Paul Ryan!!

[Havard]

The following quotes by Paul Ryan prior to the clean-up job when he became a national political figure speak for themselves:

“I just want to speak to you a little bit about Ayn Rand and what she meant to me in my life and [in] the fight we’re engaged here in Congress. I grew up on Ayn Rand, that’s what I tell people.”•
“I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are.”
• “It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff. We start with Atlas Shrugged. People tell me I need to start with The Fountainhead then go to Atlas Shrugged [laughter]. There’s a big debate about that. We go to Fountainhead, but then we move on, and we require Mises and Hayek as well.”
• “But the reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”
• “And when you look at the twentieth-century experiment with collectivism—that Ayn Rand, more than anybody else, did such a good job of articulating the pitfalls of statism and collectivism—you can’t find another thinker or writer who did a better job of describing and laying out the moral case for capitalism than Ayn Rand.”
• “It’s so important that we go back to our roots to look at Ayn Rand’s vision, her writings, to see what our girding, under-grounding [sic] principles are.”
• “Because there is no better place to find the moral case for capitalism and individualism than through Ayn Rand’s writings and works.”

Did you watch the interview I linked?

 

[stinkcat_14]

Entitlement? The money paid in, with an understanding it would come back, is not an entitlement.

The only part of medicare that you can claim that on is part A. Parts B and D are subsidized out of general tax revenues. Are you saying that we should get rid of Parts B and D?

 

[Pork_Roll]

• “Because there is no better place to find the moral case for capitalism and individualism than through Ayn Rand’s writings and works.”

The big problem here is that Paul Ryan applies subsidiarity to the government but not to economics. The catholic teaching is that the big shouldn’t squash the small or that there should be protection for the small businesses as there should be protection for the weak and poor. Where one draws those lines is up to debate.

 

[seekerz]

Ryan is most certainly not a devotee of Ayn Rand. Watch the interview with Raymond Arroyo, linked in the beginning of this thread. He clears up the misunderstandings associated with this issue.

Edit - Here it is, so people don’t have to go looking for it. The interview starts at about 10:00:

bing.com/videos/search?q=ewtn%2cpaul+ryan%2cyoutube&mid=1A49BA79D2C54B827E821A49BA79D2C54B827E82&view=detail&FORM=VIRE7

A softball interview that hardly challenged any specifics Ryan offered about his plan.

 

[stinkcat_14]

In the real world, most newly-minted education degree holders graduate with too much college debt to immediately switch to another field. Heck, I know of people who remain in a field they fell out of love with in college, simply because they can’t afford to move on to train in something else.

I think a lot of students have been very imprudent when it comes to paying for college. Their parents don’t help much either. More people need to start paying to price versus benefit when making college decisions. I mean why should someone pay $50k per year for the first two years at the elite private school when they can go to the community college for a tenth of that? I remember someone who majored in women’s studies and accumulated $100k in debt and had the nerve to complain about it. Maybe we need to bring back debtors prison.

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

The only part of medicare that you can claim that on is part A. Parts B and D are subsidized out of general tax revenues. Are you saying that we should get rid of Parts B and D?

I haven’t said we should affect any programs that help those that need it. That was someone…errr, never mind.

 

[Havard]

A softball interview that hardly challenged any specifics Ryan offered about his plan.

I agree that Raymond wasn’t hard on him, but what did you think about Ryan’s responses? Come on, there’s still some substance to analyze.

 

[stinkcat_14]

I haven’t said we should affect any programs that help those that need it. That was someone…errr, never mind.

How do you determine who “needs” medicare? Does a person with $300k of housing equity need medicare?

 

[Pork_Roll]

Even if he’s overly enthusiastic about Ayn Rand’s writings, he’s only a VP and will have little impact on how Romney runs the nation if elected. I’m just happy to see that he’s catholic and very pro-life.

I’d prefer that he was formed by GKC or JPII rather than Ayn Rand. I just don’t understand why he thinks our defense spending shouldn’t be included in budget cuts.

 

[irishpatrick]

But by working after 65, are they not taking up a position which could have been given to a younger worker? See post #306?

People who are capable of working, and working well, should do so. This entire “retirement” culture the western culture dreams of is ridiculous–imo. People who work also help generate need for other services, and they tend to be far happier and far healthier, than those who do not work. For many people working to 70 and beyond is easily doable.

 

[seekerz]

I agree that Raymond wasn’t hard on him, but what did you think about Ryan’s responses? Come on, there’s still some substance to analyze.

What’s to analyze? The whole thing sounds like Ryan was trying to clean up his image: he mentioned people lying about his views/plan multiple times, but also tried to explain away a quote supporting individualism a la Ayn Rand, by talking about the Church’s respect for the dignity of the individual human being…? What gives?

 

[seekerz]

Even if he’s overly enthusiastic about Ayn Rand’s writings, he’s only a VP and will have little impact on how Romney runs the nation if elected. I’m just happy to see that he’s catholic and very pro-life.

