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Who is Paul Ryan? Romney's VP choice is follower of militant atheist activist (The smears begin)
America Blog ^ | 08/11/2012 | John Aravosis

Posted on 08/11/2012 7:04:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

A quick observation: How important could God be to Paul Ryan if his number one inspiration for going into public life is the works of militant atheist activist Ayn Rand? Republican leaders always claim that God is their number one inspiration, Jesus their favorite philosopher. Ryan's is a woman who made it her life mission to kill God and replace Him with man. Ryan can claim he's Catholic until the cows come home - he's obviously not that religious if his number one reason for being a politician is the philosophies of an avowed atheist activist.

_________________

Mitt Romney has chosen uber-conservative GOP House members Paul Ryan as his vice presidential candidate.

Ryan is most famous recently for his draconian bugget proposal that even fellow Republicans eventually walked away from.

Here is a quick bio on Ryan - what's interesting to me is that he only has a bachelor's degree. While that's not, in the modern era it's not at all uncommon for presidential candidates to have gone to graduate school as well (though, as the GOP now has disdain for a college education, per Rick Santorum, this likely won't hurt Ryan with the Republican minions).

This also means that Ryan's supposed "expertise" in economics and budgeting comes from undergrad courses in economics. Milton Friedman he ain't.

The other problem with Ryan's bio is that he has next to zero experience outside of Washington politics. His only real work experience outside of government (or "consulting" to the family business), is working as a waiter at Tortilla Coast, as a trainer at a gym, and driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Ryan's health is also a serious concern. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “‘(My father) died of a heartattack at 55, my grandfather died of a heart attack at 57, my great-grandfather died of heart attack at 59, so I’m into the health thing,’ says Ryan." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,4/26/09) Ryan is a big fan of militant atheist right-wing philosopher Ayn Rand:

"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," Ryan said during a 2005 event honoring Rand in Washington, D.C., the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in April 2009.

During the 2005 gathering, Ryan told the audience, "Almost every fight we are involved in here on Capitol Hill ... is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict -- individualism versus collectivism." The event was hosted by The Atlas Society, which prominently features a photo of Rand on its website and describes itself as a group that "promotes open Objectivism: the philosophy of reason, achievement, individualism, and freedom."

Ryan also said during a 2003 interview with the Weekly Standard, "I give out 'Atlas Shrugged' as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it. Well ... I try to make my interns read it.” He noted that he "looked into" Rand's work when he was younger, but reiterated that he is a Christian and reads the Bible often.

In 2009, Ryan posted two videos on his Facebook page raving about the importance of Rand's views.

"If 'Atlas Shrugged' author Ayn Rand were alive today, here's the urgent message I think she'd be conveying," Ryan wrote alongside the first video, titled "Ayn Rand's relevance in 2009." So his favorite philosopher isn't God - but an avowed, militant atheist. That should go over well with the base.

And here's the bio from an oppo doc. Name: Paul Davis Ryan Born: Jan. 29, 1970 Home: Janesville, Wisconsin Education: BA, Economics/Political Science, Miami University, Ohio, 1992 Janesville Craig High School, 1988 Career: Legislative Director, United States Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, 1995-1997 Aide, United States Senator Robert Kasten of Wisconsin, 1992Economic Adviser, Speechwriter, Empower America, 1993 - 1995Former Speechwriter, Jack Kemp Vice Presidential CampaignFormer Speechwriter, Office of the Director of National Drug Control Policy Former President, Ryan Incorporated Elected Office: Representative, United States House of Representative, 1998-present Organizations: Member, Community Solutions and Initiatives CoalitionCo-Chair, Congressional Sportsmen’s CaucusMember, Ducks UnlimitedMember, Janesville Bowmen, IncorporatedBoard Member, Rock County Junior AchievementMember, Saint John Vianney's Parish Member, Saint Mary’s Parish More on Ryan:

1. The Ryan budget raises taxes on the middle class - married couples earning between $100,000 to $200,000 a year would see their tax burden raise about $2700 because of eliminated deductions, while households earning more than $1 million a year would save $300,000.

2. Ryan cuts Medicaid by 45%, leaving 19m people without health care.

3. Ryan's budget would add $3.1 trillion to the deficit, more than would be added under current law.

4. Would end Medicare as we know it, moving the eligibility age up to 67 from 65, and putting caps on spending. If senior don't like it, he'd give them a voucher to go get violated with a private insurance plan that would likely cost them their entire life savings.

5. Wants to privatize Social Security.

6. Supports allowing states to jail women who get, and doctors who perform, abortions. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/26/98)

7. Would outlaw abortion, even for rape and incest (Associated Press, 9/26/98).

8. Ryan voted for the auto bailout, then criticized it (Janesville Gazette, 5/3/10).

9. Ryan voted for the Bush tax cuts, but felt they were too small (States News Service, 5/4/01).

First Read notes some other problems with Ryan: There are also holes in Ryan’s budget-hawk armor: He voted for some of the biggest drivers of the deficit/debt -- the Bush tax cuts, the Iraq war, and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, all of which weren’t paid for. Moreover, Ryan voted against the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles recommendations.

Has never held statewide office and has no foreign-policy experience. Both could be liabilities. And while Romney has criticized Obama for not having private-sector experience, the same is largely true of Ryan: As the New Yorker has written, Ryan briefly worked for his family’s business as a “marketing consultant,” but most of his adult life has been spent as a congressman, congressional aide, or speechwriter/analyst at Jack Kemp’s Empower America think tank.

