Matt Yglesias

Rep. Kevin McCarthy Currently Reading Atlas Shrugged

Another member of congress, this time Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), wants us to know that he’s getting his policy ideas from a crank novelist. This time we learn via Twitter:

Still reading Atlas Shrugged – its quite the read. #TCOT #sgp #books

Something I think most liberals don’t understand is exactly how stupid many conservative leaders are. There is, yes, a condescending tendency to believe that no smart person could be on the right ideologically at all. That’s dead wrong. Plenty of bright people on the right. But the way their movement works, intelligence or understanding of politics and policy has no meaningful role in advancement. If anything, there’s something of a negative correlation between knowing what you’re talking about and being able to get ahead in right-wing politics.

So you get stuff like this. He’s not cocooning by reading Milton Friedman, he’s cocooning by reading Ayn Rand. It’s nuts, but it’s the way things work.