Who is John Galt? Maybe He's Paul Ryan

[Selene]

And this typical left wing hit piece from THINK PROGRESS...

After Previously Praising Her, Paul Ryan Now Disses Ayn Rand: ‘I Reject Her Philosophy’

By Scott Keyes on Apr 26, 2012 at 11:40 am

Rep. Paul Ryan and his on-again, off-again political inspiration, Ayn Rand

In 2005, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) heaped praise on Ayn Rand, a 20th-century libertarian novelist best known for her philosophy that centered on the idea that selfishness is “virtue”. The New Republic wrote:

“

The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,

” Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”

Ryan also noted in a 2003 interview with the Weekly Standard, “I give out ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it. Well… I try to make my interns read it.”

But today, Ryan is singing a far different tune.

From an interview with National Review’s Bob Costa this week:

“

I reject her philosophy,” Ryan says firmly.

“It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas,” who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he says.

It’s understandable why Ryan would back off his former political muse. She described altruism as “evil,” condemned Christianity for advocating compassion for the poor, viewed the feminist movement as “phony,” and called Arabs “almost totally primitive savages.” Learn more about Ayn Rand in this short ThinkProgress video:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s7zwO88nRH8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Despite Ryan’s newly-professed distaste for Rand, were she alive today, she would likely applaud Ryan for his draconian GOP budget, which cuts food stamps and other programs for the poor, ends Medicare as we know it, gives $3 trillion in tax breaks for corporations and the rich, and raises taxes on the poorest Americans.

[Selene]

NY Times interview with Paul Ryan approximately 4:20 from today's NY Times on line...

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/04/29/us/politics/100000001517335/a-conversation-with-paul-ryan.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120430

And a companion article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/us/politics/paul-ryans-kinetic-rise-in-gop.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120430

For all the talk of Led Zeppelin on the

iPod

and bowhunting in season, Mr. Ryan got serious at a young age, his brother Tobin, 47, said. His family was not particularly political. His parents liked Ronald Reagan, but they also supported their Democratic congressman, Les Aspin.

Mr. Ryan’s father, a local lawyer, worried that his son would become a ski bum. Then the elder Ryan died of a heart attack. At 16, with his mother away visiting his older sister, Paul found the body.

“The death of my father had an enormous impact on accelerating his development,” Tobin Ryan said.

Mr. Ryan’s mother went back to college to prepare for a new career. His older siblings moved away. His grandmother moved in, with Alzheimer’s disease.

He read Ayn Rand novels. By the time he got to Miami University in Ohio, he was versed in the bootstrap economics of Friedrich Hayek.

Continuing...

Mr. Ryan likes to dispel two “urban legends” around him. First, he said, he is not a disciple of Rand, the strident libertarian. Second, he never drove the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

In fact, there is some truth to both. In a 2009 Facebook video, Mr. Ryan said the “kind of thinking” in the Rand epics “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” was “sorely needed right now.”

Ah well, the NY Times found it meaningful to put Ayn Rand, "the strident libertarian" in the same rumor about Ryan riding the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!

What a class act...All the News that Scum Can Write.

Now the question is, will ARI take this opportunity to correct the red highlighted description of Ayn as a "strident libertarian" , in this environment.

Adam

Except for doing the NY Times crosswords seven days a week, the NY Times is quite useful for lining the bottom of bird cages...

[9thdoctor]

TAS has put up the original talk:

http://www.atlassociety.org/ele/blog/2012/04/30/paul-ryan-and-ayn-rands-ideas-hot-seat-again

[9thdoctor]

This piece by Lawrence O'Donnell could put the makers of Syrup of Ipecac out of business.

Meanwhile, this all calls to mind the letter to Reverend Dudley, particularly this quote:

“I believe my statement of man’s proper morality does not contradict any religious belief, if that belief includes faith in man’s free will.” Ayn Rand, October 23, 1943

Since Ryan praised her moral and political philosophy, but not the rest, he can cite this in his own defense. Though if it turns into a quote-mining war, there's no predicting how it'll turn out.

Good thing he appeared at a TAS event, if he'd done an ARI one he might have to address Peikoff's 2006 voting fatwa!