Tom Woods Show, Archive 5

That's what Current Affairs editor Nathan J. Robinson says. How well do his arguments hold up? I scrutinize them in this solo episode.

In 1979, as the Iranian Revolution was under way, Jimmy Carter called the 1953 ouster of Iranian prime minister "ancient history." But it wasn't. It poisoned Iranian-American relations through the late 1970s and indeed has continued to do so to this day. Hunt Tooley joins me to discuss this overlooked piece of history.

Keynesians like to pretend that they're impartial scientists, following the evidence wherever it leads. We, meanwhile, are portrayed as too blinded by ideology to be worth listening to. So today I run through some very challenging episodes for Keynesians to explain, and we see who the real scientists are.

The prolific and sorely underrated Connor Boyack, president of the Libertas Institute, is back with still more important work. For years libertarians have wrung their hands about the lack of materials for younger people, particularly in economics. How to convey these important ideas to kids? Connor actually did something about it. In fact, since our last conversation Connor has made three substantial contributions to our movement. Don't miss them. They are exactly what we needed, but which we lacked the ambition to do.

This episode covers Anglo-American politics between the world wars, and includes coverage of Winston Churchill, including libertarian and conservative critiques.

I get into detail about the lead-up to the crisis of 2008, the problems the federal government and the Federal Reserve caused, and why explanations other than the free-market one fail. This episode is drawn from my appearance on the Cash Flow Connections podcast.

It's been 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I. That treaty had a profound impact -- entirely for ill -- on the course of the twentieth century. Historian Hunt Tooley joins me to assess the damage.v

The indefatigable Scott Horton, the great libertarian foreign-policy expert, just reached a truly amazing milestone: his five thousandth interview. We look back over 20+ years of Scott's work -- and in so doing, review the course of U.S. foreign policy during these critical years.

Carla Gericke, past president of the Free State Project, joins me for an update from New Hampshire and to discuss some important local issues that affect many communities. She has been at the forefront of a campaign against surveillance cameras, as well as securing the release of a list of bad cops -- a list that a major state official is trying to keep suppressed.

James Otteson is the author of an excellent new book: Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society. He discusses the purpose of business, outlines a sound approach to business ethics, and contends that contrary to popular prejudice, business can play an important role in building a just and humane society. So I ask him, as devil's advocate: can there be a genuine code of business ethics in a market economy? Wouldn't the most unscrupulous earn the highest profits and displace more ethical firms? And as for business firms and "treating people the right way," as Otteson titles one of his chapters, what about businesses whose closures decimate a whole town? Plenty to discuss in this important episode!

You can't just go out and buy shaving cream anymore; you'd better know the company's stance on fashionable issues, lest people attack you for conniving at oppression. It's part of the left's fantasy of politicizing all of life.

Justin Raimondo, who died last week, had been the soul of Antiwar.com since its creation in 1995, and wrote over 3,000 columns during his tenure. The great libertarian foreign-policy expert Scott Horton joins me to discuss Justin's life, work, and views.

I talk to Mike Maharrey about the arguments we often hear from some religious folks, on both left and right, against the market economy. (We answer these arguments, of course.) This episode is taken from my appearance on Mike's Godarchy podcast.)

The June 27, 2019 Democratic presidential debate featured more familiar names, and was much more vicious. We review the winners and losers (in terms of prospects; in terms of ideas they were all losers, obviously), and what's likely ahead.

It's that time again, folks. The debate analysis episodes I did with Lew back in 2015 and 2016 were among my most downloaded ever. We're doing it again for the Democratic debates, starting with this episode, covering the debate from June 26. Plenty of inanities to unpack here!

Maj Toure, founder of Black Guns Matter, is running for Philadelphia City Council on a pro-gun, libertarian message he says is making inroads with the public. He knows all the arguments inside and out. It's safe to say the City Council has never encountered anyone like him. We discuss his background, how the gun issue became important to him, why he's running as a Libertarian, what his influences are, how he answers anti-gun propagandists, and more.

