Prometheus Foundation promotes Objectivism

Prometheus Foundation for Advancing Objectivism: Founder’s Intent - The Objective Standard - Craig Biddle:

March 19, 2019 - "[T]he Prometheus Foundation (PF) [is], a nonprofit organization established by Carl Barney to provide funding for ventures that advance Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, scholarships for students who are pursuing careers that advance these ideas, and grants for proven Objectivist intellectuals to boost their productive output.

"I am honored to serve on the board of directors of PF, along with Carl Barney, Jim Brown, Lenny Esmond, David Hardy, Rony Miller, and C. Bradley Thompson. If you think that you or anyone you know might qualify for funding, visit Prometheus Foundation’s website for details and application guidelines....

"Here’s to Ayn Rand for developing a philosophy for living on earth! And here’s to Carl Barney for funding its advancement! —Craig Biddle

"Money is a great power because ... it is a frozen form of productive energy. And, therefore, the spending of money is a grave responsibility.―Ayn Rand....

"The Prometheus Foundation (PF), in essence, is a store of 'productive energy.' It is money that the Founder/Donor accumulated during his working life and now wishes to use to help make the world a better place for people to flourish. The only substantive, enduring way to do this is by advancing rational philosophy and rational psychology. This means advancing Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism and any psychology that integrates with it; such psychology would integrate with Objectivism, with Ayn Rand’s theory of emotions, and her work on epistemology and psycho-epistemology. PF exists solely for this purpose.

"Advancing Objectivism includes promoting Ayn Rand’s novels and nonfiction works, promoting Leonard Peikoff’s books and courses, creating courses on Objectivism, and creating organizations or undertaking projects that explicitly advance the philosophy.

"Every day, in many small ways, Objectivism is slowly changing the world. It is a long game. This is why, through the Objectivist Venture Fund (OVF), we want to invest in infrastructure (rather than one-off programs) that will endure. As of March 2019, examples of worthy recipients include the Ayn Rand Center in Europe, ARC Israel, the Ayn Rand Centre UK and centers in other countries, the Balkan Objectivist Center, the John Galt School, and The Objective Standard.... Carl B. Barney, Founder/Donor"

Read more: https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2019/03/prometheus-foundation-for-advancing-objectivism-founders-intent/
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ARI begins outreach to student libertarian groups

What Defenders of Liberty Need to Know - Tom Bowden, New Ideal:

January 21, 2019 - "In recent years, there has been a resurgence of libertarian student organizations both in the US and around the world. Many of the students involved in those organizations are interested in Ayn Rand, and it’s for this audience that philosophers Onkar Ghate and Gregory Salmieri presented a seven-part lecture series called “What Is Liberty?”"

"'It’s exciting to see that there are so many students around the world interested in promoting liberty,' Salmieri says. 'That’s a project that requires philosophy, and most of these students are still at the early stages in the process of thinking through what liberty is and what’s needed to defend it. We prepared these lectures as a summary for this audience of Rand’s political philosophy....

”The relationship between Objectivism and the libertarian movement has been fraught since the libertarian movement coalesced in the late 1960s, Salmieri observes. 'Early libertarian leaders all cited Rand as an influence, but most of them had embraced anarchism, a view that Rand considered to be deeply incompatible with capitalism — and, indeed, with the requirements of human life. She held the libertarian movement in contempt for this reason, and also because she regarded it as unphilosophical — as an attempt to pursue ‘liberty’ as a vaguely defined political goal without first doing the thinking needed to understand what liberty is or what it requires.'

"In some ways, Salmieri notes, today’s liberty movement is a lot better than the movement Rand denounced in the early 1970s, but her central criticisms of the movement remain valid. 'Anarchism may not be as dominant as it once was,' he explains, 'but it exerts an outsized influence on how almost all self-professed libertarians think about freedom. And, if one looks at the full range of positions endorsed by all the people who claim to be united ‘for liberty,’ they’re too disparate for them to count as all fighting for the same thing. Some of them are fighting for something I can recognize as freedom, but others are fighting against it.'

"This confusion presents a real problem for the future, Salmieri contends, because at one time or another all of the most oppressive social systems in history — socialism, fascism, anarchism — have been hailed as 'pro-liberty' and championed by young people who thought they were on the side of freedom....

"All seven sessions, filmed at the 2017 Ayn Rand Student Conference, are available on this YouTube playlist in the order presented."

