By Ayn Rand
For several years in the 1960s, Columbia University’s radio station WKCR hosted a program called “Ayn Rand on Campus,” featuring Rand and her associates lecturing and answering questions on a wide array of subjects.
In this recorded interview from December 12, 1965, Rand responds to questions about the ideal political structure of a free society. Topics addressed include the government’s role as protector of individual rights, the relationship between a country’s political and economic systems, the role of a written constitution, voting, the difference between a democracy and a republic, taxes, and non-coercive methods of financing government’s operations.
Here are Ayn Rand’s views on:
- Government’s role as protector of every individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;
- The benefits of a constitutional republic and the dangers of unlimited majority rule;
- Contradictions in the U.S. Constitution relating to slavery, eminent domain, and interstate commerce;
- Government’s status as the paid servant of sovereign individuals, versus the historical view of government as a ruler granting favors;
- Possible methods of voluntarily financing government’s operations, in place of coercive taxation;
- The relevance of age and knowledge in determining a person’s competency for voting;
- The importance of federalism in delimiting the powers of government officials.
(MP3 download; 28 min., 20.16 MB)
The description of this product was written and/or edited by ARI staff.
