• • • The myth of radical individualism 
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Capitalism  |Egoism  |Individualism  |Paul Ryan  | A recent "This Modern World" cartoon features Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the ghost of Ryan's philosophical hero Ayn Rand. Rand believed in unfettered capitalism, radical individualism and the virtue of selfishness. The ever irascible Rand calls Ryan a "collectivist pawn" for using his Social Security survivor benefits to pay for his college education. The Ghost of Ayn Rand is right to condemn Ryan for filling the federal troughs.      View blog reactions

• • The Tea Party and “Austrian” economics 
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Rand Paul  | More than half the Austrian workforce is unionized, and workers and management follow the German model of “consensus” labor relations. Completely contrary to the Tea Party’s “Austrian” economics, unit labor costs, according to The Economist, “fell by an astonishing 38 percent” from 1995-2005. Just like its huge neighbor Germany, Austria has maintained a strong manufacturing base with 19 percent of “value added to the economy” compared to the US and the UK at 13 percent. The Tea Party means something very different by “Austrian” economics. They are referring to the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, who influenced free marketeers Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Ron and Rand Paul, and Alan Greenspan, long-time chairman of the Federal Reserve. Although Ayn Rand angrily rejected the term, this movement has been called “libertarianism.”      View blog reactions

• Strange bedfellows: Libertarians and conservative christians 
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Atheism  | Libertarians affirm the sovereignty of the self, while orthodox Christians believe in the sovereignty of God. This is why consistent libertarians such Ayn Rand and her followers are atheists or agnostics.      View blog reactions