Paul Ryan & Ayn Rand

As I was getting coffee before class at 8am this morning, I saw on the television that Paul Ryan was just elected speaker of the House. Given that Ayn Rand is not my favorite political philosopher by any means, I am sad that many in congress continue to move farther to the right. Those of us on the left want education and healthcare for all of our people, and Ryan is a hard opponent of this, making little distinction between degrees of socialism and hardcore communism. I am worried that things are going to get a lot worse for many people before there is an opportunity for us to make things better. I was discussing socialism versus capitalism in class today, and showed some of John Pilger’s War on Democracy, which is an admittedly left wing pro-socialism documentary, the sort of thing Ryan would despise along with Rand. Here is the documentary, entirely free online:

ericgerlach79

Gerlach is German and rhymes with bear-lock. I was born and raised in the Haight Ashbury of San Francisco, moved to Berkeley for college and grad school, with an MA in History of Religion from the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley, and now teach Philosophy and the history of human thought at Berkeley City College. I have taught Intro Philosophy, Ethics, Logic, Asian Philosophy, Greek Philosophy, Modern European Philosophy and Social & Political Philosophy there for the past several years, and it has been a joy.

Author archive Author website

October 29, 2015

Philosophy

atlas shrugged, ayn rand, capitalism, left wing, libertarian, paul ryan, political philosophy, right wing, socialism

One thought on “Paul Ryan & Ayn Rand”

Add yours

cf
October 31, 2015 at 1:35 am

Reply

Born American, naturalized Canadian. Won the lottery.

Reply

Thought Itself

The History of Philosophy, Logic & The Mind with Eric Gerlach