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Another risk with Ryan is the congressman's record of affection for the controversial libertarian writer Ayn Rand.
The late Rand, who was born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum to Jewish parents in St. Petersburg, Russia, espoused a philosophy known as Objectivism, which celebrated self-interest and laissez faire capitalism and opposed altruism.
Ryan had a long record of praise for Rand and her influence on him, though earlier this year he attempted to distance himself from her ideas. He dismissed as an “urban legend” the notion that he was an Ayn Rand devotee: “I reject her philosophy,” which he described as “atheist” and “completely antithetical to mine.”
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