Fourth Thought on Paul Ryan

A politician who has based his entire theory of governance and fiscal policy on his teenaged reading of Atlas Shrugged is like a general who has based his military strategy on the Battle of Endor.

Comments

[El Jefe]

Ryan's problem is that he views the Battle of Endor (while Peggy Noonan swigs chardonnay and rattles on about feral teddy bears) from the point of view of one of the pointy-capped Imperials whose face you can see inside the force-field-generator bunker. There is actually a line on the viral "Death Star Flow Chart," where all negative contingencies for the Empire lead back to building another one of the things, that says "Fucking Ewoks." And, to reference your suggestion on Twitter, since Beverly Cleary grew up right down the road from where I am now, I would like to endorse getting Ryan the complete set of "Ramona" with my whole heart. It can only improve his disposition.

[CJColucci]

Has anyone ever been taken by Rand who first encountered her as an adult? I suppose there may have been a few when her books first came out, though I suspect that they merely found confirmation of what they already believed. But since then?

[Eric]

Sociopaths recognizing a kindred spirit seem most likely to find Rand's awful writing and worse philosophy appealing. There is more than a little sociopathy in Ryan's record to date, and the evidence that people of Romney's ilk are sociopaths is overwhelming, it might even be a job qualification. I think it is probably a good thing that so many Republicans are giving us fair warning of their personality disorders by announcing they are devotees of Rand.

[Michael McDaniel]

I read Rand when in my first years of college. I then recognized something wrong with her basic soullessness.