The Objective Standard

Like Michael Jackson himself, "Michael" has both adoring fans and apoplectic critics—and like Jackson, the film is something that everyone should experience at least once. theobjectivestandard.com/p/injustice-ag…

Because Earth Day is intended to further the cause of environmentalism—and because environmentalism is an anti-human ideology—on April 22, those who care about human life should not celebrate Earth Day; they should celebrate Exploit-the-Earth Day. theobjectivestandard.com/p/exploit-the-…

The musical landscape of the 1970s was filled with artistic rule breakers, and singer-songwriter Lowell George was certainly one of them. His devotion to creative freedom shaped his entire body of work and produced one of rock ’n’ roll’s most innovative, original bands: Little Feat. theobjectivestandard.com/p/no-little-fe…

Carolyn Merchant’s #TheDeathofNature was the first systematic work to develop an area of academia that became known as “ecofeminism” and is still influential among leftist feminists and environmentalists. By understanding its ideas we can understand the movements it helped create. theobjectivestandard.com/p/the-death-of…

The flight of #ArtemisII shines a spotlight on a critical question: Why has it taken so long to return to the Moon? And now that we’re going back, will we stay this time? Answering these questions reveals serious problems with the Artemis Program and how successful this attempt at lunar colonization is likely to be. theobjectivestandard.com/p/artemis-ii-t…

Love Christmas. You earned it. theobjectivestandard.com/p/for-the-love…

Welcome to the Winter 2025 issue of The Objective Standard, which rounds out two decades of crystal clear commentary from an Objectivist perspective. Read more: theobjectivestandard.com/p/the-winter-2…

From everyone at The Objective Standard to everyone who thinks, produces, trades, and thereby creates the values on which human life and happiness depend: Thank you. Thank you, profit-seeking businessmen, for producing and selling everything from groceries to computers to automobiles to electricity. Your work—although often condemned—is, in fact, supremely noble and heroic. Thank you, scientists and engineers, for discovering and harnessing the elements and laws of nature, thus making possible the countless processes and goods—from air-conditioning to chemotherapy to fracking to fighter jets—that enable us to live and flourish. Thank you, rational philosophers (especially Aristotle and Ayn Rand), for discovering, clarifying, and communicating crucial facts about the nature of reality, of knowledge, and of the good. Without your thought and work, people would still be in the Dark Ages. Thank you, American Founders, for establishing a country based on the principle of individual rights and infused with checks and balances that have kept even the barbarians within our gates substantially at bay. Thank you, rational economists, for elucidating the nature of free markets; the social conditions required for maximal production, trade, and prosperity; and the practicality of capitalism. Thank you, rational parents, for raising your children with logic and love, and encouraging them to choose and pursue their own creative aims and courses in life. Thank you, rational teachers, for helping students to learn the essential skills and facts they need in order to become life-loving, independent adults. Thank you, rational workers of all stripes, for providing the countless specialized services—from janitorial to managerial—that make production and trade possible. Thank you, military men and women, for protecting the innocent, defending freedom, and eliminating the savages who seek to kill us. Thank you, rational artists, for producing great literature, movies, music, and all the arts that challenge our minds and fuel our souls. And thank you readers of TOS for your business and support; we couldn’t do what we do without you. Have a wonderful, joy-filled Thanksgiving.

As William F. Buckley’s 100th birthday nears, conservatives will pretend that he was a man of principle, civility, dignity, honor. He was not. Buckley was cowardly, dishonest, unjust, and racist. Read more: theobjectivestandard.com/p/william-f-bu…

This World Philosophy Day is a great time to learn about some of Ayn Rand's contributions to the field, including her identifications of "package deals" and "anti-concepts." Read more: theobjectivestandard.com/navigating-tod…

The principle of individual rights is not a gift from “God” or the government, nor is it a matter of mere preference or opinion. Rather, it is a truth that anyone can grasp—if he observes reality, uses reason, and refuses to pretend that feelings, faith, or consensus are means of knowledge. Although there is no evidence to support the notion that murdering people or initiating force against them is good, a world of evidence supports the idea that in order to survive and thrive as human beings, we must use reason, produce life-serving goods and services, trade value for value by mutual consent to mutual benefit, and refrain from initiating force against one another—so that everyone can live his life as he sees fit. theobjectivestandard.com/p/two-principl…

