• • • Ryan and Ayn 
Gerry O’Shea, Irish Echo (New York) Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged  |The Fountainhead  |Capitalism  | Ayn Rand’s political philosophy centers on the glorification of the individual. She advocated a completely laissez-faire system, with almost no regulation to hamper capitalists as they accumulate wealth. Tough luck on schools and other public services! In her Darwinian dog-eat-dog version of a healthy society, the poor are viewed as weaklings who are destined to be left behind. Mr. Ryan’s people left Ireland when it was devastated by successive famines in the middle of the 19th century. It is surely ironic that the laissez-faire political philosophy, which Ryan so admires, was the prevailing policy of the British government at the time.   Published: 2012-08-31