9/11 was one of the most consequential events of the 21st century. Yet twenty-five years later, the attacks and their aftermath are still widely misunderstood. In two consecutive talks at our student conference in Austin, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo analyzed America’s failures before and after 9/11, drawing on more than two decades of work on the subject. They show how the self-abasing morality of altruism shaped American policy, leading the US to betray its ideals, appease its enemies, sacrifice its soldiers, and lose its wars. This double lecture is a must-watch for anyone who cares about America and wants to make it secure.

Topics include:

• Introduction by ARI’s CEO, Tal Tsfany
• How 9/11 was experienced and perceived in the immediate aftermath
• The religious, modernity-hating motivation behind 9/11
• America’s emboldening of Islamists in the decades before 9/11
• America’s abject, craven response to the Danish cartoons of Muhammad
• The intellectual rot 9/11 exposed and Objectivism’s potential to change it
• How American altruism crippled its troops’ ability to fight
• How America refused to recognize or defeat its enemies
• The devastating consequences of our altruistic approach to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars
• Q&A

Resources:

• Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo, Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11.

After the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy released its entry on capitalism, critics online slammed it for apparent Marxist bias. However, if there is a scandal here, it is not merely that one entry is lopsided; it is that contemporary academic philosophers are willfully blind to the real-world phenomenon of capitalism, seeing it only through the unquestioned lens of the altruistic morality.

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Robertas Bakula, Ben Bayer, and Onkar Ghate discuss the entry’s Marxist leaning, Ayn Rand’s absence from the entry, and more broadly the failure of academic philosophy to understand the subject. They argue that Ayn Rand’s view of capitalism should have played a more prominent role in the entry, and how Rand succeeded in defining “capitalism” while the entry does not bother trying. They conclude that the entry should give more serious attention not only to Rand, but also Locke, Smith, and economic scholarship more broadly.

Topics include:

• The Stanford Encyclopedia’s cultural impact
• Marxist dominance in academic philosophy
• Academic philosophy’s economic ignorance
• The failure to define capitalism
• Ayn Rand vs. intellectuals
• Ayn Rand’s definition of capitalism
• How to reform the SEP entry

Resources:

• Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
• Ayn Rand, “What Is Capitalism?” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
• Ayn Rand, “ For the New Intellectual” in For the New Intellectual
• The Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on "Capitalism"

This episode was recorded on August 24, 2026.

September 11, 2001 — and America’s response to it — shaped the 21st century. Confidence in America’s ability to win wars cracked, trust in leadership and experts went down, and, in response, populism, nihilism, and conspiracism raised their ugly heads. From day one, the Ayn Rand Institute’s experts grasped the meaning of the attacks and the significance of a proper response. They called for war with Iran and opposed Bush’s altruistic wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their advice was not followed, but their predictions held.

In this special livestream marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Yaron Brook, Elan Journo, and Onkar Ghate — the Institute’s three leading experts on the attacks — trace what went wrong in its lead-up and aftermath, and how Ayn Rand’s philosophy let them foresee what most people still struggle to understand.

Topics include:

• The events and evasions that led up to 9/11.
• How shocking 9/11 was, given the atmosphere in the 1990s.
• The corrupt failure of intellectuals to warn of and explain 9/11.
• How both the government and academia whitewashed religion and Islam.
• Why and how ARI commented on 9/11 and its aftermath.
• How Objectivism helped ARI’s experts to predict America's failures.
• The disgraceful Western response to the Danish cartoons of Muhammad.
• The rise of populism and nihilism as a result of 9/11.

Resources recommended in the episode:

• Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo, Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11.

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Onkar Ghate discuss the political platform, moral goals, and philosophical motivations driving the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Topics include:

• Radical goals of the DSA
• DSA versus past communism
• Lack of intellectual argument
• Miseducation versus willful ignorance
• Fantasy world of socialism
• Ayn Rand on producer hatred
• Hypocrisy or true goals
• Foreign policy and authoritarian regimes

Resources:

• Ayn Rand’s title essay in For the New Intellectual

This episode was recorded on August 25, 2026.

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Tristan de Liège discuss Zohran Mamdani’s record $323 million culture budget for NYC aimed at supporting the arts, and why government attempts to fund artistic endeavors are unjust and ineffective in creating thriving conditions for artists.

Topics include:

• The Culture Budget’s Purpose
• The “Affordability Crisis”
• The Disdain for the Market
• The Effects of Subsidizing Art
• The Alternative to Subsidies

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand, “What is Capitalism” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
• Ayn Rand, “To Dream the Non-Commercial Dream” in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought

This episode was recorded on August 5, 2026.

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Sam Weaver interviews Onkar Ghate about the American system of checks and balances and the rise of a religious mentality in America, topics discussed in his OCON 2026 talk “America at 250: Politics, Religion, Morality.”

Topics Include:

• What checks and balances are
• Erosion since the founding
• Rise of religious mentality

Resources:

• “America at 250: Politics, Religion, Morality” by Onkar Ghate

This episode was recorded on July 30, 2026.

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Itamar Feldman interviews Mike Mazza about his new book of essays, Freedom to Launch, which explains how deregulation in the space industry enabled today’s space renaissance and what the government's role in space exploration should be going forward.

Among the topics covered are:

• Why Freedom to Launch was written
• The space industry’s current state
• Space law and property rights
• Private vs. Commercial space industry
• The government’s historic role in space
• What's next for the space industry?
• Should NASA exist?

Resources recommended in the episode:

• Mike Mazza, Freedom to Launch
• Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of the Airwaves” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Don Watkins, Onkar Ghate, and Keith Lockitch discuss the Institute's recently announced educational program on Objectivism: ARU Core.

Topics include:

• Making Objectivism your own personal perspective
• Personal vs professional value of philosophy
• Expertise and gaining mastery
• ARU program and benefits

Resources:

• Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
• Ayn Rand, "The Virtue of Selfishness"
• Leonard Peikoff, "Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand"
• Ayn Rand “Through Your Most Grievous Fault” in The Voice of Reason
• Ayn Rand, "The Fountainhead"

This episode was recorded on July 30th, 2026. 

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège recent socialist electoral victories, and analyze critical reactions that fail to identify the philosophical essence of the movement.

• Allegations of “extremism”
• What the “extremism” charge hides
• Are socialists “democratic”?
• Socialism and communism
• Socialist and MAGA populism
• Religious communism, godless capitalism

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand “Extremism’: or the Art of Smearing,” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
• Entry on “socialism” in the Ayn Rand Lexicon 
• Ben Bayer, “Meet the New Socialism, Same as the Old,” New Ideal, Sept 2, 2019
• Ben Bayer, “ICE Tyranny Is What Democracy Looks Like,” New Ideal, Feb 25, 2026
• “Why Socialists Fear the Republican Party Platform,” ARI Podcast, Jul 25, 2024
• “Trump's Anti-Capitalist Control Over Businesses,” ARI Podcast, Sept 18, 2025

This episode was recorded on July 23, 2026.