The Ayn Rand Institute’s (ARI) Chief Philosophy Officer Onkar Ghate and philosopher Ben Bayer have a new video, Why the Ayn Rand Institute Comments on Current Events. The discussion is defensive, trying to justify the large amount of time spent on current affairs, including topics that Rand didn’t — or couldn’t have — commented on such as Israel, immigration, Donald Trump, COVID and Ukraine. These topics get at least as much attention as Rand’s philosophy. For example, the on-line journal of the ARI (New Ideal), lists 277 articles on Objectivism and Philosophy versus 330 articles on Culture and Politics.
Ghate and Bayer dutifully report that the ARI does not claim to speak for Ayn Rand. This is incorrect, e.g. “The Anti-Intellectuality of Donald Trump: Why Ayn Rand Would Have Despised a President Trump.” Not only that, but the founder of the ARI (Leonard Peikoff) has repeatedly claimed to speak for Rand.
One thing I find interesting is that of four issues the ARI seems most concerned about – abortion, immigration, Israel (and the greater Middle East), and Donald Trump – Rand wrote about only one (abortion). Bayer admits that these positions often get criticism from some ARI supporters. Consider immigration. Although ARI doesn’t seem to have an official position on the question, their denizens tend to support what is called “open immigration.” A person should be free to enter and reside in the United States (or any other country) so long as he doesn’t have a criminal background.* (ARI supporter Harry Binswanger opposes screening, saying the border between two countries should be no different than the border between New York and Connecticut.)
