Sample Articles
The following articles are accessible for free to give you an idea of what to expect when you subscribe to The Objective Standard. Enjoy!
The Assault on Abortion Rights Undermines All Our Liberties
Surveys the expanding efforts to outlaw abortion in America, examines the facts that give rise to a woman’s right to abortion, and shows why the assault on this right is an assault on all our rights.
9/11 Ten Years Later: The Fruits of the Philosophy of Self-Abnegation
Examines the essence of this approach and what it’s delivered so far.
Ayn Rand’s Theory of Rights:
The Moral Foundation of a Free Society
Examines the essential aspects of her philosophy that give rise to her theory of rights, as against the theories of God-given, government-granted, and "natural" rights.
Interview with an Ex-CIA Spy Embedded in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Interview with Historian John David Lewis about U.S. Foreign Policy and the Middle East
The Government’s Assault on Private-Sector Colleges and Universities
Examines the government’s baseless case against career colleges and exposes its malicious efforts to destroy them.
Toward a Free Market in Education: School Vouchers or Tax Credits?
Distinguishes between school vouchers and tax credits, showing that only one of these can provide a viable road map toward a free market in education.
Atlas Shrugged: Part I, directed by Paul Johansson
An Interview with Andrew Schiff about Fishing Nets, Hut Gluts, and other Economic Matters
The author and investor discusses his book, the state of economy, the cause of America’s financial problems, and investment possibilities under the circumstances.
The Ground Zero Mosque, the Spread of Islam, and How America Should Deal with Such Efforts
Considers the Ground Zero mosque, the spread of Islam in America, and how Americans and Westerners in general should deal with such efforts.
Israel and America’s Flotilla Follies (and How To Avoid Them in the Future)
Considers the essentials of the recent “peace activist” effort to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the pathetic nature of Israel and America’s responses to the assault, and the principles that should have governed their responses.
Why Anthony Daniels Smears Ayn Rand
Examines Daniels’s recent New Criterion article “Ayn Rand: Engineer of Souls” and ponders the question, “Why, to the detriment of his own credibility, would an otherwise capable intellectual so grossly misrepresent Rand’s actual views—and do so, not at a cocktail party, but in a public forum?”
Citizens United and the Battle for Free Speech in America
Analyzes the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, surveys the relevant history of campaign finance laws in relation to the Court’s decision, and discusses the significance of the ruling for the future of free speech.
What the “Affordable Health Care for America Act,” HR 3962, Actually Says
Asks ten crucial questions regarding the proposed law; examines what the proposed legislation actually says with respect to these questions; and evaluates the bill accordingly, showing that, if passed, it would massively expand government power over the health-care industry, virtually eliminate the remnants of freedom left in this market, and thus increase the U.S. government’s violations of individual rights by orders of magnitude.
The California Coastal Commission: A Case Study in Governmental Assault on Property Rights
Surveys the history and nature of the Coastal Commission; examines three recent cases showing how the Commission violates property rights; points to similar agencies that are violating rights in similar ways in other states; and indicates what Americans must do if they want to put an end to this assault on their property rights.
A Review of the Korean Television Series Dae Jang Geum
Reviews the Korean television series Dae Jang Geum, whose “breathtaking cinematography, beautiful costumes, mouthwatering food, and rich soundtrack integrate with [a] profound story to create a superlative work of art.”
Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right,
by Jennifer Burns
Reviewed by Robert Mayhew.
Discusses the dismal state of American foreign policy and what should be done about it.
Obama’s Atomic Bomb:
The Ideological Clarity of the Democratic Agenda
Examines America’s political climate in light of the unmistakably statist agenda emanating from Washington, and finds cause for optimism in the effect Obama is having on the minds of Americans—and cause for activism toward helping Americans to see the proper political alternative: not conservatism but capitalism.
How the Freedom to Contract Protects Insurability
Shows that, contrary to proposals being put forth by Republicans, a genuinely free market in health insurance is not only moral, in that it respects the rights of producers and consumers, but also practical, in that it enables businessmen to solve problems for profit—which leads to more and better products and services at lower prices for consumers.
The Creed of Sacrifice vs. The Land of Liberty
Examines the morality of altruism, exposing its incompatibility with the basic principle of America (i.e., individual rights), identifying its philosophic roots, and showing that if Americans want to save America, they must repudiate this creed, root and branch.
Justice Holmes and the Empty Constitution
Examines the meaning and consequences of Oliver Wendell Holmes’s famous dissent in Lochner v. New York, showing how and why it has devastated American jurisprudence, and indicating what future jurists must grasp and do in order to begin reversing the damage.
Energy at the Speed of Thought:
The Original Alternative Energy Market
Surveys the history of the U.S. energy industry, with special emphasis on oil as the lifeblood of the modern world and on freedom as the condition that enabled oilmen to make it flow.
The Is–Ought Gap: Subjectivism’s Technical Retreat
Examines the prevalent claim that moral principles cannot be derived from observable facts, and finds the problem in desperate need of a solution.
Fooling Some of the People All the Time Updated and Revised: A Long Short Story, by David Einhorn
Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and the World Today
An Interview with Yaron Brook
Explains why, more than fifty years ago, Rand was able to project the kinds of crises we are seeing today.
