The debate GOP needs to have openly: The teachings of Ayn Rand vs teachings of Jesus Christ

[blm]

It's long past time for Democrats to force this issue and do more to PUBLICLY EXPOSE the Rand wing of the Republican Party that has only been using the religious wing as the cover to construct policies to further enrich the privileged and corporatocracy at the expense of the everyman citizen and our national unity.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-sapp/ayn-rand-and-republicans_b_866097.html?ref=fb&src=sp

GOP must choose: Ayn Rand or Jesus

I recently wrote on why Democrats and progressives need to take some time studying Ayn Rand to fully understand the political significance of all the GOP leaders lining up to praise her. The GOP has a huge problem if their conservative religious base finds out what Rand really believed and how influential she is within senior GOP circles.

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But perhaps the most damning of all was the statement put out by Conservative Christian icon, Chuck Colson....Colson condemned the strong support of Rand in Republican and conservative circles and urged his followers not only to stay away from the new film of Rand's book Atlas Shrugged, but to "stay away from anyone who intends to watch the film." Colson goes on to say Rand and her followers were precisely the types of "cranks" and "crypto-cultists" that his friend Bill Buckley had fought to purge from conservative ranks. He says the "real problem with Rand is the world view her novels and other writings sought to inculcate in her readers... it's hard to imagine a world view more antithetical to Christianity."

So what is Colson talking about? A week before his statement, American Values Network released a damning memo with a large number of Rand quotes where she says she is out to destroy the Church and Judeo-Christian morality. She argued that people had to choose between following her teachings or those of Christianity and other religious traditions. Rand said religion was "evil," called the message of John 3:16 "monstrous," argued that the weak are beyond love and undeserving of it, that loving your neighbor was immoral and impossible and that she was out to undermine the idea that charity was a moral duty and virtue.
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GOP response to this attack on Judeo-Christian and family values, not to mention on Christ himself?

"Ayn Rand, you've got to love Ayn Rand. She's great." -- Glenn Beck

"Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism... It's that kind of thinking, that kind of writing that is sorely needed right now." -- Author of the GOP Budget, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

"I am a fan of Ayn Rand, and I've read all her novels." -- Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)

"The brilliant writer and novelist, Ayn Rand."-- Rush Limbaugh

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Atlas Shrugged is his "foundational book." .

And despite Colson's warnings, FOX spent weeks promoting Rand's new movie and encouraging viewers to go see it... advice most every member of the GOP leadership took to heart!
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[pansypoo53219]

1. brilliant writer???

i found a paperback copy of that atlas book inn the basement(given a box of books). i read just about anything(back then). i read austin, the dictionary and up to F in a 1891 encyclopedia britannica. I COULD NOT FINISH THE 1st PAGE OF RAND. the writing was AWFUL.

[blm]

2. Yep. Absolutely sophomoric, and even that is being generous.

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[hifiguy]

3. No one has said it better than John Rogers

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

--John Rogers, on the blog Kung Fu Monkey

And Rand was perhaps the worst writer of English prose that has ever had multiple books published. Monkeys with typewriters could do better in terms of both style and content.

[pscot]

4. The capitalistic value system Rand teaches

is dog eat dog, winner take all, screw anyone who can't or won't compete. The GOP and the Libertarians think this is morality?

[RainDog]

5. right wing fundies led around by the nose by xtian hating power brokers

who use the fundie fear and hatred of women and gays to promote an anti-christian agenda... yep.

[blm]

6. which is EXACTLY why GOP's cronies bought control of most broadcast media in the 80s and 90s.

No way could they have gained such political power without the ability to snow and distract the religious right and its working class voters. That is where the corporate media became the PR Department for the Randian Republicans' Global Fascist Agenda.

[Johnny2X2X]

7. Long Overdue

Rand's philosophy takes Conservatism to it's extreme, but it's about time Conservatism in general is called out for being at odds with basic Christian principles like charity, compassion, and tolerance. Jesus called his followers to live in Poverty.

These Tea Baggers wave Ayn Rand around the same way they wave the Constitution around, most likely having read neither or lacking the capacity to understand had they actually read one of them.

[Duppers]

8. "If this is going to be a Christian nation.....

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we've got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that
WE JUST DON'T WANT TO DO IT."

- Stephen Colbert

[blm]

9. First time I saw that Colbert quote. Thank you!

.

[Duppers]

13. you're very welcome

:)

[Johonny]

12. +1

[Initech]

10. The sad thing is the GOP doesn't get either one correct.

[blm]

11. tru dat

.