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne manages to get pretty much every aspect of American economic history wrong as he lectures us on the wickedness of laissez-faire. Peter Klein joins me for the smash.

The chairman of the Libertarian National Committee recently linked to what has to be one of the most preposterous articles I have ever read, alleging Russian involvement in the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign. The Ron Paul Institute, for its part, has been accused of whitewashing the records of dictators and turning a blind eye to injustices abroad. Institute executive director Daniel McAdams joins me to address all this.

Gary Chartier has written an excellent book on business ethics that situates one's life in the market within an overall framework of human flourishing. He covers a variety of controversial topics with great skill, and in such a way as to be most persuasive to people unfamiliar with our ideas. In this episode we discuss what it means to live a good life, and then proceed to issues like property, advertising, boycotts, corporate social responsibility, labor and workplace issues, and more.

Two great Michaels join me today: Michael Boldin, founder and executive director of the Tenth Amendment Center, and Michael Heise, founder of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party. We get updates from both Michaels, I ask them what it's like to engage in this kind of activism in the age of Trump, and they discuss how the two of them are collaborating in fruitful ways in support of worthy state-level initiatives. Fun!

The great Murray Rothbard, known as Mr. Libertarian, was first and foremost an economist, but he brought his characteristic iconoclasm also to the study of history, where he tore through old orthodoxies and regime propaganda to get to the real story of the American past.

Scott and I discuss the life and work of the heroic William Norman Grigg, who covered stories that would otherwise have remained in obscurity, generally pertaining to various ways -- largely but not exclusively involving the police -- the state ruined people's lives.

Carey Wedler has been producing libertarian content online for years, but as she first became politically aware, she was a progressive. I love stories like these, so we discuss the various insights she had that led her down our path. Sponsor: MVMT has hundreds of premium, affordable sunglass styles to choose from. Take 15% off your order -- with free shipping and free returns -- at mvmt.com/woods.

Jacqueline Isaacs, a contributor to the book Called to Freedom: Why You Can Be Christian and Libertarian, joins me to discuss whether these two systems are compatible.

Libertarian content creator Liberty Doll joins me to discuss the importance of gun rights, particularly for women, and responds to the most common arguments from the other side.

(N.b.: some sensitive subject matter.) Ladies of Liberty week begins with Brave the World, as my guest Julia is known to her followers. We talk feminism, family, promiscuity, children, the state, and being an adult.

Virtually every major news source covered what Tucker Carlson had to say in the monologue of his FOX News program the other day, when he declared Elizabeth Warren's economic plan to be a simple matter of economic patriotism that most Americans would support, and that out-of-touch Republicans, too enamored of libertarianism (!), would do well to heed. David R. Henderson joins me to respond.

Ben Lewis joins me to discuss the controversial America First Committee, which favored nonintervention in the Second World War (until Pearl Harbor).

A recent Facebook meme suggested that of course Bernie Sanders' wealth redistribution plans are constitutional -- why, we have the general welfare clause to authorize them! Ugh. Today I go through the (rather extensively documented) original intent of the general welfare, interstate commerce, and "necessary and proper" clauses.

Last week I received the news that Murray Polner, my co-editor on the book We Who Dared to Say No to War, had died at the age of 91. Murray had been a man of the left, but we thoroughly enjoyed our collaboration on that antiwar volume. In today's episode I cover the ideological diversity of the true antiwar movement.

The war machine is a tough nut to crack. Trump wanted troops out of this place and that, but they're still there. Who is really making policy? Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo is trying to pretend that George Washington would have supported his foreign policy. It's all in this episode.

Luis J. Gomez is co-creator of the GaS Digital Network, which features the programs of Tom Woods Show favorites Dave Smith and Michael Malice. He grew up in very rough circumstances, but worked extremely hard from a young age. Now he's built an extraordinary network committed to free speech, and an excellent career as a comedian as well. This is probably one of my favorite episodes.

