Loving Life means loving your present life, having something to look forward to, and something to live for. I think some people just give up and die because they have nothing left to live for; nothing to look forward to. I have a goal to live happily and healthily until over 120. An integral part…
Author: Carl Barney
To Values, Success, and Happiness in 2020
New Year: My dear family and friends, it’s 2020! We’ve all heard a dozen times “Happy New Year.” I’d like to share my thinking regarding making 2020 a truly wonderful and happy year. One of my favorite, powerful statements comes from Ayn Rand’s, We The Living: It’s a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence…
Holiday Celebration 2019
Update (3/6/20): I’ve added a video compilation from the Holiday Celebration 2019. (Better late…) Enjoy! Over Thanksgiving weekend, I had the pleasure of hosting at my home a holiday party with music, magic, poetry, and friends. (See photos here.) Ivan Rutherford performed songs from various musicals, including “Les Misérables,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “West…
Annie Vinther Sanz Joins Prometheus Foundation as Director of Operations
I’m pleased to announce that Annie Vinther Sanz has accepted the position of director of operations at Prometheus Foundation. Annie is an accomplished management executive with more than 20 years of operational and leadership experience. Since January 2015, she has managed the Ayn Rand Institute’s European activities, and for the past two years has served…
Craig Biddle Is the New Executive Director of Prometheus Foundation
I’m delighted to announce that, after an exhaustive search for an executive director, Prometheus Foundation’s board of directors has selected Craig Biddle for the position. Ironically, Craig had neither applied for the position nor even considered it. Rather, he was on the search committee to find a director. But after the committee reviewed 15 applications,…
Liberty: What Is It? Why Is It Good? On What Does It Depend?
Craig Biddle and I wrote this essay, “Liberty: What Is It? Why Is It Good? On What Does It Depend?,” as a pamphlet for Students for Liberty to distribute at LibertyCon and other conferences. It’s a brief introduction to Ayn Rand’s views on liberty and how they differ from conventional views. If you’ve not yet read it,…
Ideas—an Evening with Vernon and Candice Smith
One of my joys in life is discussing important ideas with great thinkers. So I was delighted to have dinner at my home with Dr. Vernon Smith and his wife Candace, Dr. Bart Wilson and his partner Ryan Johnson, Todd Zywicki and his wife Jeri Curry, and Craig Biddle. I won’t get into everyone’s history…
The Assault on Private Career Colleges
For some attorneys general, when it comes to targeting and prosecuting politically unpopular businesses (oil companies, healthcare providers, drug companies, etc.), anything goes. And justice is not their goal. Their goal is to cripple, bleed, bankrupt businesses they don’t like. Their playbook is simple: Make stuff up, fake documents, fake witnesses, whatever will work; conduct…
My Retirement from the Board of Cato
I recently retired as a board member of the Cato Institute to focus on personal pursuits, such as advancing Objectivism through my Prometheus Foundation. I enjoyed my time on the board of Cato, and I have great respect for CEO Peter Goettler, Chairman Bob Levy, and all the other board members. Cato is a good…
Criticism and Complaints
I told my butler (who I call “James”—after all, English butlers are named James) that criticizing and complaining is a virtue. He looked at me disapprovingly, as if I’d said the moon is made of cheese. He said he did not think so; so, I explained. I told him that nothing gets better until one…