Category: Culture

What is the Nature of Ayn Rand's Appeal?

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Writing for the Ayn Rand Institute, Onkar Ghate has published an op-ed titled “The Appeal of Ayn Rand” that examines the eternal appeal of Rand’s ideas, particularly among students. From the article:

The key to Rand’s popularity is that she appeals to the idealism of youth. She wrote in 1969: “There is a fundamental conviction which some people never acquire, some hold only in their youth, and a few hold to the end of their days–the conviction that ideas matter.” The nature of this conviction? “That ideas matter means that knowledge matters, that truth matters, that one’s mind matters. And the radiance of that certainty, in the process of growing up, is the best aspect of youth.”

See the full article for additional elucidtation.

Private vs. Government Aid for Tsunami Victims

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The Ayn Rand Institute has published an op-ed, below, arguing that any help for Tsunami victims in Southeast Asia should come from private, not government, coffers.
Is such private fundraising really a practical solution? Consider this: Amazon.com alone has already raised well over $9 million (from 124,000 separate donors) in private funding for the Tsunami victims.
The money will be donated to the American Red Cross, which, according to at least one government source, is the same organization that will receive the initial funding from the U.S. government.

U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims

By David Holcberg
As the death toll mounts in the areas hit by Sunday’s tsunami in southern Asia, private organizations and individuals are scrambling to send out money and goods to help the victims. Such help may be entirely proper, especially considering that most of those affected by this tragedy are suffering through no fault of their own.
The United States government, however, should not give any money to help the tsunami victims. Why? Because the money is not the government’s to give.
Every cent the government spends comes from taxation. Every dollar the government hands out as foreign aid has to be extorted from an American taxpayer first. Year after year, for decades, the government has forced American taxpayers to provide foreign aid to every type of natural or man-made disaster on the face of the earth: from the Marshall Plan to reconstruct a war-ravaged Europe to the $15 billion recently promised to fight AIDS in Africa to the countless amounts spent to help the victims of earthquakes, fires and floods–from South America to Asia. Even the enemies of the United States were given money extorted from American taxpayers: from the billions given away by Clinton to help the starving North Koreans to the billions given away by Bush to help the blood-thirsty Palestinians under Arafat’s murderous regime.
The question no one asks about our politicians’ “generosity” towards the world’s needy is: By what right? By what right do they take our hard-earned money and give it away?
The reason politicians can get away with doling out money that they have no right to and that does not belong to them is that they have the morality of altruism on their side. According to altruism–the morality that most Americans accept and that politicians exploit for all it’s worth–those who have more have the moral obligation to help those who have less. This is why Americans–the wealthiest people on earth–are expected to sacrifice (voluntarily or by force) the wealth they have earned to provide for the needs of those who did not earn it. It is Americans’ acceptance of altruism that renders them morally impotent to protest against the confiscation and distribution of their wealth. It is past time to question–and to reject–such a vicious morality that demands that we sacrifice our values instead of holding on to them.
Next time a politician gives away money taken from you to show what a good, compassionate altruist he is, ask yourself: By what right?
UPDATE: More on this subject from Terence Corcoran at Canada’s National Post:

If there’s an emerging lesson in the aftermath of the tsunami, it is this: Beware of aid efforts that must be trumpeted in press releases and hyped at news conferences. The bulk of world relief to tsunami victims, soaring to hundreds of millions of dollars, had been registered by private agencies collecting donations from individuals who sought no public recognition, issued no media release and made no effort to get their names into the papers. It was only after it became obvious thousands, if not millions, of individuals wanted to help that the world’s governments — in Ottawa and Washington and elsewhere — suddenly saw an opportunity. Absurdly, Ottawa announced it would “match” the private donations of individual Canadians — as if Ottawa got the money from some magic fountain behind Parliament Hill rather that from taxes on the same individuals who had already volunteered.

Milton Friedman on the Progress of Free Markets

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

From an article at the Australian reprinting Milton Friedman’s comments in the Hoover Digest:
After World War II, opinion was socialist while practice was free market; currently, opinion is free market while practice is heavily socialist. We have largely won the battle of ideas; we have succeeded in stalling the progress of socialism, but we have not succeeded in reversing its course. We are still far from bringing practice into conformity with opinion. That is the overriding non-defence task for the second Bush term. It will not be an easy task, particularly with Iraq threatening to consume Bush’s political capital.
Keep reading… (Hat-tip to Instapundit.)