Read more: https://newideal.aynrand.org/what-defenders-of-liberty-need-to-know/

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Libertarian author Jerome Tuccille dead at 79

Jerome Tuccille, Libertarian Author and Trump Biographer, Dies at 79 - The New York Times - William Grimes:

February 24, 2017 - "Jerome Tuccille, who wrote one of the first manifestoes of the American libertarian movement and the first biography of Donald J. Trump, died on Feb. 16 at his home in Severna Park, Md. He was 79.

"As Mr. Tuccille (pronounced too-CHILLY) told the tale in It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand: A Libertarian Odyssey (1971), he was a disaffected Roman Catholic looking for a new faith when he discovered the writings of Ayn Rand and her radically individualist philosophy, which she called objectivism....

"In Radical Libertarianism: A Right Wing Alternative (1970), he laid out a political program that envisioned an end to conscription, taxes and government control over education, health services, transportation and other areas. It also called for the legalization of drugs, prostitution and pornography.

"In an Op-Ed for The New York Times in 1971, Mr. Tuccille called on conservatives 'who still care about such things as peace and justice and racial harmony' to vote for candidates 'who really mean peace when they say peace; who understand and intend to promote the politics of decentralization, of pollution control, of economic and judicial reform, and so on all the way down the line'....

In 1974, two years after the founding of the Free Libertarian Party, Mr. Tuccille ran for governor of New York.... Three years later, in an article for the conservative magazine National Review, he wrote the epitaph for libertarianism as a political movement. Although still committed to its ideals, he called it 'hopelessly utopian' and 'an intellectual exercise, not a serious political alternative'....

"Tuccille wrote how-to books on investing and a series of biographies, beginning in 1985 with Trump: The Saga of America’s Most Powerful Real Estate Baron.... After his Trump biography, he wrote Rupert Murdoch (1989), Barry Diller: The Life and Times of a Media Mogul (1998) and Alan Shrugged: Alan Greenspan, the World’s Most Powerful Banker (2002)....

"Tuccille remained what his son called 'a borderline anarchist. In The Gospel According to Ayn Rand (2007), ...  Tuccille wrote: 'The battle to sustain the Bill of Rights is more challenging now than ever, the fight for freedom is far from over. In many ways things have gotten worse over the decades. Government is grotesquely big, taxes are too high, civil liberties are getting crimped a bit tighter every day.'”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/books/jerome-tuccille-dead.html
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Donald Trump as an Ayn Rand character

Would Ayn Rand Approve of Rule by a Rich and Powerful Capitalist? | Foundation for Economic Education - Christopher Machold:

July 22, 2016 - "As we get closer to the full swing of the general election cycle, those sympathetic to Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism will face this question: 'Shouldn’t an Objectivist be in favor of Donald Trump? He’s selfish and a powerful businessman, right?'... USA Today’s Kirsten Powers, in an interview with the now-official GOP nominee back in April, wrote this nugget: 'He identified with Howard Roark, the novel's idealistic protagonist who designs skyscrapers and rages against the establishment'....

"It’s a common slur used any time a conceited, cold-hearted politician emerges within the GOP: He’s straight out of an Ayn Rand novel. As a student of philosophy and a fan of Rand’s literature and ideas, I completely agree. But, far from the ideal characters of John Galt (Atlas Shrugged) or Howard Roark (The Fountainhead), Donald Trump is a cozy fit with another figure in The Fountainhead: Peter Keating, Howard Roark’s classmate and competitor....

"About Keating, Rand writes this: 'The exact opposite of Howard Roark, and everything a man should not be. A perfect example of a selfless man who is a ruthless, unprincipled egotist – in the accepted meaning of the word. A tremendous vanity and greed, which lead him to sacrifice all for the sake of a "brilliant career".’

"In other words, the 'ruthless, unprincipled egotist' – in our case, Donald J. Trump – is not what she means when she talks of selfishness as an ideal....

"This is confirmed in Rand’s opening remarks in The Virtue of Selfishness: 'In popular usage, the word "selfishness" is a synonym for evil; the image it conjures is of a murderous brute ... who cares for no living being and pursues nothing but the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment.' One may note that these descriptions sounds much like Dan P. McAdams’ account of Trump’s narcissism in the Atlantic....

