"Believe people when they tell you who they are." Romney, Ryan, & Rand

[NightWatcher]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tobias-barrington-wolff/the-virtue-of-selfishness_b_1774931.html

The Virtue of Selfishness: Romney, Ryan and Rand

The poet and memoirist Maya Angelou wrote this about how to judge a person's character: "Believe people when they tell you who they are. They know themselves better than you do." With his selection of Representative Paul Ryan as a running mate, Mitt Romney has told us exactly who he would be as President: a selfish capitalist. A Romney-Ryan White House would elevate selfishness above all else.

To understand the values of Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan, it is necessary to understand their intellectual forebear, Ayn Rand. Ms. Rand was one of the most extreme public intellectuals of the twentieth century. As her central creed, she rejected the idea that people in a community should approach each other with charity, compassion, and altruism. According to Ayn Rand, a charitable heart is for suckers. Selfishness is the way to go. Lest you think I am exaggerating, one of Ayn Rand's important works, a collection of philosophical essays, is entitled "The Virtue of Selfishness," and it is an extended attack upon the idea of altruism.

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These people should not be allowed anywhere near the public, much less to hold public office.

[bullwinkle428]

1. YES - a caller to Stephanie Miller's show mentioned the collection of essays as

the main thing that needs to be held up to best illustrate the Rand-Ryan relationship.

[rox63]

2. My father and brother were both adherents of Rand's for quite a few years

although both (ironically) had to rely on help from others and from the government at times. My brother seems to have come around to a different way of thinking in recent years. If I had any sort of youthful rebellion against my family, it was a rebellion against that philosophy of self-interest above all. Some people got into sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. I became a liberal.