iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I hope to still be around in 2076 to see America’s 300th and my 100th. I for one won’t stop fighting to make sure it is still worth the celebration—worthier even than it is today. Because it can be.

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Whatever you do today take some time to yourself to contemplate what the country means to you, personally. Then rededicate yourself to using the freedom we still have to fight for it.

110

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

It’s a moral virtue concerned with living and valuing and thinking for oneself, not joining or celebrating or believing whatever the crowd joins or celebrates or believes. And the importance of that virtue is what necessitates political independence and the freedom it makes possible.

110

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

For too many Americans it still is blind faith. They should remember it’s not just July 4th but Independence Day. And independence isn’t just political independence.

110

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I can celebrate today because an immigrant taught me how. Against great odds she struggled to come here because she thought it was the greatest country in the world, and she could prove it. Patriotism did not need to be a matter of blind faith.

110

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I was born in July 1976 (not long after the 4th). So this month I celebrate my 50th along with America’s 250th.

110

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I'm excited to release a new in-depth piece that's been in the works for a long time. It's also the final chapter of a new book of my essays that will soon be released. new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/how-to-bui...

new-ideal.aynrand.org

How to Build a Secular, Scientific Morality

The scientific method itself implies basic objective values that can lay the foundation for a code of morality

021

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

"The character traits of the great scientist are just supremely clear examples of the character traits of the morally virtuous man or woman. . . . To accept the scientific world view is already to accept a set of values."

110

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Here I interview UNC Chapel Hill scholar Bart Ehrman about his new, super-interesting book about the the religious, Christian roots of altruism. There's disagreement about whether this is to Christianity's credit or altruism's detriment. Tune in! www.youtube.com/watch?v=62w3...

youtube.com

Bart Ehrman on the Christian Origins of Altruistic Morality

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

"There’s . . . cause for soul searching here even among those who think of themselves as critics of the Marxist posturing of the Pikers of the world. Why indeed has there been so little attention to and outrage about the terrorizing of corporate America?"

101

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

On his way around the moon, astronaut Victor Glover quoted scripture. It wasn't the first religious stunt in space. In 1968, Ayn Rand had choice, critical words. "I, for one, felt as if the capsule had disintegrated and we were left in the primordial darkness of empty space."

110

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

"How could I ever advocate that immigration should be restricted, when I wouldn’t be alive today if it were?" Ayn Rand's comment in a 1973 Q&A wasn't an isolated comment. She often sympathetically portrayed the migrant's quest for freedom in her fiction. new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/ayn-rands-...

new-ideal.aynrand.org

Ayn Rand’s Dramatization of the Migrant’s Journey To Freedom

Ayn Rand’s fiction repeatedly portrays the story of individuals who leave their homeland seeking refuge from their oppressors

001

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

"How could I ever advocate that immigration should be restricted, when I wouldn’t be alive today if it were?" Ayn Rand comment in a 1973 Q&A wasn't an isolated comment. She often sympathetically portrayed the migrant's quest for freedom in her fiction. new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/ayn-rands-...

new-ideal.aynrand.org

Ayn Rand’s Dramatization of the Migrant’s Journey To Freedom

Ayn Rand’s fiction repeatedly portrays the story of individuals who leave their homeland seeking refuge from their oppressors

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Here in particular are Ayn Rand's own views on the Iranian hostage crisis: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYC3...

youtube.com

America's Failure to Confront Iran: Ayn Rand Comments

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

The Ayn Rand Institute has consistently identified Iran as the fountainhead of global Islamic terrorism. We have called for military action against Iran for decades. Here we list previous statements on Iran and Islamic terrorism making this position clear. new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/ari-resour...

new-ideal.aynrand.org

ARI Resources on the American Conflict with Iran

Learn about ARI’s decades-long perspective on Iran

100

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Onkar and I read the 170 page decision so you don’t have to (but it wouldn’t hurt if you did).

010

Reposted by Ben Bayer

Ayn Rand Institute @aynrandinstitute.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Trump’s immigration enforcement, however destructive, is ultimately the responsibility of voters. It’s their responsibility to reverse course. Read Ben Bayer's article:

buff.ly

ICE Tyranny is What Democracy Looks Like

031

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

100 years ago this week Ayn Rand came to America. This is her dramatic immigration story -- authored lovingly by Agustina Vergara Cid and Brandon Lisi. There were dozens of ways it might have ended differently--mostly because of arbitrary immigration laws. new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/i-chose-to...

new-ideal.aynrand.org

“I Chose to Be an American”: Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story

100 years ago, Ayn Rand came to America in pursuit of her highest ambitions

031

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

From me in the OC Register today: "The laws Trump is enforcing are not ‘undemocratic.’ But they do violate constitutional rights. Even non-citizens have a right to liberty. Laws restricting immigrant labor violate the freedom to work and engage in trade." www.ocregister.com/2026/02/16/i...

ocregister.com

ICE tyranny is what democracy looks like

Voters made this possible.

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Here Sam Weaver and I discuss @tamu.bsky.social's deletion of philosophy from the philosophy curriculum because Plato is too "woke." First Amendment violations are unavoidable in public education; a "fairness doctrine" would be less destructive then A&M's ham-handed approach.

020

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

I'll be on the Yaron Brook show at 7pm ET to discuss tribalism, "cancel culture" and other related topics (probably including this past weekend's events): www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbu8...

youtube.com

Conversation with Ben Bayer -- Rethink “Cancel Culture” and More | Yaron Brook Show

YouTube video by Yaron Brook

220

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

This is a cause for despair, or hope. If our leaders do express our nation's moral standards, we are "accelerating to destruction." But if they've exceeded their mandate, if propaganda doesn't function to obscure it—as it can't if there's still free speech—they will lose power.