"A man constantly mired in fraud-related lawsuits and accused of defrauding his customers and contractors is not Howard Roark. The man accused by the ACLU of promoting countless unconstitutional violations of individual rights is not the same man who swore against violating the rights of any other man. A narcissist who brags incessantly and dishonestly about his wealth and IQ is not the self-confident and self-sufficient producer depicted in The Fountainhead. The candidate who has been dangerously anti-free trade is not the hero of a woman who believes in the morality of laissez faire capitalism.

"Donald Trump is an unprincipled, immoral and dangerous 'second-hander,' to use Roark’s (and thus Rand’s) own vocabulary.

"Peter Keating did, and was, those things too – 'everything a man should not be'."

Read more: https://fee.org/articles/would-ayn-rand-approve-of-rule-by-a-rich-and-powerful-capitalist/
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Jennifer Grossman is new CEO of Atlas Society

The Atlas Society Welcomes Jennifer Anju Grossman as its New CEO, Effective March 1st - Sherrie Gossett, Atlas Society:

March 3, 2016 - "On March 1st, The Atlas Society welcomed Jennifer Anju Grossman as its new CEO.... Grossman is a former senior vice president at Dole Food Company....

"David Kelley, founder and acting CEO of the Atlas Society, said: 'Jennifer brings our team a powerful combination of executive management, public policy, and digital media expertise. Her creativity, charisma and commitment to Objectivism will help take our efforts, and the liberty movement, to the next level.'

"Grossman has spent decades helping people to live freer, healthier lives. She launched the Dole Nutrition Institute — a research and education organization — at the behest of Dole Chairman David H. Murdock. She continued this agenda as Health Editor of Laura Ingraham's new lifestyle site, LifeZette.

"Previously Grossman served as Director of Education at the Cato Institute, and worked closely with the late philanthropist Theodore J. Forstmann to launch the Children's Scholarship Fund. A speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush, Grossman has written for both national and local publications.

"Said Grossman: 'The principles of Objectivism, the philosophy rooted in reality, reason, and individualism, has never been more needed — nor more neglected.This is the perfect moment to help the public rediscover the moral vision of Ayn Rand."

"For twenty-five years, The Atlas Society has promoted the core values of Objectivism — reason, achievement, and ethical self-interest. These values are the moral foundation for political liberty and for personal happiness.

"'At the Atlas Society,' said Jay Lapeyre, Chairman of the Board of the Atlas Society, 'we don't preach to the converted. We hired Jennifer to lead our team in bringing Ayn Rand's revolutionary vision to fresh eyes, in unconventional ways'....

"Objectivism is the philosophy founded by Ayn Rand (1905-1982), the author of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, The Virtue of Selfishness, and other works.

Read more: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/03/prweb13242310.htm
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Ayn Rand’s enduring influence

Ayn Rand’s philosophy of selfishness has a deep influence on the mindset of the right - Gene H. Bell-Villad, The Raw Story:

April 22, 2015 - "Ayn Rand (1904-82) has arisen from the dead. Over the last decade the pop philosopher and propaganda fictionist extraordinaire has moved steadily from the cultish margins to the mainstream of US conservatism....

"In a larger sense, though, Rand had never died. Sales of her books remained steadily in the six figures in the years following her demise, their underground influence an unacknowledged-if-discomforting fact of American life. A couple of reader surveys carried out in the 1990s by Book-of-the-Month Club and the Library of Congress, and by the Modern Library imprint, showed Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead near the top of the polling results, according to author Brian Doherty. And, in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown, sales of her works tripled.

"Randianism, what she called Objectivism, now exists as a mass phenomenon, a grass-roots presence, a kind of folklore. 'Who Is John Galt?', her recurring slogan from Atlas Shrugged, can be seen on placards at Tea Party rallies, on leaflets casually affixed to telephone poles or on the shopping bags of Lululemon Athletics, the Canadian sports apparel company. The firm’s CEO, Chip Wilson, is an avowed Rand fan. So are the current corporate chiefs at Exxon, Sears, the BB & T Bank in North Carolina and the funky Whole Foods chain...."

"Randthought, which I discuss in my book, On Nabokov, Ayn Rand and the Libertarian Mind, serves as a major doctrinal component within the mindset of the libertarian, the latter being the most significant American ideological development of the last 35 years....

