Friend,
Two hundred fifty years of a country built on an idea nobody had tried at scale before: that the individual, not the collective, is the proper unit of moral concern.
Ronald Reagan understood that idea in his bones. What a lot of people don't know is where some of that understanding came from.
In a May 23, 1966, letter, William Vandersteel, president of the Ampower Corporation, expressed confidence that Reagan could win the presidency in 1968 and enclosed a pamphlet by Ayn Rand titled "Conservatism: An Obituary," written after the 1960 presidential campaign. In the essay, Rand argues that many conservatives are opposed to statism but don't seem to realize that the only good alternative is capitalism.
Reagan’s reply was, "Thanks very much for pamphlet. Am an admirer of Ayn Rand but hadn't seen this study."
Even though Ayn Rand wasn’t exactly a fan of Reagan, they both understood the evils of collectivism. So we decided to tell Reagan’s story in one of our Draw My Life videos. |
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We used the same format that first went viral for us with My Name is Ayn Rand — hand-drawn illustration, first-person narrative, no lecture, just a life.
This time, the life is that of a small-town Illinois kid who became a Hollywood actor, a union president, a governor, and finally the man who stood in Berlin and said, “Tear down this wall” — all while carrying Rand's central conviction that free individuals, not government planners, are the engine of everything worth having.
Friend, this is exactly the kind of content that has taken The Atlas Society's digital reach to 3.5 million people — the 42nd video in a series that started with a couple thousand dollars and my own amateur drawings and voiceover in my best Russian accent.
Every one of them is built to do the same job: take an idea Rand spent 1,200 pages developing and put it in front of a 17-year-old in under five minutes.
Reagan didn't need the translation, but most of the next generation does.
I'd love for you to watch it. |
With grit, grace, and gratitude, |
