Tom Snider: You love this country, don’t you?
Ayn Rand: Passionately.
In many places one looks lately you find a resurgence of interest in and references to Ayn Rand and, particularly, her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged. Yaron Brook (President and Executive Director, The Ayn Rand Institute) is featured regularly on cable news programs, and ARI staff are being interviewed all over the place. From PJTV to radio talk shows, major cable news programming, and in mainstream print Ayn Rand and those who work for the organization that bears her name have become very popular. Moreover, sales of Atlas Shrugged, have skyrocketed in the last year, and the CEO of a major U.S. Corporation promoted a charitable contribution to Marshall University for the express purpose of teaching the book (link).
One could surmise a variety of reasons for this rise in interest; as one who has ready access to much of her corpus of literary work, and studied much of it, I suspect this phenomena is a natural reaction by the millions of disenfranchised individuals wondering where the intellectual defenders of liberty and freedom have gone… Or, ironically, in the words of Mr. Thompson, “Isn’t there a brain left in this country?!?!” If what we are seeing is a search for the antidote to neo-conservatism (conservatism in general)-a fundamental groundswell of support for jettisoning the religious right-then we are indeed on the right track. If, however, it is merely a passing glance back that does not take the time to fully grasp what it was she was preaching (her words, not mine) then America is headed for a total collapse.
With all of this, and much more, going on all about it makes some sense to re-introduce Ms Rand and her ideas. They are not simple, and they challenge much of what you were brainwashed into thinking from Sunday school through high school (assuming you attended government schools), and beyond. Her philosophy is entirely an antidote to the failed conservative movement; we could only be so fortunate if that antidote were to be widely perceived and distributed.
On to the videos.. The gentleman in the first video is Onkar Ghate and, having personally met Dr. Ghate, I can vouch for his easy manner and honest, sharp, intellect. This video is quite efficient, intellectually speaking. So, for those of you who need a quick introduction to Ms Rand, or for those of you (and you know who you are) with ridiculous preconceptions and/or twisted prejudices towards her, this should be enlightening.
And if you have more time, then, Ms Rand, in her own words, as interviewed by Tom Snider (3 parts). One of the most prescient highlights of this interview occurs in Part 3. I won’t spoil the passage, but I will tell you it occurs at 7:30 into the piece… and continues to the end.
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POS MMXII 
