A few weeks ago, I posted the following comment in response to a post about creating something like an Objectivist Free State Project on Objectivism Online. Since I always like to brag about all that Front Range Objectivism is doing, I thought I should post it here as well.

I’m not much of a fan of the Free State Project for various reasons, but I do know that life can be a bit lonely without in-town Objectivist friends or a healthy Objectivist community. When I was an undergrad, I knew of no other Objectivists at WashU. (Technically, my then-friend and now-husband, Paul Hsieh, was faculty at WashU’s medical school, but he was more of a sympathizer than an Objectivist at the time.) In other cities in which I’ve lived, the local Objectivist community often consisted of a barely-limping-along discussion group that no one really enjoyed.

It takes a lot of hard work — not to mention careful judgment and commitment to Objectivist principles — to create a thriving Objectivist community, particularly a community of friends. But it is possible — as Front Range Objectivism proves.

Over the years, Lin Zinser has worked very hard to create and maintain a high-quality discussion group, FROG (Front Range Objectivist Group). In 15 some-odd years, FROG has skipped just one of its monthly meetings. Then last year, Lin started FROST (Front Range Objectivist Supper Talks) to bring in Objectivist speakers about six times per year for dinner and a delicious meal. Shortly thereafter, we started up FROLIC (Front Range Objectivist Laughter Ideas and Chow) for social get-togethers, such as our monthly Sunday Dinner and various meals when a FROST speaker comes to town. Lin also recently started a second FROG discussion group, because our first was too full with its 20 active members. I expect that we’ll need to open a third discussion group in a year or two.

As far as I know, no other Objectivist community in the world is as active as Front Range Objectivism. We’re also very serious Objectivists, in that (1) our core group consists of very knowledgeable, longstanding Objectivists and (2) newer people tend to become increasingly interested in deeply understanding and applying Objectivism. (That certainly happened to me. In fact, the culture of FROG was instrumental to my disassociation from TOC.)

None of that is meant to demean the accomplishments of other Objectivist groups. But I am tremendously proud of and excited by Front Range Objectivism. Its success shows all that is possible in a good-sized city — without any crazy Free-State-Project-ish schemes. Nonetheless, I expect that Objectivists will more strongly consider Denver as a place to move in light of its thriving and friendly community of Objectivists in the upcoming years. The fact that the area is such a fabulous place to live for so many other reasons certainly won’t hurt us!

I should also mention that FROST events are often well worth a trip to Denver. So even if you live outside the Front Range, you might want to subscribe to the FROST mailing list in order to receive the event announcements.