Free Thoughts

This week, Kevin Glass tells us about the mission of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which is to report on what’s happening in local and state legislatures across the United States.He explains why he believes it’s crucial to focus on the governments in our own localities, even in a world where we’ve only got so much attention to give to politics and so much of the news cycle today is monopolized by debates over the proper duties of the federal government while state and local governments are largely ignored. We also have a discussion on the relationship between conservatism and libertarianism. Has conservatism as a philosophy lost momentum? Have libertarians taken over as the thought leaders in right-leaning thought? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Zwolinski joins us this week to talk about his recent paper, “Libertarianism and Pollution,” available on the Social Science Research Network. In it, he examines how various libertarian philosophers and economists, including Nozick, Rothbard, Ronald Coase, and Eric Mack have dealt with the problem of pollution.In a system of strictly enforced rights to private property, how should one account for pollution? Should it be allowed at all? And in either case, how can the term “pollution” be defined?Show Notes and Further ReadingMatt Zwolinski, “Libertarianism and Pollution” (SSRN paper)Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (book)Murray Rothbard, “Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution” (Cato Journal article)Michael Huemer, The Problem of Political Authority (book)Ronald Coase, “The Problem of Social Cost” (Journal of Law and Economics article)Eric Mack, “Locke on Property” (Liberty Matters essay) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did FDR’s New Deal policies help pull America out of the Great Depression, or were they in fact responsible for the high unemployment in the country until the beginning of World War II? Jim Powell joins us for a discussion on America’s great 20th century experiment with big government.Is the picture we have of the New Deal Era accurate? What was the state of the country leading up to the New Deal? Were these new social programs successful in their goals—and what were their goals in the first place? What are the lessons America learned from the New Deal? Which New Deal programs are still around today?Show Notes and Further ReadingJim Powell, FDR’s Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Jonathan Blanks joins us to discuss civil liberties and police misconduct in America. This episode was recorded at the 2015 International Students for Liberty Conference and features Q&A from the audience.Is there an upward trend in incidents of police misconduct, and if so, why? Is this just a few bad apples, or something more integral to the nature of policing in America? Just how dangerous is it to be a law enforcement officer in America? Dangerous enough to justify the military hardware the police seem to enjoy using so much?Show Notes and Further Reading Jonathan Blanks, “To reduce police violence against citizens, police practices need to change” (Rare article)Jonathan Blanks, “Reasonable suspicion: Are police lying in use of force cases?” (Rare article)Jonathan Blanks, “Race Matters in Ferguson—and in Modern America” (Libertarianism.org column)Jonathan Blanks, “How Equal Rights for Black Americans Still Aren’t Enough” (Libertarianism.org column)Michael Malice, “Why I’ve Never Respected the Police” (Thought Catalog article)Radley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces (book)Bruce Benson, To Serve and Protect: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice (book)William Stuntz, The Collapse of American Criminal Justice (book)Gallup, Confidence in Institutions (poll) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Jay Cost shares a history of corruption and factionalism in the United States from his newest book, A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption (2015).How does government grow? Where do political factions and interest groups come from? How have politicians handed out favors to these groups in the past, how do these systems work now, and is there anything we can do about it? Is political corruption worse now than it was in the 19th century and earlier?Show Notes and Further ReadingJay Cost, A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption (book)Jay Cost, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic (book)Robert Remini, The Life of Andrew Jackson (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Peter Suderman joins us to help suss out the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a law he says is so complex and opaque that “no one person” understands every single part of it perfectly. We discuss the long history of the idea behind a government-backed and mandated health care system and its unlikely origins, the “three legged stool” necessary for implementing the PPACA, and the philosophical ideas behind the law.We also discuss challenges to the PPACA, including King v. Burwell, a case that will be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court this week.What is Obamacare, and what does it do? How does it work? Why did we have to “pass it to find out what’s in it,” as Nancy Pelosi so infamously put it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Modern campaign finance laws are incredibly opaque and labyrinthine. Allen Dickerson joins us this week to help make sense of them.What makes a fair election? Equal money? Equal time? How do PACs and Super PACs work? What’s a “dark money” group? How does the current campaign finance system hurt the little guy more than the established campaigner?Show Notes and Further ReadingJohn Samples, The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Alan Gura joins us for a talk about gun rights at the Supreme Court.What does the text of the Second Amendment say, and how have courts interpreted it over the years?What’s the story behind District of Columbia v. Heller? McDonald v. City of Chicago? How did