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Paul Ryan comments on Ayn Rand

pbrauer said:
I find it interesting that piece was done today. I'm not saying he is lying, but I wonder...
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There are very few conservatives or libertarians who don't agree with what Ryan said about Ayn Rand. William F. Buckley said almost exactly the same thing -- her novels had many great insights but her philosophy, as she attempted to state it formally, was half-baked and objectionable.

It is apparently hard to grasp, but it's possible for a person to hold views with which one can agree and also hold other views with which one can't agree.
 
pbrauer said:
Sorry, but if you listened to his speech to the Atlas Society in 2005, you would know he didn't clear up anything.
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Well you asked us why we thought he went on today and I believe that is the reason. Now it's his job to convince people of his position. It's obviuos you aren't convinced, but I don't believe you would give him a chance anyways.
 
LowDown said:
There are very few conservatives or libertarians who don't agree with what Ryan said about Ayn Rand. William F. Buckley said almost exactly the same thing -- her novels had many great insights but her philosophy, as she attempted to state it formally, was half-baked and objectionable.

It is apparently hard to grasp, but it's possible for a person to hold views with which one can agree and also hold other views with which one can't agree.
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Listen to his speech at the bottom of the following link:

Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand's ideas: in the hot seat again | The Atlas Society
 
Five people can witness the same event, hear the same speech, listen to the same piece of music and be influenced 5 different ways.
 
Simlasa said:
For those who have the desire for slinging mud I think Ryan's admiration of Rand is just as valid or moreso than Obama's connection to Bill Ayers.
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How so? Bill Ayers helped fund Obama's way through college... and he was regularly at Ayers house... Not to mention Ayers is not the lone tie of Obama's to questionable characters... It's actually more the norm with Obama...

Bill Ayers, Saul Alinski, Tony Rezko, George Soros, Jeremiah Wright, Derrick Bell, Raila Odinga, Rod Blagojevich, etc.

And groups such as the Weather Underground terrorists, ACORN, The Bilderberg Group, AAAN, etc.

("and many more"... in F#)

Also, IDK who "Ayn Rand" is... but from what I'm reading she was a fiction writer and a philosopher... that never carried out any terrorist killings or bombings of the Pentagon... and she paid all her taxes and such... no corruption schemes... etc. which is yet another HUGE difference between this person and Ayers, Odinga, and other Obama associates...
 
AdamT said:
LIE

LIE

LIE

You learned from your master well, grasshopper.
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Now that you're done singing Simon & Garfunkel...

Who “sent” Obama? | Stephen Diamond

Exclusive - The Vetting - Senator Barack Obama Attended Bill Ayers Barbecue, July 4, 2005

Postman: Ayers family put ‘foreigner’ Obama through school

Airing the Ayers-Obama Connection - Hugh Hewitt - [page]

Barack Obama and Bill Ayers: Stanley Kurtz Makes the Connection | NewsBusters.org

Barack Obama Osawatomie Speech Mirrors Weather Underground Bill Ayer’s Publication | TheBlaze.com

Obama once visited '60s radicals - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

The Obama-Ayers Top Ten: Highlights of the 20 year Obama-Ayers Connection : NO QUARTER

NYT’s Ayers-Obama Whitewash - By Stanley Kurtz - The Corner - National Review Online

maybe you could begin reading?

Or are you gonna just keep sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "im not listening", like a child who refuses to accept the truth...
 
pbrauer said:
I didn't say it was a problem, I am just refuting the claim made by the OP. Why do you think Paul Ryan did this interview today?
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objectivism is associated with atheism and atheism is associated with losing campaigns unfortunately.
 
GPS_Flex said:
Prove it!!!



Prove it!!!



Prove it!!!
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Why the hell should he prove it? It is the accuser that should prove their accusations, and no right wing conspiracy theory sites do not count.
 
Simlasa said:
....For those who have the desire for slinging mud I think Ryan's admiration of Rand is just as valid or moreso than Obama's connection to Bill Ayers.
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Well you'd be wrong and now look what you've done, you've diverted the topic of the thread into a fallacious lie. :naughty
 
LowDown said:
There are very few conservatives or libertarians who don't agree with what Ryan said about Ayn Rand. William F. Buckley said almost exactly the same thing -- her novels had many great insights but her philosophy, as she attempted to state it formally, was half-baked and objectionable.

It is apparently hard to grasp, but it's possible for a person to hold views with which one can agree and also hold other views with which one can't agree.
Click to expand...

Buckley said, "I had to flog myself" just to get through her book. LOL


****


The conflict for Ryan is his Catholic faith vs his belief in Rand's "rational selfishness" and objectivism which inspired his "Path to Prosperity". It was the Catholic church that denounced his budget plan....


'....On April 16, the Catholic bishops condemned Paul Ryan's budget proposal as failing a "basic moral test" in that it slashes food assistance to the poor and radically redefines safety net programs such as Medicare.

Despite the formative influence of Ayn Rand on his involvement in public life, on April 26, Congressman Ryan publicly claimed to have renounced the teachings of Ayn Rand, yet has failed to explain how any of his policies have changed....

Keystone Progress: Catholic Bishops have denounced Paul Ryan's budget

Franciscan Action Network: Transforming the world in the spirit of Saint Francis and St. Clare of Assisi

Ryan Medicare, Medicaid budget cuts don't fit Catholic teachings
.