"Rand did not invent libertarianism. The thinking, sans the name, had been around since at least the 1920s. And her contemporaries, economists such as Milton Friedman and the so-called Austrian School, gave the set of ideas academic standing and respectability. In Rand’s truculent fiction, however, an abstract theory effectively took on flesh via dashing heroes and unabashed hero worship, vivid myths and technological magic, page-turning suspense and torrid, violent sex. For every studious reader of economist Friedrich von Hayek, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of eager devourers of Rand....

"In many respects, America is becoming — in echo of the title of a book by journalist Gary Weiss — an 'Ayn Rand Nation'."

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/ayn-rands-philosophy-of-selfishness-has-a-deep-influence-on-the-mindset-of-the-right/
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Ayn Rand at 110

Ayn Rand at 110 | Cato Institute - David Boaz:

February 2, 2015 - "In the dark year of 1943, in the depths of World War II and the Holocaust, when the United States was allied with one totalitarian power to defeat another, three remarkable women published books that could be said to have given birth to the modern libertarian movement. Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who had written Little House on the Prairie and other stories of American rugged individualism, published a passionate historical essay called The Discovery of Freedom. Isabel Paterson, a novelist and literary critic, produced The God of the Machine, which defended individualism as the source of progress in the world.

"The other great book of 1943 was The Fountainhead, a powerful novel about architecture and integrity by Ayn Rand. The book’s individualist theme did not fit the spirit of the age, and reviewers savaged it. But it found its intended readers. Its sales started slowly, then built and built. It was still on the New York Times bestseller list two full years later. Hundreds of thousands of people read it in the 1940s, millions eventually, some of them because of the 1949 film starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, and many of them were inspired enough to seek more information about Ayn Rand’s ideas. Rand went on to write an even more successful novel, Atlas Shrugged, in 1957, and to found an association of people who shared her philosophy, which she called Objectivism....

"George Gilder called Atlas Shrugged 'the most important novel of ideas since War and Peace.' Writing in the Washington Post, he explained her impact on the world of ideas and especially the world of capitalist ideas: 'Rand flung her gigantic books into the teeth of an intelligentsia still intoxicated by state power, during an era when even Dwight Eisenhower maintained tax rates of 90 percent and confessed his inability to answer Nikita Khrushchev’s assertion that capitalism was immoral because it was based on greed.'

"Rand’s books first appeared when no one seemed to support freedom and capitalism, and when even capitalism’s greatest defenders seemed to emphasize its utility, not its morality. It was often said at the time that socialism is a good idea in theory, but human beings just aren’t good enough for socialism. It was Ayn Rand who said that socialism is not good enough for human beings.

"Her books garnered millions of readers because they presented a passionate philosophical case for individual rights and capitalism, and did so through the medium of vivid, can’t-put-it-down novels. The people who read Ayn Rand and got the point didn’t just become aware of costs and benefits, incentives and trade-offs. They became passionate advocates of liberty.

"Rand was an anomaly in the 1940s and 1950s, an advocate of reason and individualism in time of irrationality and conformity. But she was a shaper of the 1960s, the age of “do your own thing” and youth rebellion; the 1970s, pejoratively described as the “Me Decade” but perhaps better understood as an age of skepticism about institutions and a turn toward self-improvement and personal happiness; and the 1980s, the decade of tax cuts and entrepreneurship.

"Throughout those decades her books continued to sell — 30 million copies over the years, and they still move off the shelves. The financial crisis and Wall Street bailouts gave Atlas Shrugged a huge push. A Facebook group titled 'Read the news today? It’s like Atlas Shrugged is happening in real life' was formed. More than 50 years after publication, the book had its best sales year ever. And sales have remained high — more than a million copies of Rand’s books were sold in 2012."

Read more: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/ayn-rand-110
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Remembering libertarian gay activist Roy Childs

Steve Mariotti: As DOMA Collapses, I Remember Libertarian Gay Activist Roy Childs - Huffington Post:

July 2, 2013 - "[T]he Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act ... brought back memories of one of the warmest people I've ever known, the great libertarian essayist, critic and gay activist Roy A. Childs, Jr. (1948-1992).

"Roy edited the Libertarian Review from 1977 until it folded in 1981. Next, he joined the Cato institute as a research fellow, eventually becoming a policy analyst. He was best-known, though, for his brilliant essays for Laissez Faire Books -- the largest seller of libertarian-related books. But I will always remember Roy as the man who dared challenge Ayn Rand on not only Objectivism, but also on her die-hard homophobia. As someone who had met Rand and knew how fearsome she could be, I admired his nerve!