standing work in these cases? Why was the NRA opposed to these cases?And now that the right to keep and bear arms has been upheld by the Supreme Court as an individual right, what’s next for gun laws in America?Show Notes and Further ReadingDistrict of Columbia v. Heller (Wikipedia article)McDonald v. City of Chicago (Wikipedia article)Brian Doherty, Gun Control On Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Scott Bullock joins us to talk about eminent domain, civil asset forfeiture, and a few very important legal cases brought by the Institute for Justice.What is eminent domain? Can the government use eminent domain for “economic development”? Who is Susette Kelo, and why is her case special?What is civil asset forfeiture? Why do police get to keep the proceeds from forfeiture? How can we reform forfeiture laws to incentive police to do the right thing?Show Notes and Further ReadingKelo vs. City of New London (Wikipedia page)Jeff Benedict, Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage (book) Forfeiture Abuse: Even Your Drums Aren’t Safe From the Police (video)Federal & Local Law Enforcement Agents Try to Take Family Motel from Innocent Owners (video)Scott Bullock, Marian Williams, Jefferson Holcomb, Tomislav Kavandzic, “Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture” (report) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re joined by Michael Shermer to talk about his book The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (2015).What exactly is science, and how does a belief in science advance culture? How are natural rights related to science? How does Shermer define human flourishing—and how does science and reason help us achieve it? What’s the difference between science and pseudoscience, and how can we tell? What, if anything, does government have to do with all this? And lastly, how do scientific beliefs change over time?Show Notes and Further ReadingMichael Shermer, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (book)Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (book)Benjamin R. Barber, If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities (book)Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (book)Peter T. Leeson, The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re talking with Mark Calabria about homeownership and federal housing policy in the United States and its role in the 2008 financial crisis. Why does homeownership seem to be so important in the U.S.—or at least so important to our politicians? How do mortgages work, and how has the government been involved in tinkering with the mortgage market? What do Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration do? How do inflation rates and interest rates affect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s loan guarantees? How do people respond to these incentives? And finally, what caused the 2008 financial crisis and how can we avoid a repeat crisis?Show Notes and Further ReadingRandal O’Toole, American Nightmare: How Government Undermines the Dream of Homeownership (book)Peter Wallison, Thomas Stanton, and Bert Ely, Privatizing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks: Why and How (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the show Elizabeth Nolan Brown shares her thoughts on libertarianism and feminism. How can issues that affect women be approached from a libertarian perspective? It seems that there are more women among younger generations of libertarians. Is there an explanation for this? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Peter Van Doren joins us to explain the economics of decision making in politics. What is public choice theory and how does it explain what happens in a majority rules democracy? Is public choice a type of macroeconomic theory? How does ordering a series of votes change their outcome? What’s rent-seeking? What does the phrase “concentrated benefits and diffuse costs” mean? What’s the median voter theorem and how does it affect our politics in America?Show Notes and Further ReadingKenneth Arrow, Social Choice and Individual Values (book)Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (book)Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (book)James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy (book)Michael E. Levine and Charles R. Plott, “Agenda Influence and Its Implications” (article)Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) (Wikipedia article)Say’s Law (Wikipedia article)Pareto Efficiency (Wikipedia article) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we invite Timothy Sandefur to talk about the right to earn a living. Is this right to economic activity one that is upheld by the Constitution? Where did this right come from? How is the right to earn a living being violated in the United States today, and what does the legal environment surrounding this right look like?Show Notes and Further ReadingTimothy Sandefur, The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law (book)Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (book)”Slaughter-House Cases” (Wikipedia article)”Lochner v. New York” (Wikipedia article) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re talking about one of the most bestial and savage things the state can do to the individual: torture. Our discussion is especially relevant in light of the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation programs.What exactly did the C.I.A. do and why is it being seen as torture? How long has this program been going on? What makes people say that torture is okay in this situation? What happens now? Can we charge specific people with criminal actions? What does it say about us as a nation if we approve of torture?Show Notes and Further ReadingU.S. Senate Report on the C.I.A.’s Detention and Interrogtion Program (Full text version, hosted on Wikipedia)Patrick G. Eddington, “Brennan, Torture, and the Accountability Vacuum” (blog post)Washington Post, “New poll finds majority of Americans think torture was justified after 9/11 attacks” (article)Pew Research Center, “Americans’ views