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."


I think it's pretty obvious who Ryan has chosen to be his master and it's not God.
 
pbrauer said:
I didn't say it was a problem, I am just refuting the claim made by the OP. Why do you think Paul Ryan did this interview today?
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The claim made by the OP is that Ryan rejects the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand.

How exactly did what you post "refute" that?

The OP's own article states:

Rep. Paul Ryan: No. I really enjoyed her novels, Atlas Shrugged in particular. It triggered my interest in economics. That's where I got into studying economics. That's why I wanted to study the whole field of economics.
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You're apparently "refuting" the OP's assertion that he rejects the Objectivist philosophy by pointing out that he did enjoy the books, which the OP itself even mentions?

Stellar tactic there.
 
IndepCentristMA said:
Now that you're done singing Simon & Garfunkel...

Who “sent” Obama? | Stephen Diamond

Exclusive - The Vetting - Senator Barack Obama Attended Bill Ayers Barbecue, July 4, 2005

Postman: Ayers family put ‘foreigner’ Obama through school

Airing the Ayers-Obama Connection - Hugh Hewitt - [page]

Barack Obama and Bill Ayers: Stanley Kurtz Makes the Connection | NewsBusters.org

Barack Obama Osawatomie Speech Mirrors Weather Underground Bill Ayer’s Publication | TheBlaze.com

Obama once visited '60s radicals - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

The Obama-Ayers Top Ten: Highlights of the 20 year Obama-Ayers Connection : NO QUARTER

NYT’s Ayers-Obama Whitewash - By Stanley Kurtz - The Corner - National Review Online

maybe you could begin reading?

Or are you gonna just keep sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "im not listening", like a child who refuses to accept the truth...
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Thank you for the collection of wingnut conspiracy theory lunacy. WorldNetDaily ... Newsbusters ... Breitbart.... Just in case anyone was taking you seriously, this should clear things up. :lol:
 
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pbrauer said:
You know Paul Ryan well enough to say he doesn't lie?
I can't right now prove it, but I've heard Ayn Rand's books were required reading by his staff.
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I read that he gave his staff copies of her book Atlas Shrugged. Don't know if it is rumor or truth. It's so hard to wade through the BS now we all have to become researchers to find the truth!!
 
Carleen said:
I read that he gave his staff copies of her book Atlas Shrugged. Don't know if it is rumor or truth. It's so hard to wade through the BS now we all have to become researchers to find the truth!!
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It is true. He is clearly a disciple of Rand is simply denying it now for reasons of political expediency. He can truthfully say that he rejects "her philosophy" in the sense that Rand was a diehard atheist while he is at least putatively a Catholic, but that does not mean that he rejects her economic views.

Ryan made no bones about his philosophical influences just a few years ago. 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.”

Even three years ago, Tim Mak of Politico noted, Ryan channeled Rand. “What’s unique about what’s happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it’s as if we’re living in an Ayn Rand novel right now,” Ryan said. “I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault.”
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Interesting that he thinks the moral case for capitalism is not rooted in religion.

Also from 2009:

“It is not enough to say that President Obama’s taxes are too big or the healthcare plan doesn’t work for this or that policy reason,” the lawmaker said. “It is the morality of what is occurring right now, and how it offends the morality of individuals working toward their own free will to produce, to achieve, to succeed, that is under attack, and it is that what I think Ayn Rand would be commenting on.”
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So has Ryan really done a complete about face in the last three years? I would say that's highly unlikely.
 
Carleen said:
I read that he gave his staff copies of her book Atlas Shrugged. Don't know if it is rumor or truth. It's so hard to wade through the BS now we all have to become researchers to find the truth!!
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I'd believe that.
 
Zyphlin said:
The claim made by the OP is that Ryan rejects the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand.

How exactly did what you post "refute" that?

The OP's own article states:



You're apparently "refuting" the OP's assertion that he rejects the Objectivist philosophy by pointing out that he did enjoy the books, which the OP itself even mentions?

Stellar tactic there.
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To be perfectly honest with you I have no idea what Objectivism is or what he said about it was correct. However, in the clip Ryan seems to down play what influence her novels and books had on him and that is what I was reacting to. If you listen to the clip of his speech before the Atlas Society in 2005 he seems to be speaking a different tune.

Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand's ideas: in the hot seat again | The Atlas Society
 
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Carleen said:
I read that he gave his staff copies of her book Atlas Shrugged. Don't know if it is rumor or truth. It's so hard to wade through the BS now we all have to become researchers to find the truth!!
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I hope its true because Rand was ahead of her time. Atlas shrugged is exactly on point with what is happening right now in the USA. John Galt and Dagney Taggart were right.

and for those of you that have not read the book, you really need to get out of this thread because you are speaking from ignorance.
 
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“He didn’t invent iron ore and blast furnaces, did he?”

“Who?”

“Rearden. He didn’t invent smelting and chemistry and air compression. He couldn’t have invented his Metal but for thousands
and thousands of other people. His Metal! Why does he think it’s his? Why does he think it’s his invention? Everybody uses the
work of everybody else. Nobody ever invents anything.”

She said, puzzled, “But the iron ore and all those other things were there all the time. Why didn’t anybody else make that
Metal, but Mr. Rearden did?
 
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