Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This talk was recorded live on July 3rd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch archived podcasts here: newideal.aynrand.org/podcasts
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This talk was recorded live on July 3rd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch archived podcasts here: newideal.aynrand.org/podcasts
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=AynRandInstitute
Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARI's online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: newideal.aynrand.org
******
Keep in Touch! Sign up to receive email updates from ARI: aynrand.org/signup
Follow ARI on Twitter: twitter.com/AynRandInst
Follow ARI on Facebook: facebook.com/AynRandInstitute
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Subscribe to the ARI Live! podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ayn-rand-institute-live/id1440399458
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Join an upcoming virtual or in-person event: ari.aynrand.org/events
Visit ARI’s website for more about our content and programs: ari.aynrand.org

![How the SCOTUS Tariff Decision Helps Slow the Advance of Authoritarianism
In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the recent decision in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump, striking down the President’s expansive “Liberation Day” tariffs.
• [00:00] Introduction
• [04:58] The majority’s reasoning
• [14:52] The major questions doctrine
• [26:05] Statutory interpretation and legislative intent
• [36:20] The dissent’s plausibility
• [42:33] The separation of powers
• [48:48] A stopgap against eroding separation of powers
• [57:59] Scrutinizing deprivation of economic liberty, property
• [01:04:36] Emergency powers
Resources:
• Ben Bayer, “Ayn Rand on Free Trade, the Essence of Capitalism’s Foreign Policy” [https://new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/ayn-rand-on-free-trade-the-essence?utm_source=publication-search]
• Ben Bayer, “The Constitutionally Dubious Law Empowering Trump’s ‘Emergency’ Tariff Authority” [https://new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/the-constitutionally-dubious-law]
• Ben Bayer, “The Lawyers Defending Trump’s Tariffs Know They’re Un-American. Here’s How We Can Tell” [https://new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/the-lawyers-defending-trumps-tariffs]
This episode was recorded on February 25, 2026.
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– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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![Jordan Peterson vs Ayn Rand on Finding Purpose in Life
In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss how to make one’s life purposeful, without falling for the sacrificial tropes popular in our culture.
Among the topics covered:
• Why aiming at a challenging, effortful life should not be equated with suffering;
• How to evaluate Jordan Peterson’s notion that meaning is found outside of one’s life;
• What is wrong with pursuing purpose by bearing others burdens;
• Why achievement, not suffering, is the essence of human life and morality.
Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s novels Atlas Shrugged [https://aynrand.org/novels/atlas-shrugged/] and The Fountainhead [https://aynrand.org/novels/the-fountainhead/].
The podcast was recorded on December 17, 2024 and released on January 1, 2025.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:24 Why an effortful life isn’t suffering
0:08:12 Peterson’s notion that meaning is outside of one’s life
0:16:13 Pursuing purpose by bearing others’ burdens
0:26:04 Achievement, not suffering, as the essence of human life
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
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– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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Visit ARI’s website for more about our content and programs: https://ari.aynrand.org/ Jordan Peterson vs Ayn Rand on Finding Purpose in Life](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/duUDf-WuSVk/mqdefault.jpg)





![The Dramatic Injustice of the January 6th Pardons
In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss Trump’s blanket pardon of all the people involved in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Among the topics covered:
● How Trump’s blanket pardon lets outrageous evil off the hook;
● How Trump’s claims about the 2020 elections and the January 6 attack are arbitrary;
● How Trump and many Republicans are attempting to rewrite reality;
● How the pardons normalize political violence and reflect the tribalism of our culture;
● Why the blanket pardoning is an attack on the Constitution and the rule of law.
Recommended in this podcast are the podcast episodes “The Storming of the Capitol” [https://youtu.be/jHZwu1V7Lq0] and “The January 6 Hearings.” [https://youtu.be/BAn692ODItc]
The podcast was recorded and posted on January 22, 2025.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:48 Trump lets outrageous evil off the hook
0:06:45 Trump’s arbitrary claims about the 2020 elections and January 6
0:16:21 Rewriting reality by Trump and Republicans
0:25:22 Normalizing political violence through the pardons
0:38:45 The blanket pardoning as an attack on the Constitution and the rule of law
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
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Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand University app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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Visit ARI’s website for more about our content and programs: https://ari.aynrand.org/ The Dramatic Injustice of the January 6th Pardons](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fEOGBX9R05w/mqdefault.jpg)