on use of torture in fighting terrorism have been mixed” (article)John McCain CIA Torture Report Senate Speech: Torture Was Ineffective, Stained Our National Honor (video)NBC News, “Cheney on Interrogation Tactics: I Would Do It Again in a Minute” (article/video)“The United States of America is awesome…this administration wants to have this discussion to show us how we’re not awesome.” Fox News reacts to Senate torture report (video)The Daily Beast, “The Luxury Homes That Torture and Your Tax Dollars Built” (article)CIA Director John Brennan defends agency in wake of torture report (video) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re joined by Terence Kealey, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Buckingham, to talk about the public funding of scientific research.Many people believe that science and research are public goods and thus need financial support from the government. But is science really a public good? How does government money sway scientific results? If we got rid of public funding, what would happen to scientific research?Show Notes and Further Reading “Does Public Funding of Science Enhance Scientific Progress?” (Cato Policy Forum Video)Terence Kealey, The Economic Laws of Scientific Research (book)“The Sources of Economic Growth in OECD Countries” (OECD Study) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re talking about energy, and specifically the fossil fuels that power everything in our modern world from electronics to manufacturing to heating to our trains, planes, busses, boats, and cars.What’s the “secret history of fossil fuels?” What is the moral case for using fossil fuels? Is it possible to eventually get renewable sources of energy to work well? If using fossil fuels is bad for the environment, should we care? Or is that the wrong way of looking at it? How much has fossil fuel use benefited humanity? Can that be quantified?Show Notes and Further ReadingAlex Epstein, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels (book)Indur Goklany, “Reducing Vulnerability to Climate-Sensitive Risks is the Best Insurance Policy” (essay)The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels (Cato Capitol Hill Briefing video) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re talking about Uber, Airbnb, and other business models that are based on “sharing” human and physical resources, often using information technology to facilitate these transactions. In other words, the sharing economy.How do these new business models work? Are they even all that new?Are consumer feedback systems effectively replacing the quality-control mechanisms that are ostensibly the reason for government regulation in these markets? Asked another way, how safe are these services without government licensing and regulatory oversight?What effect have these new business models had on traditionally regulated services like taxicabs and hotels?Why do libertarians seem to like the sharing economy so much? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we discuss the philosophy of utilitarianism and it’s relationship with libertarianism.What is utilitarianism? How is utilitarianism related to economics? What makes utilitarianism seem to work so well when applied to economic thinking? And where does it go wrong?Show Notes and Further ReadingAdam Gurri, “Morality, Economics, and the Problem with Preferences” (column)Adam Gurri, “Liberty with Dignity, Mutual Respect, and Morality” (column)Jeremy Bentham and J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism and Other Essays (collection)Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (play)Alfred C. Pigou, The Economics of Welfare (book)Ronald Coase, The Firm, the Market, and the Law (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim Powell claims that liberty is relatively rare thing in the span of human history.Why does it seem like liberty has gained a toehold and flourished in the United States in a way it hasn’t in other places around the world? And then, once it was established, how did liberty grow in America?Show Notes and Further ReadingJim Powell, The Triumph of Liberty: A 2,000 Year History Told Through the Lives of Freedom’s Greatest Champions (book)Captain John Smith, Writings with Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America (book)William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do Republicans who are more libertarian have a better chance of being elected now? How about more extreme progressives? Does this year’s results tell us anything about the 2016 presidential election?What role does messaging and partisanship play in winning elections? What role does money have in influencing elections? More specifically, how much of an effect do campaign contributions have on electoral outcomes, policy outcomes, and issue awareness among policymakers?Show Notes and Further ReadingByron Shafer and William Claggett, The Two Majorities: The Issue Context of Modern American Politics (book)John Sides and Lynn Vavreck, The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan Russell claims that business ethics is more than just a set of ethical dilemmas. Isn’t that what ethics is about, though? Facing a moral quandary and figuring out how to solve it? How do the teachings of Aristotle tie into all of this? What does it mean to live a good life? What does a wise choice look like?Show Notes and Further ReadingRobert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky, How Much is Enough? (book)Daniel C. Russell, The Cambridge Companion to Virtue Ethics (book)Daniel C. Russell, Happiness for Humans (book)Dan Russell, “Happiness — A Feeling or a Future?” (video) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does the internet work? Will net neutrality rules cause the internet to be less innovative? Would a non-neutral internet create barriers to market entry? Should the internet be treated like a public utility? What would that look like, and would it work?Show Notes and Further ReadingHal J. Singer, “Net Neutrality: A Radical Form of Non-Discrimination” (2007 article in Regulation