Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Paul Ryan, Ayn Rand and Christ?

CNN Paul Ryan for or against Ayn Rand
Being a huge fan of Ayn's work, especially Atlas Shrugged, I thought this opinion piece was an interesting read.  It seems to imply that belief systems are black and white, and never criss cross.  Which of course is rarely the case unless one becomes a close minded zealot.

The following seems like a much more balanced perspective of the situation.  Though it is interesting that Ryan seems to be trying to distance himself from his past comments and the beliefs that he does have in common with Ayn.  Maybe he is worried about the next time he has to go to confession...
US News Paul Ryan is Far from Ayn Rand

If you haven't read Atlas Shrugged, you really should, it is an enjoyable and informational.  Though it is incredibly long !!!
G2A Atlas Teaches
G2A Fountainhead
G2A Capitalism, Fascism, Socialism, Communism

Thoughts?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Ayn Rand's world, would Mitt Romney be a good guy or a bad guy?

==Hiram

John said...

I think he would land somewhere in the middle. She definitely would not be a fan.

John said...

Of course she would probably use Obama as the villain.

Unknown said...

I know very little about Ayn Rand or Atlas Shrugged but Ryan does seem to be drawing his governing philosophy from these sources rather than his Catholic faith. If the two views are on opposite poles Ryan seems to be far towards the greed side rather than the social justice side, whereas, you, John, seem to be more toward the middle. I can easily place myself far to the social justice end of the spectrum.

Religious Leaders Condemn Ryan-Romney Budget

John said...

Good opinion piece. A link to some of our past discussions on the topic for those who missed it.

G2A Welfare & Charity

Unknown said...

So what does Ayn Rand have to say about generous charitable giving?

John said...

My perception from reading Fountainhead and Atlas is that she is OK with people freely giving to charity or teaching others how to succeed.

What she really disliked was the idea of moochers that relied on the honor of the wealthy to try to guilt them into giving to the undeserving. She portrayed this with the story of Hank Reardon's family. They made fun of Hank's work ethic, beliefs and inventions while continually asking him for money. The deadbeat brother in-law went so far as asking for a large donation for the Liberal group he was affiliated with. Though he said he wouldn't tell them that the money came from Hank because he didn't to be associated publicly with the industrialist.

This wiki quote explains it well:
"The concept "sanction of the victim" is defined by Leonard Peikoff as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil, to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the 'sin' of creating values".[27] This concept may be original in the thinking of Rand: she holds that evil is a parasite on the good and can only exist if the good tolerates it. Atlas Shrugged can be seen as an answer to the question of what would happen if this sanction were revoked. When Atlas shrugs, relieving himself of the burden of carrying the world, he is revoking his sanction." Wiki Atlas

Does my rationale make sense?