As has every iteration of Marxist collectivism, East German communism succeeded only at destroying human life. On November 9, 1989, after twenty-eight years, the virtual prison created by the Berlin Wall was opened, and Germans—East and West—rejoiced. theobjectivestandard.com/2018/11/rememb…

On this day in 1864, Abraham Lincoln was reelected for a second term. Was he, as most Americans believe, a defender of individual rights, a foe of slavery, and a savior of the American republic—one of history’s great heroes of liberty? Or was he a tyrant who turned his back on essential founding principles of America, cynically instigated the bloody Civil War to expand federal power, and paved the way for the modern regulatory-entitlement state? theobjectivestandard.com/2014/05/gettin…

With only two months remaining in 2025 and little in the way of serious competition, "Frankenstein" most likely will stand as the best major studio release of the year by a wide margin. It adapts the original novel faithfully and changes only one major element—the ending—as an act of respectful reinterpretation rather than with the sort of arrogant dismissal that we see in so many recent remakes of classic stories. Fans of Shelley’s groundbreaking novel simply must see how del Toro, like Victor Frankenstein himself, uses old parts to create something new, wondrous, and occasionally terrifying. theobjectivestandard.com/p/frankenstein…

If you want a glimpse of the future we can have if we support rational young intellectuals, check out this recent interview with @kiyahwillis. Kiyah is a voice of reason in a sea of insanity. She addresses difficult subjects head-on with simple, straightforward language and crystal clarity. In doing so, she’s not only educating and inspiring other active-minded young people to fight for reason and individualism, she’s also showing them how to do so with confidence, charisma, and poise. This is what an independent-minded, true intellectual looks like. Seeing thinkers such as Kiyah—and understanding the multiplier effect of their work—gives me great hope for the future, even amid today’s cultural and political chaos. Watch the interview. And share it. If we support and amplify young voices that are fighting for reason, freedom, and flourishing, the future will be a beautiful place for people to live. youtube.com/watch?v=HY2iAq…

Some people don’t like a political spectrum that exposes the respective natures of political systems by reference to their positions on freedom and force. Some people don’t want such clarity. This is to be expected from socialists, nationalists, theocrats, and statists in general. They want to force people to act against their own judgment for some alleged “greater good,” such as “society,” “the nation,” or “God”—but few of them want to come right out and say that the essence of their system is the use of such force whereas the essence of capitalism is freedom. Why? theobjectivestandard.com/p/four-fallaci…

Etymology helps us to understand how and why terms developed as they did. The etymology of “capitalism” integrates seamlessly with the system to which the term refers. Capitalism is the system that respects the mind, frees the mind, is based on the mind, and is driven by the mind. There is no better name for the system of the mind than “capitalism.” theobjectivestandard.com/p/the-mind-bas…

Why do some people excel in life whereas others stagnate? Many factors are at play, but none is more powerful than free will. We can choose to think or not to think, to exert mental effort or not to do so. That’s our fundamental choice. And choosing to think—along with choosing to act in accordance with our best judgment—are the fundamental ingredients in a successful, happy life. theobjectivestandard.com/p/on-choosing-…

Unlike religion and secular altruism, rational egoism neither entails nor permits any claim on the lives of other men. It holds that each man should act in his own best interest and that each man is the proper beneficiary of his own thought and action. And because egoism recognizes that it is right for a man to think and act in his self-interest, it also recognizes that it is wrong for others to violate this right through physical force or fraud. Rational egoism not only serves to guide an individual’s actions; it also serves as the foundation for a rights-respecting, civilized society. theobjectivestandard.com/p/mystical-eth…

Rights derive from the requirements of human life in a social context; they are moral principles that identify an individual’s proper freedom of action within that context. Given that fetuses do not exist in a social context but inside a woman, they do not have rights. Women do. A rational conception of a right to life means a right to live according to one’s own judgment—which means a right to pursue one’s own values, without being forced to sacrifice—including sacrificing one’s values for the sake of a potential. theobjectivestandard.com/p/does-abortio…