The Tom Woods Show (Talk Radio)

Michael Cheney is one of the most successful and sought-after affiliate marketers in the world. (That means he earns commissions selling other people's products online.) He's also the guy I've learned more from as an affiliate marketer myself than anyone else. We discuss his successes and failures, the easy vs. the difficult way to make a living online, and the secret to my own affiliate success.

Show notes for Ep. 1002

Direct download: woods_2017_09_16.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:44am EDT

One group of libertarians accuses a second group of being sellouts. The second group accuses the first group of being purists who make any progress toward the free society possible.
 
Murray N. Rothbard, known in his day as Mr. Libertarian, had something to say about this and other questions of strategy.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_09_15.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 11:32am EDT

Gerard Casey, professor emeritus of philosophy at University College, Dublin, discusses society without the state.

Show notes for Ep. 999

Direct download: woods_2017_09_14.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:12pm EDT

Hans-Hermann Hoppe is one of the most significant libertarian thinkers in the world today. Murray Rothbard could not say enough about his brilliance. Unfortunately, his detractors (and even many of his supporters) have never actually read him. So Stephan Kinsella and I devoted this episode to discussing his body of work. Trust me, this is fun and punchy -- especially as it goes along.

Show notes for Ep. 998

Direct download: woods_2017_09_13.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:12pm EDT

I discuss the fractured "liberty movement," the increasing attacks on Ron Paul, and why Dr. Paul matters -- a point that the youngsters, who didn't experience the presidential campaigns, may not know.

Show notes for Ep. 997

Direct download: woods_2017_09_12.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:38pm EDT

Andrew Torba, creator of the free-speech social media platform Gab, joins me to discuss fighting back against the big companies' ideological jihad against people and institutions expressing unapproved opinions.

Show notes for Ep. 996

Direct download: woods_2017_09_11.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:44pm EDT

Katie Wells of WellnessMama.com is an incredible online success story: her wellness site makes a very nice profit, and allows her to work from home. She has a blog, a podcast, a members' area, an email newsletter, and her own products, so you can learn from her in lots of areas. She recently featured me on her program, and when I saw how successful and impressive she was, I knew I wanted to hear her story on my show.

Show notes for Ep. 995

Direct download: woods_2017_09_10.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:36pm EDT

John Moody returns to the show to discuss the latest in food and farm freedom, plus his newest venture, Steader.com, where experts teach people a wide variety of homesteading topics.

Show notes for Ep. 994

Direct download: woods_2017_09_08.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:23pm EDT

We often hear it said: if only government could be run like a business, we'd be getting somewhere. The problem isn't that it's difficult to run government like a business. The problem is that it's impossible, given the radical difference between the two kinds of organization.

Show notes for Ep. 993

Direct download: woods_2017_09_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:11pm EDT

Robert Nisbet is one of a handful of conservatives to have seen the major problems with American conservatism as we know it. In this episode, Drawn from my remarks at a 2005 mises Institute conference on fascism, I discuss executive power, centralized power, the military, and related superstitions.

Show notes for Ep. 992

Direct download: woods_2017_09_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:42pm EDT

Professor Amy Wax wrote an op-ed last month arguing that society's most vulnerable have suffered the most by the collapse of the bourgeois moral consensus. You'll never guess: the screechers called her a "white supremacist."

Show notes for Ep. 991

Direct download: woods_2017_09_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:19pm EDT

I hate to dwell on this silliness, so I've decided to make this into a bonus episode rather than one of my five regular weekly episodes. Jason Stapleton invited me on to the Jason Stapleton Program not long ago to address a series of unprovoked attacks on me by Nicholas Sarwark, chairman of the Libertarian National Committee. These attacks speak volumes about the trajectory and ambitions of the Libertarian Party, so for the record I hereby register this discussion as an official episode of the Tom Woods Show.

Show notes for Ep. 990

Direct download: woods_2017_09_03.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:02pm EDT

James O'Keefe has become notorious, and controversial, for his organization's undercover videos -- most recently, of people associated with CNN, who appear to suggest that some of their major stories are politically and ideologically driven. We discuss the American media, criticisms of his work, and what we can expect next.

Show notes for Ep. 989

Direct download: woods_2017_09_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:12pm EDT

Today I'm joined by Brent DeRidder of the Liberty Coalition for Disaster Relief and Gret Glyer, creator of the DonorSee philanthropy app, to discuss how private individuals and groups can relieve the suffering associated with this terrible disaster.

