The Tom Woods Show

Yesterday Michael and I did a year in review, looking at the United States and the world. Today's year in review is about the show itself, and highlights from 2017's hundreds of episodes.

As usual, the show will take a break for Christmas. We return on January 3.

Show notes for Ep. 1066

Direct download: woods_2017_12_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:57pm EDT

Michael Malice joins me for something of a year in review episode. Who were the big winners -- and losers -- of 2017? Who was the biggest villain? What was the biggest surprise? Lots of fun.

Show notes for Ep. 1065

Direct download: woods_2017_12_21.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:36pm EDT

Bitcoin Cash, which resulted from a Bitcoin fork, has been championed by its proponents as being more in line with Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision for the cryptocurrency, and as helping to solve some of the problems that Bitcoin currently faces. Critics aren't so sure. Jameson Lopp of BitGo and Roger Ver of Bitcoin.com square off on all this in today's episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1064

Direct download: woods_2017_12_20.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:47pm EDT

Gene Epstein returns on the 50th anniversary of William Styron's historical novel The Confessions of Nat Turner, the slave who led a famous revolt in Virginia. Since Styron was a white southerner who wrote a Nat Turner novel in the first person, you can imagine the reception he got in certain quarters. The whole episode tells us a great deal about American society and intellectual life.

Show notes for Ep. 1063

Direct download: woods_2017_12_19.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:36pm EDT

Economist Bob Murphy (Ph.D., NYU) and podcaster Todd Lewis square off in the central debate of anarcho-capitalism: is government truly necessary for national defense, or could the free market provide this service?

Show notes for Ep. 1062

Direct download: woods_2017_12_18.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:04pm EDT

Dr. Robert Epstein, former editor of Psychology Today, joins me to discuss his research on how various online services, particularly Google and Facebook, can influence the way people think about a great many important things.

Show notes for Ep. 1061

Direct download: woods_2017_12_15.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:26pm EDT

I talk to Stefan Molyneux about many of the cliches libertarians find themselves having to answer, involving child labor, labor unions, monopolies, the environment, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 1060

Direct download: woods_2017_12_14.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:30pm EDT

J. Gresham Machen, whom many listeners have urged me to do an episode about, taught at Princeton Theological Seminary for many years and was a significant figure in American Presbyterianism who fought against theological liberalism among Protestants. His political views, interestingly enough, were profoundly libertarian.

Show notes for Ep. 1059

Direct download: woods_2017_12_13.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:45pm EDT

Christopher Snowdon of London's Institute of Economic Affairs makes the case against paternalistic meddling in individual decisions.

Show notes for Ep. 1058

Direct download: woods_2017_12_12.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:01pm EDT

Dave Rubin, host of the hugely successful Rubin Report, alienated former colleagues (e.g., at The Young Turks Network, where he had been an on-air host) when he openly disapproved of what he saw as an authoritarian, anti-free-speech drift among the Left. Today his YouTube channel has nearly 567,000 subscribers and his show reaches an enormous audience.
 
He and I discuss this and a lot more, including plenty of listener-supplied questions.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_12_11.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:20pm EDT

Walter Block, who holds an endowed chair in economics at Loyola University, New Orleans, joins me to cover a smorgasbord of topics: reparations, the environment, whether libertarians may use tax-funded services, the reliability of government statistics, fractional-reserve banking, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 1056

Direct download: woods_2017_12_08.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:10pm EDT

We've all heard the usual arguments: the U.S. government entered the Vietnam War because of the domino theory, or because of SEATO treaty obligations, or whatever. The recent Ken Burns PBS series on the war, for example, repeats many conventional arguments about the war.

Gareth Porter, on the other hand, joins me to discuss rather a different interpretation of the war. We cover the origins of the war, the nature of the war (were civilians deliberately targeted?), the Cambodian incursion, and a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 1055

Direct download: woods_2017_12_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:04pm EDT

Salon is unhappy with my guest: his children's book series teaches libertarian ideas -- and, worst of all, introduces them even to some of the ideas of...AYN RAND!

Show notes for Ep. 1054

Direct download: woods_2017_12_06.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:50pm EDT

Brett Veinotte of the School Sucks Project just returned from a 40-day cross-country trip, where he held meetings and events highlighting alternative approaches to education. He joins me today to discuss what he found.