magazine)Bruce M. Owen, “Antecedents to Net Neutrality” (2007 article in Regulation magazine)Christopher S. Yoo, “Network Neutrality or Internet Innovation?” (2010 article in Regulation magazine)Gerald R. Faulhaber, “The Economics of Network Neutrality” (2011 article in Regulation magazine)Christopher S. Yoo, “A Clash of Regulatory Paradigms” (2012 article in Regulation magazine)Christopher S. Yoo, “The Questionable Call for Common Carriage” (2014 article in Regulation magazine) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are libertarians isolationists? Why do libertarians seem to disagree so often when it comes to foreign policy? When is it appropriate to go to war? What about humanitarian interventions? If we need to cut spending, should it come out of the military? What do conservatives get wrong about foreign policy? What do liberals/progressives get wrong?Show Notes and Further ReadingJustin Logan, “War’s Declining Significance As A Policy Tool in the Comtemporary Age” (Chapter 8 in Peace, Love, & Liberty)Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan (book)Walter A. McDougall, “Back to Bedrock: The Eight Traditions of American Statecraft” (article in Foreign Affairs)Richard K. Betts, “The Delusion of Impartial Intervention” (article in Foreign Affairs) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is libertarian paternalism? Is paternalism without coercion even possible? Does it work? Can we trust those who are in charge of creating good “choice architecture” to be better at their jobs than any typical bureaucrat? How do we know what someone’s “true preferences” are? And don’t these sort of “nudges” strip people of their agency?Show Notes and Further ReadingCass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (book)Bill Glod, The Limits of Libertarian Paternalism (interview with Glen Whitman)Slippery Slopes and the New Paternalism (Cato Unbound Series) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What drives us to be concerned about others? In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith says people are basically self-interested, and this is what drives market economies. Does this mean he’s saying people are selfish? Smith has a pretty simple formula for happiness. “Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely.” What does he mean by that? Can the study of economics really be about finding better ways to care for others…by recognizing that people are self-interested? How does that work?Show Notes and Further ReadingRussell Roberts, How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness (book)Adam Smith, The Weath of Nations (book)Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s the proper scope of criminal law, from a libertarian point of view? Why does America lead the world in incarceration rates? How is the federal War on Drugs affecting our legal system?Burrus and Lynch explain how policies like mandatory minimum sentencing and three strike laws erode civil liberties and talk about the proliferation of strict liability standards in criminal law. They also discuss the effects tactics like police militarization and no-knock raids have on small communities like Ferguson, Missouri and the more generalized problem of police misconduct in America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Kopel joins us this week for a discussion on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: the right to keep and bear firearms. Aaron and Trevor introduce the debate over gun rights in America today by asking questions: Why allow people to own guns at all? Aren’t we past that point as a civilization? Does having more guns around actually reduce crime? How many crimes each year are stopped by guns…and how many don’t occur in the first place because criminals think their victims could have guns? Is it worth the risk to have guns in the home? Are public health concerns about gun ownership well-founded? Assault weapons—what are they and why do American gun control groups want to ban them in particular? And if the Second Amendment gives us the right to keep and bear arms, what’s to stop an individual from owning something like a tank or a personal rocket launcher?Show Notes and Further ReadingDavid B. Kopel, The Truth About Gun Control (book)John R. Lott, Jr., More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the government’s been spying on us for decades, what’s new now? Why is bulk data collection so particularly nefarious? What is metadata anyway, and what does the government do with it? Does the government actually catch terrorists through mass surveillance? Why do people treat terrorism differently from other violent crimes? The defenders of surveillance say that “if you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to be afraid of,” but does this justification hold water? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Michael Huemer claims that if normal people acted like governments do, we would generally be horrified and find their behavior morally contemptible…so why do most people intuitively feel that government is justified in its actions? Professor Huemer, Aaron, and Trevor tackle problems of political obligation, political legitimacy, and political authority, and explain the differences between each of these terms.Show Notes and Further ReadingMichael Huemer, The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey (book)Michael Huemer, Ethical Intuitionism (book)Prof. Huemer’s personal web site. