Hey Paul Ryan – Which Is It? Ayn Rand Or Jesus?
Posted by Phil Ferguson on August 16th, 2012 – 7 Comments – Posted in UncategorizedPost by Phil Ferguson. Follow me and the blog on Twitter Follow @skepticmoney
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Well, Paul Ryan which is it?
These fun facts from the LA Times.
He told the Weekly Standard in 2003 that he gave his staffers copies of “Atlas Shrugged” as Christmas presents. Speaking to a group of Rand acolytes in 2005, Ryan said, “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. And the fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism.”
Hmmmm…. very interesting. Look what he says now.
“I reject her philosophy,” Ryan told Robert Costa of the National Review. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview.”
Just like Romney, this man will say anything to get elected.
I think that Ryan has it right – there “is a fight of individualism versus collectivism.”
The problem, of course, is that he, Romney, and Obama on the side of collectivism… the only difference is who’s going to control the collective when they’re done (and what they’ll spend all that money on).
The only ones fighting for rational individualism are the American people. But who cares about what THEY think?
There’s a difference between believing Rand was spot-on in her economic philosophy and believing that she was spot-on in her human philosophy. Ryan is saying he believes in the former and rejects the latter.
@ Adnarim,
what a bunch of hooey. If you don’t accept her philosophy that is fine ( I don’t). You can’t say you love her (as Paul Ryan did) make all of your staff read her books (as Paul Ryan did) and then run away from the parts that are not popular.
Ayn Rand’s economic philosophy leads to her humanitarian philosophy. They cannot be separated.
with a little luck someone that know more than me will jump in here.
while you wait check out this post….
http://www.skepticmoney.com/colbert-explains-ayn-rand-so-evan-paul-ryan-can-understand/
Actually this is what he said in his interview with robert costa
“I later in life learned about what her philosophy was, it’s called Objectivism. It’s something that I completely disagree with. It’s an atheistic philosophy. But I think what she’s done is she’s showed — she came from communism. She showed how the pitfalls of socialism can hurt the economy, can hurt people, families and individuals and that to me was very compelling novels. Which says freedom, free enterprise, liberty is so much better than totalitarianism and socialism. Those novels, I thought were interesting. But her philosophy, which is different, is something I just don’t agree with.”
So before you go putting words in his mouth make sure they are what he actually said and not paraphrased version.
The problem is that, while Ryan postures himself as a devout Catholic conservative when it comes to anything related to women’s rights (and any number of other hot-button issues for the extreme right), he simultaneously espouses Objectivist economic theory and “enlightened self-interest” as somehow being Christian, as well.
In truth, Objectivism is wholly antithetical to Catholic social teaching and to nearly every statement directly attributed to Jesus in the Bible. Ryan wants to pick and choose among elements of completely disparate philosophies and create a new one, then call it a legitimate representation of each. Jesuit theologians are on record criticizing Ryan’s errors, not on the basis of a single excerpt from a single speech or interview, but on the basis of everything he said over an extended period of time.
Yeah, you’re totally wrong. Jesus says that a rich man cannot pass to heaven. A rich man would be considered a man who is rich but doesn’t give his wealth to good causes. If you are rich but have charity and good will in your mind, then you are doing what Jesus asks. Your argument is invalid.
How many rich people give to charity b/c of good will in mind & not for tax benefits? I think Jesus has it correct, it’s harder for the rich man than for the camel.