He is a closet progressive. When he wanted to bolster his right-wing bonafides, he claimed to be a fan of Ayn Rand.
Rand is interesting only in a narrow sense. She wasn’t a good writer, and definitely not a subtle one. Her characters are cartoon stereotypes rather than well developed, complex people. She was herself a very unpleasant person, and ran a cult-like salon in which no one could question her. Although often associated with libertarianism, she was hardly an enemy of the state, arguing vociferously for war in Vietnam and for suppressing left radicals in the US.
She is, of course, a bugbear to progressives, and not without reason. She was more a house intellectual to the super-rich than a careful thinker.
It’s almost like he chose a writer that he thought conservatives unblinkingly admired. But why couldn’t he have chosen Hayek if he wanted to support classical liberalism?
If Ayn Rand were alive she would be attacking Hillary Clinton loudly and clearly as the “shoot and loot” candidate and the major media as modern “witch doctors”.
Ryan has just been corrupted by big money—when that happens all politicians start speaking in word salads.