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Paul Ryan as Vice Presidential candidate

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Here's the link to the Special Report interview of Ryan where he says he rejects Objectivism due to it being an atheistic philosophy, though he was inspired by Rand's novels, including Atlas Shrugged.

Now, if Ryan and the Republicans were going to be a consistent or even semi-consistent supporter of Ayn Rand and Objectivism, then I wouldn't mind a half-way acceptance of Rand on their part. But it looks like they are going to continue to reject it on the grounds that it is atheistic, preferring Faith over reason in public policy applications -- i.e. Compassionate Conservatives. While it would have been better if they accepted it and endorsed it, it is good that they reject it to help alleviate confusions as to what the Republicans actually support -- which is not Objectivism. Conservatives just cannot get past the idea that we have freedom because God gave us free will and a choice to accept Him or reject Him, and that any politics based on atheism therefore cannot bring freedom and capitalism -- to them, witness the Godless Soviet Union and what it did to people without God's guidance. Many false premises therein.

Edited by Thomas M. Miovas Jr.
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The Brook interview brings up a side point. Peikoff asks him if this means ARI is ready to move up to a position of greater influence and so on and on, and he answers at length. What neither of them realizes is that Ryan addressed TAS and they, not ARI, are getting the publicity windfall.

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... TAS and they, not ARI, are getting the publicity windfall.
What publicity windfall? Nobody except Objectivists and Ryan's enemies care that he mentioned Ayn Rand. I once read that Hillary Clinton liked The Fountainhead. If she came to ARI or TAS and told them how she loved Rand, would that really be a publicity windfall for the organizations as such?

A Romney/Ryan term is hardly an exciting prospect for an Objectivist. Romney -- still the top of the ticket -- is very center of the road. Ryan is better on economics. However, the reality of GOP terms is different from the rhetoric. It is quite possible that Romney/Ryan will bring is some program nobody sees today: like the first Bush's ADA or the second Bush's Medicare Drug coverage.Who knows what it could be... perhaps carbon-credits! Even if we don't see any such surprise, the actual legislation that can be got through Congress and Romney/Ryanwill always be heavily statist and center-of-the-road.

It is not the winning or losing that will make the key long-term difference. The most important thing is that the focus on the Ryan plan puts entitlement programs into the public debate.

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What publicity windfall? Nobody except Objectivists and Ryan's enemies care that he mentioned Ayn Rand.

There are loads of news and commentary pieces referencing it. I'm sure it's generating a lot of web traffic. Maybe we can check their Alexa rankings in a month or so and see if there's a spike.

BTW I sent Paul Ryan a message back in early May, I reproduced it on OL but apparently not here:

Congressman Ryan, I just want to point out a barely known piece of writing by Ayn Rand, her letter to the Reverend Dudley dated October 23, 1943. In it she wrote: “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.” Google it and you'll find the rest, it's very worthwhile. I believe this could be useful to you in defending yourself from recent attacks. Whether it represents her mature view is subject to debate, in the event of a quote-mining war, there's no predicting how it'll turn out. Note that the mailing address I've provided is in fact your mailing address, I don't actually live in your district and the system wouldn't let me email you using my proper address. Hopefully I haven't just violated some law...last thing I want is to end up the cellmate of John Edwards.

https://paulryan.hou...ntact/email.htm
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Here's a thread with links to some of the publicity Ryan has brought to Rand. All of it is good, though some would be bad if there were such a thing as bad publicity. See #18, 19 and 20 for links. Some major media outlets, none of which are Objectivists and not all of which are Ryan's enemies, care.

Edited by Reidy
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Reading the Objectivist Standard article, I can't help but imagine an inadvertent Orwellian history rewrite by forgetting what Republicans explicitly stand for and about how terrible GWB was as a president by being just as damaging as Obama has ever been. Also, it mentioned nothing of what Ryan has actually done, or more importantly, what Romney has done to justify enodrsing the ticket. All I see done by Ryan is attempts to do all the things I oppose. I can only imagine Romney is supportive of Ryan's voting record. The article linked against the Romney ticket explicitly mentions that past and makes judgments that way.

Does anyone have something remotely positive to mention about Ryan in regards to what he has done? Back on post #14 there is already a partial list of the bad he has done. I can only imagine Romney would be worse.

Edited by Eiuol
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Does anyone have something remotely positive to mention about Ryan in regards to what he has done?
I would say that his biggest positive is his "Ryan plan". Sure, I could give you a lot of reasons why I hate it, but at least it tries to address some issues that need to be addressed.

Today, the American voter is evading reality and hoping that entitlements will be solved "somehow" by "someone". A debate about the future of entitlements says: "We should not evade. We have to decide. If we don't, things keep getting worse". Commonplace wisdom said that social-security is the third-rail or politics: untouchable. Bush Jr. and Obama had commissions to come up with ideas. It was better than nothing, but neither could do much with those. You have to give Ryan credit for being willing to make entitlement reform a signature issue.

Maybe the American voter will want something like Ryan's plan, or maybe the voter will want Obama back with some alternative (e.g. something like Simpson-Bowles)... at least both these would mean less evasion. Maybe the American voter is not ready to address reality in this election; but, at least the political class needs to put the issue to the voter. At least we will have a widespread public discussion of ideas and a "kicking of wheels" about the alternatives. Even if voters decide to wait till a further election, it will be the next step in what is going to be a public negotiation.

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BTW I sent Paul Ryan a message back in early May

I think this note might need further explanation when presented outside of the context of the “Ryan Shrugged” business of a few months ago. The way I was reading things then, Ryan had praised Rand’s ethics and politics, and hadn’t spoken to her epistemology or views on religion. So I was pointing out that, at least at the time of The Fountainhead, she was open to her ethical views being seen as consonant with Christianity.

The Dudley letter really is quite fascinating.

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