Tom Woods Show, Archive 5

Professor Jeremy Bailey joins me to discuss the evolution of the modern presidency and the way key figures like Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson tried -- and failed or succeeded, which is the question -- to change and expand it.

This episode is more of an overview of the life and evolution of one of our important thinkers, Paul Gottfried, who holds his Ph.D. in history from Yale. Paul has been an opponent of the neocons from the beginning, and we take the story to the present day.

Bernie Sanders is proposing a nationwide program of rent control -- because why should landlords be allowed to raise rents arbitrarily? I explain why this is a terrible idea.

Michael Rectenwald returns to the show to discuss woke capitalism, big tech, the mob mentality, and the suppression of dissident voices.

As a fan of magic myself, I was delighted to learn not only that I had a professional magician among my newsletter subscribers, but also that he managed to fool Penn and Teller on their "Fool Us" television program. Doc Dixon is a libertarian (like Penn and Teller themselves), and that comes through in our discussion, but we also get into the weeds of what it's like performing for Penn and Teller, as well as plenty of inside baseball about the life of a magician.

Jim Cantrell, co-founder and former CEO of Vector Launch, veteran employee of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab and France's CNES, and founding team member of SpaceX and Moon Express, joins me to discuss the future of space exploration (including Mars settlement) and mankind's activities in space, as well as what the private sector can accomplish in space.

Bestselling author Stephen Kinzer returns to the show to discuss the CIA's research and experiments in mind control.

Peter Schiff returns to answer listener questions about Trump's economics, navigating the ups and downs of the economy, and a lot more.

Lew Rockwell returns to discuss yet another Democratic debate. Join us as we slice through the inanities.

Phil Labonte, the outspoken libertarian frontman of the band All That Remains, joins me to discuss how he became a libertarian, how his views compare to those of other people in his genre, how the Internet has changed the music industry for better and worse, and a lot more.

Scott Horton joins me to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and respond to the rah-rah "they hate us because we're great" view of why the attacks occurred.

The left-wing thought-control site ThinkProgress has closed its doors, after many years of policing allowable opinion. Because of my interests I'm aware in particular of their absurd treatment of the Tenth Amendment Center -- which, unlike ThinkProgress, is alive and kicking. And speaking of kicking, let's kick ThinkProgress while it's down.

I review my refrain about the narrowness of allowable opinion in American (and Western) political discourse: you can argue about the fringes of what the state apparatus should be doing, but no fundamental questions may be raised. Also, at the end of the episode I make note of the latest Twitter casualty, and the absurd grounds on which the person in question was banned.

David Gornoski has taken what sounds like rather an obscure topic -- the mimetic theory of Rene Girard -- and showing the liberty movement how it helps us understand the state and collective violence.

By popular demand, Kirk Sorensen joins me to discuss the energy potential of thorium, which can be tapped safely in overwhelming abundance and which solves every problem that troubles environmentalists.

Comedian Dave Chappelle generated enormous controversy with his recent Netflix special, "Sticks and Stones." Fashionable opinion explained to us that we were to reject this special as "racist" and otherwise insensitive. Comedian Dave Smith joins me to sort it all out.

Eric Brakey served two terms in the state senate of Maine, and has been a Ron Paul supporter and Tom Woods Show listener for years. He's currently seeking the GOP nomination for U.S. Congress from Maine's second district, where he is winning key endorsements and has an excellent shot at winning.

Gerry Cramer has been repeatedly ranked as the top affiliate on Clickbank, which in turn has been called the top affiliate network in the United States. His students, for that matter, can frequently be found among Clickbank's top ten affiliates. So you could say the guy has cracked the code. (If you don't know what affiliate marketing is: Amazon has a well-known affiliate program by which people earn commissions when other people purchase Amazon products through their special link. Gerry has taken this simple concept and made a science out of it.) We talk about the system Gerry uses, his successes and failures, and other stuff the rest of us will undoubtedly benefit from learning.

Eric July, the politically incorrect libertarian frontman for the metal band Backwordz, joins me for a freewheeling discussion of music, politics, Malcolm X, the SJW takeover of the world of comics, and much more.

Saifedean Ammous recently debated Professor George Selgin at the Soho Forum on the subject of Bitcoin's suitability to replace existing currencies and challenge central banks. We review that debate in today's episode, and finish with a discussion of Saifedean's latest project.