— Rep. Paul Ryan • Speaking to The Atlas Society back in 2005 about Ayn Rand, the late novelist and philosopher. It’s important to remember that promoting Rand’s Objectivist philosophy is the primary mission of The Atlas Society, and politicians are occasionally known to tell a crowd what they want to hear. In Ryan’s case, though, his fondness for at least some of Rand’s views (she was an adamant atheist, as well as agressively and unapologetically pro-choice) is no secret — back in 2003 he told Reason magaine that he tried to get his staffers to read her work, and handed out copies of her laissez-faire free-market novel Atlas Shrugged as Christmas presents. In recent years, though, perhaps sensing the reputational trouble her views posed for him when taken in total, he’s qualified himself, distancing from her stridently anti-faith stance. Whatever you may think of her philosophical outlook, politically speaking, her views are intensely heterogeneous. In a political reality driven by polarization and fealty to party platform, that’s a quite dangerous thing. source (via • follow)