Some articles on her:
Ayn Rand's Legacy of Reason and Freedom, by Michael S. Berliner.
The Appeal of Ayn Rand, by Onkar Ghate. Subtitled: Ideas Matter.
These two articles head the front page at Capitalism Magazine today, as well.
Here's her message in a nutshell, from the latter article:
In a world where our President (as well as the religious warriors we're battling against in the Middle East) equates idealism with otherworldliness, faith, and sacrifice of self, and where commentators otherwise sympathetic to his message lament that it leaves no room for worldly compromises, since, as Peggy Noonan puts it, "perfection in the life of man on earth" is impossible--Ayn Rand stands alone. She argues that perfection is possible to man the rational animal. Hold your own life as your highest value, follow reason, submit to no authority, create a life of productive achievement and joy--enact these demanding values and virtues, Rand teaches, and an ideal world, here on earth, is "real, it's possible--it's yours."
The Objectivist Center - spinoffs from the central movement - have this article:
Ayn Rand at 100: The Moral Defense of Freedom, by Edward Hudgins.
Where you will find this:
Rand began with the observation that since the ultimate alternative for human beings is life or death, the ultimate moral goal for each individual is survival. That might not seem so radical, but Rand went on to observe that because we are humans, the goal is not just physical survival; it is a happy, joyous and flourishing life. Further, the means by which we discover how to achieve this goal is our unique rational capacity, not instincts, feelings or faith. Thinking allows us to produce food, clothing, shelter, medicine, printing presses, computers, rockets and theories to explain everything from atoms to galaxies.
Rand developed an ethos of rational self-interest, but this "virtue of selfishness" was not an anti-social creed for predators. Instead, it led Rand to her great insight that there is no conflict of interest between honest, rational individuals. Since individuals are ends in themselves, no one in society should initiate the use of force or fraud against others. All relationships should be based on mutual consent. This became the credo of the modern libertarian movement, found today in think tanks, publications and public policy proposals.
Ayn Rand is not the only philosopher of freedom, though she is probably the only one whose birthday I will celebrate. Rose Wilder Lane, Isabel Paterson, Leonard Read, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrick Hayek, Murray Rothbard and Henry Hazlitt... Frederic Bastiat, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill (I guess), Herbert Spencer, William Lloyd Garrison... Well the list is pretty long.
You could include Galileo, Luther and Gutenberg as contributors to human freedom, though not philosophers of it. Although if I'm going to go that far back and afield I'd have to mention Jesus, Laotzu (most directly of this bunch) and Buddha. I'm not so sure about Zoroaster, though the religion he founded had a profound effect on orthodox Christianity. But that's a different subject.
So, be rationally selfish tomorrow. That is: take care of your own interests in a far-sighted, properly prioritized manner.
