Volume 16, Number 10, October 2010 Penguin to Publish Atlas Shrugged Revolution Dinner Raises Expanded and $400,000 for ARI Revised Edition of early 160 Ayn Rand what ARI has done to Nfans gathered at foster and capitalize on Why Businessmen the St. Regis Hotel in that increased awareness, Manhattan on September and what needs to be Need Philosophy 14 for a major fundrais- done to further advance ing dinner supporting the Rand’s ideas. Institute’s activities. In Dr. Brook then the opulence of the Louis introduced Mr. Allison, XVI ballroom, attendees praising him for his life- of the $1,500-per-plate time efforts to improve dinner were treated to an the culture and noting in elegant meal and scin- particular the successes tillating presentations of the BB&T Charitable about Ayn Rand’s ideas Some of the attendees at ARI’s Atlas Shrugged Revolution fundraising dinner Foundation—driven by and their growing prevalence in the culture. As at Mr. Allison—in helping to change the attitude of last year’s event, a silent auction of rare Ayn Rand academia toward Ayn Rand. Thanks to Mr. Allison, books and memorabilia from the collection of programs studying the moral foundations of capital- ARI donor Tedd Potts, who split the proceeds with ism are now in place at sixty-five colleges and uni- the Institute, completed an evening that brought versities in the United States, many of them using in more than $400,000 for ARI. The money is Atlas Shrugged in the classroom. Mr. Allison’s talk earmarked for the expansion of the activities of the focused on the proper foundation for long-term Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. success in business, which he said is a conscious The gala event featured talks by former commitment to act in one’s own long-term, rational CEO of BB&T Corporation, John Allison, ARI self-interest. executive director Yaron Brook, New York Dr. Smith spoke about the importance of Friends of ARI founder Barry Colvin, and academia to cultural change from her perspec- University of Texas, Austin, philosophy professor tive as holder of the BB&T Chair for the Study mpact is pleased to announce that a new Tara Smith. The series of presentations revolved of Objectivism. Mr. Colvin discussed the launch Iedition of Why Businessmen Need Philosophy, around a common theme: the importance of of his new organization, the mission of which is edited by ARI vice president of Academic Ayn Rand’s ideas and how to further spread to raise funds for ARI and host events in the New programs Debi Ghate and ARI publishing them in the culture. Attendees also saw a five- York area, and its plans for an upcoming series of manager Richard E. Ralston, is slated to be minute video “teaser” for the upcoming (pending debates between Institute speakers and individuals published by Penguin this spring. (See Contents funding) documentary “Atlas Shrugged, the with opposing views. page from the book on page 2.) The new edition Documentary.” (The video clip is also available Twelve donors took advantage of the option expands and updates the original collection on www.atlasshrugged.com.) to sponsor entire tables. Sponsoring at the of essays by Ayn Rand and other Objectivist Dr. Brook led off the evening by noting the $50,000 level were Balyasny Asset Management, authors, first published in 1999 by the Ayn Rand increase in attendance of nearly 30 percent over the Doug Arends (chairman, Canadian Bank Note Institute Press, and includes an introduction first Atlas Shrugged Revolution dinner held in New Company, Limited) and one anonymous donor. by John Allison, former CEO of BB&T York one year ago. He discussed the recent upsurge Sponsoring at the $25,000 level were Tim Blum Corporation and now a professor at Wake Forest in cultural interest in and acceptance of Ayn Rand, Continued on page 4 University. The basic theme of the book remains unchanged: businessmen need a moral and philosophical defense of their self-interested pursuit of profit and happiness. Media Triumphs for ARC Intellectuals From the back-cover copy: “Home foreclo- sures, bankruptcies, and job losses are just a few of f you haven’t already read them, article on their personal Facebook the symptoms of today’s world economic crisis— IImpact would like to call your pages by “liking” the piece. Noting and corporate America has been blamed as the attention to two major media how far the West has advanced disease. Government, mass media and intellectuals publications by ARC intellectuals. thanks to scientific progress and hurl slings and arrows at big business leaders, fos- On August 18, the Wall Street political freedom, they argued that: tering a mistrust of capitalists among the public, Journal published an opinion “. human progress demands while politicians, pundits and thinkers evade their article by fellow Alex Epstein implementation of a third idea to own complicity in the financial downturn. comparing Obama’s approach to complete the scientific and political revolutions. We’re still beholden to “This collection of essays by Ayn Rand and the gulf oil spill to that of President Image from CNN.com of Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate’s other Objectivist writers offers a philosophical Nixon. On September 16, a piece op-ed title. The op-ed challenged the morality of altruism the past in ethics. and moral defense of capitalism—and reveals the on the morality of self-interest by and argued that businessmen such as Bill Gates are moral “Although few of us would importance of consistently maintaining the right executive director Yaron Brook for their productivity, not their philanthropy. turn to the Old Testament or principles in the corporate environment at all lev- and senior fellow Onkar Ghate was published on the Quran to determine the age of the Earth, too els of business, from daily operations to executive CNN.com. many of us still turn obediently to these books (or decisions. Essential and practical, Why Business- The CNN piece garnered so much online atten- their secular copies) as authorities about morality. men Need Philosophy provides the grounding for tion it was featured on the main page of Google We learn therein the moral superiority of faith to the rational thinking required to defend companies News—a major online news aggregator—and was reason and collective sacrifice to personal profit. from ideological attacks.” republished by CNN.com on its religion blog. The “But the more seriously we take these old Stay tuned to Impact for more information and article received more than 2,000 comments on CNN ethical ideas, the more suspect become the modern selected excerpts closer to the date of publication. .com, and nearly 7,000 individuals highlighted the Continued on page 4 Why Businessmen Need Philosophy Thus censorship is key in establishing a dicta- Contents Why Dictatorship torship—and in maintaining it. “For years, I have been arguing that the general public is much more Preface Requires Censorship intelligent than its alleged leaders give it credit Debi Ghate and Richard E. Ralston ...........v for; that people do care for ideas and are searching Acknowledgments ............................................vi Each month Impact suggests readings and other desperately for the spokesmen of reason; that only Introduction resources for fans of Ayn Rand’s fiction who wish reason can work, though not always immediately; John Allison ...............................................vii to learn more about her philosophy, Objectivism. and that the evidence of it, on a historical scale, is the fact that no dictatorship can last without the help Part 1: Do Businessmen Really Need Philosophy? of censorship—because, in a free marketplace of Why Businessmen Need Philosophy n August this column discussed Ayn Rand’s ideas, truth and reason will always win.” (“An Open Leonard Peikoff ...........................................3 Iviews on free speech and censorship. Here we Letter to My Readers,” The Ayn Rand Column) Philosophy: The Ultimate CEO discuss a related observation of Ayn Rand’s: censor- Because it renders impossible the use of persua- Harry Binswanger .....................................19 ship and dictatorship go hand-in-hand. sion to achieve cultural change, Rand regarded the “Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.” This observation is made, for instance, in Rand’s imposition of censorship as the tipping point in the Ayn Rand....................................................35 essay “Collectivized ‘Rights,’” where she writes, process of a mixed economy’s collapse into dictator- The Businessmen’s Crucial Role: Material Men “[t]here are four characteristics which brand a ship. “The political conditions presented in Atlas of the Mind country unmistakably as a dictatorship: one-party Shrugged are those of an almost total dictatorship. Debi Ghate .................................................43 rule—executions without trial or with a mock trial, Only when a society reaches that stage is it proper The Money-Making Personality for political offenses—the nationalization or expro- for men to think of quitting. So long as a country has Ayn Rand....................................................65 priation of private property—and censorship.” (The no censorship, it is not yet a dictatorship—and men Virtue of Selfishness) are free to speak and to fight for their ideas.” (Letter Part 2: Why Is Business “Public Enemy #1”? The reason censorship is an essential character- to John Brierley, Feb. 3, 1962, Letters of Ayn Rand) America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business istic of dictatorship is rooted in the kind of culture For more on this topic, see, in addition to the Ayn Rand....................................................77 necessary for dictatorship to take hold. “The human works already cited, “Representation Without The Philosophical Origins of Antitrust characteristic required by statism is docility, which Authorization” and “Ideas vs. Goods” in The John B. Ridpath .........................................97 is the product of hopelessness and intellectual Ayn Rand Letter; “Altruism as Appeasement” The Morality of Moneylending: A Short History stagnation,” writes Rand.