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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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Correlation may not be causation, but it can be amusing.
edit: With Cruz doing what he's done most recently, and iirc being the heavy behind the government shutdown a while back, would it be a bit too Captain Obvious to suggest he has a bad habit of cutting off his nose to spite his face?
edited 21st Jul '16 11:19:14 AM by sgamer82
I've given it a bit of thought, and while I'd normally dismiss it as muckraking it really doesn't look like an accident that Laura Ingraham did the Hitler salute.
Her face goes from smiling to serious to smiling again. Her arm went from loose to purposefully rigid to loose again. And, of course, she faced the massive picture of The Donald as she did it.
Again, I don't want to perpetuate hysteria, but it's a little much to be an accident.
I don't think Cruz is an objectivist. While Cruz's brand of conservatism (as well as many other brands of conservatism) and objectivism have some overlapping ethos, an actual objectivist would probably be more liberal than he is (objectivist politics is "socially liberal capitalism"-closer to the libertarian party than anything).
If he's just pretending to have these opinions for "self-interest" then he's not following objectivist ethics as they're intended (or even "as written" for that matter)
edited 21st Jul '16 11:39:33 AM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34@protag
Actual objectivism and Ayn Rand objectivism are two very different creatures, I agree. Cruz would not qualify under the more traditional anti-"Walden Pond" objectivism.
However, the Ayn Rand "FYGM"-style where you ramp your self-worth up to Over 9000 levels and make sure that everyone else knows you're the real <s>Slim Shady</s> John Galt seems more like Cruz to me. That's to me, though. You could very easily be correct.
I don't think that'd be correct either. Keep in mind that Objectivism puts "not infringing upon others" as its fundamental ethical principle as well as not demanding that people live for something other than themselves. Cruz claims to be a Christian and wants to grow Christianity's influence in society-he's either telling the truth (in which case he's not an objectivist) or he's lying (in which case he's doing something objectivism would consider downright monstrous).
Cruz is not an Objectivist; he's a Dominionist Protestant — also known as an apocalyptic evangelical. His basic ideology is that the world is coming to an end and it's his Holy Mission from God Almighty to bring us into compliance with Biblical Law before we're all dragged off, kicking and screaming, to Hell.
Further, Cruz's father has seemingly raised him to believe that he himself is the embodiment of the Second Coming of Christ and is destined to cleanse the filth from this evil, evil world and raise up the righteous from the ashes.
edited 21st Jul '16 12:04:50 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"To put it another way:
Cruz is a saner Zachary Hale Comstock; Rand is a saner Andrew Ryan.
edited 21st Jul '16 12:05:45 PM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34Ahaha. Aha. Ha.
I think I might see one black intern towards the back center left.
One can perform charitable acts for selfish purposes, but Rand Paul is not an Objectivist, either; he's a Libertarian. A grumpy one, but a Libertarian nonetheless (or maybe all Libertarians are inherently grumpy; it's hard to tell).
The faux-Objectivist in the room is pretty boy Paul Ryan, current Speaker of the House, who infamously required all his staffers to read Atlas Shrugged and swear the Pledge of Allegiance to Ayn Rand. He dropped that shtick like a hot potato once someone pointed out that Rand was an renowned atheist.
edited 21st Jul '16 12:19:06 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I mean, Cruz and Rand had fairly extreme ideologies, though Bioshock villains are very much strawmen (this is basically being Damned by Faint Praise, though). For example, Cruz does not literally worship the Founding Fathers, but he seems to sanctify them in a pseudo-religious manner. Cruz is nowhere near as bigoted as Comstock, even if he's not exactly egalitarian himself.
Rand would probably take issue with some of the things that went on in Rapture, and even John Galt's actions are more justified in-universe than actual suggestions (Galt ran away from America to form a micronation only because in-universe America's already become a communistic dystopia. Rand however, was actually very patriotic towards the US)
@Charity: it's morally acceptable under objectivism, according to Ayn Rand. It is not, however, required.
edited 21st Jul '16 12:27:18 PM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34
Wait, you mean there's someone else besides Trump running for President? Someone should tell the media.

Yeah, up here in Canada our last election was three months. It was the longest election cycle since the 1800s. Your elections are insane.