Show notes for Ep. 988

Direct download: woods_2017_08_31.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:18pm EDT

During natural disasters, there's a sudden and intense spike in demand for the existing stock of resources. This puts upward pressure on prices, and this upward pressure has salutary effects (which we'll discuss in this episode).
 
That's not how most people see it. "Price gouging," to the man on the street, involves the unconscionable exploitation of vulnerable people's difficult situations in order to make a quick buck.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_08_30.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:05pm EDT

With various websites (not all "white nationalist") seeing various Internet services withdrawn from them, and given that our media and political classes are not exactly known for their ability to make fine distinctions, could ever more sites and groups, more or less innocuous, find themselves subjected to this kind of treatment? Lew Rockwell and I discuss this and a heck of a lot else, including the controversy about libertarians and fascism.

Show notes for Ep. 986

Direct download: woods_2017_08_29.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:12pm EDT

In this episode I talk to Katie Wells of WellnessMama.com, in a conversation ranging from entrepreneurship to education, homeschooling, history, the Federal Reserve, nullification, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 985

Direct download: woods_2017_08_28.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:12pm EDT

By popular demand, popular (and iconoclastic) strength trainer Mark Rippetoe joins me to discuss strength training and fitness (and what so many people get wrong), as well as his libertarian views -- and how it all meshes together.

Show notes for Ep. 984

Direct download: woods_2017_08_25.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:21pm EDT

The "happiness" literature purports to speak about levels of happiness in various countries. Popular journalism then purports to explain why the happiest places are happy -- and it's always because of the state. Is there anything to this research?

Show notes for Ep. 983

Direct download: woods_2017_08_24.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:30pm EDT

Well, this was bound to happen. Brandon Navom of Software Engineers for Liberty was fired from his job for planning to take part in a free speech rally that had nothing to do with anything other than free speech. Hysterics tweeted at his employer that Navom was a Nazi and got him fired with no severance. He is an ordinary libertarian with no unusual views to speak of.

Show notes for Ep. 982

Direct download: woods_2017_08_23.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:59pm EDT

The brilliant Scott Horton, a one-man libertarian foreign-policy think tank, joins me to discuss the Trump policy in Afghanistan, the real history of the war, and why the only sensible approach is to get out.

Show notes for Ep. 981

Direct download: woods_2017_08_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:14pm EDT

Peter van Buren returns to the show to discuss his novel Hooper's War, set during World War II. Beneath all the casualty figures and the news reports is something profound and lasting that damages us during war, and the author brings it out even in the context of the "Good War."

Show notes for Ep. 980

Direct download: woods_2017_08_21.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:04pm EDT

The small country of Liechtenstein is run by Prince Hans-Adam II, who is a friend and correspondent of the libertarian economist and philosopher Hans-Hermann Hoppe. In today's episode we tell the untold story about this extraordinary place.

Show notes for Ep. 979

Direct download: woods_2017_08_18.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:56pm EDT

Keith Preston, whose writing I always find interesting and challenging, wrote an excellent overview and analysis of what happened in Charlottesville last weekend. He does the impossible here: this is as dispassionate as it gets. Enjoy.

Show notes for Ep. 978

Direct download: woods_2017_08_17.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:51pm EDT

In the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Paul Gottfried returns to the show to discuss the present state of the American ideological spectrum, from Antifa to the alt Right.

Show notes for Ep. 977

Direct download: woods_2017_08_16.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:37pm EDT

Today's episode takes a brief look at economic downturns dating back to the 19th century, and argues that they weren't spontaneous occurrences of the free market. Fun! 
 
I delivered this talk at a Mises Institute event in 2009.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_08_15_2.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:39pm EDT

Patrik Schumacher, a prominent architect in London, stunned the architecture world last year when he came out against housing subsidies and state-funded art schools, and in favor of privatizing, parks, streets, and other public areas. Instead of groveling and apologizing, he's sticking to his guns.

Show notes for Ep. 975

Direct download: woods_2017_08_15.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:05am EDT

Antony Sammeroff, who co-hosts the Scottish Liberty Podcast, joins me to discuss how he's taken a personal passion and begun to monetize it online.

Show notes for Ep. 974

Direct download: woods_2017_08_13.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:02pm EDT

Glenn Jacobs, best known as the enormously popular WWE wrestler Kane, is also a Misesian and a fixture of the liberty movement. He's currently running for mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, and he joins us to discuss the campaign.

