Kelley Speaks in Arizona

In Arizona, Kelley Speaks to Objectivists, College Students

In mid-March, Executive Director David Kelley gave two talks in Arizona: a speech on "What America Should Stand For" to an audience in Phoenix and a lecture on The Fountainhead to a class at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

The Phoenix talk was organized by the Arizona Objectivists, a local organization that has met regularly for four and a half years. The group invited Kelley in order to bring Objectivist ideas to a wider audience in the Phoenix area—and to draw new members. Its leaders, TOC members Jackie Hazelton and Bill Perry, arranged advance publicity, including Kelley's appearance on the radio show "Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock." (Hazelton will be at the 2003 TOC summer seminar delivering a talk entitled "Starting and Sustaining an Objectivist Discussion Group.")

Said Kelley:

Americans feel increasingly embattled as they confront not only the hatred of Islamist terrorists but also the hostility of allies in Europe and elsewhere. What ideals do we stand for in these conflicts? The generalities our leaders have offered are not enough. If we are going to put Americans' lives at risk in a foreign war, if we are going to ask people in a re-made Middle East to rethink their values, if we are going to stand firm against critics in Europe and elsewhere, we'd better have a clearer idea.

Achievement, individualism, and reason, he argued, are the core ideals America should be defending and promoting in the world (and practicing more consistently itself). Those ideals are the basis of human freedom and the reason for America's prosperity and power. And if we are hated for those virtues, all the more reason to stand up for them proudly.

According to Perry, several people told him that it was a great pleasure to hear important ideas presented with such clarity. Joe Duarte was impressed by the way in which Kelley exhibited "the calm, deliberate demeanor of a serious philosopher. He was not frazzled by emotionally charged audience members who contested his views, but answered their questions with great care and meticulous reasoning." Hazelton reports that the most immediate result of Kelley's talk was a twenty percent expansion in the mailing list of the Arizona Objectivists.

The Objectivist Center is eager to arrange other opportunities for Kelley to speak. Groups interested in sponsoring his talk "What America Should Stand For" may call Jamie Dorrian at 845-471-6100, or send her an e-mail at jdorrian@objectivistcenter.org.

While in Arizona, Kelley also spoke to a class in the philosophy course "Philosophy of Freedom," taught by Professor David Schmidtz. It is a special honors course dealing with the nature of freedom and its moral justification. In the unit on the Objectivist conception of freedom, students read The Fountainhead. Kelley lectured on the themes of moral individualism in the novel and joined the students afterward for a spirited dinner discussion about Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and the center's programs.