Ayn Rand Joins the Ticket (Jane Mayer | The New Yorker)
... Rands works were an early and important influence on him, shaping his thinking as far back as high school. Later, as a Congressman, Ryan not only tried to get all of the interns in his congressional office to read Rands writing, he also gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged to his staff as Christmas presents, as he told the Weekly Standard in 2003.
Two years later, in 2005, Ryan paid fealty to Rand in a speech he gave to the Atlas Society, the Washington-based think tank devoted to keeping Rands objectivist philosophy alive. He credited her with inspiring his interest in public service ...
Three years ago ... Ryan described Americas political challenge as coming straight out of Rands worksaying, whats unique about whats happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that its as if were living in an Ayn Rand novel right now ...
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/08/paul-ryan-and-ayn-rand.html