PROPEL™ Florida Home Page

 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

 

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Passionate Rational Objectivists Promoting Exuberant Living™ (PROPEL™) centers on the ideas of the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and many other books. Her philosophy, Objectivism, derives its name from its central feature, the objectivity of concepts, propositions, and values, i.e. the valid relationship between concretes and abstracts in all human endeavors. In her own words:

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

Given the comprehensiveness of her philosophy, this organization employs one primary and three secondary topics:

·      AYN RAND
Obviously, this represents the main focus of this organization and runs as a common theme through all our events.

o   Book Club
Ayn Rand and her associates offer a rich range of books and articles for rigorous examination and lively discussion at our events.

o   Friends
Ayn Rand favored psychological visibility as the proper basis for true friendship. Sharing common cardinal values serves as the solid foundation for this bonding experience. Such a bonding makes each participant feel fully understood and valued and leads to a deep feeling of philia or love between friends.

o   Self-Improvement
Ayn Rand built an entire system that holds the individual as the ultimate ethical value. It makes perfect sense that anyone engaged in deliberate acts of self-improvement would want to embrace such an ethical code.

STATEMENT OF VISION, VALUES, AND MISSION

VISION

Our organization continuously fosters opportunities to bring people together face to face to share Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, and provides them with intellectual and moral support.

VALUES

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit." -- Aristotle

Achievement of our vision requires a set of values or standards grounded in reality to shape and to guide our organization. As practical character traits, these values empower our organization to achieve its vision. These values integrate with each other and the world at large. The following concepts, consonant with the Objectivist ethics, describe the ideal character of our organization.

·      FOCUSED
Our organization remains intent on fulfilling its vision without distraction.

·      UNIVERSAL
Our organization reaches all locations populated with rational beings.

·      SIMPLE
Our organization streamlines its operations to the bare essentials needed to achieve its vision.

·      STABLE
Our organization flourishes immortally.

·      SOLVENT
Our organization manages its finances wisely so that its bottom line remains positive.

·      AFFORDABLE
Our organization makes its cost of membership as low as possible.

·      NONPARTISAN
Our organization avoids official endorsement of particular political parties or candidates.

MISSION

Through its programs of recreation, education and activism, our organization satisfies in the most flourishing manner possible the basic needs of its members:

·      Spiritually, it helps them to discover objective meaning for their lives in the world;

·      Emotionally, it helps them to achieve a deep sense of bonding, both internally and externally;

·      Mentally, it instructs about rational and objective means for knowing;

·      Physically, it supplies tools and techniques to guide right actions.

In the broadest sense, ontologically, it serves their needs for being.

When each member sets an example of how our philosophy empowers its practitioner to lead a flourishing life, our organization promotes globally the "Five Rs" of Ayn Rand's monumental philosophy of Objectivism:

·      Reality in metaphysics

·      Reason in epistemology

·      Rational Egoism in ethics

·      Rights in politics

·      Romantic Realism in esthetics

STRATEGIC PLAN

·      Establish a permanent Web presence at which anyone can register at no cost as a member.

·      Establish a Board of Advisors of five members to brainstorm and direct the organization.

·      Create a New Mexico Limited Liability Company (LLC) for privacy and asset protection and title the Web site, software and all assets to the LLC.

·      Carefully select the owners, advisors, managers and other officers of the LLC and word the bylaws to prevent a repeat of the Nathaniel Branden Institute (NBI) disaster and to allow all concerned parties to win no matter what happens.

·      Apply for not-for-profit status for the LLC as an educational nonpartisan entity to defend the income of the LLC from taxation and allow for tax-deductible donations.

·      Create downloadable literature for local clubs such as:

o   Universal club brochure

·      Create a series of replicable club programs for local clubs such as:

o   Shared Inquiry questions for readings from the Objectivist corpus

o   Concepts in a Hat game instructions and examples

o   Holiday outreach programs such as:

§  National Day of Reason

§  International Capitalism Day

o   Holiday inreach programs such as:

§  Thanksgiving: The Producer's Holiday

·      Establish a regularly repeated set of holidays on the Web site global calendar.

·      Establish a discussion board for sharing ideas about how best to conduct club events.

·      Create a long-range cash flow projection for five years as a reality check for how to grow affordably.

·      Gradually phase highly desirable perks into the Web presence for those who pay affordable annual dues.

·      Complete and publish The Vision-Driven Life: Becoming the Self You Might Be and Ought To Be and direct all profits from book sales to the LLC.