It's not often that an American election sparks debate about a philosopher. But ever since Mitt Romney announced his selection of Paul Ryan as his vice presidential candidate, talk has turned to the ideas of novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand.
Ryan is on record as being a fan of Rand's, and although he has taken pains to distance himself from her entire philosophy, he continues to stress that her novel Atlas Shrugged "is a great novel". Ryan is far from the only one who thinks so. Since the financial meltdown of 2008, Rand's 1957 novel has sold more than 1.5 million copies.
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