Love of the good for being good is an idea that I draw from Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, and that permeates my life. For this reason, I place it above, under my name, as the theme of my website.
Briefly, “the good” is rational people (including oneself) and man-made things that are life-supporting, life-affirming, life-enhancing, wealth-creating, and happiness-inducing. I see Objectivism as standing for love of reason, love of productiveness and achievement, love of the highest and the best, love of heroes, love of joy—and for the idea that man’s proper motivation is love of such values.
Love of the good for being good stands in contrast to Ayn Rand’s famous characterization of envy as “hatred of the good for being good.” Such hatred is the most pernicious emotion, as it drives those who tear down the good (nihilism). People driven by this emotion reject the uplifting values of man’s existence. People motivated by love of the good for being good embrace such values.
I see the meaning of the good as similar to Ayn Rand’s view of the meaning of life: “The conviction that joy, exaltation, beauty, greatness, heroism, all the supreme, uplifting values of man’s existence on Earth, are the meaning of life” (from a letter to a fan in 1960, Letters of Ayn Rand pp. 583-584).
In light of that, let me welcome you to my website, which I’ve created for family, friends, colleagues, and those interested in my activities. On my blog, I’ll post occasionally about what’s on my mind, things I’ve done or plan to do, articles or books I’ve read, works of art I like, people I admire, and anything else I might want to share.
Here is a bit about my past. In the mid-1980s, I began building a network of private colleges, and over the course of two decades, built 20 on-ground campuses. Subsequently, I created Independence University, an online university, offering Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s Degrees in healthcare, computer science, graphic arts, and business and accounting. The colleges are now owned and operated by the nonprofit, Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE).
Formerly, I was both Chairman and CEO of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, which educates thousands of students. I’m currently Chairman Emeritus. I ran a very successful group of private colleges and was a leader in the post-secondary private college sector, where I regularly spoke up and took moral stands in defense of private colleges and the profit motive. You can read more about the colleges here.
I discovered Ayn Rand in 1980. I have used the principles of Rand’s philosophy to guide my life and business ventures and have been successful and created wealth, in part, because of them. Now, I want to advance her ideas so that other people will discover and benefit from them too.
I conceived, planned, and funded the Ayn Rand Institute’s ARI Campus, now Ayn Rand University. I wanted hundreds of thousands of people to be able to study complete courses on Objectivism and thus to develop a fuller understanding of the philosophy. Along with John Allison, I was awarded the Atlas Award by the board of the Ayn Rand Institute.
I founded and fund the Objectivist Venture Fund, which provides seed money for Objectivists who want to promote Ayn Rand and Objectivism. I sponsored and continue to support Ayn Rand Center Israel. And I fund the Ayn Rand Atlas Award for the Best Israeli Startup, a presentation of the award for which is held annually at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Over the years, I have served on many boards, including the Ayn Rand Institute, the Cato Institute, and the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism.
Several years ago, I created the Prometheus Foundation for the purpose of providing seed money for those who want to advance Ayn Rand and Objectivism. You can read more about it here.
If you’d like to keep track of my musings, visit my blog, and sign up in the right-hand column for occasional updates. Since I love the good for being good, that’s what I’ll focus on for the most part. (Although, sometimes I may lose my temper . . .)