The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) was founded in 1985, three years after Ayn Rand's death, by Ed Snider and Leonard Peikoff, Rand's legal heir.  The stated purpose of the Institute was "to introduce young people to Ayn Rand's novels, to support scholarship and research based on her ideas, and to promote the principles of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to the widest possible audience." The current website states: "ARI also engages in research and advocacy efforts, applying Rand's ideas to current issues and seeking to promote her philosophical principles of reason, rational self-interest and laissez-faire." ARI's first projects were college scholarship essay contests based on Rand's novels and developing a network of college clubs in order to study Objectivism.  They were worthy projects that introduced people to Ayn Rand's ideas.  Over time, however, the intellectuals...(Read Full Article)