Let me save you the trouble of reading up on Ayn Rand in an effort to get a handle on Paul Ryan. Rand is not the issue. Her egoism and self-serving individualism is not what Ryan is all about, as he will certainly explain again and again in the coming months.
What is at the center of his attachment to Rand is her philosophical justification for ignoring the plight of the so-called weak and indolent citizens among us. As Ryan said in accepting the presidential... uh, vice-presidential nod is that he wants to help the less fortunate get back on their feet by not coddling them with government handouts.
Because Ryan knows full well that this "solution" will not sit well with a majority of Americans, he has in the past leaned on Rand's selfishness ethic to justify and bolster his position. Fortunately for those millions currently struggling, this argument isn't going to sell this time around.
Ryan's argument is that freed from government support, people will wake up, get up, pull themselves together and find a way to get themselves and their families back on their feet. What Ryan and those who buy this argument fail to acknowledge is that the millions of Americans now struggling to survive are not and were not at fault for their situations.
Their condition is not a matter of weakness or flawed character. The exportation of jobs abroad, the evolution of technology, and the disaster caused by irresponsible greed on Wall Street have put millions in jeopardy. Good people lost their jobs and homes. Good people have nowhere to turn. And now Paul Ryan has the gall to suggest that weakness and a culture of dependancy is at fault, and he and the Republican Party will save the day with draconian cuts in basic services.
Romney's decision to nominate Ryan and accept his basic argument is perfectly in character for a man who has no idea what it is to make his own way in the world. He actually joked that he was once unemployed. Really Mitt? Romany and Ryan, R&R. Rest and Relaxation. What we really need is Reality and Recovery. It's government, especially Congress, that needs to wake up, get up and find a way to get America back on its feet