Frank Lloyd Wright Play (in Pittsburgh)

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

An announcement for Frank Lloyd Wright fans, from Playbill:

The new City Theatre staging of Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright has sparked so much audience interest in Pittsburgh that the show will go on to Jan. 9, 2005, two weeks beyond its announced date.
The world of groundbreaking architect Frank Lloyd Wright is brought to life in the work by Jeffrey Hatcher and Eric Simonson, revised since its earlier premiere in Milwaukee. Performances began Nov. 18 under the direction of Simonson. Sam Tsoutsouvas plays the architect, who ages from 20 to 90. […]
The ensemble portrays more than a dozen people who were important in Wright’s eventful life. The work is populated by architect Louis Sullivan, friends Ayn Rand and Alexander Woolcott, son John Lloyd Wright, wives Catherine and Olgivanna, and paramour Mamah Cheney. Also appearing in the ensemble are Tressa Glover, Shaun Cameron Hall, Nathan James and Mark August Spitznagel.
Wright’s architectural style is incorporated into the staging of Work Song by Simonson and his designers, Kent Dorsey (scenic), Karen Kopischke (costume), Andrew David Ostrowski (lighting), Barry Funderberg (sound) and John Boesche (projection).

Visit the City Theatre web site for a performance schedule and additional information.

A Paean to Freedom …and to Thoughtful Readers

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Writing for Texas A&M’s The Battalion, op-ed columnist Mike Walters wraps up the semester with a ringing endorsement of freedom in his article “Individual rights make America great,” which includes this remark:

I’d like to congratulate those who read opinion articles and examine their subjects rationally – you are the thinkers of tomorrow. Only you have the power to create a morally successful path for our industries and nation. We face much evil in the world, evil seeking an easy path through life by taking what others have rather than producing it. Worse are those who inadvertently spread evil ideas by failing to examine them critically and spreading them regardless.
As you move on past college and into the world, remember that individual rights are the only things that will bring about a color-blind society, that allows people to keep the money they make, and give to charity if they wish. Individual rights are the only things that preserve the freedom that allows us to seek happiness.

…Followed by a terrific quote from Ayn Rand. See the full article for more.

Why We Want to Make Money

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

Writing for the business section of London’s Telegraph, Luke Johnson provides an even-handed discussion of the need for an intellectual framework to guide one’s business endeavors:

It seems odd that there are so few intellectual works that deal with the philosophy of capitalism. Millions of words are written annually on the mechanics of business, but virtually none on the ultimate purpose of it all.
Where is the true justification for the sacrifice and effort? Is the rat race an exercise in futility? In the past 100 years, the profit motive has become the dominant creed, replacing religion, Marxism and the like ? yet there are almost no texts that rationalise why man strives so hard to build enterprises.
Why is it important for those engaged in accumulating wealth to think about the deeper principles underlying their daily work? I believe an understanding of their motivations, and the meaning of our economic and social systems, helps expand the mind and gives a sense of moral value.

After exploring a few other intellectual justifications for the pursuit of success (including those from Christian traditions), he notes Ayn Rand’s contributions:

Ayn Rand, the author of The Fountainhead and inventor of objectivism, was perhaps the foremost exponent of the unfettered philosophy of laissez-faire capitalism. She originated “the concept of man as a heroic being” with “productive achievement as his noblest activity”. Her books and beliefs remain popular today. Eddie Lampert, the Wunderkind behind the recent merger of retailers Sears and Kmart, is apparently an advocate.

See the full article for additional commentary.