Show notes for Ep. 1053

Direct download: woods_2017_12_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:56pm EDT

Marco Bassani, a professor of the history of political theory at the University of Milan, joins me to discuss a question that has divided libertarians: is the independence of Catalonia from Spain a cause that should be cheered?

Show notes for Ep. 1052

Direct download: woods_2017_12_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:16pm EDT

Hunter Lewis, in an amazing book called Economics in Three Lessons & One Hundred Economic Laws, concisely reviews the crucial economic ideas that can help people see the world in a whole new way.

Show notes for Ep. 1051

Direct download: woods_2017_12_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:26pm EDT

According to Dr. Robert Epstein, adolescence is an artificial construct of recent vintage, unknown in earlier times or indeed in many parts of the world today. The creation of this category, and the assumptions that inform it (by state and society alike) have harmed young people, he argues, and are responsible for the anxiety and angst we associate with the teenage years. These problems are not evident in cultures that lack this category. We explore Dr. Epstein's thesis and book in today's episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1050

Direct download: woods_2017_11_30.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:45pm EDT

Laura Nicolae, a sophomore at Harvard (and whose father fled communist eastern Europe), made some waves recently with an article for the Harvard Crimson about the cavalier way the campus left treats the subject of communism.

Show notes for Ep. 1049

Direct download: woods_2017_11_29.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:30pm EDT

I've long been associated with the cause of nullification of unconstitutional federal laws, having written a book on it. Here I discuss various arguments -- historical, constitutional, and moral -- in favor, with special emphasis toward the end on the moral argument. Thanks to the Tenth Amendment Center for sponsoring this event.

Show notes for Ep. 1048

Direct download: woods_2017_11_28.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:14pm EDT

Rothbardian anarcho-capitalists, who make up a substantial proportion of my audience, are often confused by non-libertarian anarchists, who don't seem like real anarchists to them. These anarchists, in turn, feel the same way about anarcho-capitalists. In this episode, Professor Gerard Casey reviews the thought of some of the key thinkers associated with anarchism.

Show notes for Ep. 1047

Direct download: woods_2017_11_27.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:57pm EDT

In today's episode I share the remarks I delivered at the Mises Institute's 35th anniversary event in New York City in October 2017. No intra-libertarian drama here; just the hows and whys behind the importance and success of the Mises Institute, a place I truly cherish, and its significance for all of us.

Show notes for Ep. 1046

Direct download: woods_2017_11_24.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 10:05am EDT

There's one thing in particular that the Austrian School of economics understands better than do other schools, and it helps to explain why the Austrians in turn better understand how the economy works (and what makes it not work). That thing is capital theory. Boring? Nope. Super important. Here's what other economists don't get.

Show notes for Ep. 1045

Direct download: woods_2017_11_23.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 10:15am EDT

John Duncan (R-TN) has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 30 years, and is the last Republican in Congress to have voted against the war in Iraq. He joins me to review the claim that the military has been "eviscerated" in recent years.

Show notes for Ep. 1044

Direct download: woods_2017_11_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:37pm EDT

A promotional video about this school sparked a heated debate among listeners in my private Facebook group. The video describes the school as having no classrooms, tests, or homework, in which the students direct and evaluate themselves, etc. Is this a natural model for libertarians, or is it just plain silly? I talk to a staff member and a student at the school in today's episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1043

Direct download: woods_2017_11_21.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 12:49pm EDT

Jo Ann Cavallo, who chairs the Department of Italian at Columbia University, found herself drawn to libertarianism and the Austrian School of economics because of -- who else? -- Ron Paul. She's now bringing these ideas into her scholarly work, with outstanding results.
 
Also, I can't resist asking her about Machiavelli, a figure I've never been sure I've gotten quite right.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_11_20.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:58pm EDT

Seamus Coughlin, creator of Freedom Toons, has mastered the art of using animation to convey libertarian ideas in a way that's genuinely funny, and not at all preachy. I catch up with him on what he's been up to lately, what the animation process is really like, and where he'd like to take his growing empire.

Show notes for Ep. 1041

Direct download: woods_2017_11_17.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:48pm EDT

Michael Malice has written an important column for the Observer, on the fragmented politics of the West. In Europe, more and more political parties, favoring incompatible policies and ideologies, are struggling with each other. What does it all mean for liberty?

