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As Rand points out, the tribal lone wolf mentality has nothing to do with genuine, rational, life-promoting selfishness. A rationally selfish individual, far from “living” (or killing and dying) by the opinions of others, lives by his own independent judgment and for his own self-achieved happiness, creating values and trading value for value with others.

Rather than appreciate the joys and challenges of his work managing film negatives for Life magazine, ask a woman he likes out on a date, go on adventures, or stick up for himself when insulted or mistreated, Mitty frequently “zones out” and vividly imagines himself doing heroic things and going to interesting places.

An increasing number of companies founded in the United States are leaving the country because of high corporate tax rates, and some Americans are blaming the businesses. But such critics, not the companies in question, are being unpatriotic—as judged by the standards of America’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence.

The modern left is so ideologically bankrupt that its representatives will blame a mass murder—even one perpetrated by an explicit and thoroughgoing collectivist—on individualism, and call for more collectivism as the “solution” to the problem. The murderer in question was an anti-individualist in every essential way.

Despite his retrospective missteps, Lincoln repeatedly responded to Douglas’s racist tauntings by turning back to his avowed purpose in the election—to remind voters that “the old principle of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison” was that slavery was wrong and should be placed on a path to extinction.

I just returned from a four-day, sixty-student conference on “Liberty, Free Markets, and Moral Character,” co-sponsored by the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism (CISC) and the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), and I want to report on the immense value of this event.

During the opening ceremonies for the World Cup June 12, a young paraplegic will walk onto the field in front of 65,000 fans and kick the first ball of the event. How? By means of a bionic exoskeleton, which he will control with his mind.

Free, rights-respecting, self-interested, rational men and nations go to war only when they are attacked or threatened with aggression—and then only to defend their freedom so that they can return to peaceful, normal, prosperous living. On Memorial Day, rather than just bow our heads in silence, let’s also raise our heads and speak these vital truths.

Imagine if you could relive yesterday. What would say that you did not say? What would you do that you did not do? Now imagine you could relive any day in your past until you made it a perfect day. That is the premise of the 2013 film written and directed by Richard Curtis, About Time.

Egalitarianism encourages people to express envy toward the most successful producers and to seek to publicly shame them. A rational morality treats producers at whatever level, to the degree they pursue rationally selfish goals to the best of their ability, as moral heroes deserving admiration and praise.

The Monuments Men saved such cultural treasures as The Adoration of the Lamb by Jan van Eyck and Madonna of Bruges by Michelangelo. Among many other operations in which the unit was involved, it assisted with the recovery of artworks stored by the Nazis in the Austrian salt mines of Altausee.

It can be perfectly appropriate to discuss Lincoln’s flaws and errors. What is not rationally defensible is to demonize Lincoln by quoting him selectively and ignoring relevant historical context and facts, such as the critical fact that the Confederacy fought to preserve and strengthen the most horrifically evil institution in America’s history.

Daniel Wahl reviews So Good They Can't Ignore You, by Cal Newport.

Daniel Wahl reviews Seven Pleasures, by Willard Spiegelman.

Discusses the essential purpose of the Constitution, the crucial role of the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence in understanding that purpose, and related matters.