Andy Reicker: Graphics Entrepreneur Inspired by Atlas Shrugged

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Some of the giant banners you saw on the Thanksgiving holiday NFL games were designed by a serious Atlas Shrugged fan named Andy Reicker, owner of the multi-million-dollar firm Project Graphics.
From a profile of Reicker and Project Graphics in Connecticut’s New Times Live:

“I’m pretty surprised at where I am today,” said the New Fairfield bachelor, a self-described optimist and workaholic whose friendly demeanor in no way diminishes his fanatic pursuit of excellence. “I walk in the door sometimes, and I’m, like, shocked.
“It’s cool.”
Eleven years ago, the up-and-coming entrepreneur embarked on a quest to start his own, large-scale, customized graphic design and printing business, skills he fine-tuned after earning degrees in English and literature at the University of Minnesota.
After spending a few years in Colorado working for an established graphics company, he decided it was time to branch out on his own. He leaned on experiences he learned from working in his family’s catering business on how to sell and market his product.
Inspiration came from reading the controversial 20th century American classic, “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. He said the novel encouraged him to live boldly and make things happen, and ignited in him a yearning to build his own business.
To this day, he embraces certain passages from the novel, reciting lines from it and other works of literature to his employees. The message: Always stretch beyond your comfort zones; always seek the next challenge.

See the full article for additional information.

Michael Milken, Privatizing Medical Research

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

Michael Milken, whose prosecution for violation of insider trading laws in the early 90s was condemned by many Objectivist commentators, is featured in a terrific cover article in this month’s Fortune magazine.
The article (available to subscribers of that magazine) begins:

The image on the oversized screen behind the podium was of a giant malignant tumor. The discussion was about prognostic indicators?doctorspeak for how much longer people with such tumors had to live. The prognosis wasn’t good, with life expectancy measured in months, not years. The presenter’s manner was cold, but it didn’t matter: This was no hospital bedside but a roomful of physicians, gathered for a seminar on prostate cancer at Houston’s prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In the third row sat a tall, slight, unimposing man. The top of his middle-aged head no longer had hair; his eyebrows were thin. His nametag read dr. robert hackel, and all he could think about was how enormous the tumor looked onscreen. A tumor just like his own.
When the speaker, Donald Coffey, an esteemed prostate cancer expert from Johns Hopkins, was finished, Hackel made his way to the front. For 25 minutes he grilled Coffey on his presentation, asking technical questions about the research and its therapeutic implications. At what should have been the end of a friendly exchange between colleagues, Hackel turned to Coffey and said, “I am Mike Milken. I want to be cured.”
Coffey knew the name. It was 1993, and Michael Milken, the once-highflying junk-bond wizard had, a few years earlier, been a familiar face in the newspapers because of his high-profile indictment on securities violations. Only two weeks before, in fact, Milken?now wearing a phony ID badge with his middle name and father-in-law’s surname?had been released from prison, having served 22 months. Coffey was surprised not just by who his questioner was, but by the fact that he wasn’t a doctor. His toupee gone and his toothy grin somewhat modulated, Milken seemed more like a veteran lab scientist than a desperate patient. He knew much about the biology of cancer.
It was only when Milken began to speak rapturously about turning prostate cancer research on its head and starting “a Manhattan Project for cancer” that the financier sounded a bit naive. A real physician would have known better, thought Coffey. “The truth was, at the time, there was so little research?or anything else?going on in the field [of prostate cancer], it was as if Milken was speaking in tongues,” he says. Still, the good doctor listened politely.
Eleven years later many others are listening too. That’s because Milken has, in fact, turned the cancer establishment upside down.

How did he do this? In a word: privatization. Together with other high-profile entrepreneurs such as Intel’s Andy Grove, Milken started a private foundation to aggressively fund innovative research to cure prostate cancer. (Not to “understand” or “promote awareness” of prostate cancer ? to cure it.)
At first, establishment researchers were wary of the funding requirements, which include sharing the results of their research with other researchers before it goes through the lengthy process of getting published in peer-reviewed journals. But prostate cancer research had been mired in bureaucratic red tape for many years, and the prospect of receiving $100,000 in funding within 90 days ? rather than the 2-3 years required for government-funded research ? eventually won the researchers over to the merits of private funding.
Today Milken’s institution has funded so many new treatments and drug therapies that, had it sought to retain ownership of such treatments, it would be the world’s third-largest biotechnology company. (I’m paraphrasing from memory, here; I read the full story this morning but don’t have it handy.)
The result? Deaths from prostate cancer are declining steeply, and Milken himself is in seemingly full remission.
See the full story in Fortune for additional information.

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