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Paul Ryan as Vice Presidential candidate

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Mitt Romney has chosen Paul Ryan as his running mate.

The biggest positive in this choice is that the discussion during the campaign will focus a bit more on larger fiscal issues that U.S. voters need to think about. Paul Ryan is most identified with his "Ryan Plan". This is the major GOP alternative to the bi-partisan Simpson-Bowles plan to address Social Security and Medicare. Ryan's plan contains a dangerous aspect: where the government will guarantee private accounts against losses. However, the specifics are not that important because Obama might win, because Congress will decide the details anyway, and because Congress may not pass any plan even if the GOP win. Still, even if the result of the debate is to put Simpson-Bowles back on the table, it will be better than nothing.

It would be nice if Congress would pass a single-page law saying something like: "In any year, the Social Security administration will pay out only what it receives in the form of Payroll Taxes". I guess that is too ambitious to hope for.

Also check out this blog post: "How Much Social Security will you receive?"

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I like this choice in the sense that as SN says, it will further focus the debate on the fiscal future of America. Even though Ryan's plan has problems, it's far better than the alternative proposed by Obama, which is to simply continue down the current road and step on the gas while we're at it. The fiscal cliff is dead ahead.

The Ryan pick makes this election a stark choice for the American people. You can choose a set of policies that will eventually make us into another Greece, or you can choose a different direction. Clearly that different direction as proposed by Romney and Ryan is not perfect from the point of view of an Objectivist, but it's a hell of a lot better than the absolutely insane path toward destruction that's being pushed by Obama.

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Not a fan. We need a team to dismantle these bankrupting social welfare programs, not sustain or "tweak" them. I might be dreaming, but it's difficult to get excited. Ryan is also not a fan of right-wing libertarian politics or ideals and he's gone out of his way to say that.

Edited by Toolboxnj
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Lest we forget:

http://www.prweb.com...rweb9457144.htm

There was a good piece in Reason about this yesterday:

http://reason.com/ar...r-vice-presiden

For some reason Buridan's Ass comes to mind. If Romney picked someone more centrist it would be disappointing too.

Here's an interesting thought: the next Atlas Shrugged movie is coming out just before the election, and Ryan will, before long, start being painted as "Paul Randian", so there's going to be some free publicity in it. Also there's the Library of Congress poll going on, if there's going to be results released, that'll probably be in late September. Where Atlas Shrugged will come out, who knows? But if it's high on the list, it might be a "perfect storm" (in a good way) for the movie. Hopefully the movie is good enough.

If you haven't voted, get to it:

http://forum.objecti...topic=23652&hl=

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I don't know about you folks but I'm excited about Romney/Ryan. I just sent them another 50 bucks.

https://www.mittromney.com/donate

Paul Ryan on Ayn Rand:

http://www.theatlant...ayn-rand/51711/

"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."

Ryan: "I think a lot of people would observe that we are right now living in an Ayn Rand novel, metaphorically speaking.

...

Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism."

Edited by epistemologue
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The Ryan pick makes this election a stark choice for the American people.
Exactly, and voters need to make a choice about these long-term fiscal issues. Perhaps voters will decide they want to tax the rich even more, or whatever. Still, within reason, having even that type of certainty about the future would be better than dragging things on the way we've been doing.

Bush set up a commission to make recommendations about Social Security. Then Obama did the same. Still, nobody dares talk about it. The other day, a friend was talking about Social Security and said something typical of the mass of voters: first, he said he feared he would get zero when he retires... then, after chatting about how Simpson Bowles will cut payments by some percent, he ended up concluding: "well, I paid in, so I want it all back". This represents the evasion of the typical voter. On the one hand, they know that the system cannot work; yet, they do not want to accept even a small change that will guarantee for a few decades than everyone receives something less than promised.

A discussion would make it a little more clear that one cannot have one's cake and eat it. I think that most voters are realistic enough that they can be pushed out of their automated evasion, and into something they view as a compromise.

I think Ryan will be an utter disappointment for anyone who thinks he will be a champion of Rand in a major way. it is more likely that he will try to disavow Rand. And, he's only a VP: Romney will call the shots anyway. It is probably the Democrats who will try to keep the focus on Paul Ryan's supposedly Randian plan that will take grandma's social-security away. Then, Romney will be forced to defend it.

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Ryan: "I think a lot of people would observe that we are right now living in an Ayn Rand novel, metaphorically speaking.

...

Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism."

Once he became a likely VP pick, he squarely rejected Rand's Ethics. So it's pretty difficult to tell what he believes. The only thing we know for a fact is that he doesn't mind lying about his beliefs for political gain.

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His debate with Biden should be worth a look.

If I was him, I'd avoid engaging Biden too much, otherwise the debates will just devolve into a yelling/soundbite building match. The Republican candidate has no chance to win that, because they'd have to win it against the media, not just Biden.

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Once he became a likely VP pick, he squarely rejected Rand's Ethics. So it's pretty difficult to tell what he believes. The only thing we know for a fact is that he doesn't mind lying about his beliefs for political gain.
I hope Ryan will continue to disavow Rand in very clear terms. I hope he shows that his fiscal plan is nothing Rand would approve. The Greenspan experience teaches us that it is better if statists with slight Rand sympathies are not seen as Rand fans.

