The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights

Ayn Rand speaks at the Ford Hall Forum, as she provides an exposition of capitalism and of the crucial question its enemies evade.

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In this lecture, delivered in 1967 at Ford Hall Forum in Boston, Miss Rand discusses the evil of a military draft, and the political disintegration resulting from such “consensus” policies as the war in Vietnam.

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In this lecture, delivered in 1964 at Ford Hall Forum in Boston, Miss Rand discusses the relationship of the events presented in Atlas Shrugged to the actual events occurring in the world—and addresses the question: is Atlas Shrugged a prophetic novel, or a historical one?

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Here are pre- and post-election discussions by Ayn Rand of the ideological implications of the Johnson-Goldwater contest. She endorses Goldwater, evaluates the two parties’ platforms, examines Goldwater’s glaring philosophical deficiencies, explains the smear campaign against him, and discusses the dim prospects for implementing capitalism via political—as against philosophical/educational—means.

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Ayn Rand is interviewed on the topic of her book The Virtue of Selfishness, as she explains the Objectivist approach to ethics. Miss Rand discusses the moral injustice of taxation, the dependence of the incompetent on the competent; her personal struggle as a writer.

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Ayn Rand discusses the role of art in an ideal society; the meaning of Romantic Realism; Dostoyevsky’s depiction of “life as it might be and ought not to be”; art vs. “depravity studies”; the literature of Shakespeare, Huxley, Nabokov and others.

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Ayn Rand discusses the vilification of the “Robber Barons” of the 19th century, and the general perceptions of productive geniuses in the current moral climate.

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Ayn Rand discusses a variety of subjects, including: Objectivism’s value to people of “lesser ability”; why Mill and Bentham could not defend capitalism; origins of altruism in ancient Oriental culture; and fighting for the future.

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Ayn Rand discusses the fallacy of “psychological egoism”; altruism’s false choice between sadism and masochism; self-esteem and altruism; and the desire for the unearned.

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Ayn Rand speaks about the link between the political and economic systems of a society. Does a free society need a constitution? How should government be financed in a free society? What are the limitations on suffrage? Should there be popular referendums for laws?

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