Thursday, August 16, 2012

Paul rAYN Rand

Paul likes to pretend that one interview on Fox and his whole career of worshiping the atheist AYn Rand all goes away?  Apparently it does not sit very well with Mitt Rmoney and the Mormon church.

“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.
~Paul Ryan, 2005 
H/T classwarfareexists for this collection of quotes.  
 
 
 ”In 2005, Paul Ryan explained that he often looks to Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged” as inspiration for his views on monetary policy. ‘I always go back to, you know, Francisco d’Anconia’s speech, at Bill Taggart’s wedding, on money when I think about monetary policy,’ he said in a speech to the Atlas Society. So what are Ryan’s views on this front? And what do they have to do with Ayn Rand?…

As an alternative approach, Ryan has suggested that the United States should return to “sound money” by anchoring the value of the dollar to, say, the price of a basket of commodities. This isn’t quite a return to the long-abandoned gold standard, but it’s a roughly similar concept. It would prevent the Federal Reserve from boosting the money supply in times of crisis, as the Fed did in 2008. And Ryan’s approach could have other downsides as well. As economist David Beckworth explained here, if the dollar was pegged to commodities like metals or soybeans, it would be greatly affected by outside forces, such as swings in Chinese demand.
 More from Slate:  
 
 Still, now that Ryan claims he’s more of a Thomas Aquinas guy than a Randian, it pays to understand what he took from the late Russian-American objectivist. The Rosetta Stone of Ryan-Randianism is his 2005 speech to the Rand revivalist Atlas Society, made when Ryan was in his fourth term and his Republicans were clearly losing their grip on power. He makes a few references that only compute if you’ve read Atlas Shrugged.

 In early chapters, d’Anconia pretends to be a Bruce Wayne-esque reckless playboy. He occasionally slips, because he’s a Rand character. Thus, “Bill Taggart’s wedding speech,” when d’Anconia goes to the party of a businessman using state connections to make money. A left-wing magazine writer tells him that “money is the root of all evil.” That sets off d’Anconia, who launches rant about money that runs to 23 paragraphs. “When you accept money in payment for your effort,” he says, “you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor – your claim upon the energy of the men who produce.”
“[Y]ou 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.”
~Paul Ryan 

Then let's let Rachel Maddow break it down even further:



 

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9 comments:

  1. In speaking before the Atlas Society, Paul Ryan shows his bias in thinking. Among its trustees is Robert Poole, board member of the Koch Brothers' arch-libertarian Cato Institute.
    The Atlas Society is connected to an outfit called the Atlas Economic Research Foundation (or the Atlas Network), which runs a Sound Money Project. The Atlas Network is funded by the Charles G. Koch Foundation. It's board member, John Blundell, is the former president of the same Koch Foundation.
    This is the crowd Paul Ryan speaks for.
    It's also interesting to note that our former economic guru on the U.S. economy--Alan Greenspan, the one who led the charge toward the financial meltdown--is a big part of this same Ayn Rand cult.

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  2. It's kind of like the Apollo rockets. The Rand stage gets you up into the atmosphere, but it's not the part that takes you into space.

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  3. I guess its time I read atlas shrugged, because I don't see anything offensive, or anything that would suggest Paul isn't a true conservative about his references to this book or the author for that matter.
    I thought the democrats were the party of acceptance? You want me to judge the author based on her religous preference? And then assume Ryan is an atheist also because he agrees with her views on monetary policy and personal responsibility?
    But I was supposed to ignore Obamas minister who openly talked about hating america?
    Your grasping at straws, you know that right?

    I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.
    -Margaret Thatcher

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    1. Just a side note, IMBR. The John Blundell mentioned above is British and was a key person in what came to be called Thatcherism. He came over to the U.S. and helped design Ronald Reagan's policies. You know: "The government is the problem."
      When you say "Your grasping at straws..." is wrong, and not just because you apparently don't know how to spell "You're."

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    2. Which way would you like it, Imustberacist? Do you support the notion of acceptance of diversity?

      In Obama's case, he stated his opinions and beliefs. Why would Rev. Wright's opinions need be tied to Obama's, if Obama's beliefs were different?

      If Romney has said, in front of a camera, that when he dies he'll go to heaven and get his own planet, and that when Christ returns to Earth, he'll rule from Missouri, can we ask him about that?

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    3. You assume I dont agree with Reagans policies. If they saved the economy after Carter they may be able to save us after the only president worse than Carter.

      John I am only pointing out the double standard. You want assume an atheist has complete influence over Ryan but Obamas pastor had no influence on his views of our country. I go to church, I picked a church that I agree with in terms of social views. Should I assume Obama didn't agree with Rev Wright?
      I can't explain Romney's religion, the same as I cant explain why some people are attracted to the same sex. But I don't assume either are flawed, because I don't understand, or agree with them.

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  4. John nice analogy!

    IMBR good luck getting through it. You should watch the movie that would make it an even dozen people who have seen that mess in the country. Rachel maddow does a very good job explaining why ryan is not a fiscal conservative so im not going to rehash that, but you can find me a quote pre 2012 - where ryan says he agrees just with her monetary policy.

    Wealready knew he agreed with that since both have railed against Social security while benefitting greatly from it! WHile that is not quite what Rev. wright said, you can look to janesville if your worried about what Priests have to say.

    Since Paul Ryan's old priest is worried about his qualifications...

    http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11707/vp-role-paul-ryan-has-his-former-parish-priest-worried

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  5. To the commenter known as "I must be a racist:"

    Capitalism is based on the Laws of Supply and DEMAND. When the 1% own half the country, when we export jobs to people who aren't paid enough to afford our exports, it crushes DEMAND. Then the whole system falls apart.

    Rand was an atheist and pro-choice. She was also a nutcase. Her prototype for all her male heroes was William Hickman, an unbelieveably sadistic child killer.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edward_Hickman

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  6. That's an excellent idea, thanks.
    I know his dad died when he was a teenager but I thought they were already well off by then. How did he benefit from social security?
    I don't know that I will change my political philosophy based on a catholic priests theories. But thanks for the article. Aren't about half of them pedophiles?

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