We talk about the mainstream media being liberal or always supporting President Obama or Democrats. This is so far from the truth it borders on language malpractice.
I have heard Paul Ryan mention Ayn Rand in passing. I know of the selfish ideology this Atheist Russian-American immigrant has expounded for years though I was never interested in reading her stuff. You can get a synopsis of her thought process by checking out the videos where Mike Wallace interviewed her here, here, and here.
The reason I specifically labeled her an Atheist Russian-American is because if we look at how the media and the Republicans in general has scrutinized President Obama’s associations whether it is Reverend Wright or Bill Ayers, one would think that a Catholic morality policeman like Paul Ryan would receive more scrutiny for palling around with this woman’s ideology. Yet, he stated as you can hear in Lawrence O’Donnell’s piece below that
Paul Ryan’s own words:
- "I just want to speak to you a little bit about Ayn Rand and what she meant to me in my life and [in] the fight we’re engaged here in Congress. I grew up on Ayn Rand, that’s what I tell people."
- "I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are."
- "It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff. We start with Atlas Shrugged. People tell me I need to start with The Fountainhead then go to Atlas Shrugged [laughter]. There’s a big debate about that. We go to Fountainhead, but then we move on, and we require Mises and Hayek as well."
- "But 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 when you look at the twentieth-century experiment with collectivism—that Ayn Rand, more than anybody else, did such a good job of articulating the pitfalls of statism and collectivism—you can’t find another thinker or writer who did a better job of describing and laying out the moral case for capitalism than Ayn Rand."
- "It’s so important that we go back to our roots to look at Ayn Rand’s vision, her writings, to see what our girding, under-grounding [sic] principles are."
- "Because there is no better place to find the moral case for capitalism and individualism than through Ayn Rand’s writings and works."
Now Paul Ryan is back tracking. He is acting like the above never happened. He now says “I reject her philosophy”. How could one of the leader of the “Moral Party” really have gotten his values from an Atheist? How could he have gotten his values from a selfish self-centered person who really believes in human Darwinism? Me, Me Me. How? It is the true belief of what is left of the Republican party. Yes, they are wearing sheep clothing. However, underneath is nothing but a selfish immoral tenet that is proven by the letter of their policies.
Why is this not a big story on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, etc?
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juanita says
Why hasn’t this gotten more media attention??? This is shocking news to me.