Show notes for Ep. 973

Direct download: woods_2017_08_11.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:13pm EDT

As you likely know by now, Google fired James Damore after he wrote an internal memo questioning the assumption that all human differences are due to social conditioning. There is no "libertarian position" on this per se; Google obviously may hire and fire as it pleases. But man was there a lot of libertarian confusion about this.
 
Some said his firing was "the market" speaking. Some called me a "thick" libertarian for being critical of Google. Some appeared to suggest that libertarians aren't allowed to criticize private entities.
 
In this episode I clear up all of these unfortunate (and persistent) confusions.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_08_10.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:42pm EDT

Dennis Fusaro, a longtime political consultant and grassroots activist, found himself in a legal battle for over a year because of what he considers the erratic application of unjust laws that curtail freedom of speech. The jury found him not guilty, in what appears to have been a case of jury nullification.

Show notes for Ep. 971

Direct download: woods_2017_08_09.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:33pm EDT

George Orwell has been a mystery to a great many readers. What did he truly believe? Was he a thoroughgoing socialist yet anti-totalitarian? David Ramsay Steele, author of a new book on Orwell, joins me to get to the bottom of it.

Show notes for Ep. 970

Direct download: woods_2017_08_08.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:29pm EDT

In this episode I review the history of rights theories in the West from the Middle Ages through the 20th century. Expect to hear about the medieval canonists, the late scholastics, John Locke, Murray Rothbard, and Hans Hoppe, among others.

Show notes for Ep. 969

Direct download: woods_2017_08_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:58pm EDT

You'd think "I want to free you" would be an easy message to sell -- and yet it isn't. Why is that?
 
This episode is the talk I gave at LibertyFest 2014 in Brooklyn, New York.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_08_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:47pm EDT

Peter van Buren, a 24-year veteran of the State Department, spent a year in Iraq as Team Leader for two Provincial Reconstruction Teams. When you hear what the U.S. government -- which had destroyed much of the country and completely undermined its civil society -- expected him to do, you won't know whether to laugh or cry.

To make things worse, the State Department came after him when he released We Meant Well, the book we discuss in this episode.

Show notes for Ep. 967

Direct download: woods_2017_08_03.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:35pm EDT

Mises Institute president Jeff Deist, who was Ron Paul's last chief of staff, delivered an excellent and well-received talk at the Corax libertarian conference in Malta last week.
 
As usual, though, emotional hypochondria got the better of a small group of left- and establishment libertarians, who are denouncing the speech in hysterical terms.
 
The speech is so commonsensical, and the reaction on the part of this crowd so perverse and bizarre, that I can't let this episode pass. It's part and parcel of the "Ron Paul is a racist" libertarians who have resented Ron and affiliated institutions ever since being left in the dust after 2007.
 
So I'm going to play it for you, followed by my commentary. You need to hear it, so you can see for yourself the lengths such folks will go to in order to pretend to be outraged.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_08_02.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:11pm EDT

It somehow became fashionable among young people to wear shirts depicting a murderer. One supposes the same indulgence would not be extended to shirts depicting non-leftist murderers (if such shirts existed, which they don't). Federico Fernandez is behind an effort to take down the statue of Che Guevara in the latter's home town in Argentina, and to spread the truth about the man.

We also discuss the ongoing fiasco in Venezuela.

Show notes for Ep. 965

Direct download: woods_2017_08_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:06pm EDT

Whether it's "monopoly," child labor, the Depression of 1920-21, the New Deal, or World War II's impact on the economy, our views and interpretations run counter to the conventional wisdom. Here's a defense of our position. I delivered these remarks at the 2017 Mises University program.

Show notes for Ep. 964

Direct download: woods_2017_07_31.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:19pm EDT

Lucas Engelhardt, associate professor of economics at Kent State University, joins me to discuss bad ways to reform the monetary system, as well as good ones. (Bad ones include the Taylor rule, inflation targeting, NGDP targeting, and Milton Friedman's approach.)

Show notes for Ep. 963

Direct download: woods_2017_07_30.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:15pm EDT

The Austrian School of economics, the school of thought that includes Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Murray Rothbard -- and which influenced Ron Paul, of course -- is the subject of the Mises Institute's week-long Mises University summer program, which I'm attending right now. In the course of taking notes on my computer to help my 14-year-old daughter understand the concepts better, I realized there were some foundational parts of Austrian economics that some listeners may enjoy hearing clarified.
 