Walter Block, Jeff Deist, and I discuss various questions involving (among other things) libertarian strategy: what if anything we can do to advance the ideas we believe in. Plus: the significance of Ludwig von Mises, up-and-comers in the movement, and a lot more. We covered these topics on a panel at the 2019 state convention of the Libertarian Party of Florida (https://www.lpf.org).

John Bush, a longtime activist I got to know during the Ron Paul presidential campaigns, began selling kratom after having had good results with it himself. Today we discuss kratom: what it is, what it can do, what the FDA thinks about it, what its legal status is, and the challenges associated with its sale. A great discussion!

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders are proposing that interest rates on credit cards be capped, as a way of helping the poor. Would such a policy have that effect? I'm joined by Todd Zywicki, a professor of law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, and who's an expert on consumer credit, to work through the answer. We also discuss the cronyism that keeps alternative institutions from issuing credit cards.

Michael and I conclude our discussion of his new book The New Right by treating issues like immigration, culture (where it comes from and why the left is winning), and plenty more.

Michael and I discuss Buckley, Reagan, Christians who think America is Old Testament Israel, the media, and plenty of other juicy topics as we continue our discussion of his brand new book The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics.

I welcome Michael Malice back to the show to discuss "democracy," the system where the people's voices are heard -- or so the story goes.

On day two of Michael Malice week we discuss humor and the dissident Right: how it uses humor, whether some things are too serious to joke about, humor as an essential tool against the state, and more.

Michael Malice joins me to discuss his new book on what he calls the "New Right," a disparate group of thinkers and activists who operate without a thought for Conservatism, Inc., who oppose progressivism not just on the margins but at its core, and yet who disagree among themselves with respect to a positive program.

The best band you've never heard of is Big Big Train, which Brad Birzer told me about for the first time on this very podcast. If you're used to conventional radio hits, your life is about to be improved, I promise you. You did not realize music could be this good. The great David Longdon, Big Big Train's lead vocalist, joins us for this episode. Guest co-host Brad Birzer of Hillsdale College and Progarchy joins me as guest co-host.

At this year's state convention of the Libertarian Party of Florida, Mises Institute president Jeff Deist delivered remarks that I think are important, well stated, and to my mind completely convincing.

Rachel Fulton Brown, a professor of history at the University of Chicago, has been at the center of a controversy within medieval studies over race and "white supremacy" within the field. The New York Times recently published a report indicating that if anything the controversy is heating up.

In this keynote address to the state convention of the Libertarian Party of Florida, I consider the question: if our position is so compelling, why aren't we doing a better job of persuading people?

Richard Gamble of Hillsdale College examines Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic -- its history and theology -- and how it fits into the American civil religion, whereby the United States government is the instrument of righteousness not only here at home but around the world as well.

Kristian Niemietz joins me to discuss the persistent attraction of socialism despite its terrible track record, and the excuses and apologias its supporters offer in order to justify their ongoing faith.

Randall Holcombe of Florida State University joins me to discuss what he calls "political capitalism," whereby the private and public sectors collaborate for their mutual benefit, and against the public interest. Sometimes the process is open and obvious, but more often it is hidden and obscure.

Following up on a theme I raised with Professor Dan Moller in episode 1399 (if our ideas are so good, why aren't we more popular?), I want to address a related question, which has been thrown at us from time to time: if libertarianism is so great, why aren't there any pure libertarian countries?

Gene Epstein joins me to respond to Bhaskar Sunkara's new book The Socialist Manifesto.

Dan Moller, a philosophy professor at the University of Maryland, has just produced an intriguing, and to my mind compelling, new kind of argument against the welfare state. He takes on this issue in particular because it is one of the positions libertarians hold for which they are most demonized. His argument compels us to consider the question of how much we may legitimately shift our own burdens onto others, particularly without their consent.