Yo Paul Ryan: Jesus or Ayn Rand?

Jesus tells us to love one another, to help one another, to transcend ourselves in forming a civilization of love

Here's Paul Ryan's favorite philosopher Ayn Rand: "Rand wholly rejected religion. She called it a weakness, even a parasite — one that convinces people their purpose is to work for the betterment of others. In fact, she says, for man, the truth is just the opposite."

On Capitol Hill, Rand's 'Atlas' Can't Be Shrugged Off

by Andrea Seabrook

 November 14, 2011

These days it can feel like the country is unsteady — politically, economically. In a search for the way forward, scholars and politicians often turn to their fundamental beliefs. NPR is taking a look at some of the most influential philosophers whose ideas molded the present and could shape the future. You might not know all their names, but you're certainly familiar with their ideas. They are woven into the fabric of our society.

Ayn Rand is best known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The ideas behind them — her philosophy — have sunk so deeply into our political thought, most people don't even recognize them as her ideas anymore.
But Rand does have important admirers, like House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Recently, House Speaker John Boehner channeled Rand when he said, "Job creators in America basically are on strike."
Underpinning that statement is a philosophy Rand introduced through her best-selling novel Atlas Shrugged.

I am opposed to all forms of control. I am for an absolute, laissez-faire, free, unregulated economy.

- Ayn Rand

However, when it was released in the late 1950s, the book wasn't exactly embraced.

Rand's 'Objectivism,' Explained
CBS News journalist Mike Wallace interviewed Rand years before he first appeared on the program 60 Minutes.
"Throughout the United States, small pockets of intellectuals have become involved in a new and unusual philosophy, which would seem to strike at the very roots of our society," he says, introducing the 1959 segment.
Wallace is in a chair, on a stark set, holding his notes and a cigarette. Across from him sits Rand, a native Russian, small and sharp and a little nervous. Wallace asks her to outline the idea she calls "objectivism."
It is, she says, a system of morality "not based on faith" or emotion, "but on reason."

Rand wholly rejected religion. She called it a weakness, even a parasite — one that convinces people their purpose is to work for the betterment of others. In fact, she says, for man, the truth is just the opposite.

"His highest moral purpose is the achievement of his own happiness," she says. Wallace asks Rand how her philosophy applies to politics and government. And his question reveals a journalist's assumptions about the America of that time — with Eisenhower in the White House and Leave It to Beaver on TV:
"One of the principal achievements of this country in the past 20 years, particularly — I think most people agree — is the gradual growth of social, protective legislation, based on the principle that we are our brothers' keepers."
Like welfare. Social Security. Fair labor standards. Public health programs.
"How do you feel about the political trends of the United States?" Wallace asks.
"I feel that it is terrible that you see destruction all around you, and that you are moving toward disaster until and unless all those welfare state conceptions have been reversed and rejected," Rand answers.
These programs are destroying individual liberties, Rand says, especially the freedom of producers, entrepreneurs, businessmen. The government has no right to take their property, she says.
 I imagine that you're talking now about taxes," Wallace says. "And you believe that there should be no right by the government to tax. You believe that there should be no such thing as unemployment compensation, regulation during times of stress."
"That's right," Rand replies. "I am opposed to all forms of control. I am for an absolute, laissez-faire, free, unregulated economy."
By now, these ideas should sound familiar.

You can read the rest...  http://www.npr.org/2011/11/14/142245517/on-capitol-hill-rands-atlas-cant-be-shrugged-off