I would like to see editorials from the ARI and other Objectivists criticizing Ryan's plan as being statist, and calling him out for each and every tiny deviation from Capitalism. Create the distance: it is a good thing.

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For some reason Buridan's Ass comes to mind. If Romney picked someone more centrist it would be disappointing too.

I copied and pasted a post from OL, and I’m afraid this part doesn’t make sense here. I was replying to someone who said the nomination is a bad thing, since it will take Ryan out of the House of Representatives, where his position is actually more influential than Vice President. But, now Ryan’s part of the campaign, so, I’m saying it comes out about the same, and ultimately the Ass has to go for one pile of hay or the other. Life’s not a thought experiment.

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I was surprised that Romney chose someone who can create controversy. I'd have bet for Portman or someone equally boring.

There's a good chance this can help Romney though. Romney has tried to focus on Obama's supposed failed record on the economy; but, he's not offered any alternative. His alternatives have been a list of some 60 points that nobody can get their head around.

With the choice of Ryan, Romney essentially has a single plan which becomes the focus of his economic policy. So, instead of just saying "Obama's actions aren't helping", there's also an aspect of "here's my solution". When voters think things are not going well, they can sometimes decide to go for a different solution, with an attitude of "let's try that".

Obama's team will say Ryan's plan is a resurrection of "failed Bush policies", while Romney will say Obama is trying the same old things that have failed. Which one will voters think are same old, same old?

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I don't know about you folks but I'm excited about Romney/Ryan. I just sent them another 50 bucks.

Financial support? It's one thing to vote for them as the lesser of two evils, but to financially help their cause? I don't see any way to justify that. Maybe $50 is pocket change for you, I guess.

Paul Ryan on Ayn Rand in April 2012:

“I reject her philosophy. 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. Don’t give me Ayn Rand."

Paul Ryan also supported TARP, the auto bailouts, Medicare expansion, housing subsidies, unemployment extension, a national ID, making the PATRIOT Act permanent, warantless surveillance, No Child Left Behind, keeping troops in Iraq indefinitely, the 2008 AND 2009 stimulus bills, Personhood, and criminalizing medical marijuana & stem-cell research.

In addition, his famed budget proposal did not even cut spending. At best, it increased spending slightly less quickly than the status quo.

So what is there to get "excited about"?

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I think the best we can hope for is at least 4 more years to help spread the rational ideas of Objectivism. However if these two don't learn how to throw the moral argument back at the leftists, the Dems will be back in power in 4 years.

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Paul Ryan is a fake, like most of the "conservatives" in the GOP. He praises capitalism and Rand, yet take a look at his voting record. He voted for the auto bailout, stimulus bills, extending unemployment, etc.

His "radical right wing" budget plan doesn't even balance the budget until 2040.

My fear is that if THIS is what is going to be seen as radical by the public, it takes the objectivist plan off the table, for now at least.

Edited by softwareNerd
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Paul Ryan is a fake, like most of the "conservatives" in the GOP. He praises capitalism and Rand, yet take a look at his voting record. He voted for the auto bailout, stimulus bills, extending unemployment, etc.

His "radical right wing" budget plan doesn't even balance the budget until 2040.

My fear is that if THIS is what is going to be seen as radical by the public, it takes the objectivist plan off the table, for now at least.

The irony here is that the Democrats will try to kill the Romney/Ryan ticket over their alleged intention to destroy a great bulk of the welfare state and enough voters may be persuaded that this makes them unsuitable for office.

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What Objectivist plan?

The one that's not on the table because voters won't buy it. We are faced with a problem created by the people, not any particular set of candidates. You have two and only two choices: re-elect Obama, un-elect Obama. Romney just happens to be the replacement if you decide Obama is unacceptable as a President. You could sit the election out but that helps no one since refusing to vote will not change the situation. It just means that either result will occur without your participation.

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Life’s not a thought experiment.

Probably the best sentence I've read on this web site in the three years I've been visiting it.

People, be happy. Someone who can pronounce Ayn Rand's first name correctly has been nominated for Vice President of the United States! For those of us old enough to remember the cold war, this should be viewed as a positive step in the right direction.

Only children expect the world to change overnight, and are disappointed when it doesn't happen.

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Probably the best sentence I've read on this web site in the three years I've been visiting it.

People, be happy. Someone who can pronounce Ayn Rand's first name correctly has been nominated for Vice President of the United States! For those of us old enough to remember the cold war, this should be viewed as a positive step in the right direction.

Well put!

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Probably the best sentence I've read on this web site in the three years I've been visiting it.

People, be happy. Someone who can pronounce Ayn Rand's first name correctly has been nominated for Vice President of the United States! For those of us old enough to remember the cold war, this should be viewed as a positive step in the right direction.

Only children expect the world to change overnight, and are disappointed when it doesn't happen.

You can view it as something positive, but don't call upon me and others to follow suit because he can "pronounce Rand's name correctly."

I might be a bit more optimistic if I did not believe we are a pivotal moment in American history.

However, I do, and Ryan's voting record doesn't give any credibility to the words he speaks.

Edited by softwareNerd
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