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The Summer 2025 Issue of TOS Is Published!

Welcome to the Summer 2025 issue of The Objective Standard, the rational alternative to regressivism and conservatism.
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Politics & Rights

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The DOGE Delusion: Trump’s Power Play versus Principled Reform
By Nicholas Provenzo
1
Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America’s Nazis by Scott Payne (Review)
Although flawed in two significant respects, Code Name: Pale Horse is overall a thrilling and inspiring tale of a man who risked his life to put dozens…
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Tim White
Kudos to Ryan Holiday for Standing on Principle
Kudos to Ryan Holiday for standing up against book banning and for promoting the thoughtful examination of ideas.
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Angelica Walker-Werth
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Robert Ingersoll's Profoundly Moral Defense of Capitalism
By Tom Malone
1
Trump’s Tariffs: Immoral, Indefensible, and Illiberal
By Nicholas Provenzo
DOGE Should Protect Rights, Not ‘Democracy’
by Tom Malone
The People Promoting Life, Reason, and Liberty—Even in a War Zone
Ukraine is one of the front lines in the fight not only for freedom but for the human spirit. That spirit was embodied beautifully in Ayn Rand Center…
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Thomas Walker-Werth
Ayn Rand and the Future of Freedom
By Jon Hersey
1

Arts & Culture

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Andor, Created by Tony Gilroy (Review)
Star Wars was always at its best when it focused on rebellion against tyranny. Andor has finally taken that premise and delivered on it in full.
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Thomas Walker-Werth
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, developed by Sandfall Interactive (Review)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a riveting, achingly beautiful tale of loss, hope, and difficult choices.
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Tim White
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Review)
Sunrise on the Reaping shows us why Haymitch Abernathy decided to join the rebellion against the Hunger Games.
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Angelica Walker-Werth
Miss Austen, Adapted by Andrea Gibb (Review)
What would it have been like to grow up with Jane Austen?
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Angelica Walker-Werth
1
Lessons on Liberty and Self-Esteem from The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale offers many lessons about the roots of self-esteem and how to improve it. Perhaps most important, it illustrates the connection…
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Angelica Walker-Werth

Good Living

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The Happiness Experiment by Carl Barney (Review)
If you’re someone who dreams of success, wealth, and happiness, then The Happiness Experiment is sure to inspire and motivate you.
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Thomas Walker-Werth
Reason for Living: A Rational Approach to Living Your Best Life by Thomas Walker-Werth (Review)
Reason for Living offers a powerful set of tools for anyone seeking to live a life full of meaning, purpose, and happiness.
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Craig Biddle
Adopting Rational Virtues to Achieve Your Goals
If building a better life for yourself according to a rational standard is a proper goal, then the behaviors that enable you to achieve that goal are…
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Thomas Walker-Werth
How a Deeper Understanding of Your Interests Leads to a Richer Life
What matters is not so much what you’re interested in but why.
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Thomas Walker-Werth
1
Charlie Munger’s Value Investing: A Philosophical Approach
By David Chávez Salazar
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout by Cal Newport
In Slow Productivity, Cal Newport aims to answer a seemingly simple question: How can we sustainably and consistently produce high-quality results?
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Tim White
Why It’s OK to Mind Your Own Business by Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke
By Timothy Sandefur
On Choosing to Be a Younger Son
Why do some people excel in life whereas others stagnate? Many factors are at play, but none is more powerful than free will.
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Craig Biddle

History

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Henry Kaiser: Wartime Producer and Industrial Hero
Thanks to men such as Kaiser and their extraordinary industrial capabilities, the United States was able to outproduce its WWII enemies effectively.
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Nadav Sternheim
Richard Trevithick: The Forgotten Hero of Steam
Richard Trevithick, “perhaps the outstanding mechanical engineer of his generation,” transformed human life by pioneering high-pressure steam engines.
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Thomas Walker-Werth
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
By Timothy Sandefur
John Quincy Adams and the Sacred Fire of Liberty
By Tom Malone
The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative by John Swanson Jacobs, edited…
By Timothy Sandefur

Economics

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Frédéric Bastiat: Liberty, Rights, and The Law
By Tom Malone
A Black Hole in Economics: Money Creation and Its Consequences by Jim Brown (Review)
How is money created, who creates it, and what are the economic effects of money creation?
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Michael Dahlen
1
My Conversion from Anti-Industrialist to Lover of Human Progress
By Johan Norberg
Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less by Alex Epstein
By Molly Sechrest
Johan Norberg on Openness, Innovation, and Flourishing
“I have a philosophical conviction that individuals are ends in themselves, not means for the ends of society.” —Johan Norberg
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Thomas Walker-Werth
Ayn Rand vs. Classical Economists
By Martin Hooss
Why French Revolution-Inspired Attitudes toward the Ultra-Wealthy Are Nonsensical
At a rally for Elizabeth Warren, the crowd began chanting "Eat the rich,” a reference to a quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. But is that relevant today?
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Angelica Walker-Werth
Why Jeff Bezos Is Not a “Tech Mogul” or “King of E-Commerce”
How did Jeff Bezos become the “King of E-Commerce”? This question reinforces an old, erroneous idea: that a businessmen can be a “king” or “mogul”.
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Thomas Walker-Werth
The rational alternative to "liberalism" and conservativism.

Science & Technology

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GMOs: Good, Man-Made Organisms
GMOs can serve human life only to the extent that governments keep their coercive hands off those who produce and use this biological gold.
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Angelica Walker-Werth
The Case for Nukes: How We Can Beat Global Warming and Create a Free, Open, and Magnificent Future by Robert Zubrin
In The Case for Nukes, Robert Zubrin explains that more energy will enable “a radical improvement in the quality of life for billions of people.”
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Thomas Walker-Werth
How Going to Space Can Enhance Human Flourishing, with Dr. Robert Zubrin
I recently interviewed Dr. Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society about why freedom and space colonization are essential for the future of human flourishing.
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Thomas Walker-Werth
Boom! Supersonic Flight Is Back in Sight
By Jon Hersey
HCQ and COVID-19: What Does the Evidence Show?
By Steven Kornweiss
Reinventing Flight: An Interview with Blake Scholl
By Jon Hersey
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Education & Parenting

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Hannah Frankman: Rebel Educator
By Jon Hersey
Schools Foment Shootings by Undermining Self-Esteem
By Jon Hersey
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
How to Read a Book was incredibly important and valuable when it was first published in 1940, and it remains so today.
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Tim White
Bad Schools and What to Do about Them, with Andrew Bernstein
By Jon Hersey
Public School Pandemonium Teaches a Valuable Lesson
By Jon Hersey
Why I Left America’s Failing Universities: An Interview with Carrie-Ann Biondi
By Jon Hersey
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