it's notorious for literally stealing things from The Wheel of Time straight up.

I don't disagree. I read SoT first and am aware it was written after WoT. That sucks but I had a hard time getting through WoT due to the writing style.

I refuse to believe you didn't pick up on the libertarianism. He literally dedicated one of the books to Ayn Rand.

I listened to the audiobooks, mostly while driving. They don't read who it was dedicated to, IIRC. I'll have to check that out. I did pick up on some general philosophy that I disagree with on more than a few of the books, but it's fantasy, it didn't really bother me.

I also listened to WoT audiobooks, and the narrator makes a huge difference. In SoT they had this narrator, Sam Tsoutsouvas, who is just incredible.