Ayn Rand–Videos
Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.
Ayn Rand Interview with Tom Snyder, (1 of 3)
Ayn Rand Interview with Tom Snyder, (2 of 3)
Ayn Rand Interview with Tom Snyder, (3 of 3)
Ayn Rand on Donahue 1979
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 1 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 2 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 3 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 4 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 5 of 5
Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview 1959 part 1
Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview 1959 part 2
Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview 1959 part 3
AYN RAND’s message
The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.
Background Articles and Videos
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life 01
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 02
Ayn Rand A Sense of Life 03
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 04
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 05
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 06
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 07
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 08
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 09
Ayn Rand – A Sense of Life 10
Reason Foundation Co-Founder Tibor Machan on Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand: ‘Goddess of the Market’
By Richard Baehr
“…For Rand, more even than Levin, was a purist, and brooked no moderation around the edges of the philosophy she developed, which came to be known as objectivism. Rand challenged critics and dissenters to prove her ideas wrong, and thrilled by the challenge of taking on all comers in debates on her ideas. Her life was one of intellectual battles, including a fight to be acknowledged for her achievements in developing her new philosophy. Many of the leaders on the right who were her contemporaries, such as William F. Buckley, had no use for her. Buckley, who worked to link his Christian beliefs to the conservative movement, hated Rand’s unadulterated atheism. Literary snobs thought her novels were badly written. Academics never took her seriously.
But many readers did.
Burns, who is not an objectivist, spent 8 years researching the development of Rand’s thinking and principles, and she has produced a terrific book — a serious consideration of Rand’s ideas, and her role in the conservative movement of the past three quarters of a century, that is empty of academic jargon and accessible to those unfamiliar with Rand’s life or ideas.
The book is an intellectual biography, rather than a month by month catalogue of what happened in Rand’s life. Burns does not focus on Rand’s romantic relationships with Nathaniel Branden, as have many other books or movies about her life. Burns describes the battles Rand fought with herself and others, while writing her two key novels, “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”, very lengthy novels that took 5 and 12 years, respectively to complete. Burns describes these books as the “gateway drug to life on the right” for young conservatives for decades. This is not meant as an attack, but to describe the power of Rand’s ideas and the hold she maintained over her followers (at least those who stayed with her).
Burns is honest about contradictions that plagued Rand. For example, she was a vigorous proponent of reason and individualism, but among her followers, criticism was not a route to the inner circle, and was viewed as disloyalty, which could lead to a lifetime freeze-out in relations. The meetings of the “Collective” (Nathaniel Branden and his wife Barbara, Alan Greenspan, and select others) on Saturday nights at her New York apartment took on cult-like qualities (a religion of sorts?). …”
Cloward-Piven-Rand?
“…Cloward and Piven, meet Ayn Rand.
I have no idea whether Richard Cloward or Frances Piven has read Atlas Shrugged. But if they didn’t, they should, because though no one could differ more than Cloward-Piven and Rand on ends, they are astonishingly in total agreement on means. Recall the basic plot of Atlas Shrugged: John Galt, a disgruntled inventor whose work is appropriated for “the common good,” decides to “stop the motor of the world” by convincing the world’s innovators, inventors, and producers to stop innovating, inventing, and producing. Galt’s theory is that, deprived of these people’s intellect and industry, the state would be forced to supply the wealth that Galt and his ilk do not. As the state has no means to do this, the system would break down, force government to “get out of the way,” and herald the advent of pure capitalism.
Of course, Atlas Shrugged holds a place of honor on most conservatives’ must-read lists. So let’s be honest: A lot of us would like to bring down the current system, too. So if we do in fact share, at least temporarily, Cloward-Piven’s intermediate goal, should we not at least consider working with, rather than against, them? Why not a Cloward-Piven-Rand Strategy whereby, simultaneously, we convince the innovators, inventors, and producers to stop innovating, inventing, and producing — and they convince every eligible American to apply for every available social program and lobby for government at all levels to create even more? Would our combined efforts not bring down the current system — a goal we both share — even faster?
Ultimately, the Cloward-Piven crowd’s path and ours would necessarily diverge, to put it mildly. But for the present, while we share a common goal, why not work together, just as America and the Soviet Union fought together in World War II
? Later, when the war is the war won, when the common enemy — the current system — is defeated, we can go back to fighting each other.
? Later, when the war is the war won, when the common enemy — the current system — is defeated, we can go back to fighting each other.And then may the better system prevail.”
Ayn Rand as a Person and Author
Biographical Information about Ayn Rand
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/index.html
Bio FAQ
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/biofaq.html
Chronology and Bibliography of Ayn Rand’s Works
Compiled by Todd H. Goldberg, M.D., Charleston, WV
Revised November 2009
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/randbib.html
Ayn Rand Institute
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index
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