Ayn Rand is much in the news right now as her philosophy is being tied to Congressman Paul Ryan who was selected by Mitt Romney to be the vice presidential nominee. Ryan now says he disavows her atheistic philosophy but he’s clearly found some merit in much she had written as he’s been quoted many times praising her.
This has caused great concern among many Christians. But not me. I am a Catholic who was heavily influenced by Ayn Rand. I understand many of Ryan’s remarks concerning Rand because I’ve probably said similar things about her. Many years ago, I read everything Ayn Rand wrote and believed her to be brilliant. I wouldn’t have called myself an atheist at the time. But only because I thought atheists were just as illogical as Christians.
Simply put, I would’ve thought I was better than you if I’d thought about anyone but myself for a moment. Thankfully, those occasions didn’t arise often. But I thought I was brilliant because I saw the futility in pondering life. I was just going to soak up the day to day. It’s funny in looking back, for someone soaking up my days, my mind can’t seem to remember much about my nights.
I was working as a security guard — the job funded my drinking at neighborhood bars and road trips. Road trips were where I went and drank in someone else’s neighborhood.
August 14, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Here's a response from one of the Register's reader:
"Another Catholic blogger—who likes to insult his readers with terms like 'right wing noise machine'—wrote about Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand today, in a way that I told him was defamatory to Paul Ryan."
The blogger in question (initials M.S., resident of Metropolitan Seattle) is a noise machine in his own right. His "Catholicism" is nothing but an attempt to bully people to his way of "thinking." Any Catholic who disagrees with any of his positions is automatically circumspect.
Then again, said bloggers has no compunction against defaming anyone who disagrees with his self-beknighted propositions.
August 14, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Moreover, despite Rand's flaws, her embrace of individual dignity and rights runs counter to the Church's centuries-old tendency toward corporatism and forcing individuals into its authoritarian mode, despite the Church's academic rhetoric to the contrary. Remember, the Index of Forbidden Books was not discontinued until 1966, less than 50 years ago!
August 14, 2012 at 11:28 pm
I am glad I read Ayn Rand. She cemented for me the difference between taking personal responsibility for taking care of the sick and poor and being lazy and abdicating that responsibility to the government. Not her intent I am sure, but I am glad I see the difference.