"I was so impressed with Roy's essay, 'An Open Letter to Ayn Rand,' published in the Society for Individual Liberty's Individualist newsletter in 1969, that I wrote him a letter congratulating him on having the courage to stand up to her. I will never forget this sentence from Roy's essay: 'Let us walk forward into the sunlight, Miss Rand. You belong with us.'"

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mariotti/as-doma-collapses-i-remem_b_3537107.html
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See also: Childs's argument for anarchism, by George J. Dance

Libertarians bring Ron Paul Revolution up north with Liberty Fest

Libertarians bring Ron Paul Revolution up north with Liberty Fest - Andrew Moran, Digital Journal:

"Liberty Fest is coming to Canada this fall and could be one of the largest gatherings of freedom lovers, followers of Austrian Economics and anti-statists ever in the country.... This fall, like-minded individuals, who accept the principles of liberty, libertarianism and objectivism, can gather for the Canadian Liberty Fest 2012 in Toronto (in association with Ludwig von Mises Institute Canada).

This social networking conference will be held at the University of Toronto’s Victoria College on Nov. 3 – the Ontario Libertarian Party’s Annual General Meeting will take place the following day. The purpose of this event is to share ideas, discuss the issues of the day that civil and economic liberties and listen to some Canadian leaders, who will pontificate what it means to be libertarian....

Allen Small, one of the main organizers of the festival and leader of the Ontario Libertarian Party, stated that Stefan Molyneux, author and host of the Freedomain Radio, will deliver the keynote speech

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/322478#ixzz1rMQFnvFb
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Hugh MacIntyre: How libertarians should vote

Hugh MacIntyre: How libertarians should vote in today’s provincial election | Full Comment | National Post:

Oct. 6, 2011 - "I have had to take a serious look at both political parties and decide which one truly deserves my vote. I speak of the Freedom Party and the Libertarian Party.

"Both parties offer a vision of a more modest state that does not unnecessarily interfere with the lives of individuals and recognizes the free market as the primary driver of prosperity....

"The Freedom Party has worked hard to earn my vote, while the Libertarian Party has been pretty much invisible.

"Still, I can’t bring myself to vote for the Freedom Party and the reason I can’t is the party’s leader: Paul McKeever....

"Paul McKeever insists the Freedom Party is objectivist and not libertarian.

"I won’t bother going into the difference between objectivism and libertarianism because one is a moral philosophy and the other is a political philosophy. By insisting the Freedom Party is objectivist, rather than libertarian, Mr. McKeever is basically saying that you have to not just agree with his policies, but also agree with the moral philosophy of Ayn Rand.

"I don’t care that Mr. McKeever is an objectivist, because I agree with his political goals.

"This isn’t good enough for Mr. McKeever. In fact, he can be pretty insulting about it.... To my mind, this means he doesn’t really want my vote. If ideological purity is what he wants, then he doesn’t want me.

"So I will be voting Libertarian because I agree with the party’s policies and the party leader doesn’t purposefully alienate me."

Read more: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/10/06/hugh-macintyre-how-libertarians-should-vote-in-todays-provincial-election/
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Who is John Kittredge? Canadian Libertarian candidate speaks out - Toronto Headlines | Examiner.com

Who is John Kettridge? Canadian Libertarian candidate speaks out - Toronto Headlines | Examiner.com - Andrew Moran, Apr. 25, 2011.

Kittredge "first became politically active during the 1960s when he 'fell in love with objectivism' during his academic days in university....

"Although [Kittredge] feels libertarianism isn’t a 'total knockoff of objectivism because it’s much looser,' he is a 'practical realist” and believes that anytime there is a 'minimal movement towards less rather than more, it has demonstrably always been beneficial.'...

"The St. Paul’s candidate feels politics is not a 'rational exercise,' but from his perspective when they executive things politically it is an awful experience and he understands this from first-hand experience because he has worked with government organizations.

“'Their performance system is very poorly structured in getting things done,' said [Kittredge]. 'I see that, but it’s hard to get into quantitatively. I go back to the opportunity-loss thing; we human beings have a very difficult time understanding something that isn’t within our own experience.'”

Continue reading on Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com/headlines-in-toronto/who-is-john-kettridge-canadian-libertarian-candidate-speaks-out

Libertarian Party of Canada     http://libertarian.ca