Show notes for Ep. 1040

Direct download: woods_2017_11_16.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:53pm EDT

Economist Peter Leeson has just released a challenging new book, via Stanford University Press, that tries to make sense of seemingly irrational practices from far-off times and places -- ranging from wife sales to trial by battle, as well as things far weirder -- through the lens of economics.

Show notes for Ep. 1039

Direct download: woods_2017_11_15.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:37pm EDT

Walter Williams, a professor of economics at George Mason University and the author of many books, discusses discrimination, economics, and race.

Show notes for Ep. 1038

Direct download: woods_2017_11_14.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:56pm EDT

Scott Horton, our great libertarian foreign-policy expert, joins me to review seven countries and discuss the (grim) outcome of intervention in each.

Show notes for Ep. 1037

Direct download: woods_2017_11_13.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:33pm EDT

Mark Skousen, who just released the 5th edition of his economics textbook, joins me to discuss quite a few topics, with special emphasis on why the Austrian School sees the economy more clearly than do other schools of thought. He takes on the "circular flow" model, the problems with GDP, and why the standard approach leaves out some of the most important activity in the economy.

Show notes for Ep. 1036

Direct download: woods_2017_11_10.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:04pm EDT

Mises was of course one of the great economists, and casual followers rightly credit him for his work on the problems with socialism, or the origins of business cycles, or other topics with obvious policy implications. Often overlooked, however, is how Mises solved a major problem within economics itself, having to do with monetary theory and marginal utility. Bob Murphy joins me to give us an even fuller appreciation of Mises' genius and importance.

Show notes for Ep. 1035

Direct download: woods_2017_11_09.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:09pm EDT

Actor and stand-up comedian Owen Benjamin lost not just a gig but also his agent and his management when he suggested that elementary-school children whose parents want to support their "gender transition" probably shouldn't be given hormone blockers. He hasn't backed down, and now, blackballed virtually everywhere, is building up an independent career apart from these creeps.

Show notes for Ep. 1034

Direct download: woods_2017_11_08.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:41pm EDT

General John F. Kelly, Chief of Staff to the President, made some comments about the Civil War recently that sent the enforcers of orthodoxy into apoplexy. Here is our calm response to the controversy.

Show notes for Ep. 1033

Direct download: woods_2017_11_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:48pm EDT

Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver joins me to discuss a wide range of topics related to the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, including its recent spike, ideological disputes within the Bitcoin world, the IRS and Bitcoin, whether Bitcoin is in a bubble, and a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 1032

Direct download: woods_2017_11_06.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:50pm EDT

In 2015 Ross Ulbricht was convicted of crimes related to the operation of the Silk Road marketplace, where people could buy and sell goods anonymously. He was sentenced to an astonishing two life sentences plus 40 years. The case was shot through with irregularities, outrages, and horrific precedents. His mother, Lyn Ulbricht, joins me to discuss Ross's case and where it goes from here.

Show notes for Ep. 1031

Direct download: woods_2017_11_03.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:59pm EDT

Mike Maharrey, national communications director for the Tenth Amendment Center, joins me for a lesson in local activism, as he describes his public awareness campaign about police surveillance practices. (He's being sued, if you can believe it.)

Show notes for Ep. 1030

Direct download: woods_2017_11_02.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:42pm EDT

Bill Binney, a cryptanalyst-mathematician and (formerly) highly placed intelligence official within the National Security Agency (NSA) blew the whistle on NSA activities in 2002. Since then, he's been through everything from a raid on his home to having a sympathetic documentary made about him. He joins me to discuss his ordeal, plus his views on alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 election.

Show notes for Ep. 1029

Direct download: woods_2017_11_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:31pm EDT

In this episode I talk to Dave Smith and Bob Murphy on Dave's podcast Part of the Problem, recorded aboard the Contra Cruise. We hit on lots of topics: what we'd do without state-run "help the needy" programs, where the biggest threat to liberty is coming from these days, what it means to be a good teacher, what happened to the prospects for liberty after 9/11, and plenty more.