So in this episode I actually show how we can derive economic laws from the apparently sterile axiom that "human beings act." I also discuss where prices come from, and what the fundamental problem with socialism is.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_07_27.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:25pm EDT

This episode is drawn from the Society and the State podcast, on which I was the guest for the very first episode. We discuss how I went from teaching a handful of college students to reaching many, many more via my online work -- and supported a family to boot. We also discuss a horrendous business failure of mine, and other fun things.

Show notes for Ep. 961

Direct download: woods_2017_07_26.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:59pm EDT

Today I'm sharing what's normally a members-only Q&A I did with Bob Murphy at LibertyClassroom.com. It's a smorgasbord of Austrian economics, economic theory, and history -- with all the fun and banter you've come to love with Bob and me. Enjoy!

Show notes for Ep. 960

Direct download: woods_2017_07_25.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:51pm EDT

One of my most significant intellectual influences was the extraordinarily productive polymath Murray N. Rothbard. In this kickoff talk at Mises University 2017, I discuss what he taught me, what it was like to meet and interact with him, why he's worthy of study, admiration, and respect, and why it's impossible in the world of ideas not to have enemies.

Show notes for Ep. 959

Direct download: woods_2017_07_24.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:16pm EDT

David Weigel, national political correspondent for the Washington Post, released a book this year on the history of progressive rock -- which is a glorious and wonderful excuse for a podcast-length discussion of the subject. What's great about this kind of music, what happened to it, the best places to start, and a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 958

Direct download: woods_2017_07_23.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:29pm EDT

A great many libertarians have read at least some of Frederic Bastiat's work, but it's usually one or two of the same writings. Bastiat's output was vastly greater than what most of us are familiar with, and his life was extraordinarily eventful and exciting. David Hart, an expert on Bastiat, joins us for another look at a most underrated thinker and man.

Show notes for Ep. 957

Direct download: woods_2017_07_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:13pm EDT

I asked David Gordon, possibly the most well-read person I've ever met, what books he thought libertarians should read. The result was this engaging discussion!

Show notes for Ep. 956

Direct download: woods_2017_07_21.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:43pm EDT

Today's episode reaches back into history to the overlooked example of Genoa, where we discover the late medieval origins of entrepreneurial skills and institutions that formed the springboard for early modern economic development. The forgotten republican tradition of Genoa, moreover, poses an interesting alternative to the militarist and statist views of Machiavelli.

Show notes for Ep. 955

Direct download: woods_2017_07_20.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:09pm EDT

Nancy MacLean generated much discussion and controversy when she released her book Democracy in Chains, which purports to explain how the "radical Right" -- in which she includes the most implausible figures -- conspired to take over America.
 
The book is the standard leftist hysteria about outcomes that will obviously never come to pass, plus a healthy serving of innuendo and downright manufactured claims. Tom DiLorenzo and I have fun with it.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_07_19.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:18pm EDT

West Virginia state legislator Pat McGeehan, who comes endorsed by Ron Paul, has been the sole "No" vote in the legislature for years, but has also scored numerous legislative victories -- so he was thrown out of the Republican Caucus. He shared his insights about success and holding fast to principle that apply to people in all walks of life.

Show notes for Ep. 953

Direct download: woods_2017_07_17.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:40pm EDT

Pope Francis is one of the most controversial popes in Church history, and has left a great many churchmen and faithful bewildered. His sympathy for leftist political causes, and his systematic removal of people unsympathetic to his progressive program, are clear enough. We get into some of the details in this episode.

Show notes for Ep. 952

Direct download: woods_2017_07_14.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:34pm EDT

Although most people seemed pleased on so-called Prime Day, Amazon has its critics, too. Do the criticisms hold water?

Show notes for Ep. 951

Direct download: woods_2017_07_13.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:39pm EDT

Justin Nguyen is prepared to move beyond theory and into practice with his innovative approach to the environment and waste management. The market, he says, can do a better and more efficient job, and more creatively to boot, than the state.

Show notes for Ep. 950

Direct download: woods_2017_07_12.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:42pm EDT

Robert W. Merry, editor of The American Conservative, paints a grim picture of the position the left would be in should Trump fail or be forced out.

