May 25, 2011

ARC—A Voice for Reason and Capitalism

We would like to share with you the following message to donors from Yaron Brook.

Dear Contributor:

A year ago this month, I wrote to update you on the increased demand for Objectivist speakers—spurred at that time by a dramatic increase in public interest in Ayn Rand and her ideas.

I am pleased to provide you with an update on some of our highest-profile successes since then.

• Earlier this month, we concluded a three-event debate series in New York City. The First Principles Debate Series featured me, John Allison, Harry Binswanger. We debated committed progressive opponents on three critical topics. The titles of the debates were: Government: What Is Its Proper Role?; Freedom: For Whom and From What?; and Capitalism: Is It Moral? Nearly 4,000 people either attended the debates in person or watched live over the Internet. The New York Chapter of the Ayn Rand Institute played an instrumental role in the success of this series, and we are exploring the possibility of more debates in the future.
   
• The 2010–11 six-event ARC Speaker Series concluded with a talk by John David Lewis on May 24 in Chicago. The first five events attracted a total of some 1,400 people (live and online). Two were by me, and the others were by Tara Smith, John Allison and Adam Mossoff. We intend to continue these events this fall, with six more talks slated for the 2011–12 series.
   
• John A. Allison, former CEO of BB&T Corporation, delivered a talk titled “Using Ayn Rand’s Values to Create Competitive Advantage in Business” in La Jolla, California, in early April. In this talk, Mr. Allison explained how Ayn Rand’s ethical system can be used practically to create a competitive advantage in any organization and showed how the pursuit of personal happiness and organizational success are in harmony when the individual and the organization have values based on reality and reason.
   
• ARC’s Health Care Speaker Series has passed the midway point with two campus talks that I delivered earlier this year at UT-Austin and at Stanford. On May 14 I spoke at the Doctors Town Hall Conference in Costa Mesa—an event intended to rally physician opposition to ObamaCare. There will be several other events before the end of the year as part of this ongoing series.
   
• Just since the beginning of this year, I have given nearly three dozen talks to a wide variety of audiences—ranging from campus clubs to Tea Party policy summits; from local chapters of the Young Presidents Organization to the Mont Pelerin Society; and from Stanford Law School to Oxford University. More than 5,500 people have attended these events.

You can always find the latest on all ARC events by visiting the Center’s events page or our Facebook page. And some of our previous talks listed above are available at ARCTV.

I firmly believe that our unique, principled perspective on the issues of the day accounts for the success of these events over the past year. No one is saying the things that we are saying; and clearly public interest in our message has never been greater.

Our goal is to hold more of these speaker series, talks and debates—in New York, Chicago and elsewhere—over the next year.  Our prospects for continued success are directly dependent upon donor support. To help us to maintain and expand these public outreach efforts, please contribute now to ARC. Your support will allow us to continue to speak out in defense of reason, individual rights and capitalism at a time when interest in what we have to say has never been greater.

Thanks very much for your consideration—I hope that we can count on your continued support!

Sincerely,

Yaron Brook
President and Executive Director

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