I have a long-time love/hate relationship with Ayd Rand, who wrote many things, including the powerful Atlas Shrugged.  I believe I have read everything she ever wrote and have seen movies of several of her works.  As a writer, I respect and envy the clarity with which she writes.  As a writer, I understand why she colored her characters in such black & white terms of good & evil.  What scares me about her writing is the zealotry she inspires!  There are many wild-eyed radicals who also love Ayd Rand.

This morning, we learn that Paul Ryan will be Romney’s nominee for Vice President.  I like “numbers” people who can listen to the stories that only numbers can tell.  I have appreciated Paul Ryan for his obsessive-compulsive focus on the necessity of cutting entitlements.  He is also a long-time devotee of Ayd Rand.

He once said  “I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff.”  (A few years later, he did tell Catholic bishops that he rejected the atheism that is a small part of Ayd Rand’s philosophy.)

I have mixed emotions about his nomination.  He is an affable numbers guy, who serves his country well by focusing on the cancer that is entitlements.  As a fellow student of Ayd Rand, I appreciate his intellectual journey.  But, the zealotry of her followers still scares me.

Now, one of those followers could only be a heartbeat away from the most powerful position in the world.  That worries me . . .