Show notes for Ep. 1028

Direct download: woods_2017_10_31.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:43pm EDT

In the age of social media, the quality of discourse seems to have hit a low point. We find ourselves bombarded with criticisms that (to put it mildly) don't rise to the level of an argument. I discuss arguments and non-arguments with Stefan Molyneux, author of the new book The Art of the Argument.

Show notes for Ep. 1027

Direct download: woods_2017_10_27.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 11:13am EDT

Insurance, as it exists today, is shot through with government subsidies and regulations that make practically everyone worse off. Almost no one besides experts in the field is even aware of the government's role in making insurance premiums higher and insurance products less able to meet the public's needs. Stacey Giulianti, chief legal officer for a Florida insurance company, and who's been practicing law for 25 years, knows all of it inside and out, joins me to tell the story.

Show notes for Ep. 1026

Direct download: woods_2017_10_26.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:00pm EDT

Ron Paul joins me for a look at the ten years since the birth of the Ron Paul Revolution, plus a lot more. Topics include the Deep State, the CIA's records on the JFK assassination, the question Edward Snowden asked him, and the present state of the liberty movement.

Show notes for Ep. 1025

Direct download: woods_2017_10_25.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 11:59am EDT

Businessman and consultant Larry Sharpe, who's seeking the governorship of New York on the Libertarian Party ticket, joins me by popular demand to discuss finding the libertarian message, making it appealing, and what the role of the LP can be.

Show notes for Ep. 1024

Direct download: woods_2017_10_24.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:42pm EDT

Today's episode focuses in on three major episodes in American labor history: Haymarket, Homestead, and the Pullman strike. These are generally related with a predictable bias, which this episode challenges.

Show notes for Ep. 1023

Direct download: woods_2017_10_20.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:11pm EDT

Karen Straughan joins me to discuss feminism, many feminists' caricature of men, girls in the Boy Scouts, the enablers of Harvey Weinstein, the left-libertarian Pence/Weinstein comparison, gender-fluid children, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 1022

Direct download: woods_2017_10_19.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:04pm EDT

Gene Epstein of Barron's joins me to discuss Richard Thaler, this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics, who has helped to popularize "behavioral economics," and how to deal with situations in which people behave "irrationally" (that is, unlike the way neoclassical economics expects them to).

Show notes for Ep. 1021

Direct download: woods_2017_10_17.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:09pm EDT

Pete Earle, author of the study A Century of Anarchy, joins me to discuss a little-known case study of statelessness.

Show notes for Ep. 1020

Direct download: woods_2017_10_12.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:54pm EDT

We recorded this episode live in Orlando on September 30, 2017. It features Eric July, Michael Malice, Dave Smith, Michael Boldin, and Tom DiLorenzo, along with some surprise guests (Dave Smith and Michael Boldin were also surprises, not being on the official bill).
 
Lots of fun: Michael Malice dominates Part I, while Part II includes a Dad joke-off between Eric July and me, as well as the roast. Enjoy!
 
Direct download: woods_2017_10_10.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:20pm EDT

Haven't labor unions improved the standard of living of American workers? Why, wouldn't we not even have the weekend without them? My father belonged to the Teamsters, so I have a natural inclination to side with unions, but the facts won't let me, and in this episode I explain why.

Show notes for Ep. 1019

Direct download: woods_2017_10_09.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:56pm EDT

I keep hearing success stories from people who got started in eCommerce at my urging, so I finally decided to make an episode out of a few of them. A little good news for a change!

Show notes for Ep. 1018

Direct download: woods_2017_10_06.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 11:23am EDT

In 2010 I addressed the annual meeting of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. I spoke about government and health care, yes, but I also spoke about state nullification -- not your usual topic at a physicians' gathering.

Show notes for Ep. 1017

Direct download: woods_2017_10_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:38pm EDT

It's fashionable again for libertarians to urge the abandonment of the nonaggression principle, the bedrock of our entire philosophy. It's dumb, you see. But what they propose in its place is dumb x 1000.

Show notes for Ep. 1016

Direct download: woods_2017_10_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:52pm EDT

With Donald Trump publicly undermining Rex Tillerson and calling Kim Jong Un "Rocketman," should we be concerned about a potential nuclear conflict? Is there a strategy behind Trump's comments and actions? Michael Malice joins me for an update.

