"Let Us Alone!"/The Structure of Government (MP3 download)

By Ayn Rand

This download includes two radio broadcasts. In the first, Ayn Rand reads aloud three of her Los Angeles Times columns from the early 1960s. All three columns discuss different aspects of capitalism, and Rand offers brief analysis linking them together. In the second, a radio interview, Rand responds to questions about the structure and purpose of government, touching on topics such as the Constitution, the Supreme Court and individual rights.

Let Us Alone! 

In 1962 Ayn Rand accepted an invitation to write a weekly column in the Los Angeles Times, and from events and controversies that have by now faded from the news, she was able to draw timeless lessons. Rand reads aloud three articles from this Los Angeles Times column: “Let Us Alone!”, “The Cold Civil War” and “The Man-Haters.” The readings offer a few extemporaneous additions which are not found in the published versions. Rand discuss issues such as:

• The origin of the term Laissez Faire
• What 17th century France has to do with our current economic system
• The consequences of government “help” to business?
• The nature of a mixed economy
• The impending recession
• Medicare and socialized medicine
• Censorship of radio and TV by the FCC
• Peace Corps
• Anti-trust laws and the stock market crash
• Common misrepresentations of capitalism
• The American Civil War, slavery and capitalism
• Capitalism and Socialism

Listen for free here:  https://courses.aynrand.org/works/let-us-alone/

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Structure of Government

From 1962-1965, Ayn Rand conducted a series of radio interviews at Columbia University’s student run radio station, WKCR. The series, entitled “Ayn Rand on Campus,” covered a broad range of topics. In this interview, Miss Rand discusses issues of the structure and purpose of government such as:

• Determining the right political system
• The importance of a written constitution
• A republic versus a democracy
• Representative democracy
• Unions
• The role of the government in protecting the rights of the individual
• The Senate, House of Representatives and local governments
• Filibusters
• The Supreme Court and judiciary system
• Electoral re-apportionment and “one-man-one-vote”
• America’s system of checks and balances
• Determining the constitutionality of laws

Listen for free here:  https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the-structure-of-government/

 (MP3 download; 59 min., 42.19 MB)

The description of this product was written and/or edited by ARI staff.