In the United States, the Republican party prides itself on being champions of limited government, little to no taxes and standing up for their idea of what "morality" should be. Two central figures that Republicans want you to believe modern conservatism is based on are Ayn Rand and Jesus Christ.
When asked about the size of government, taxes, "entitlement" programs and the role of a government in society, the philosophy of Ayn Rand is given by conservatives across the country. Many conservatives might not even know who Ayn Rand is, but the policies they support and defend are a direct result of the teachings and works of the Russian American novelist. Rand was born on February 2nd, 1905 and was one of the turn of the centuries most influential writers. Rand is mostly known for the radical right wing ideology promoted in her 1957 novel, 'Atlas Shrugged.' Atlas Shrugged is a story of paranoia and fear about the role of government and taxes in an alternate America. Rand often explores her other great loves in her writing, such as individualism and capitalism, and created her own philosophy known as Objectivism.
While Rand was correct in her theory that reason was the only true way of gaining knowledge as opposed to faith and religion, Rand took her ideas into the political realm and went off track. Supporting laissez faire capitalism, Rand led the charge of an "everyone person for themselves" society. A type of society where if you can't make it all on your own, you are destined to fail. Any Rand's political form of natural selection goes against the morals of human nature and the greatest emotion of them all, compassion.
While Republicans cling to the economic ideology of Ayn Rand, they bring someone else into the mix when they want to talk about their theology, Jesus Christ. With the rise of the Tea Party and the evangelical Christian movement, religion being forced into the public square as well as social issues like same sex marriage and abortion are being brought to the forefront of American politics. Republicans use the Bible and religion for what it is, a weapon. In the hands of someone with good intentions, religion could be used for positive things. Those with positive motives simply pick and choose what they want to promote and use it. However, people with bad intentions decide to pick and choose what they want from their religion and use it to fit their agenda. The Republican party supports legislation that hurts the poor and working class, alienates people with different beliefs and shows particular bias against women, the American youth, minorities and many more.
If you can somehow ignore the hellfire and brimstone of the old testament as well as the murder, rape and evil that fills hundreds of pages in the Bible, the character of Jesus Christ shows much compassion. Within the pages of the Bible, Jesus healed the sick, fed the poor and preached about the human emotion that the Republican party often rails against, compassion. For a party that continues to vote for cuts in programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, it seems like a bit of a conflict of interest to champion someone like Jesus who would never be against any of those programs. It's hard to imagine Jesus Christ turning away a dying person because they had a pre existing condition or no health insurance.
The Republican party needs to make a choice because they can no longer straddle the political fence with Jesus pulling one leg and Ayn Rand pulling the other. The ideology of the two conflict to the point that it can't work consistently. The Republican party often talks about their love of "God" and Jesus Christ, but they don't show it in their actions and their economic platform. The truth of the matter is that if there actually was a historical Jesus, he would be turning in his grave alongside Ayn Rand and for two totally different reasons.
