https://youtu.be/rPsgR0WCqxw Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss Ayn Rand’s radical view on abortion rights and the debates over abortion as an election issue. Among the topics covered: * Why Ayn Rand defended abortion rights as a matter of individual freedom; * How to understand abortion as an election issue after the Dobbs decision; * How to evaluate recent Democratic arguments for abortion...

https://youtu.be/MLF5deQWbrc Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Aaron Smith interviews Elan Journo to discuss his critical evaluation of two popular but deeply flawed biographies of Ayn Rand: Jennifer Burns’ Goddess of the Market and Anne C. Heller’s Ayn Rand and the World She Made. Among the topics covered: * The standards of objectivity that the biographies fail to meet; * The authors’ disregard for how Rand thought of herself and her...

https://youtu.be/wgKovwvgEs0 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza and Sam Weaver discuss the enduring value of The Virtue of Selfishness, a collection of Ayn Rand’s essays on ethics, on its sixtieth anniversary. Among the topics covered: * Why Ayn Rand wrote and collected the essays in The Virtue of Selfishness; * How Ayn Rand’s essays address questions central to living a good life; * How Ayn Rand presented a radical...

https://youtu.be/Lsm2sRbywwg Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss Western misconceptions around October 7 and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Among the topics covered: * Why the war is really between Israel and Iran; * How pragmatism effects the West’s inability to understand Iran; * How Palestinian grievances help pragmatists evade Iran’s ideology; * Why most Palestinian grievances are...

https://youtu.be/IBopAUk3s4A Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza and Tristan de Liège discuss the private space industry and Ayn Rand's philosophical thoughts on the subject. Among the topics covered: * How state monopolization forestalled the development of the private space industry; * Why Rand saw the Apollo 11 mission as a philosophical, not a political achievement; * How pull peddling threatens space...

https://youtu.be/5Bpu-bAQXMs Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula discuss the recent antitrust case against Google and what it reveals about the nature of antitrust law. Among the topics covered: * Why Ayn Rand regarded antitrust law as immoral and un-American; * What evidence the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google is based on; * How antitrust law is non-objective in theory and in...

https://youtu.be/pKCfFCED9XA Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Ben Bayer analyze the anti-American immigration platforms of both the Trump and Harris campaigns. Among the topics covered: * The tribal and arbitrary nature of Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric; * Why Republicans rely on fear-mongering to push their anti-immigration agenda; * Harris’s shameful evasion of the immigration topic and the...

https://youtu.be/emKgc2aO7x8 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Gregory Salmieri about his essay “Free Speech as a Right and a Way of Life.” Among the topics covered: * What free speech is and why a defense of it is needed; * How to respond to acts of de-platforming and cancellation; * Why the right to free speech is absolute; * How public education violates free speech; *...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C-eEwx1jv0 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the question of whether Kamala Harris is a communist, and if not, what the real problem with her views is. Among the topics covered: * The essence of the Marxist ideology; * Why Harris is not a communist; * How the “communist” label helps New Right tribalists hide their own anti-Americanism; * The...

https://youtu.be/FpjW9B8aE8Q Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss how the failure of American post-9/11 policy led to the October 7 attacks. Among the topics covered: * How the failed American response to 9/11 paved the way for October 7; * How religion and altruism undermined the response to Islamic totalitarianism; * How the West lies to itself about the nature of Hamas; * Why there are...

The new Right’s absurd positions cannot be explained by their adherence to any coherent ideology, but only by their tribal view of the world.

We must understand the philosophical foundations of the right to free speech to apply it to contemporary controversies.

https://youtu.be/sdNoDhkU_eA Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Harry Binswanger analyze Alexandra Popoff’s new biography, Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success, particularly its portrayal of Rand as a “Jewish thinker.” They address the false attempt to link Rand’s “ethnicity” to her philosophy. Among the topics covered: * The determinism of labeling Rand as “influenced” by her ancestry vs. the central role of choice in...

The West is free today because it didn’t allow even the death of innocents to impede its right to self-defense.

Cartels thrive on the criminalization of immigration that allows them to prey on migrants at the border.

The U.S. the US withdrew from Afghanistan 3 years ago on August 26, 2021. Blame our political and intellectual leaders, across two decades, for evading the ideological nature of the enemy and, consequently, miring U.S. forces in a “no-win” war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBhhQHNCAFI Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 Platform. Among the topics covered: * The ambiguity of “freedom” in the Democrats’ rhetoric; * How the platform packages legitimate freedom with the “freedom” to take from others; * How the platform packages equality of rights with metaphysical equality; *...

In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics.” In that essay, he examines secular thinkers' approach towards ethics. As he argues, scientists like Richard Dawkins accept ethical claims that are fundamentally based on religious thinking. To combat this approach to ethics, we need a naturalistic alternative: and one has been offered by Ayn Rand. Bayer’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjAt5kXxxBs Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid criticize various pro-immigration arguments and discuss how they undermine a proper moral defense of immigration. Among the topics covered: * How conventional pro-immigration arguments are based on altruism and collectivism; * How altruism leads to the infantilization of refugees and failure to advocate for economic...

https://youtu.be/fC2PeuDuR5E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Paul Taske, associate director of litigation at NetChoice, to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice decision and what it means for the future of free speech in America. Among the topics covered: * The Supreme Court’s decision to send the question about regulating social media platforms back to the federal district courts; * Why content...

https://youtu.be/lOPRUlOyTMU Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Mike Mazza discuss why the trans movement is essentially religious and unscientific. Among the topics covered: * The religious character of the trans movement; * Why many of its scientific claims are dishonest; * How religious conservatives reinforce the movement’s irrationality; * Why debates about gender have become so...

https://youtu.be/WSCTJ5fxqq8 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss how the introduction of both the Ten Commandments and DEI into the public school system represents an assault on intellectual freedom. Among the topics covered: * How recent public-school mandates in Louisiana and Oklahoma use force to promote religion; * Why the mandates are an assault on the First Amendment and our founding...

https://youtu.be/1UvPyAQ6s5E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer examines a discussion between Richard Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, explaining why so-called secular humanists have been unable to offer a rational moral alternative to religion. Among the topics covered: * Ali's rationalizations for her religious conversion; * Why Western civilization is not purely Christian; * How religious belief relies on arbitrary...