Great American Patriots come from all walks of life, including soldiers, volunteers, entertainers, and philosophers. No single philosopher since the Founding Fathers has had as much of an impact in reinvigorating world interest in the principles the United States were founded on than Ayn Rand.
Toward the end of the Enlightenment, some of the
greatest political minds converged in the 13 American
colonies to create the longest-standing, most successful
free nation in the history of mankind; United States of
America. The ideas United States were founded on were
based on the revolutionary concept that government's
power is derived by the grace of its people, with the
sole function of protecting individual rights. As
nations have continued to experiment with collectivist
forms of government since then, the United States have
come under constant intellectual attack for these
principles and for the resulting moral, economic, and
military leadership.
Through her novels, speeches, writings, and the many
organizations throughout the world which celebrate her
ideas, Ayn Rand continues to offer a solid defense to thwart these attacks
... reason. Ayn Rand was born Alisa Zinov'yevna
Rosenbaum on February 2nd, 1905 in St. Petersburg,
Russia. Her family fled to Crimea when her father's
pharmacy was confiscated by the Soviets in the Russian
Revolution in 1917, but they eventually returned to St.
Petersburg where she studied history and philosophy at
the University of Petrograd. In 1926 when she was 21
years old, she emigrated to the United States vowing
never to return to Russia.
Until her death in 1982, she developed and detailed her philosophical system in her novels which include the best-selling works Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
Referring to
it as "Objectivism", her philosophy advocates an objective reality
based on reason, individualism, capitalism, and freedom. She
passionately opposed all collectivist forms of government including
socialism, communism and fascism. She rejected altruism as an insult
to the heroic nature of the individual and opposed all systems which
are not based on reason.
Her novels continue to sell half a million copies each year, and are often reported as among the most influential books throughout the Western World. In 1949, her novel The Fountainhead was made into a film by King Vidor starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal.
Howard Rourke's famous Courtroom Speech
In 1974 when she addressed the graduating class at West Point, she said,
"There is a special reason why you, the future leaders of the United States Army, need to be philosophically armed today. You are the target of a special attack by the Kantian-Hegelian-collectivist establishment that dominates our cultural institutions at present...
I feel deeply honored by the opportunity to address you. I can say--not as a patriotic bromide, but with full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, political and esthetic roots--that the United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world...
You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense
of this country. I will not insult you by saying
that you are dedicated to selfless service--it is
not a virtue in my morality. In my morality, the
defense of one's country means that a man is
personally unwilling to live as the conquered slave
of any enemy, foreign or domestic. This is an
enormous virtue."
Great American Patriots come from all walks of life, including soldiers, volunteers, entertainers, and philosophers. No single philosopher since the Founding Fathers has had as much of an impact in reinvigorating world interest in the principles the United States were founded on than Ayn Rand.
In 1974 when she addressed the graduating class at West Point, she said,
