Is Objectivism Winning?

Some friends recently said that they felt Objectivism wasn't winning.

Winning? By what standard?

My standard of judgment is how this philosophy of reason helps and has helped me personally. By that standard, it has already "won". I put that in quotes because I don't embrace the idea of intrinsicism—the view that things can hold value apart from a valuer. To put it precisely, I won, putting these rational ideas to work for my happiness across decades.

What about the rest of the world? Follow my example. Save your own personal world. The more people who focus first on saving their own world, their own life in it, the better off the world as a whole will be.

That said, the critical question "By what standard?" still applies. "Save your own personal world"? Does that mean I can do whatever the hell I want, stepping all over people in the process? Certainly not—that's a Nietzschean view, not an Objectivist view. The standard of judgment here is man's life, man qua man as a rational animal with a life normally spanning decades.

A full exposition of standards and Objectivism is well outside the scope of this post. For starters, visit the Ayn Rand Institute.

I just wanted to write enough to convey this idea: when you ask a question like that be prepared to state your standards.