Many of the performers showcase captivating and remarkable talents - from Johnny Eck 'the half man' walking on his hands, to Prince
Randian smoking a cigarette without the use of any limbs.
The person running Golden Oaks is Mae Yu, a high-achieving Chinese-American woman who, in a marvelous phrase, has "a lusty Ayn
Randian love of New York." Her job is to recruit Hosts who are willing to carry babies for the company's wealthy Clients.
I can see why a Marxist would like the movie, but a
Randian might appreciate it too.
So, if in 2005 Rand was his inspiration and tutor, and in 2012 it was Aquinas who guided the congressman's intellect, the obvious question is: Shift from
Randian individualism to Thomistic focus on the common good, what policies did Ryan reconsider and what stances did he change?
For some pro-immigration Republicans this contempt is Ayn
Randian: We'll all be better off with more hardworking immigrants and fewer shiftless mooching natives.
Indeed, this parallel is explicitly borne out in the penultimate chapter, under the unapologetically
Randian title, "The Entrepreneur as Moral Hero"; Den Uyl and Rasmussen, The Perfectionist Turn, pp.
"A 'nondenominational' chaplain comes around and says stuff like America is a Judeo-Christian nation' founded on 'Biblical principles.'" And, she adds, "everything is American exceptionalism,' Ayn
Randian. If you're screwed, it's your fault."
Olsen describes in detail the difference between the two Republicans' conservatism: Goldwater's was theoretical, focused on freeing up
Randian entrepreneurs, dedicated to repealing the New Deal; Reagan's was practical, focused on empowering ordinary people to make their own choices, accepting the New Deal (with modifications), and opposing the growing power of the state as advocated by Henry Wallace and in Roosevelt's 1944 State of the Union speech.
Ryan's
Randian side has been dominant ever since he entered politics.