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aaron Powell and Trevor Burrus tackle listener questions in this episode, including a few perennial classics: If libertarianism is so great, where are all the libertarian countries? Why can’t libertarians, conservatives, and liberals all come together to “make it work” in Washington? How can access to education be guaranteed if the American education system is privatized? And what happens to people who “fall through the cracks” in a libertarian society without a government-provided social safety net?Aaron and Trevor are also joined by David Boaz, the executive vice president of the Cato Institute.Show Notes and Further ReadingDavid Boaz, Libertarianism: A Primer (book)Salon, “The question libertarians just can’t answer” (article)The Guardian, “YA dystopias teach children to submit to the free market, not fight authority” (article)Harvey Silverglate, Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent (book)Jon Osborne, Miss Liberty’s Guide to Film and Video (book)Ira Levin, This Perfect Day (book)Terry Gilliam, Brazil (movie)Ivan Reitman, Ghostbusters (movie)Joss Whedon, Serenity (movie) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Selgin joins Aaron and Trevor for a discussion on money and banking in the United States.What is money? How did the government become so deeply ingrained in the production and supply of our money, and why? What is the Federal Reserve, and what does it actually do? What would the U. S. look like with a competitive currency system? And what about Bitcoin?Show Notes and Further ReadingGeorge Selgin, Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775-1821 (book)George Selgin, The Rise and Fall of the Gold Standard in the United States (policy analysis)R. A. Radford, The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp (article) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why did the court seem to rule on the side of free markets and limited government this time around? Is this the most libertarian Court to date?Show Notes and Further ReadingBurwell v. Hobby Lobby (Obamacare)NLRB v. Noel Canning (recess appointments)Harris v. Quinn (unionizing home health care workers)Riley v. California (cell phone searches)McCutcheon v. FEC (campaign finance) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greg Lukianoff joins us for a discussion about the state of free speech on college campuses in the United States. We talk about campus speech codes, the constitutionality of “free speech zones,” chilling effects of trigger warnings, and more. What are the larger effects that these campus restrictions have on our society?Show Notes and Further ReadingGreg Lukianoff, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate (book)Greg Lukianoff, Freedom From Speech (book coming Sept. 2014)Alan Charles Kors and Harvey Silverglate, The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses (book)Dinesh D’Souza, Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus (book)Allan Bloom, Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students (book)Jonathan Rauch, Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does this “Fifth Wave” mean for democracy? Is this a change libertarians should feel good about? Will it lead to more freedom?Show Notes and Further ReadingMartin Gurri, The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium (book)A selection from the book is available here: “How a Tsunami of Information Inspired the Revolt of the Public”James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (book)Martin Gurri blogs at The Fifth Wave. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clark Neily joins us this week for a discussion on judicial engagement. Neily contrasts judges’ findings in cases with stringent standards of review—which he characterizes as a genuine quest for the truth from a truly neutral adjudicator, decided on the basis of evidence—with what he calls judicial abdication: the tendency of judges to default to a rational basis review of speculative justification by the government. They also discuss the right to earn a living, judicial activism, and the defining essence of the Constitution.Show Notes and Further ReadingClark Neily, Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government (book)Timothy Sandefur, The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law (book)Clark Neily is on Twitter at @ConLawWarrior. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neal McCluskey joins us this week for a discussion about public education in America. He shares its history, from the “Old Deluder Satan Law” of 1647 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the current debate over policies like No Child Left Behind and the Common Core. He also talks about public schooling’s inherent pitfalls and shares different proposals for infusing school choice into the current system.What’s wrong with public education? Why doesn’t it work as well as we’d like? Why can’t we just solve public schools’ problems with increased funding?Show Notes and Further ReadingNeal McCluskey, Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doug Bandow joins Aaron and Trevor to talk about the political philosophy of libertarianism and and the religion of Christianity. What, if any, is the relationship between the two? Are there things within the Christian tradition—within Christian scripture—that support libertarianism?Show Notes and Further ReadingDoug Bandow, Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (book)Charles Murray, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (book)The Bible (New International Version) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Megan McArdle joins us to talk about her new book The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success (2014). We don’t tend to think of failure as a good thing. But McArdle says that recognizing failure—and in some cases embracing it—is a crucial part of what makes American culture, markets, and society successful. But she also says we’re getting worse at dealing with failure. Is the world too fragile to tolerate failure now?Show Notes and Further ReadingMegan McArdle, The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success(book)Steven Johnson, The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World (book)Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (book)Bruce M. Hood, SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelieveable (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Walter Olson joins Aaron and Trevor for a discussion on the evolution of discrimination law in the American legal system. They talk about common carrier obligations, preferential treatment and employee discrimination suits, the disparate impact of anti-discrimination laws—especially in hiring decisions—and the role of law schools and academia in perpetuating this cycle.What happens when laws create more injustice than they fix? Is America “overlawyered”? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark A. Calabria joins Aaron and Trevor for a discussion on banking regulations in the United States. Calabria gives a short history of banking regulation and explains the incentives built into the regulatory system that governs banking and investments here in America.Why are people so angry at “Wall Street” all the time? What exactly is Wall Street, anyway? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Jason Brennan joins Aaron and Trevor to discuss his newest book, Why Not Capitalism?, which is a response to G. A. Cohen’s 2009 book Why Not Socialism? Brennan says that Cohen commits the fallacy of comparing idealized socialism with perfect actors to real markets with imperfect actors, and offers an illustrative example as proof that when comparing idealized capitalism to idealized socialism and real capitalism to real socialism, it is capitalism—not socialism—that claims the moral high ground.Is there anything to the argument that “socialism would work if we were just better people” and had perfect information? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aaron and Trevor join Randy Barnett to discuss his book The Structure of Liberty, which was recently re-released in an updated edition. Barnett describes five rights—informed by natural law—that are crucial for properly structuring a society. He also shows how libertarian theories successfully counter the structural societal problems of knowledge, interests, and power.Show Notes and Further ReadingRandy E. Barnett, The Structure of Liberty (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aaron and Trevor talk with Peter Van Doren about regulatory failure in markets, specifically phone service, banking, electricity, internet, and health care. Van Doren shows how regulation in these markets works as a hidden tax by cross-subsidizing competing services and distorting real prices.Who loses when regulations have unexpected consequences: the companies or the consumers the regulations are meant to protect? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Besides the horrendous affront to human rights that was American slavery, black people in America have been and continue to be singled out for “special treatment” by the government in other ways, too: the federal drug war, minimum wage laws, the failure of public schooling, licensing restrictions on opening businesses, gun control laws, the indignity of welfare, and many more. So why aren’t there more black libertarians?Show Notes and Further ReadingRadley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop (book)David Weigel, “Ruth Marcus, David Brooks, and Reefer Madness” (article)Tim Lynch, Police Misconduct: The Assault on Civil Liberties (video)Associated Press, “SWAT team raids Md. mayor’s home, kills 2 dogs” (article) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom W. Bell joins Aaron and Trevor for a discussion on intellectual property, specifically copyright law in the United States. Is there one libertarian stance on intellectual property?What’s wrong with copyright law in America today? Should we even have copyright at all? And if we should, how can we make it better than it is now?Show Notes and Further ReadingTom W. Bell, Intellectual Privilege (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is Piketty’s book getting so much attention in America? What does Piketty get right and wrong in his book? Piketty seems to be predicting the inevitable collapse of capitalism…but is inequality really getting worse?Show Notes and Further ReadingScott Winship, “Whither the Bottom 90 Percent, Thomas Piketty?” (article)Lawrence H. Summers, “The Inequality Puzzle” (article)Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (book) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does Article 2 of the Constitution say about the powers of the Executive Branch? How did we get to where we are now, with the executive wielding so much discretionary power? And is there anything we can do about it? Gene Healy, vice president of the Cato Institute and author of The Cult of the Presidency and False Idol joins us to answer these questions and more about America’s most popular branch of government.Show Notes and Further ReadingF. H. Buckley, The Once and Future King (book)Juan Linz, The Perils of Presidentialism (article)Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (book)Gawker Video at 2012 Democratic National Conference, “Ask the DNC: Is Romney Ready for the Kill List?” (video)Theodore Lowi, The Personal President: Power Invested, Promise Unfulfilled (book)Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Rating the Presidents: Washington to Clinton (article)Siena College Research Institute Presidential Ranking SurveyU.S. News and World Report, The 10 Worst Presidents (article) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Aaron Powell and Trevor Burrus talk about egalitarianism with Professor Elizabeth Anderson. Should we be concerned about an equal distribution of resources in a society? An equal distribution of outcomes? Is it a bad thing for some people to be worse off than others through no fault of their own? And whose job is it to enforce such distributions—government or markets?Anderson is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is economic growth incompatible with a clean planet?Jerry Taylor is considered to be one of the most widely cited and influential critics of green energy and federal environmental policy.Is economic growth incompatible with a clean planet? Doesn’t the government already do a good job of regulating pollution? How would markets do better?Show Notes and Further ReadingRonald Coase, The Problem of Social Cost (article)Murray Rothbard, Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution (article) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.