Editor:
It is our civic duty to examine the policies and character of the chosen GOP vice-presidential candidate. Paul Ryan was borne in Janesville, Wisc., to a prominent business family. Ryan experienced grief at age 16 when his father died, but he has never known hardship. He inherited his fathers Social Security, which he saved, having sufficient family money to attend college. Until now, he has been a long-time follower of Ayn Rand, citing her philosophy as the greatest influence on his thinking. As a congressman, he often publicly expressed his indebtedness to her. But now, as the GOP VP candidate, he is denouncing Ayn Rand and her ideas. Rand has become embarrassing baggage for Ryan. She was an unapologetic atheist and a strong advocate for abortion rights, both positions at odds with Ryans religious beliefs. As a Russian emigre, Rand hated the very idea of the Soviet collective that smothered individuality, but she embraced the opposite extreme of a special kind of egoism and laissez-faire capitalism. Her ideology informs her novels, but it is made most explicit in her treatises: For the New Intellectual (1961) and The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism (1964). It appears that Ryan still holds onto Rands eccentric egoism and her laissez-faire capitalism.
Ryan was one of the Republicans who publicly vowed not to accept Obamas stimulus money but then quietly requested it. Ryan took at least two stimulus grants, one of $20 million for a company in his district. In a subsequent interview, Ryan denied that he had taken any Obama stimulus money, an outright lie. In Florida recently, he tried to convince seniors that he would protect Medicare and Social Security, but the Ryan plan calls for replacing Medicare with vouchers.
This is only one of the several features in Romney-Ryan policies that would repeat and perfect the disasters of the Bush-Cheney reign. This GOP pair would further reduce taxes on the wealthiest, maintain subsidies for Big Oil, deregulate Wall Street, restrict abortion rights, as a mere beginning. Think it over, fellow Americans.
Denton May
Cortez