Tom Woods Show, Archive 2

Here's what I said at the 2013 Illinois Libertarian Convention. What should we do? How do we define success? Should we be radical or should we moderate our message to reach more people? Lots of fun in this one.

Today I talk a bit about several of my books, and how I was able to reach people with them and with my promotional work whom we could not otherwise have reached. Fun and horrifying stories galore.

We hear a lot about wealth and income inequality, but what's the truth of the matter? And does it make a difference? Bob Murphy and I hash it all out in an episode of our podcast Contra Krugman, which in this episode I share with the Tom Woods Show audience.

Your local police department is said to provide a service that we could never expect to arise in the private sector. But the Detroit Threat Management Center, a private and voluntary organization, has cut down on violent crime and made a point of defusing dangerous situations without violence. You'll love this one.

A lot of people say: I've got a good grasp of the ideas, so what are our next steps? Jeff Deist joins me to discuss various libertarian strategies, and which are the most promising.

The late Justice Antonin Scalia played a profoundly significant role in elevating "original understanding" jurisprudence into a position that even its opponents had to reckon with. Kevin Gutzman joins me to discuss some of Scalia's most important work.

The efflorescence of classical Greece was a period of enormous historical significance. How is this level of achievement and prosperity to be accounted for? We can't rely on explanations like climate or slavery that applied to many other, far less successful, civilizations. So what was it?

Lew Rockwell joins me for more debate analysis, this time of the February 13, 2016 debate in South Carolina. Unlike some previous debates, plenty of controversy and fireworks in this one. Enjoy!

Stephan Kinsella joins me to discuss negative/positive rights and obligations, "loser pays," whether creation makes you an owner, how we can consider spam aggression, and more. Fun!

We talk about some in this episode, and Brion McClanahan covers a whole lot more in his killer new book. Down with presidential idolatry!

The brilliant Ron Unz, himself a Harvard alumnus, is spearheading a twofold campaign, pushing a slate of candidates to the Harvard Board of Overseers to (1) abolish tuition and (2) be more transparent about the admissions process, since it seems fairly obvious that Harvard is using a quota system. The proposal to abolish tuition may sound quixotic or even weird, but since tuition receipts are a tiny percentage of what Harvard earns from its endowment, it makes sense. Decide for yourself!

It's considered bad form to criticize Milton Friedman -- why, you must be some kind of "libertarian purist"! But if you can't be a libertarian purist on the Tom Woods Show, where can you be? Walter Block and I look at the good and the bad about Milton Friedman.

Lew Rockwell joins me for another debate analysis! The second-place slot is fluid in New Hampshire right now, so this debate could prove crucial.

What's wrong with the GOP? My guest and I agree there's a lot wrong, but we're not always agreed as to what that is. We have a freewheeling discussion of populism, noninterventionism, localism, Trump, Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and more. Enjoy!

Defenders of capitalism often wind up making arguments that implicitly concede the moral superiority of socialism -- sure, socialism is a fine system, but we can't live up to it. What kind of defense of capitalism is that? Jason Brennan makes a powerful moral case for capitalism that avoids this pitfall.

Rand Paul dropped out of the presidential race today, so I invited Dan McCarthy, editor of The American Conservative, to join me for a discussion of that decision, of the Rand Paul campaign in general, and why we may be looking at the nomination of Rubio now, believe it or not.

Within what we might call establishment libertarianism there is almost an allergy to Murray Rothbard, the great libertarian polymath. Who was Rothbard, anyway, and what exactly is going on here?

Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, recently proposed a series of amendments to the U.S. Constitution. As it turns out, they're actually pretty good. Would they help? Brion McClanahan joins me to figure it all out.

Who's up and who's down after last night's GOP debate? Lew Rockwell joins me for another of our debate commentary episodes!

I'm without a guest in this episode, and taking apart yet another critique of libertarianism. Enjoy!

National Review, the flagship publication of the conservative movement, recently released an issue-length symposium simply titled, "Against Trump." They never did anything like that against Mitt Romney or John McCain, so what exactly is going on here? Jack Kerwick joins me to make sense of it.

Quite an amazing development: the Tenth Amendment Center and the American Civil Liberties Union have announced a joint effort at the state level to fight back against surveillance. Some 16 states have introduced legislation approved by both organizations. Michael Boldin gives us the scoop on this Tenther Tuesday!

The official conservative movement has its leftist opponents, but more interesting are its critics on the right, who are contemptuous of its think-tanks, its magazines, even its ideas. We discuss plenty of these people and groups in today's episode!

Mark Skousen, the Austrian-friendly editor of the Forecasts & Strategies newsletter for over 35 years, dissents from the advice of what he calls the "doomsayers," and says those people miss a lot of bull markets. I thought my audience would benefit from another perspective. Enjoy!

Already 576 episodes and not one on feminism? That ends today with this provocative discussion with the infamous Milo Yiannopolous!

Historians consider 1916 to be the truly pivotal year of World War I. We look at all the major belligerents, along with developments in the United States. Submarines, blockades, Woodrow Wilson, civilian life, and much more are covered in this compelling episode with Hunt Tooley, my favorite historian of the war.

