Paul Ryan Is Living In an Ayn Rand Fantasy Land

By Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Magazine

27 October 11

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adies and gentlemen, we present to you today's worst paragraph in political rhetoric, courtesy of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Dickens), in an appearance at the Heritage Foundation, which must be like seeing The Beatles at The Cavern in Liverpool, back in the day. Take it away, big guy.

"We're coming close to a tipping point in America where we might have a net majority of takers versus makers in society and that could become very dangerous if it sets in as a permanent condition. Because what we will end up doing is we will convert our safety net system - which is necessary I believe to help people who can't themselves, to help people who are down on their luck get back onto their feet - into a hammock that ends up lulling people into lives of dependency and complacency which drains them of their incentive and the will to make the most of their lives."

Sentence No. 1: pure Ayn Rand. "Makers vs. takers." Moochers and leeches. You and Them. But especially Them. But not in a divisive way. Oh, no. The Congressman doesn't believe in divisive class rhetoric. He said so - "To my great disappointment, it appears that the politics of division are making a big comeback. Many Americans share my disappointment ..." - earlier in his remarks. And he is not engaging in the politics of division himself. Oh, no. He's just sad - mournful, even - that the "conceits of liberalism" are on their way to dividing the country into "makers versus takers." And you know who you are, don't you? And who They are. And what They are taking ... from You.

And also, it has apparently escaped the congressman's notice, probably because he's so saddened by the politics of division that he sees all around him, and by the fight between makers and takers, which he wishes wasn't taking place, and wouldn't be, if it weren't for those damn liberals over there, but we don't "make" a helluva lot in this country any more, and the reason that we don't make much in this country any more is because, 30 years ago, we put our brains in cold storage and started taking crackpot conservative economics seriously. The difference between a maker and a taker in the economy is whether or not the widget plant moved to China, or whether or not the company got broken up and its pension plan pillaged because some deregulated Wall Street ferret created a new way to steal other people's money. That's what we "make" now: complicated new financial instruments with which the "makers" can lift our wallets.

(Let us pause briefly here to point out that anyone who takes Ayn Rand seriously at Paul Ryan's age desperately needs to get out in the fresh air and sunshine more.)

Sentence No. 2: an entire K-Tel collection of Golden Oldies. "A Safety net, not a hammock." "Dependency." "Complacency." "The Draining of The Will." (That last one sounds like a film on penile abscesses directed by Leni Riefenstahl.) Holy god, this stuff was old when Newt Gingrich was peddling it in his previous life. Tell us, congressman, when you were skating for a couple of years on your Social Security survivor's benefits, and when your family stayed on the government dole for longer that that, "taking" from, among other people, my parents and me, how did you manage not to be "lulled" into a life of "complacency" and "dependency"? How were you not "drained" of your "incentive"? How was your "will to make the most of your life" not drained, as well. What's the magic number? Two years on the dole? Three? Five? Let us know so we can stop pestering you and find our bootstraps.

I suspect it was because, after you left the family earth-moving business, you eventually went to work on a government paycheck for Senator Bob Kasten, and then you went to work on a government paycheck for Senator Sam Brownback, and then you went briefly into the private sector - as a speechwriter for the late Jack Kemp - before going back on a government paycheck when you were elected to the House, 13 years ago. At which point, you became the pet Big Thinker and point man for a bunch of rich people, including many - Was the wine to your liking, by the way? - of the same folks that crashed the economy in 2008, thereby creating the conditions that, much to your obvious pain and chagrin, are turning so many of your fellow citizens into dependent, complacent, will-lacking slobs, because they're taking unemployment benefits. That pretty much guaranteed you wouldn't be paying for your own dinners much any more.

Stop running away from your constituents, and siccing the cops on them back home while you're in Hawaii, and ask some guy who got laid off at the Janesville GM plant last spring, if his primary worry is that his unemployment check is turning him complacent and draining him of his incentive to look for a job that probably isn't there, because unemployment in your district is running in double digits. Is that guy a maker or a taker? Speak up. Your constituents would like to know. If they can afford a ticket, that is.