Show notes for Ep. 949

Direct download: woods_2017_07_11.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:11pm EDT

Maybe the time has come to try something radically different, instead of doubling down on the same old strategies. That's the view of Joe Quirk of the Seasteading Institute, who discusses the potential for humanity in, yes, floating nations.

Show notes for Ep. 948

Direct download: woods_2017_07_10.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:28pm EDT

I realize the Democrats and Republicans both annoy us, but we do live under their rule, so we do need to know about them. And when Republicans say the Democrats are divided or in trouble, I think they're engaged in wishful thinking.

Show notes for Ep. 947

Direct download: woods_2017_07_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Lew Rockwell joins me to discuss the CNN flap, Trump, foreign policy, and Murray Rothbard.

Show notes for Ep. 946

Direct download: woods_2017_07_06.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:48pm EDT

Co-founder and CEO of the Startup Societies Foundation, Joe McKinney, joins me to discuss new approaches to challenging (and escaping from) centralized authority.

Show notes for Ep. 945

Direct download: woods_2017_07_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:13pm EDT

You may be familiar with the problems with Dodd-Frank, but here's one almost nobody knows about: it all but shuts off a significant source of financing for lower-priced and starter homes. Hard to believe, I know: a government regulation harming ordinary people....

Show notes for Ep. 944

Direct download: woods_2017_07_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:10pm EDT

Early this year (2017), stories began to multiply of members of the Libertarian Party in Cuba running afoul of the authorities for no good reason. Today we discuss what's happening, and how we can help.

Show notes for Ep. 943

Direct download: woods_2017_07_03.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:13pm EDT

Brion discusses his forthcoming book How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America. Lots of great and unknown history in this one.

Show notes for Ep. 942

Direct download: woods_2017_06_30.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:23pm EDT

An American held in captivity in North Korea recently died; on top of that, plans for a military option in North Korea are being discussed in Washington. Michael Malice joins us for an update.

Show notes for Ep. 941

Direct download: woods_2017_06_29.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:34pm EDT

Today Jason Jewell explains the phenomenon of the neoconservatives and their close cousins, the Straussians. Call this a backgrounder episode.

Show notes for Ep. 940

Direct download: woods_2017_06_27.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:25pm EDT

Bob Murphy joins me once again, fresh from our discussion of private law in episode 938, to cover whether it's possible to imagine even defense services being provided without the state.

Show notes for Ep. 939

Direct download: woods_2017_06_26.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:53pm EDT

Bob Murphy joins me to revisit this question: in addition to consumer good and capital goods we see it producing all the time, can the market also provide law itself? I play a relentless devil's advocate in this one.

Show notes for Ep. 938

Direct download: woods_2017_06_23.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:40pm EDT

Roger Anderson, a telecommunications contractor and consultant with nearly 25 years of experience, decided that unsolicited telemarketing calls, which half the time are from scammers trying to get your financial information, needed to be dealt with. So he designed a series of clever bots that appear to be real people and keep the telemarketer tied up on the phone, and therefore temporarily unable to bother or victimize everyone else.
 
It's a brilliant and hilarious private-sector response.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_06_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:32am EDT

Eric Peters joins me to discuss the bubble in automobile sales, plus: dangerous pro-state bills pending that you may not know about.

Show notes for Ep. 936

Direct download: woods_2017_06_21.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 10:41am EDT

Want some good news, and a practical course of action? Martin Eriksson, co-founder of the libertarian media network Corax, discusses the most successful Sweden- (and Malta-) based libertarian project to date, and his ambitions for expansion throughout Europe.

Show notes for Ep. 935

Direct download: woods_2017_06_20.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:47pm EDT

A Rutgers professor suggests it's time we dropped our emphasis on jobs and work -- many jobs are highly undesirable, and with automation the number of jobs is going to fall substantially anyway. And what's so great about work? Think of the creativity that would emerge if we didn't have to do them.
 
Peter Klein and I go through his article and respond.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_06_19.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:28pm EDT

Now James Madison is under attack, because slavery. We're going to have to rename an awful lot of places if this catches fire. Madison biographer Kevin Gutzman joins me for some background into Madison and his achievements, and what we should think about the effort to erase him.

Show notes for Ep. 933

Direct download: woods_2017_06_16.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:48pm EDT

Without zoning, we're told, the layout of neighborhoods and cities would be hideous and irrational, and residents would be unhappy. Is this so? And would zoning exist in a free society?