Neoconservative commentator Jonah Goldberg says we shouldn't use the term "neoconservative" anymore. Paul Gottfried and I are having none of it, and we spend this episode explaining the origins and ideas of the neocons, and how they came to eclipse everyone else on the right.

Is overpopulation a real problem? Our guest explains why not. He's also founder and president of the Mars Society, so you can bet that subject comes up as well....

Yaro Starak, a successful entrepreneur and blogger who earns a five-figure monthly income through blogging and product creation, discusses how and how not to earn an income as a blogger. Consider this part of my "capitalism in practice, not just in theory" series.

Rand Paul was demoted from the upper-tier Republican debate last night, and he decided to boycott the undercard debate and hold a national town hall from Twitter headquarters instead. Meanwhile, Lew and I were stuck watching the debate. But as always, we have great fun breaking it down for you!

The world's worst, most totalitarian regime just conducted another nuclear test. What's the appropriate response? I ask Michael Malice, author of Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il. Another chilling glimpse inside one of the remaining bastions of communism.

Here's one of the big issues libertarians have to deal with: wouldn't you favor military intervention to prevent some horrifying atrocity? Laurie Calhoun joins me to take on this hard question.

The 1970s were a time of economic stagnation -- but why, and just how bad was it? The full truth in today's episode -- plus lots more stuff about the unfortunate '70s. Enjoy!

The FAA has gone berserk regarding the amount of airspace it wants to regulate. A listener of the Tom Woods Show found that good, old-fashioned ridicule is the best approach when dealing with a ridiculous and unpopular law.

It's become fashionable in libertarian circles to ridicule the nonaggression principle. Stephan Kinsella and I speak in its defense. This one is long overdue.

The situation in Greece no longer makes many headlines, but it remains catastrophic. How did it happen, and what can we learn from it?

Joshua Bennett tells us how he took matters into his own hands and got the libertarian message out in Alaska to listeners of right-wing radio. Actionable ideas here!

Why are political campaigns based on dumbed-down slogans, instead of the rational deliberation our textbooks taught us was the basis of the system? Why is it that tiny minorities manage to get lucrative subsidies in a system supposedly based on the popular will? Why are voters uninformed -- and why do they have an incentive to be? Public Choice economics can help us understand these phenomena better, and that's our topic for today.

What's the truth about John F. Kennedy, the Federal Reserve, his public persona, the economy, and more? Here's a side of things you've never heard before, I guarantee.

Since 2008, the Left has mocked the idea that the government might have had a hand in the housing bubble and collapse and the financial crisis, which are portrayed as spontaneous outcomes of a market economy. This thesis is blasted to smithereens in this discussion with Peter J. Wallison.

Doesn't the market lead to vulgar outcomes, and undermine high culture? Paul Cantor, a member of Ludwig von Mises' NYU seminar, joins us to discuss this and more -- including topics in popular culture, including The X Files and Breaking Bad.

Patrick Moore, a Canadian scientist who was a founding member of Greenpeace, finally had to leave the organization for its extremism. Don't miss his fascinating story!

The real truth about Medicare and Medicaid and their true nature and consequences are completely unknown to most people. Murray Sabrin has just released a documentary on the 50th anniversary of their creation setting the record straight, and providing an alternative. Not to be missed!

Ever since we learned in school how a bill becomes a law, we've absorbed the idea that it's normal for law to be imposed from the top down. But it's possible, and indeed the historical norm, for law to emerge in a completely different, more libertarian-friendly way. Join me for a great conversation with Stephan Kinsella!

The fifth Republican presidential debate was last night, December 15, 2015, and Lew and I are on the case. A few surprises and some good lines, but mostly horrifying, save for the good performance by Rand Paul. As always, our discussion is livelier and more illuminating than the debate itself, so don't deny yourself this guilty pleasure!

Judith Curry, a highly credentialed climate scientist, discovered what happens when you question the reliability of the models on which global warming predictions are based. She also discovered that the way science is done in practice might be a teensy bit different from the dispassionate model of Francis Bacon.

I answer some helpful listener questions in today's episode: my concerns about Trump, how I know which opponents to engage and which to ignore, what historical misconception is most important for Americans to overcome, and many more.

The just-war tradition is a much-heralded aspect of moral reflection in the Western world. But does this series of criteria for the acceptability of particular wars really serve the purpose of limiting war? It's a question I've changed my mind on in recent years, and Laurie Calhoun helps me to work through the issue in today's episode.

Michael Malice returns to the show to discuss his debate with me about Alexander Hamilton. This post-game discussion is a lot of fun -- plus, we talk about what could well be the topic for our next live, in-person debate!

Here it is: the audio from the December 2015 debate between Michael Malice and me. Resolved: Alexander Hamilton was a hero for the cause of liberty. Michael argues in the affirmative, and I in the negative. You are going to love it. We're both relentless, and the audience loves it. At the end I reveal the winner.