Fun fact: Ryan's childhood nickname is "P.D.," which in French means "f*g."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aynrand; paulryan; ryanvp; vpryan
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IS THIS THE BEST THEY CAN DO?

PAINT A DEVOUT CATHOLIC AS A DEVOTE OF AN ATHEIST?

LOOKS LIKE GUILT BY ASSOCIATION.

I BELIEVE THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST, SO DOES ADOLF HITLER, THEREFORE, I AM AN ANTI-SEMITE?

1 posted on 08/11/2012 7:04:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: Bender2

Wow! The list above is almost as good as your parody!


2 posted on 08/11/2012 7:08:26 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working fors)
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To: SeekAndFind

Rather have a disciple of Rand then a follower of Christian Socialism like the USCB.


3 posted on 08/11/2012 7:09:54 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: SeekAndFind

You can dearly love certain aspects of someone’s writings, and not identify with their full spectrum of beliefs.

I’m not an atheist. I do think at least some of Ayne Rand’s writings are quite good.

The DNCp is so full of hate.


4 posted on 08/11/2012 7:10:53 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Nope 2012)
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To: SeekAndFind

Isn’t it possible to have two inspirations, one religious and one political philosophy? And, one could be somewhat contradictory to the other on certain issues, but both can be beneficial to restoring both faith and fiscal responsibility in this country.


5 posted on 08/11/2012 7:12:06 AM PDT by kempster
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To: SeekAndFind

I suppose that it’s even more objectionable for a Christian to like the philosophy of a pagan like Aristotle.


6 posted on 08/11/2012 7:12:27 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (A deep-fried storm is coming, Mr Obama.)
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To: DoughtyOne

Agree with you. As a conservative Christian, I can still appreciate some of Rand’s writing. God grants some gifts to the reprobate. The rain falls on the good and evil alike.


7 posted on 08/11/2012 7:13:26 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX ( The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else. ~)
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To: MrB
Re: Wow! The list above is almost as good as your parody!

Well, I must confess, being from the year 3012... I do have a leg up what those Liberal, Commie, Pinko, Scumbag Democrats are up to--

8 posted on 08/11/2012 7:13:49 AM PDT by Bender2 ("I've got a twisted sense of humor, and everything amuses me." RAH Beyond this Horizon)
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To: DoughtyOne

RE: You can dearly love certain aspects of someone’s writings, and not identify with their full spectrum of beliefs.

As I said before, Democrats cannot argue cogently.

If you’re a conservative, They will desperately try to find something in common that you share a hated historical figure and then on that basis tell the world — AHA, see, he is an anti-semite, or a sympathizer of a mass murderer.


9 posted on 08/11/2012 7:14:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (bOTRT)
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To: SeekAndFind
militant atheist activist Ayn Rand

So what does that make Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright??

10 posted on 08/11/2012 7:14:28 AM PDT by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
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To: SeekAndFind
As the title said, Let the smear Begin
AxelGrease and the boys from Chicago have NOTHING positive
for this so called president to run on, so his ever complaint
media will paint the opposition as the second coming of Hitler.
Who cares if it's true or even if it sticks for more than a week at a time,
at least it keeps the focus off the train wreck of an economy.
Sadly, the average boob (aka "the undecided independent voter")
only hears the smear in between episodes of American Idol and their vote counts the same as yours & mine.
11 posted on 08/11/2012 7:14:41 AM PDT by YankeeReb
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To: MrB

The final line displays the intellectual level of the piece:

“Fun fact: Ryan’s childhood nickname is “P.D.,” which in French means ‘f*g.’”


12 posted on 08/11/2012 7:14:51 AM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: SeekAndFind
A lot of Christians are fans of Rand's philosophy. There is a lot to learn from her, especially on economic and liberty issues without having to accept her atheism.

I think as a Catholic, Ryan is being true to St. Thomas Aquinas' philosophy, ~truth is truth no matter where it is found~.

Christian Objectivism

13 posted on 08/11/2012 7:15:45 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: SeekAndFind

Sounds like my kind of guy.


14 posted on 08/11/2012 7:16:29 AM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Looks like the rats had a smear ready for all the GOP VP picks.


15 posted on 08/11/2012 7:16:43 AM PDT by duckman (Dr Ben Carlson: Vision Not Division.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Ryan's favorite philosopher . . . made it her life mission to kill God and replace Him with man.

It is simply an appeal to the aged 1960s Marxist-Alinsky campus radicals (psycho spoiled brats) and their bratty ideological issue that's all that means.

16 posted on 08/11/2012 7:17:40 AM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: butterdezillion

“Fig”? ;-)


17 posted on 08/11/2012 7:17:40 AM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: butterdezillion
“Fun fact: Ryan’s childhood nickname is “P.D.,” which in French means ‘f*g.’”

Of course.. obviously it has nothing to do with the fact his name is Paul Davis Ryan. Nope, has to be for the other reason.

18 posted on 08/11/2012 7:17:56 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: SeekAndFind

Bring it, Aravosis.


19 posted on 08/11/2012 7:18:00 AM PDT by brewcrew (Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid. --John Wayne)
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To: Pining_4_TX

Isn’t that a great saying. Very nice. Thanks for the comments.


20 posted on 08/11/2012 7:18:42 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Nope 2012)
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