Show notes for Ep. 932

Direct download: woods_2017_06_15.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:25pm EDT

We're supposed to believe that taxes are "contributions," or that government rests on the "consent" of the people, even when virtually no one has ever granted consent in a non-trivial way.
 
Well, here's another phony government idea, and one a lot of us have probably never really taken the time to examine: political representation. What does it really mean to say so-and-so "represents" me in Congress? We're certainly not using that word in its ordinary usage, any more than a tax could be called a contribution.
 
Today's episode is drawn from my Government course for the Ron Paul Curriculum.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_06_14.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:56pm EDT

Bernie Sanders is saying we need to increase the minimum wage because it's so hard for people earning the present minimum wage to find adequate housing. Now there are all kinds of problems with that, but I'm particularly interested in Bernie's complete lack of interest in why housing in some places might be so expensive.

Show notes for Ep. 930

Direct download: woods_2017_06_13.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:49pm EDT

Michael Malice now has a weekly program called "YOUR WELCOME" with Michael Malice -- if you correct his grammar I am going to commit an atrocity; you're smarter than that -- and he had me as his first guest. I happened to be in New York City at the time, so we were able to be in studio together. The result is a wide-ranging discussion of libertarianism, religion, history, the Federal Reserve, and lots more, plus listener calls.

Show notes for Ep. 929

Direct download: woods_2017_06_12.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:21pm EDT

Jeff Deist, president of the Mises Intstitute, on what libertarians (and even progressives and conservatives) ought to aim for, and why handing out U.S. Constitutions in Iraq might not be the most effective strategy.

Show notes for Ep. 928

Direct download: woods_2017_06_09.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:59pm EDT

The Reagan Administration's David Stockman is convinced Trump will not survive 2018. His analysis is so compelling that I decided we had to discuss it. I won't give away the details; just listen!

Show notes for Ep. 927

Direct download: woods_2017_06_08.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:50pm EDT

Not long ago I was Stefan Molyneux's guest to discuss my book How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, a discussion that brought us through the development of Western science, Scholastic philosophy, St. Thomas Aquinas, the Dark Ages, the origins of economics, and a heck of a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 926

Direct download: woods_2017_06_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 10:02am EDT

Brad Birzer joins us to discuss themes in his latest course for LibertyClassroom.com, on the golden age of science fiction -- which is full of ideas libertarians will find congenial.

Show notes for Ep. 925

Direct download: woods_2017_06_06.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:41pm EDT

Joe Salerno, editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics and academic vice president of the Mises Institute, discusses Ludwig von Mises' thoughts on nationalism, immigration, and the state.

Show notes for Ep. 924

Direct download: woods_2017_06_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:07pm EDT

Donald Trump has asked for a $54 billion increase in the military budget. That's an opportune moment to revisit how much the U.S. government already spends, what precisely it's spending the money on, and what it has to show for it all.

Show notes for Ep. 923

Direct download: woods_2017_06_02.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:23pm EDT

Seamus Coughlin, creator of Freedom Toons, is now one of my favorite people: his animated videos are short, punchy, funny, libertarian, and effective. And he's a hilarious guy, too. A model for young people who say, "I want to help the liberty movement!"

Show notes for Ep. 922

Direct download: woods_2017_06_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:08pm EDT

Everyone always thinks the current president must be the worst. Surely President X is the most ignorant when it comes to economics! Well, there's a lot of competition for that honor, my friend, as Gene Epstein joins me to explain.

Show notes for Ep. 921

Direct download: woods_2017_05_31.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:15pm EDT

Carl Benjamin, known online as Sargon of Akkad, has built up an enormous online following thanks to his compelling and controversial YouTube videos. He identifies with no particular ideology, but says he feels the greatest kinship with libertarianism, even while he does sometimes criticize it. By popular demand, he and I have a freewheeling discussion, and we touch on his video on the violent leftist group By Any Means Necessary.

Show notes for Ep. 920

Direct download: woods_2017_05_30.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:57pm EDT

Patrick Gann recently graduated from Millersville University with a degree in social work. We discuss the ideological slant and unexamined assumptions to be found within social work departments and out in the field.

Show notes for Ep. 919

Direct download: woods_2017_05_29.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:21pm EDT

Andrew Bacevich, retired from Boston University, recently posed 24 awkward but important questions about the present state of American foreign policy. I thought they were worth reviewing, because taken together they say quite a bit -- none of it good -- about both the foreign policy and the media that allows these questions to go unanswered, or indeed not asked at all.

