Don Watkins

Don Watkins is an American author, columnist and professional speaker, who currently serves as a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, a non-profit organization in Irvine, California, that promotes the novels of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism.

Early life and family

Watkins was introduced to philosophy in high school, where, under the influence of a friend, he read, among other works, Philosophy: Who Needs It by Rand. He also became interested in politics, reading Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt and the works of Ludwig von Mises. After high school, he went to university, but, growing irritated with academia, he quit his full-time studies and started attending night school. He graduated with a BA degree in Business Administration from Strayer University. During this time he worked for multiple IT firms and started blogging.

Watkins and his wife had their first child, Olivia, in 2013.

Career

In March 2006, Watkins was appointed a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, specializing as a writer and an editor in Rand's IDeaS and policy issues, and as a researcher in capitalism, government welfare and Social Security. In 2012, with Yaron Brook, he co-authored Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government, which aims to show how Objectivism can be applied to solve the fiscal and economic problems of the modern day. The book received positive reviews from Forbes and The Financial Times.

Also with Brook, since January 2011, Watkins has contributed a column entitled "The Objectivist" to Forbes, writing AbOUT economics and liberty. He has also contributed to The Guardian, USA Today, The Daily Caller, Fox News, CNBC, The Christian Science Monitor, NPR, The Washington Times and other media outlets. He has often participated in talks and debates in front of university groups, such as at the University of Arkansas, Stanford University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has also addressed Tea Party audiences.

In early 2014, Watkins launched the 'End the Debt Draft' campaign, promoting his goal of ending government welfare in order to end government debt, which he sees as imposing on young Americans an unearned and immoral obligation in a similar way to the military draft. His book, RooseveltCare: How Social Security is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance, was published in June 2014.

See also

• American philosophy
• Ethical egoism
• Free market
• Individualism
• Objectivist movement
• Rational egoism

External links

• RooseveltCare: How Social Security is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance Official, free PDF version of the book