Paul Ryan Is Your Annoying Libertarian Ex-Boyfriend…

Ryan admits that Ayn Rand’s work was a foundation of his political beliefs. “[T]he reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” Ryan said in a speech to the Atlas Society in 2005. “And the fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism.” Ryan has since distanced himself from libertarianism, the equivalent of taking the Rand off the shelf, but retains the self-important attitude and disregard for policies based on collective good.