In 1959 Mike Wallace interviewed Ayn Rand on his program The Mike Wallace Interview. This was Rand’s first major interview on television and came two years after the release of her most prominent work, Atlas Shrugged.
While this video is over 50 years old, the format and content is timeless. Ayn Rand was brilliant in the articulation of her philosophy and her perspective and did an excellent job of engaging Mike Wallace without running him over.
Atlas Society
In this fascinating interview, a young Mike Wallace interviews Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. She states that the world is moving towards “disaster” and “destruction” and “complete collectivism” or “socialism.” This she ties to the implementation of the welfare state and its undermining of individual rights. The welfare state is leading us toward a society where “everyone is enslaved to everyone else” she argues. Wallace counters that this system came about democratically. Does Ayn Rand oppose that democratic process? Rand explains that the majority may not vote away inalienable rights: it may not vote away the property, life, or freedom of others. Individual rights are a limit on what the majority may do politically. How then should we move forward? Rand says, by “voluntary cooperation,” “voluntary action,” free from force.
This interview will be of interest to Tea Party activists and libertarians of all stripes, as well as those seeking a quick explanation of Ayn Rand’s political views.