Altruism: The Moral Root of the Financial Crisis
Zeros in on the fundamental cause of the problem, showing that widespread acceptance of the morality of self-sacrifice necessitated the kinds of laws, regulations, and decisions that have driven the financial markets into the gutter.
Capitalism and the Moral High Ground
Concretizes the selfishness-enabling nature of capitalism and shows why this feature makes it the only moral social system on earth.
Reason or Faith: The Republican Alternative
Analyzes the resounding Republican defeat and shows that the party faces a fundamental decision that will determine whether it orchestrates a comeback or stumbles into further defeat.
McBama vs. America
Surveys the promises of John McCain and Barack Obama, shows that these intentions are at odds with the American ideal of individual rights, demonstrates that the cause of such political aims is a particular moral philosophy (shared by McCain and Obama), and calls for Americans to repudiate that morality and to embrace instead a morality that supports the American ideal.
The Mystical Ethics of the New Atheists
Examines the moral ideas of Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Richard Dawkins, exposes some curious truths about their ethics, and provides sound advice for theists and atheists alike who wish to discover and uphold a rational, secular morality.
Mandatory Health Insurance: Wrong for Massachusetts, Wrong for America
Identifies the theory behind the Massachusetts mandatory health insurance program, exposes the program as a fiasco, explains why the theory had to fail in practice, and sheds light on the only genuine, rights-respecting means to affordable, accessible health care for Americans.
Property Rights and the Crisis of the Electric Grid
Surveys the history and achievements of America’s electricity entrepreneurs, shows how government interference in the transmission grid has hampered their enterprises from the outset to the present day, and indicates what America must do to liberate the grid and enable a new wave of entrepreneurs to supply this vital product commensurate with the country’s demand.
Vindicating Capitalism: The Real History of the Standard Oil Company
Examines the inception and rise of Standard Oil, demonstrates that the company’s immense success was the result not of so-called “anti-competitive” practices or “predatory pricing” but of its superior efficiency and productivity, and does long-overdo justice to one of the greatest producers of life-serving values in history: John D. Rockefeller.
Reforming Philosophy: A Victorian Debate on Science and Society, by Laura J. Snyder
Immigration and Individual Rights
Zeros in on the basic principle of America and demonstrates that this principle mandates a policy of open immigration, debunks several common arguments for prohibiting or limiting immigration, shows why all such arguments are necessarily invalid, and indicates what Americans must do if we are to reestablish and maintain the kind of moral, rights-respecting immigration policy that was advocated by the Founders.
Moral Health Care vs. “Universal Health Care”
Surveys the history of government interference in health insurance and medicine in America, specifying the rights violations and economic problems caused thereby; enumerates the failed attempts to solve those economic problems by means of further government interference; and shows that the only viable solution to the debacle at hand is to gradually and systematically transition to a rights-respecting, fully free market in these industries.
The Morality of Moneylending: A Short History
Presents an essentialized history of usury, showing that, just as moneylenders are being damned and blamed for today’s “sub-prime mortgage crisis,” so they have been condemned and castigated for alleged wrongdoing from the beginning of Western civilization. Brook zeros in on the economic and moral premises that give rise to contempt for this profession; he identifies the moral-practical dichotomy inherent in these ideas; and he discusses a unified set of principles that must be understood and embraced if moneylending is to be seen as the noble business that it actually is.
The False Promise of Classical Education
Examines the allure of classical education, considers both its religious and secular forms, and shows that—although its advocates claim it to be the solution to today's educational wasteland—classical education only contributes to the crippling of children's minds.
The “Forward Strategy” for Failure
Examines the Bush administration’s so-called war strategy and shows that its manifest failure is a consequence not of good ideas poorly implemented, but of the morally corrupt ideas motivating the administration.
The Tragedy of Theology: How Religion Caused and Extended the Dark Ages
A Critique of Rodney Stark’s The Victory of Reason
Critiques Rodney Stark’s best-selling book The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. Bernstein’s analysis proves Stark’s thesis to be historically false and philosophically impossible. The fundamental factor that led to freedom, capitalism, and Western success, Bernstein shows, was not the Christian, scripture-based approach of applying “reason” to the goal of understanding “super-nature,” but rather the Aristotelian, observation-based method of applying reason to the goal of understanding actual nature.
“No Substitute for Victory”: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism
Consults historical precedent to evaluate America’s response to the attacks of 9/11. Considering key historical attacks against America, along with her responses to those attacks, Lewis highlights the moral and practical issues involved, and draws vital lessons that Americans must grasp and apply in the current war—if we want to win it.
The Decline and Fall of American Conservatism
Examines today’s putatively splintered conservative movement, zeros in on the essence of its two dominant factions, and shows the movement to be only superficially split while fundamentally unified—and stultified—by the conservatives’ universal acceptance of a morality that is antithetical to liberty.
Religion vs. Free Speech
Demonstrates that the tenets of religion are incompatible with the right to free speech, and shows why those who want to establish and maintain freedom of speech must repudiate religion and embrace the rational, secular foundation for rights.
“Just War Theory” vs. American Self-Defense
Presents the principles of “Just War Theory”—the disastrous, altruistic theory underlying and guiding the Bush administration’s so-called “War on Terrorism”—and contrasts them with the principles of a proper, egoistic approach to American self-defense.
Introducing The Objective Standard
Outlines the philosophy on which The Objective Standard is based and indicates what is to come.