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Another shooting in Minneapolis. Much of the analysis in this podcast still applies. The main issue is not about the particulars of the shooting, but about the context leading up to it and the administration’s reaction. Watch to see how a real thinker processes this.

020

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Here I argue that we must abandon the "cancel culture" concept: the debate over antisemitism in the GOP shows how it obscures the basic unity between woke activists and MAGA antisemites. Both are faith-driven witch hunters. That's the only concept we need.

021

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Why there needs to be more moral support for the Iranian protestors — and why almost no one is offering it.

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

This point also cuts the other way.

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Root for the Iranian protesters if you're critical of ICE. If Trump intervenes because of the repression of protesters, he'll have to explain how he can bomb another country's repressive Gestapo while creating his own. Freedom for Iran could help American freedom.

130

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

"Mamdani has...done us a favor: he’s used the most accurate name for his ideology and for the idea that’s taken more seriously in both of today’s political camps. 'Collectivism' is the broad category that covers socialism, fascism, and any other system that sacrifices the individual to some group."

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Here Elan Journo, Onkar Ghate and I use the f-word quite liberally. No, the really bad f-word.

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

I'll never forget the day a professor in grad school defended socialized medicine against the idea it would tyrannize doctors by saying "as the employee of a state university, I don't feel my liberty is violated." www.kbtx.com/2026/01/07/t...

kbtx.com

Texas A&M philosophy professor ordered to remove Plato reading or be reassigned

Professor Peterson said the discussion about love and biological sexes from Plato’s Symposium is what the administration red-flagged.

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

This is still true. Trump opened his second term with an act of pure dishonesty and wicked contempt for the rule of law when he did a blanket pardon of all Jan 6ers. I laid out the case last January. youtu.be/fEOGBX9R05w?...

youtu.be

The Dramatic Injustice of the January 6th Pardons

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Onkar Ghate and I comment here on a recent essay by Steven Pinker and Marian Tupy. What is the threat that Enlightenment values are really up against, and what will it take to save those values? www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClmX...

youtube.com

Steven Pinker's Weak Defense of Enlightenment Values vs. Religion

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

One last push to promote my upcoming live course at ARI, Objectivism through Ayn Rand's Fiction! Official start date is Jan 8, but the 1st live meeting isn't until the following week--so there's still time to enroll. Use discount code Ben10 for 10% discount off tuition

hubs.la

Objectivism Through Ayn Rand’s Fiction, Part I - Winter 2026 - Ayn Rand Institute Live Courses

Study Objectivism through the novels in which Rand created it.

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Some say I'm a "Heritage American" because I have a Mayflower ancestor (the 1st one born in the New World)! But I descend from the line that fled to Canada as loyalist opponents of the Revolution. Heritage is meaningless. Americans are Americans "by choice and conviction."

020

Reposted by Ben Bayer

Ayn Rand Institute @aynrandinstitute.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

RFK Jr.’s Irrational Anti-Vaccine Policies: Interview with Dr. Amesh Adalja Samantha Watkins interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja about the alarming trend of vaccine conspiracism, now not just being spread by online conspiracy theorists, but also by the leaders of the nation’s top scientific institutions.

youtu.be

RFK Jr.’s Irrational Anti-Vaccine Policies: Interview with Dr. Amesh Adalja

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

052

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Donald Trump is the living embodiment of tribal lone wolf type of amoralist skewered by Ayn Rand in this essay. Far from caring of nothing but himself, he has no self to care for. courses.aynrand.org/works/selfis...

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Here Elan Journo and I take apart the case for war the Trump administration is ginning up against Venezuela. There’s zero self defense rationale here.

020

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

This is the course I'll be leading for ARI Live Courses (based on both my and Onkar Ghate's lectures) in January. You should join! To get a 10% discount off tuition, use the discount code Ben10.

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

A very important interview between Agustina Vergara Cid and Josh Windham. You'll be shocked what Trump's ICE is getting away with it, and you ought to cheer the great work the folks at IJ are doing to fight against it. youtu.be/1KEOmlA-YRo?...

youtu.be

ICE Raids vs. Rule of Law: Interviewing Institute for Justice’s Josh Windham

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Here Nikos Sotirakopoulos, Elan Journo, Onkar Ghate and I unpack the meaning of the conservative civil war about antisemitism. youtu.be/kgur8cEOpnk?...

youtu.be

Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, Heritage, and Conservatism's Moral Decay

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

031

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

"Defenders of the president’s new powers may seek to justify his tariffs by citing details of English history or obscure American pamphlets. But. . .they do it in a way that blatantly ignores the founders’ love for liberty and hatred of unchecked tyranny." new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/the-lawyer...

new-ideal.aynrand.org

The Lawyers Defending Trump’s Tariffs Know They’re Un-American. Here’s How We Can Tell

Legal scholars who cherry pick American history to ignore the American revolution aren’t making an accidental oversight

030

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

The oral arguments about Trump's tariffs exposed so many ways in which the emperor has no clothes.

030

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Republishing another classic New Ideal piece.

000

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Here Samantha Watkins and I dissect one of the bigger scandals of the incoming Mamdani administration that not nearly enough people are talking about. youtu.be/A1sggf9exTQ?...

youtu.be

Mamdani's Socialist War on Gifted Kids

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute

010

Ben Bayer @benbayer.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Here's a discussion I had with Mike Mazza, Tristan de Liege and Professor Jim Lennox about a fascinating book on the questions in philosophy of biology that condition a naturalistic value theory

030