Why isn’t Ayn Rand mentioned in the GOP platform?
by digby
Lyin’ Ryan is either fibbing again or he’s been brainwashed by looney tunes Christian conservative historians like David Barton:
Paul Ryan wants the Obama administration to explain why the Democratic platform doesn’t include the word “God” in it.
“I think it’s rather peculiar,” the GOP vice presidential hopeful said during a Fox News appearance on Wednesday morning (via Politico). “It’s not in keeping with our founding documents, our founding vision. I’d guess you’d have to ask the Obama administration why they purged all this language from their platform. There sure is a lot of mention of government. I guess I would just put the onus and the burden on them to explain why they did all this, these purges of God.”
As John Dean tweeted a bit ago, why doesn’t Ryan explain why the Constitution doesn’t mention God? (Other than the “year of our Lord, which is so stupid I just lost 10 IQ points just writing it down.)
Which founding documents is he talking about? “Endowed by our creator?” Pretty vague for a Christian, don’tcha think? But considering that it came from a Deist, it makes some sense. Where else? What’s he going on about?
And anyway, what’s God got to do with it? Once again, here’s Lyin’ Ryan talking about his true north:
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 the fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism…
And so when you take a look at where we are today, ah, some would say we’re on offense, some would say we’re on defense, I’d say it’s a little bit of both. 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…
Is this an easy fight? Absolutely not…But if we’re going to actually win this we need to make sure that we’re solid on premises, that our principles are well-defended, and if we want to go and articulately defend these principles and what they mean to our society, what they mean for the trends that we set internationally, we have to go back to Ayn Rand. Because there is no better place to find the moral case for capitalism and individualism than through Ayn Rand’s writings and works.
Obviously, the bigger question is why the GOP platform doesn’t mention Ayn Rand. Judging by their policies, she is far more influential than God. Of course, she isn’t mentioned in the constitution either, so maybe we can call this one a draw.
Update: Never mind. The Democrats got all nervous as usual and put “God” in the platform today by a voice vote. No word on whether the GOP will give their one true God a similar tribute.