Episodes

  • How NOT to Explain Mamdani’s Socialist Revival

    How NOT to Explain Mamdani’s Socialist Revival
    Aug 28 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vA9ensrzw Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos critique a recent Wall Street Journal article that tries to explain Zohran Mamdani’s rise and the persistence of socialism in American politics. Among the topics covered: Why socialism is not an innate impulse or the product of ignorance of history; Why idealism alone does not explain socialism’s popularity; How miseducation about capitalism contributes to the endurance of socialism; Why you can’t fight woke ideology while upholding Christianity’s altruistic ethic; How to defeat socialism. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, her article “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World,” the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on Socialism, and Bayer’s articles “The Dishonesty of ‘Real Socialism Has Never Been Tried’” and “The Old Morality of the New Religions.” The podcast was recorded on August 25, 2025 and posted on August 28, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
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    56 mins
  • Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process

    Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process
    Aug 25 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkOadbwUP5s Podcast audio: America is a country that prizes freedom and the rule of law. Yet every day, we hear news of ICE raids on construction sites, Venezuelans shipped to foreign prisons without hearings, and sports tattoos treated as proof of criminality. As Agustina Vergara Cid warns in “Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process,” Americans have been turning a blind eye to this lawless, even authoritarian treatment. Delivered at the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, her talk is now available online. While the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has made the headlines recently, Vergara Cid shows that the same lawlessness has spanned decades. The Obama administration, notorious for its record deportations, simply carried forward policies Congress had long codified. Trump’s crackdowns threaten to further erode due process, which Vergara Cid identifies as the crucial legal safeguard which “stands between you and authoritarianism.” Today’s victims are peaceful immigrants; tomorrow, the target could be any American who dares to challenge the state. Among the topics covered: The immigration crackdown’s flagrant violation of due process; Why everyone should care about due process; How our authoritarian immigration system became normalized; How, despite the bleak reality, America still welcomes immigrants; Q&A: How to speak up in defense of a free immigration system. (Since recording, the men sent to El Salvador’s CECOT were released to Venezuela in a prisoner swap on July 18, 2025, after four months of imprisonment. Several now allege torture, and at least one alleges sexual assault.) This podcast was recorded live on July 5th in Boston, MA as part of OCON 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
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    28 mins
  • The Palestinians’ Most Deadly Weapon Against Israel: Altruism

    The Palestinians’ Most Deadly Weapon Against Israel: Altruism
    Aug 21 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wig7ja6GLlU Podcast audio In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, and Tristan De Liège explore how altruism clouds moral clarity about the Israel-Hamas war, undermining Israel’s righteous cause and whitewashing Hamas’ evil. Among the topics covered: How the media coverage of the war has become egregiously deferential to Hamas and Hezbollah; How altruism corrupts journalism by distorting moral judgment; Why media deception deliberately aims to manipulate emotions; The nature of Hamas’s totalitarian ideology; Why genocide claims flout serious thinking about innocents in war; How altruism cripples Israel's moral confidence in its cause. Recommended in this podcast is Elan Journo's book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. This podcast was recorded on August 13, 2025 and posted on August 21, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
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    54 mins
  • Was Ayn Rand Anti-Family?

    Was Ayn Rand Anti-Family?
    Aug 14 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT-unSQu_8 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Samantha Watkins and Ben Bayer tackle the common criticism that Ayn Rand is "anti-family" and analyze its philosophical roots. They examine claims that Rand's novels omit discussions of having children and explore what her actual views on parenting reveal about living a rational, selfish life. Among the topics covered: ● Debunking the notion that Rand ignores children and parenting;● Rand’s actual view on children and parenting;● How choosing to be a parent can be a rational value;● Why parenting doesn't require sacrifice;● Why "fertility crisis" concerns don't justify treating individuals as means to societal ends. Recommended in this podcast are Gregory Salmieri's lecture "Reproduction and the Objectivist Ethics" and Ben Bayer's article "The Fountainhead and the Spirit of Youth." This podcast was recorded July 30, 2025 and posted on August 14, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
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    45 mins
  • What Went Wrong With Capitalism — A Review of Ruchir Sharma’s Book

