Imagine living in a culture dominated by Ayn Rand’s philosophy. With the political and economic freedom resulting from a general acceptance of reason as the basis of knowledge and rationality as the basis of ethics, the quality of human life would soar. There would be widespread productivity, creativity, wealth, progress, heroism, benevolence, and happiness—far exceeding any past age of reason. It would be “Galt’s Gulch” on a grand scale.

Will we experience such a world in our lifetimes? In other words, can the “New Intellectuals”—the Ayn Rand Institute and its spiritual and financial supporters—make enough of a difference, soon enough? This is the big question, and no one knows the answer.

But there is another question that each individual must answer for himself: Is such a world worth striving for?

When I die, that will be the end of me—I don’t think it will be the end of my philosophy.

—Ayn Rand (in answer to a question following
her 1969 Ford Hall Forum lecture)