polarizing force in contemporary politics. Don’t mention her name if you don’t want to be ostracized by some of your friends at KPRG.

It’s a coincidence – or is it? – that Atlas Shrugged 2 is released amid this year’s election season at the height of the budget debate between Obama and Romney that intensifies the ideological war between the conservatives and the liberals. She is worshipped by the Tea Partyers and derided by the NPR crowd.

The first installment of “Atlas Shrugged” released last year was, not surprisingly, shrugged by the liberal media, who are flexing their muscles again for the next round of Ayn Rand-bashing.

Prior to the release of “Atlas Shrugged 2,” Ayn Rand’s ghost was summoned once again when Paul Ryan expressed his admiration for the Russian philosopher who founded Objectivism and built a moral case for capitalism.

“From our perspective, promoting this movie, we need to connect the dots for someone who’s interested in economics, get him or her interested in the film,” Kaslow said in an interview with Slate Magazine.

It would be hard, however, for any politician to subscribe to the cult of Randism that espouses the virtues of selfishness. Ryan – or his handlers – must have realized this later. He quickly distanced himself, knowing that Rand’s atheism imposes a wedge that polarizes the religious conservatives and the free-market libertarians.

But the ultra-right would definitely not shy away from Ayn Rand’s derision of altruism, which she considered “a sellout of the individuality of both the giver and the recipient of the charity.” Consider this group the opposite of Romney’s “47 percent.”

In 1998, Newt Gingrich raised the budget debate to a philosophical level when, without apology, he spearheaded the call for huge federal spending cuts on welfare.

Ayn Rand can be liberating if you read her when you were an adolescent. Her celebration of extreme individualism over collectivism may have provided a defense mechanism for the oddballs. At a certain point, some graduate from her philosophy; others continue to live it religiously.

But one thing for sure, in an age when people don’t read anymore, “The Fountainhead,” “We The Living,” and of course “Atlas Shrugged” will continue to raise curiosity for the new intellectuals.

The ones who really learned are those who take Ayn Rand in moderation – those who have adopted her rational thought and personal integrity. They are the free and responsible.