Fri, 31 January 2020
Phil Magness returns to discuss the sound and unsound aspects of the New York Times' 1619 Project. Topics include Lincoln and the colonization of the former slaves, the role of slavery in the American Revolution, and slavery's role in American prosperity. Sponsor: This election season, trust C-SPAN to give you an unfiltered look at politics and the candidates. Follow Campaign 2020 on the C-SPAN television networks, on the C-SPAN app, or online at c-span.org. |
Fri, 31 January 2020
In this episode about episodes, I review nearly the past four years of the Tom Woods Show to find golden nuggets of awesomeness you may have missed. |
Wed, 29 January 2020
Mike Maharrey of the Tenth Amendment Center joins me to discuss what I consider the best short introduction to the real Constitution, as opposed to the one taught in law school and the New York Times. |
Tue, 28 January 2020
David Ramsay Steele discusses the phenomenon of fascism, what it really was, and what's wrong with using it as a generic term of abuse. Plus: vegetarianism and animal welfare, and why economic growth doesn't have to mean the consumption of more and more resources. |
Mon, 27 January 2020
At FreedomFest 2010, Gene Epstein and I debated Warren Coates and John Fund on whether the Federal Reserve should be abolished. Here is that debate! |
Sat, 25 January 2020
Princeton University Press published my guest's book When All Else Fails, on the subject of whether and under what circumstances it is morally legitimate to resist the state with physical force. Not the kind of topic you might expect from an Ivy League university press, but Brennan makes his case persuasively and provocatively, as indeed he likewise does in today's episode. |
Thu, 23 January 2020
Law professor F.H. Buckley joins me to discuss his new book American Secession, and why breaking up the United States -- or at least implementing one of his lesser proposals -- means a happier outcome for everyone. |
Wed, 22 January 2020
Antony Sammeroff joins me to discuss his recent Soho Forum debate, in which he argued in the negative, on the resolution: "Robotics will soon lead to widespread joblessness, underemployment, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few." |
Tue, 21 January 2020
Legal scholar Mark Pulliam joins me to discuss the commonly believed myths that underlie U.S. labor law. |
Fri, 17 January 2020
In this potpourri solo episode I hit on several issues. First, is it fair to draw conclusions about Bernie Sanders and his campaign on the basis of violent, pro-gulag remarks from one of his field coordinators (as recorded by Project Veritas)? Then I review a recent episode on Twitter in which libertarianism was attacked, and one libertarian group responded in the most self-defeating and grotesque way. Finally, I revisit the controversy over "deplatforming," and respond to libertarians who think they should cheer ("it's a great free-market outcome!") when dissident voices are silenced. |
Fri, 17 January 2020
Last week a discussion thread in my Supporting Listeners group discussed the pros and cons of traditional employment versus working for oneself, particularly online. Good points were raised all around, so I decided to continue the discussion on this episode, with my guest and me discussing the pros and cons of entrepreneurship, why the Uber version of the gig economy isn't all it's cracked up to be and what people would do much better with instead, and what the best practices are in 2020 for starting a basic but potentially lucrative eCommerce business. |
Wed, 15 January 2020
Mark Skousen, an author and college professor whose investment newsletter Forecasts & Strategies is celebrating its 40th year, joins me to discuss what he saw at the recent American Economic Association meeting, including some 41 sessions on gender bias and sex discrimination, along with discussion (and criticism) of Modern Monetary Theory. Ben Bernanke told the audience the Fed needed to raise its inflation target. We discuss this and a whole lot more in today's episode. |
Wed, 15 January 2020
The Betrayal of the American Right is a book that appeared more than a decade after the death of its author, Murray N. Rothbard, known in his lifetime as "Mr. Libertarian." I had the privilege of writing the introduction to the book when it was finally released, after having circulated throughout liberty circles for many years in unpublished form. Here is the closest thing we will ever get to a Rothbard memoir, and there's plenty of history of libertarianism and conservatism in here, too. |
Mon, 13 January 2020
The strike that took out Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was cheered by a great many Americans, including some who ordinarily speak out against the U.S. government's foreign interventions. If this wasn't a righteous killing, what would be? Scott Horton joins me for perspective. |
Fri, 10 January 2020
Jeff and I talk about a much-discussed recent article by George Mason University's Tyler Cowen, which finds merit in the market system but insists we recognize and appreciate the value of the state. Well, we ain't doing it. |
Fri, 10 January 2020
Jeff Deist and I discuss the Trump phenomenon, the U.S. political establishment, and what a post-Trump Republican Party will look like. |
Wed, 8 January 2020
When people have radically incompatible worldviews, is it sensible or humane to try to govern them all according to the same set of rules? Yet neither progressives nor conservatives stop to consider decentralization, the only approach that can possibly work. They're too busy jamming round holes into square pegs. Jeff Deist and I discuss the decentralist alternative. |
Wed, 8 January 2020
Jeff Deist week continues with this discussion of the fundamentals of libertarianism, and how it's been transformed into a bizarre mutation of its former self. |
Mon, 6 January 2020
We kick off Jeff Deist week on the Tom Woods Show with an episode on Ron Paul and what it was like to work in his congressional office, as Jeff himself did as the former congressman's chief of staff. Juicy stuff here, folks. |
Tue, 31 December 2019
As we wind up what's been a great 2019 for the Tom Woods Show I turn my attention briefly to the "libertarian socialist" phenomenon and the problem of establishment-friendly libertarianism, which consists of people who have no idea what it's like to hold a genuinely unpopular position that will get them hated. To the contrary, these are people who – if the New York Times cared what they had to say – would make darn sure the Times knew how boring and respectable they were, and how edgy and dangerous radical libertarians like me are. But do not despair, folks, because I reveal precisely why these folks burn with such intense hatred for your host here, and one specific thing we can do to make them run home crying to their mothers. |