Show notes for Ep. 918

Direct download: woods_2017_05_26.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:24pm EDT

Hunter Thompson, a full-time real estate investor, discusses today's housing market, what sectors do well in a down economy, how real-estate investing compares to other investment possibilities, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 917

Direct download: woods_2017_05_25.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 12:10pm EDT

Congressman John "Jimmy" Duncan Jr. has served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee for 29 years. He is the last remaining Republican House member who voted against the war in Iraq. He serves on the board of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Show notes for Ep. 916

Direct download: woods_2017_05_24.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:46pm EDT

The perpetually aggrieved have recently settled upon various Confederate monuments, particularly in New Orleans, as the next thing to be destroyed. Given the level of American discourse (a word I use laughingly in this context), anyone saying a word against this is of course condemned with all the usual low-IQ language of the left. Rev. Larry Beane, pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Gretna, Louisiana, and historian Brion McClanahan, join me for the discussion.

Show notes for Ep. 915

Direct download: woods_2017_05_23.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:28pm EDT

Kristaps Andrejsons, host of The Eastern Border podcast, joins me for a rapid-fire overview of some of the major episodes in the history of the Soviet Union.

Show notes for Ep. 914

Direct download: woods_2017_05_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:17pm EDT

Christopher Voss spent 24 years working in the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit as a hostage negotiator and was the FBI's chief international hostage and kidnapping negotiator from 2003 to 2007. His book, which I thoroughly enjoyed, is full of actionable advice for real negotiation in your business and personal life.

Show notes for Ep. 913

Direct download: woods_2017_05_19.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:59pm EDT

Colin Moriarty spent 14 years of his life in the video game world, until one day he published a joke on Twitter that only an idiot would take offense at, and everyone swarmed for the kill. But he got the last laugh, as we note in today's episode.

Show notes for Ep. 912

Direct download: woods_2017_05_18.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:07am EDT

Here's some audio footage of my appearance at the Yale Political Union in defense of secession. In particular, this is the part in which I replied to critics. I think you'll enjoy this.

Show notes for Ep. 911

Direct download: woods_2017_05_17.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 10:58pm EDT

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who is presently a visiting professor of government and public policy at the College of William and Mary, had a long career in the U.S. military and served as Chief of Staff to Gen. Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005. He is a board member of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Show notes for Ep. 910

Direct download: woods_2017_05_16.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:02pm EDT

Journalist Johann Hari, author of the acclaimed bestseller Chasing the Scream, joins me to discuss the fact-free origins of the War on Drugs, the flawed assumptions that drive it even today, and its grotesque human consequences.

Show notes for Ep. 909

Direct download: woods_2017_05_15.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:02pm EDT

Not long ago Pope Francis made some disparaging comments about libertarians. They were really a string of cliches. Here's my response.

Show notes for Ep. 908

Direct download: woods_2017_05_12.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 12:37pm EDT

Tatiana Moroz, the libertarian singer-songwriter (and fellow Contra Cruise-goer) invited me on to her show to talk Trump, true and false history, my strengths and weaknesses (including my secret obsession for many years), working for myself, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 907

Direct download: woods_2017_05_11.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:53pm EDT

Judd Weiss discusses the inside story of the 2016 campaign for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination, and it's explosive.

Show notes for Ep. 906

Direct download: woods_2017_05_10.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:52pm EDT

When Pat Buchanan was barely 30 years old, a U.S. president would regularly ask, "What does Buchanan think about this?" Pat shares some interesting stories of his years inside the Nixon White House.

Show notes for Ep. 905

Direct download: woods_2017_05_09.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 12:15pm EDT

The Republican Liberty Caucus exists to inject a libertarian perspective (and officeholders) into the GOP. Is this a viable strategy?

Show notes for Ep. 904

Direct download: woods_2017_05_08.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:47pm EDT

You asked, we answered. Questions about North Korea, Ayn Rand, ghostwriting for celebrities, and a heck of a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 903

Direct download: woods_2017_05_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:02pm EDT

I'm off today, but you're in excellent hands: the outstanding Michael Malice is filling in as the first ever substitute host on the show. Trust me, you'll enjoy this one....

Show notes for Ep. 902

Direct download: woods_2017_05_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:39pm EDT