The Debt Dialogues [Episode 29]: Max Borders on Entrepreneurship and Inequality

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Max Borders, editor of The Freeman and author of Superwealth, on entrepreneurship and inequality.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1rAk8pR

Student Conference: Ayn Rand’s Individualism and the Case for Liberty

This week I had the chance to talk with Brittney Fay Rivera of The Undercurrent about a first-of-its kind, student-only conference. The Undercurrent conference focuses on Ayn Rand’s philosophy and its real world application. Listen in to the podcast to find out more about the event, which takes place October 11th and 12th at American University in Washington D.C. (P.S. There's still time to sign-up.)



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1rf9Fm1

The Atlas Venture Fund

A new grant-making fund was announced at the Ayn Rand Institute’s 2014 Objectivist Summer Conference. The Atlas Venture Fund will award grants (or loans) to individuals to assist in their efforts to promote Objectivist ideas. Carl Barney, an ARI board member, announced the creation of the new fund and donated $1 million to start it.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1vcOiB1

Policy Digest: Foreign Policy Edition

On Iraq, the Islamic State and America’s “surge.” Plus: sing a riff on “Happy,” face jail time?



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1B6IKJ1

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 28]: Romina Boccia on Social Security and the Millennial Generation

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Romina Boccia, the Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs at the Heritage Foundation, on Social Security and how it affects Millennials.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1wKs2ys

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 28]: Romina Boccia on Social Security and the Millennial Generation

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Romina Boccia, the Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs at the Heritage Foundation, on Social Security and how it affects Millennials.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1r4bdPI

Frankenfood and the Angry Villagers

Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, celebrated a birthday in August (if she was still alive, she would be over 200 years old). Since the most popular anti-GMO slur term, “Frankenfood,” is based on her iconic work of fiction, Mary Shelley’s birthday had me (and some other bloggers) thinking about how the story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster relates to the biotech debate.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/XWAGxS

Policy Digest: Environmental issues

Climate protestors are busy preparing signs, floats and a “papier-mâché tree embedded with axes” for the People’s Climate March in New York City this Sunday. Thousands are expected to gather and march through the streets of Manhattan with the goal of convincing U.N. members to band together and drastically cut the use of fossil fuels across the globe. Marchers may believe they are taking to the streets in an effort to make lives better, but Alex Epstein, president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, writes in a recent Forbes.com article, that “[i]n fact they’re supporting policies that would cut billions of lives short. Literally.”



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1tyDnlB

Join Don Watkins On The Road to A Free Society

In October, ARI fellow Don Watkins takes his campaign to end the debt draft on The Road to a Free Society tour.

from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1rkzErv

Introducing: Ayn Rand’s The Unconquered

Almost seventy years after the publication of Ayn Rand’s first novel, We the Living, Dr. Robert Mayhew is now out with never-before published versions of Rand’s theatrical adaption of the novel: The Unconquered: With another, earlier adaptation of We the Living.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1r3FWtC

A Charter of Power Granted by Liberty

“In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example . . . of charters of power granted by liberty.” James Madison wrote these words in 1792, five years after the Constitution began its journey toward ratification by the states. Today marks the 227th anniversary of that beginning — the signing of the Constitution by the 39 delegates to the Philadelphia convention. Madison’s statement is one of my favorites because it conveys, more than any other quote I can think of, the proper relationship between individuals and government, which is a key part of the profound moral significance of the Constitution and the government it created.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/XFdyUB

Join us at The Undercurrent Student Conference

Students eager to join the intellectual battle for individual freedom are invited to The Undercurrent Student Conference taking place October 11 – 12 at American University in Washington, D.C. The Undercurrent has reopened applications for its student-only Objectivist conference exclusively for students living close enough to DC to drive to the conference or for those who are able to fund their own travel and lodging. So, if you are a local fan of Ayn Rand’s free-market ideas, her literature, or any other aspect of her philosophy, consider applying before September 30th!



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/Xc2GwQ

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 27]: Gregory Salmieri on Justice

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Dr. Gregory Salmieri, professor of philosophy at Rutgers University and Stevens Institute of Technology, on the subject of justice.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/Xvfm2h

Policy Digest: Regulatory State Edition

The Wall Street Journal offers a good take down of the arguments for the Export-Import Bank, which the House just reauthorized for another 6 months. One irony in this debate, which the Journal notes: many on the left, including the Obama administration, Elizabeth Warren, and Nancy Pelosi, support the Ex-Im bank despite their real antipathy for business and their professed antipathy for “the rich” obtaining benefits at the expense of everyone else.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1y6xeRL

Looking Back at the Post–9/11 Decade

Three years ago, ARI hosted a symposium in Washington D.C. to explore American foreign policy in the Middle East in the decade after September 11. What have we learned since then? How should we evaluate America’s policy in that volatile region? What lies ahead for U.S. relations with Israel and with a likely soon-to-be nuclear Iran? The 2011 event featured three panel discussions, with noted commentators and scholars presenting a range of viewpoints.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1AA4WuV

Thanks For Your Support

A few weeks back I asked for you to vote for my entry in the Think Freely Media’s 2014 Great Communicators Tournament, which asked entrants to make a moral argument for freedom.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/WUX8a5

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 26]: George Will on Progressivism

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist George Will on American Progressivism.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1sayn5Z

Policy Digest: Welfare State Edition

Michael Tanner: “[M]ore than one out of every three Americans live in households that are now on welfare. Looked at another way, America’s welfare state now has nearly three times the population of the largest actual state. . . . And none of these numbers include the middle-class social-welfare programs like Medicare and Social Security. Counting these programs, more than 153 million Americans, nearly half the population (49.5 percent), are living in households now dependent on government for a significant portion of their income.”



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1ru4TvO

Is Ayn Rand Confused About Altruism?

In the PJTV video I talked about yesterday, Bill Whittle and Andrew Klavan also criticize Rand for confusing selflessness and altruism. Selflessness doesn’t exist, Klavan says, because “everyone is acting for personal gain, even if that personal gain is joy” from helping others. Altruism then is simply doing good for others in order to gain joy, which Klavan stresses is a good thing.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1qCFiTQ

Is Ayn Rand Utopian?

In a recent video for PJTV, Bill Whittle and Andrew Klavan answer a question from a viewer: “Why is Ayn Rand nonsense?” To their credit, they largely reject the premise of the question, and while they are very critical of Rand (and annoyingly snarky about it), their criticisms are on the whole thoughtful if tremendously confused.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1rA3ebO

Policy Digest: Regulatory State Edition

I had a strong sense of déjà vu when I read this Wall Street Journal editorial about Argentina’s harassment of a U.S. printing company for closing a plant in Buenos Aires. Why did this sound so familiar?



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/Wi0Avh

Policy Digest: Foreign Policy Edition

By one reckoning, the cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel might seem like an even stalemate. But in fact it’s lopsided in Hamas’s favor. Leaving aside the Israeli concession of easing the import of aid and materials for reconstruction, the fact that Hamas continues to exist as an organization ruling Gaza is an undeserved win.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1lzQfXb

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 25]: Onkar Ghate on Individual Rights

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview ARI senior fellow and chief content officer Onkar Ghate on how the concept of individual rights can and should guide our thinking about political issues, including the welfare state.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1pm0pFU