Paul Ryan Is In Love With St. Thomas Aquinas; What Does This Mean? (UPDATE)

[xchrom]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/08/paul_ryan_thomas_aquinas_ayn_rand.php

Since Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan as a running mate, many media outlets have pointed out the Wisconsin Rep's interest in Ayn Rand.
And they should -- Ayn Rand's basic schtick is that selfishness is a virtue and as such, the only ethical economic system is pure capitalism. Under Rand, any social safety net is wrong and unjust and for "moochers " and "collectivists;" true moral exemplars are ultra-rich egoists. What's important about Ryan's Rand affiliation, then, is its fiscal implications (and not-so-subtle dislike of the poor.)

Ryan might have realized that aligning himself with a pro-choice atheist might piss off GOP fundamentalists and partially renounced the pop philosopher, saying before VP talk: "If somebody is going to try to paste a person's view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. Don't give me Ayn Rand."

Of course, this is complete bullshit. He hasn't abandoned his interpretation of Rand's economic policies (see first link.) More importantly, though, there's no way Ryan could read Aquinas -- and adhere to his beliefs -- without lying to himself and/or doing some serious mental gymnastics. And that's because Aquinas would have fucking hated Ryan's capitalism.

[redgreenandblue]

1. If anyone ever had "illuminati" written all over them, it was Paul Ryan and Mitt.

[silvershadow]

2. Please...Ryan and Thomas Aquinas? Not on your life.

Apparently, he's as delusional as Palin, Bachmann, and ilk.

[Berlum]

3. Republicans want to shrug off their responsibilities as US citizens

They are happy to suck up all the gravy they can, then they choose two new chicken hawks -- Romney and Ryan -- to continue the pattern of avoiding responsibility -- and sucking up gravy.

[rosesaylavee]

4. Aquinas is worse than Rand ....

He struggle with the whole concept of just what women were for anyway ... an early misogynist and of course honored by the Vatican.

Why do I feel I am in a Margaret Atwood novel and can't get out?

[undeterred]

5. He has a thirteenth century world view

that is strange and out of touch even for the thirteenth century.

[TexasProgresive]

6. This from Thomas might describe Ryan

Those who are in great fear are so intent on their own passion that the pay no attention to the suffering of others.

--Thomas Aquinas

[MrScorpio]

7. If you'd say that Ryan was one of the "greatest minds of the 13th Century"…

He's definitely take it as a compliment.

[marew]

8. Too funny!

So true! "And that's because Aquinas would have fucking hated Ryan's capitalism." I wish someone would have asked exactly him specifically what ideas of Aquinas he felt attracted to or what books Aquinas even wrote! LOL!

[reformist2]

9. He had to say that to deflect from his true love, Ayn Rand.

Ayn Rand is so hostile not just to religion in general, but Christianity in particular, there is no way a true Christian could love Ayn Rand the way he does, imo.

[grantcart]

10. Man is she going to be pissed too!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. If that's the case, why did the Catholic Bishops denounce Ryan's budget?

A priest from Ryan's own district in southern Wisconsin called the Ryan Budget "cruel" to the poor.

I think invoking the church is a really bad move on Ryan's part. But desperate people will do desperate things.

[mmonk]

12. Just an attempt to cover up his Ayn Rand bonafides. Won't work.

[gulliver]

13. Translation: I are smart and Catholic

As you say, it is complete bullshit. If Ryan is such a serious philosopher, how did he miss minor details about Rand like atheism? Kind of hard to miss that. It makes you wonder what he is missing when he "thinks" about the budget. I'm starting to wonder if Ryan isn't really just a useful idiot.

[rug]

14. Ryan is an idiot.

“Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: ‘The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless.’”

— St Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, 1274 CE)

[reformist2]

15. It's creepy that Ryan requires all his staffers to read Atlas Shrugged.

Not to mention cruel and unusual punishment. :p

[truth2power]

16. Isn't that special!! LOL! Someone needs to get hold of Chris Hedges on this...

Hedges is a theologian; a graduate of Harvard Divinity School. He's studied philosophy, and I'm sure he could eat that little pipsqueak Ryan's lunch on this. I'd pay to see it.

I'm also loving how Ryan is walking back his worship of Ayn Rand these past few days. Talk about something coming back to bite you in the butt. Ha hahaha.

[catbyte]

17. I think it means he's running away from Ayn Rand as fast as he can. Aquinas seems safe

[ananda]

18. Hmm.. for Thomas Aquinas all good comes from the Eucharist.

Consuming the Eucharist brings all goods, heals the sick, feeds the poor,
cleans the unclean, washes away sin. IOW, the manna of heaven should
be our one desire.

That sort of absolves meanspirited, narcissistic sociopaths of matters
of conscience and empathy.

Also, for Aquinas, poverty was viewed as an ideal. I'm sure that philosophy
works well for the one percenters and Randians too. See:

http://science.jrank.org/pages/10809/Poverty-Poverty-an-Ideal.html

"This idea of self-control, of poverty as a voluntary state, played an important role in Christian teaching and practice. In part this was negative. As St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224–1274) expressed it in Summa contra gentiles, poverty is commendable because it frees a man from "worldly solicitude." The more positive aspect, as also articulated by Aquinas, was that those who embraced voluntary poverty did so to follow Christ and "be useful to their community." While community here refers to society at large, perhaps, the most distinctive Christian contribution has been the establishment of institutions that explicitly identify poverty as their rationale."

It's not that I think that rank and crass materialism and consumerism work as ideals either. But the idea and the ideal of "poverty" as a highest virtue also acts as a kind of absolution for upper class cruelty, hoarding, and separation from the other. I would prefer the idea of "communion" as a higher "human" virtue or lifestyle, where we exist on cooperative, inclusive ideas and ideals so that no one person or group acts on the principle of valuing others based on pre-conceived conditions or wealth status. Sometimes we forget that Jesus was one of the hoi polloi, a man of and with all kinds of humans, bar none.