I’d prefer that he was formed by GKC or JPII rather than Ayn Rand. I just don’t understand why he thinks our defense spending shouldn’t be included in budget cuts.

That’s probably because he considers the drivers of debt to be social programs. Apparently, massive spending on wars which may or may not have been justified don’t have to be accounted for…

 

[estesbob]

Must be a great pick given all the hyperventilation on the part of the Democrats since he was announced

 

[Pork_Roll]

That’s probably because he considers the drivers of debt to be social programs. Apparently, massive spending on wars which may or may not have been justified don’t have to be accounted for…

He would never had been considered for VP if he wanted to cut defense spending. Maybe the whole thing is rigged by powerful and well financed interests.

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

Must be a great pick given all the hyperventilation on the part of the Democrats since he was announced

I think any hyperventilation comes from the immediate jump to medicare and social security from some of his supporters, without mention of the issues of abortion or gay marriage.

 

[Seeker1961]

Must be a great pick given all the hyperventilation on the part of the Democrats since he was announced

My Democratic friends are THRILLED. They were worried he was going to pick Pawlenty.

I really don’t know how a Catholic can be a devotee of Ayn Rand-she was proud of her atheism and her writings reflect it.

 

[lynnvinc]

PR is the last nail in the coffin for me re voting for Romney. I’m pro-life and I cannot vote for a pro-death candidate, one who would (wittingly or unwittingly) lead us to annihilation of life (or a huge chunk of it) on earth through climate change and other very serious environmental problems confronting us today.

At least Romney was for mitigating climate change before he was against it, but now I understand his true view on it by his selecting PR. (The fact that PR would work to gut medicare and social security and dump on thepoor (which I’m also against), and that he would work to fight medical abortions (his one good point) pale in comparison to his attack on the environment and all life on earth – and makes me really question his sincerity re fighting against abortion – it just doesn’t compute.)

lcv.org/media/blog/meet-paul-ryan.html
thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/08/11/677051/meet-paul-ryan-climate-denier-conspiracy-theorist-koch-acolyte/?mobile=nc

 

[Abba]

Come on, there’s still some substance to analyze.

I like the interview because it was done by Ramon Arroyo in a setting I am familiar with and this allowed me to analyze the man closer. He’s alright overall. I think he is trying to disassociate himself from Ayn Rand. Perhaps, he is being honest, who knows. It’s a little sketchy. Maybe he grew out of her really quickly. We can only speculate.

At any rate, it looks like he wants to disassociate himself as a politician with his medicare plan to present the plan as having roots in a moral/ethical ideology (mainly those of the Catholic faith) and by doing so gaining the approval and trust of the elderly.

It was smart or he has some Catholic helping him; to come around and close the interview by inserting “Without Roots” written by Radzinger and Pera(amazon.com/Without-Roots-Relativism-Christianity-Islam/dp/0465006345). In doing so he is attempting to confirm his explanation about his connection with Ayn Rand and how good things can be taken from atheist ideas and applied by a faithful and the two can work together. It looks to me as though someone helped him out with making that circle.

I would give him the benefit of the doubt as he belongs to a parish and is a practicing Catholic.

I still need to read his plan. So, it passed the house but not the senate? Is it going nowhere right now? I have not been keeping up with this stuff at all. Hey, we have to choose our wars and there are only so many hours in a day. But, now I will take a closer look and get informed for election.

Does any care to share what are the advantage and disadvantages? Will the elderly suffer and loose the human rights after a certain age even though it may not be explicitly written in the plan, will it result in that? I like that he says that it made medicare and social security fix themselves and prevent bankruptcy and austerity measures.

 

[salusanimarum17]

The following quotes by Paul Ryan prior to the clean-up job when he became a national political figure speak for themselves: …

How do any of those quotes call his Catholic faith into question or make him an unfaithful Catholic? The general context is economics, capitalism, socialism, etc., not faith. Unless you are saying his economic ideas are such that they basically excommunicate Ryan…

 

[Abba]

PR is the last nail in the coffin for me re voting for Romney. I’m pro-life and I cannot vote for a pro-death candidate, one who would (wittingly or unwittingly) lead us to annihilation of life (or a huge chunk of it) on earth through climate change and other very serious environmental problems confronting us today.

At least Romney was for mitigating climate change before he was against it, but now I understand his true view on it by his selecting PR. (The fact that PR would work to gut medicare and social security and dump on thepoor (which I’m also against), and that he would work to fight medical abortions (his one good point) pale in comparison to his attack on the environment and all life on earth – and makes me really question his sincerity re fighting against abortion – it just doesn’t compute.)

lcv.org/media/blog/meet-paul-ryan.html
thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/08/11/677051/meet-paul-ryan-climate-denier-conspiracy-theorist-koch-acolyte/?mobile=nc

I can appreciate with what you are saying, because if Social Security funds and Medicare funds were used for the general budget then instead of going after the poor and elderly with cuts to balance the budget of Medicare and SS why not cut on spending with other things like 15 Billions of tax payers money to Israel etc… and defense spending etc…