That contemptuous tape: Is Mr. Romney also an Ayn Rand admirer?

As we all know now, that taped speech reveals an amazing degree of dismissal, and what many see as outright contempt, for all of us who support programs such as Social Security and Medicare. I had trouble understanding what could generate this kind of contemptuous dismissal. Until I remembered his choice of running mate, Congressman Ryan, whose admiration of Ayn Rand, a rather weird and awful person I'd forgotten about since college, brought her and her philosophy back into discussion. 

Mr. Romney's statements mirror Rand's contempt for the middle classes and people who pay into entitlement programs (especially Social Security). She's equally known for her glorification of the wealthy classes and of ruthless accumulation of wealth. From his speeches about his years at Bain Capital, although he never mentions her, it does seem he might well see himself as a Rand-type hero.

This tremendously condensed description of Rand's attitude is from an article, 'How Ayn Rand Became an American Icon,': 

"She announced that the world was divided between a small minority of Supermen who are productive and "the naked, twisted, mindless figure of the human Incompetent" who, like the Leninists, try to feed off them. He is "mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned." It is evil to show kindness to these "lice": The "only virtue" is "selfishness." "

I love to read, so sent for a paperback copy of her "Atlast Shrugged" a few weeks ago, but when it came I just couldn't stomach 1069 pages of tiny print about a Randian hero. In this case, the condensed version is enough to get the general idea--I'm a "human Incompetent " who tries to feed off the wealthy, etc., etc.

Extreme as this may sound, though, a less virulent offshoot of her philosophy that is being discussed even more these days is Libertarianism. This all makes me think Mr. Romney may not be the not-so-secret moderate Republican I had him pegged for after all.