Show notes for Ep. 1015

Direct download: woods_2017_10_03.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:59pm EDT

In this episode I check in with James Damore, author of the notorious memo on the "gender gap" in tech, to find out what he's up to now, what his plans are, and how he looks back on the incident that got him fired as a senior software engineer at Google.

Show notes for Ep. 1014

Direct download: woods_2017_10_02.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:17pm EDT

Fred Lam is an eCommerce expert who went from washing dishes to doing over $20 million in sales. His book Starting from Zero, which he explains how to get for free in the episode, features a foreword by Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Show notes for Ep. 1013

Direct download: woods_2017_10_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:50pm EDT

Gerard Casey, professor emeritus of philosophy at University College, Dublin, joins me for an overview of Marxism and its (shall we say) difficulties.

Show notes for Ep. 1012

Direct download: woods_2017_09_29.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 3:37pm EDT

EDIT: I mistakenly said September 13 in today's episode when I meant September 30 for the 1000th episode live event. Please be there! Details at tomwoods.com/orlando.
 
The only person in the world I have ever allowed to write in my name is Bob Bly, who wrote the sales copy you see on the home page at LibertyClassroom.com. McGraw-Hill calls him "America's top copywriter." And he knows an enormous amount about it -- and many other things besides.
 
There's a reason we teach copywriting in the Ron Paul Curriculum: it's an extremely valuable and lucrative skill, and you'd better believe I want my own kids to learn how to do it.
 
Plenty of great stuff in this conversation.
 
Direct download: woods_2017_09_28.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:28pm EDT

Michael Heise of the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus joins me to discuss the state of the Libertarian Party, and the ambitions of his growing caucus that seeks to recall the party to libertarian principle in its selection of candidates.

Show notes for Ep. 1010

Direct download: woods_2017_09_27.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:43pm EDT

Eric Peters -- whom I donate to every month -- returns to discuss creepy features in new cars, the government-led demise of the six-cylinder engine, private companies snooping into your information, and decent cars in the new model year.

Show notes for Ep. 1009

Direct download: woods_2017_09_26.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:55pm EDT

People have asked me to discuss this issue, which I've written a book about, so I decided to make it into a bonus episode. (This episode is my appearance on Roger McCaffrey's Catholic Book Radio podcast.)

Ever since the "liturgical reform" of 1969-70, which yielded the modern Mass with which nearly all Catholics are familiar, Catholic traditionalists have urged the return of the traditional Latin Mass -- for reasons of theology, piety, tradition, beauty, and the like.

The issue was not one of language -- the new Mass can also be said in Latin. The issue was the rite itself, which had never been changed wholesale and by committee.

Show notes for Ep. 1008

Direct download: woods_2017_09_23.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 11:05am EDT

Gerard Casey is the author of what the brilliant David Gordon is calling the best history of political thought he's ever read. We discuss several of his early chapters, on the sophists, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and what libertarians ought to cheer -- or deplore -- in the their work. Brilliant, and a blast.

Show notes for Ep. 1007

Direct download: woods_2017_09_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:21pm EDT

Dave Smith, the libertarian comedian whose new comedy special Libertas is the number one comedy album on iTunes, joins me for a lively discussion of Trump, foreign policy, Milo, libertarianism, and a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 1006

Direct download: woods_2017_09_21.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:35pm EDT

Is it really true that the American standard of living is falling, and that our children will be worse off than we are? Martin Feldstein challenged this view in the Wall Street Journal. Jeff Herbener joins me to discuss it.

Show notes for Ep. 1005

Direct download: woods_2017_09_20.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:01pm EDT

Chris Guillebeau, the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup, returns for his third appearance on the show to discuss how to build up a "side hustle" as an additional income stream. His new book, Side Hustle, walks you through a series of exercises to identify, test, and refine just the right idea for your particular side hustle.

Show notes for Ep. 1004

Direct download: woods_2017_09_19.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:01pm EDT

We're taught that Alexander Hamilton is one of the indispensable men in the American story. In his new book -- released just today -- How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America, historian Brion McClanahan takes on this historical icon. In today's discussion we focus in particular on how the federal courts extended the life of some of Hamilton's worst ideas, which we continue to struggle with today.

Show notes for Ep. 1003

Direct download: woods_2017_09_18.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:40pm EDT

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