    What Went Wrong With Capitalism — A Review of Ruchir Sharma’s Book
    Aug 11 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky3VGO4AI-g Podcast audio: In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Tristan de Liège, Ben Bayer, Don Watkins, and Robertas Bakula discuss What Went Wrong with Capitalism by Ruchir Sharma. The book examines the history of government bailouts, Federal Reserve policy, and the growing reach of the regulatory state. Contrary to popular belief, Sharma argues, government intervention in America didn’t shrink after Reagan — it kept growing. He also offers proposals for reversing these trends. The discussion covered: How Sharma refutes the myth that America has moved towards free markets in the last fifty years; How the government and the Federal Reserve created distortions and downturns; How the regulatory state expanded and decreased productivity; Why the book’s treatment of inequality is self-defeating; How the book’s views on capital misallocation and antitrust are contradictory; How the book lacks sufficient philosophical perspective. The video was recorded on July 17, 2025 and posted on August 8, 2025.
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    1 hr and 22 mins
  • Abortion Bans vs. Women’s Lives

    Abortion Bans vs. Women’s Lives
    Aug 8 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm7PICSLkhc Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid take a wide-ranging look at abortion bans since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, examining their destructive effects on the lives and freedoms of women and medical professionals. Among the topics covered: Ayn Rand’s distinctive defense of abortion rights; How abortion bans have impaired women’s lives; How anti-abortion laws impose arbitrary constraints against sound medical judgment; The unfortunate rise of pregnancy-related prosecutions; How abortion restrictions jeopardize doctors' freedom and careers; Why signs of resistance show abortion bans can be reversed; Evidence that the anti-abortion movement is motivated by a dark anti-sex agenda. Recommended in this podcast are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on Abortion, Bayer’s book “Why the Right to Abortion Is Sacrosanct,” and his article “The Dark Form of Control Even Anti-Abortion ‘Moderates’ Want.” The podcast was recorded on July 28, 2025 and posted on August 9, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
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    59 mins
  • Trump vs. CBS: How Government Pressures Companies to Self-Censor

    Trump vs. CBS: How Government Pressures Companies to Self-Censor
    Aug 4 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33MpmtvMKs0 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Marek Michulka and Onkar Ghate examine the Trump administration's actions against CBS — including a billion-dollar lawsuit and FCC investigation — and argue that the FCC’s regulatory power is incompatible with free speech. Among the topics covered: How Trump's actions against CBS are targeting them for their content; How censorship in a free country relies on self-censorship; Why many critics of Trump’s actions miss the essential issue; How antitrust is being used to force editorial rooms to cater to the whims of bureaucrats; Why the realm of ideas can’t be separated from the realm of production and trade; How elite universities’ “public interest” rhetoric opened the door to government control; What the future holds. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's essay “Have Gun, Will Nudge,” her talk “Censorship: Local and Express,” and her novel, especially Part II Chapter 5. This podcast was recorded on June 11, 2025 and posted on July 31, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Profit Without Apology: The Moral Case for Business

    Profit Without Apology: The Moral Case for Business
    Jul 25 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVOG6tX8b8 Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Don Watkins unveil their new book, Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business. This book is the latest publication of ARI’s new initiative, Atlas Circle, an intellectual project aimed at standing up for business and helping business stand up for itself. Among the topics covered: Why Ayn Rand saw business as central to her moral defense of capitalism; The philosophical roots of today’s anti-business culture; How most people ignore the hard thinking that goes into business; Why understanding the morality of the profit motive is essential to standing up for business; The role of intellectuals in fostering a pro-business culture. Recommended in this podcast are the Atlas Circle’s manifesto, “Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business,” the title essay of the book Profit Without Apology. The podcast was recorded on July 22, 2025 and posted on July 24, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
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    Less than 1 minute