Paul Ryan is Romney's pick for Vice President and now Ayn Rand's name is on everyone's lips.

Many on the left are pillorying Ryan as an unrealistic "ideologue" because of his Rand connection. Many on the right accede, quickly trying to set aside Ryan's admiration for "Atlas Shrugged" as youthful indiscretion. "Every young conservative has a fascination with Ayn Rand at some point," Romney's strategist Eric Fehrnstrom says dismissively.

But hold on. If we actually consider the essence of what Rand advocates, the idea that her philosophy is childish over-simplification stands as condemnation not of her position but of the many adults from whom this accusation stems.

The key to Rand's enduring popularity is that she appeals not to the immaturity but to the idealism of youth. This is why more than 29,000 students submitted entries this year to essay contests on her novels and, in the past five years alone, high school teachers have requested over 1.5 million copies of "The Fountainhead," "We the Living," "Anthem" and "Atlas Shrugged" to use in their classrooms.