Free Thoughts Podcast

28/12/2021

Follow our main page Libertarianism.org for updates on the show!

20/07/2021

Andy Matuschak is a software engineer, designer & researcher who helped build the iOS at Apple and led R&D at Khan Academy. He joined the to discuss how tech has impacted learning, and you can hear our discussion with him again here ⬇️

Andy Matuschak joins the show to discuss how different learning models will help students in different ways.

20/07/2021

"Rights aren’t rights if they can be revoked by the say‐​so of a majority of your neighbors."
- Andy Craig, staff writer at the Cato Institute and associate editor of the Cato Policy Report.

While libertarians are right to be skeptical about simple majoritarianism, we shouldn’t dismiss democracy, for it is the only viable alternative to authoritarianism.

20/07/2021

"Compensating workers who were denied the opportunity to make a living thanks to government lockdowns might well have been justified earlier on in the pandemic, but continuing to provide that support after more than a year has unsurprisingly led to withdrawal from the labor force and a more inelastic labor supply."
- Steve Horwitz

Government interventions have changed the elasticity of wages, making it harder for firms to hire workers.

19/07/2021

"When the government plans to spend money on something (support for the arts, a space program, a national retirement program, and so on), one should ask: would it be permissible to steal from people in order to run this sort of program?"

“Taxation is theft” is a popular slogan among libertarians. It captures the sentiment that we should hold the state to the same moral standards as non‐​state actors.

19/07/2021

In her masterpiece of fiction, "Atlas Shrugged," Ayn Rand emphasizes three key classical liberal themes: individualism, suspicion of centralized power, and the importance of free markets.

In this video, Prof. Jennifer Burns shows how Rand’s plot and characters demonstrate these themes, principally through innovative entrepreneurs who are stifled by laws and regulations instituted by their competitors.

In the world of "Atlas Shrugged," free markets and individual liberty have been traded away for equality and security enforced by the government.

Burns ends by reviving Rand’s critical question: do you want to live in this kind of world?

Watch now 🎥

Do you want to live in the world of Atlas Shrugged? May 11th, 2011 Jennifer Burns Jennifer Burns is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia, where she teaches courses on American political, cultural, and intellectual history. Burns is the author Goddess of the Market: Ayn Ran...

19/07/2021

Unlike their monarchical neighbors, the 17th‐​century Dutch Republic was a tolerant capitalist society amid a Golden Age of exploration, commerce, and science. The most outstanding defenders of this out of place, yet highly successful republic were the De La Court brothers, two radical writers who become precursors to the most radical elements of Enlightenment thought in favor of commerce, toleration, and above all else, liberty.

Learn more about them ⬇️

Living in the Dutch Republic during the 17th‐​century, Pieter and Johan De La Court provided some of the earliest full‐​fledged arguments for economic liberty, republicanism, and what they called true liberty.

19/07/2021

Want to learn more about the first libertarian movement in American history?

1840 was the Locofoco year—their chance to permanently change America.

18/07/2021

From the archives:

It was an absolute blast to have actor Mike Farrell visit us! We discussed his time playing BJ Hunnicutt on the most‐​loved show on television, M*A*S*H. He told us about his time with the cast and how he was inspired to create his character.

Hear it again 🔊

BJ Hunnicutt actor, Mike Farrell, Tom Firey, and Amy Willis join the show to discuss the most‐​loved show on television, M*A*S*H.

18/07/2021

"Like clockwork, whenever we post something here mentioning liberalism– such as, “John Locke was the father of liberalism.” –someone responds in a comment with, “Don’t call me a liberal!” or “I hope that’s a typo.”

Too many libertarians sneer when they hear the word liberal.

The simple fact is that libertarians are liberals–and we should be proud of that.

So what’s a liberal? It’s important to start by recognizing that the way we use “liberal” in the United States today is relatively new and, in fact, bears little relation to most of liberalism’s long tradition. The bulk of people who call themselves liberals today mean that they’re members of the political left, who are in favor of a large government that spends a great deal and intervenes extensively in our lives. They believe the government should regulate not only the market, but also what we eat, what we teach our kids in school, and what kinds of light bulbs we install in our homes. These “liberals” are the descendants of the Progressive and socialist movements–and are, in many respects, a sharp divergence from the liberal tradition.

Those liberals who continue to give economic rights equal weight have thus come to be known as “classical liberals.” And, depending on who you talk to, classical liberalism is either a sub‐​category of libertarianism, or else libertarianism is a sub‐​category of classical liberalism.

Either way, libertarians are liberals, and we claim as our intellectual ancestors such great liberals as Locke, Smith, Hume, and Mill. We should never forget that."

Want to learn more?

Libertarianism is part of the liberal tradition, and we should be proud of that.

18/07/2021

"One of the early lessons I drew from Star Wars—one that holds up to this day, and that has implications for politics, government, and even the role of judges in a republic—is what the saga has to say about the nature of evil.

A long time ago, as a kid, I saw George Lucas explain in an interview that Darth Vader did not consciously choose to be evil. He became evil like most evil people do: while pursuing what he thought he was good. I haven’t been able to locate that interview. In a 2005 interview with Rolling Stone, Lucas revisits the theme. The idea of evil coopting good always had a hold on him: “John Wayne films had a lot of bad guys, but I can’t remember any of them. Most of the movies I liked didn’t really have strong bad guys. In films like Bridge on the River Kwai and Citizen Kane, the bad guy’s the good guy.” Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson, who resembles a middle‐​aged Obi‐​Wan Kenobi, cared deeply for his men. He was just trying to protect them.

That’s how Lucas saw Vader: “the story is not about a guy who was born a monster – it’s about a good boy who was loving and had exceptional powers, but how that eventually corrupted him.”

People doing evil in the name of good is how most of the evil in the world happens. The greater the goodness of their aims, the more evil people are able to accomplish in pursuit of those aims."
- Michael F. Cannon

The greatest evils are typically perpetrated by ideologues committed to false conceptions of the good.