The Boy Who Read Ayn Rand (And Swallowed It Whole)

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis) has announced he will not seek reelection in November.  Good riddance! 

His replacement will be no better, but with any luck, McCarthy/Scalise/whoever will be the minority leader, not the speaker.

Paul Ryan spent his 19 years in Congress living on a sort of libertarian Fantasy Island.  The die was cast for him in high school, when he read a work of dystopian fiction, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  The impressionable young Ryan was mesmerized by Rand's "hero," the greed-is-good, selfish, ubermensch John Galt.  Ryan credited the book as the reason he got into politics, and made it required reading for his staff.  Required reading!  WTF?

Most of us grow out of any youthful libertarian flirtation, but Ryan never did.  Somehow, he became the GOP's favorite budget wonk, a supposed genius working to rein in debt and spending.  In reality, he was a trickle-down/supply-side dupe whose idea of "individualism" was killing Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Obamacare.  Thankfully, he failed in all those efforts.

His lone "accomplishment" was the Trump tax giveaway, which gave huge tax cuts to big business and wealthy individuals while ballooning the deficit and national debt by at least $2 trillion.  So much for the great budget hawk.     

In addition to giving rich people more money, Ryan is a moralistic opponent of abortion rights and a  champion of the NRA.  As Speaker, he allowed the reprehensible Devin Nunes to exist and he's been a gutless Trump enabler.

In these pages, I've referred to Paul Ryan, variously, as Paulie Smallnuts, the Rat-Faced Boy, Hatchet Face, and the Grandma Killer.  I was too kind.  He leaves a legacy as toady to the One Percent, and full-of-shit Ayn Rand acolyte to everyone else.

Go home and eat cheese, Paulie!  GTFO!