Paul Ryan's Aquinian Epiphany
Frank Cocozzelli printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sun Aug 12, 2012 at 02:55:43 PM EST
I originally  posted this piece back in May. With Paul Ryan being named to the GOP presidential ticket - and his "Catholic" credentials being touted, it's worth revisiting

This past week we learned that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has had an Aquinian epiphany of sorts. The former Ayn Rand acolyte has essentially thrown the controversial author and her philosophy of Objectivism under the bus because of  "her atheism."

But Ryan seems to have changed little except the  labels he uses to disguise his economic philosophy of miserliness.
With the possible exceptions of Ron and Rand Paul, no other elected official has more openly embraced the philosophy of Ayn Rand than Paul Ryan. There is the well-known YouTube video wherein he gushes over the "morality" of Rand's laissez-faire capitalism.  Ryan's fandom for Rand was so hot that he would even give copies of her dreary tome, Atlas Shrugged as Christmas gifts.

But as voters have become increasingly aware of Rand's toxic philosophy -- one in which selfishness is elevated to a virtue; where state assistance to the disabled is equated w