



Jonathan Chait has put together a baker’s half-dozen examples of things Rep. Paul Ryan has SAID OR DONE to express his affinity for the views of political philosopher Ayn Rand:

1. Spent the Bush years demanding larger, more regressive tax cuts than Bush himself was proposing, urging them to be less afraid of �class warfare.�

2. Spent the Obama years repeatedly proposing budgets that �would produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history.�

3. Listed Rand�s magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, as one of the three books he most frequently rereads.

4.�Told The Weekly Standard, �I give out ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it.�

5. Repeatedly divided American society into �makers� and �takers.�

6. Declared that Rand�s thinking is �sorely needed right now� because we are �living in an Ayn Rand novel� and that �Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism, and this, to me, is what is [sic] matters most.�

7.� Appeared at a gathering of Rand devotees and declared Rand�s philosophy was �the reason I got involved in public service,� that he makes it �required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff,� and that her philosophy continues to inspire �almost every fight we are involved in here, on Capitol Hill.”

Jonathan Chait has put together a baker’s half-dozen examples of things Rep. Paul Ryan has SAID OR DONE to express his affinity for the views of political philosopher Ayn Rand:

1. Spent the Bush years demanding larger, more regressive tax cuts than Bush himself was proposing, urging them to be less afraid of �class warfare.�

2. Spent the Obama years repeatedly proposing budgets that �would produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history.�

3. Listed Rand�s magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, as one of the three books he most frequently rereads.

4.�Told The Weekly Standard, �I give out ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it.�

5. Repeatedly divided American society into �makers� and �takers.�

6. Declared that Rand�s thinking is �sorely needed right now� because we are �living in an Ayn Rand novel� and that �Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism, and this, to me, is what is [sic] matters most.�

7.� Appeared at a gathering of Rand devotees and declared Rand�s philosophy was �the reason I got involved in public service,� that he makes it �required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff,� and that her philosophy continues to inspire �almost every fight we are involved in here, on Capitol Hill.”