The Tom Woods Show

The year 2019 hasn't been a good one for the news media -- and now the Mueller report, which failed to find evidence of "collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia, has just hit like a 10-megaton bomb. Mike Cernovich and I survey the wreckage.

Show notes for Ep. 1371

Direct download: woods_2019_03_26.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30pm EDT

The "social contract," which we are said to have consented to "implicitly," is the primary way we hear the state justified. Our opponents on social media seem to consider this a devastating reply, as if we've never heard it before. Taxation isn't theft because we've all agreed to it via the social contract, they say. Uh huh. Sure. This episode puts the social contract through the shredder.

Show notes for Ep. 1370

Direct download: woods_2019_03_25.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:30pm EDT

Some of my favorite conversations on or off the air are with Catholic publisher Roger McCaffrey (who's the godfather to two of our daughters, incidentally). In addition to being very knowledgeable about a great many things, he is a man of impeccable judgment, such that whenever I need advice I nearly always contact Roger first. In this bonus episode he and I discuss the Francis papacy, the next conclave, the five living people who have most influenced me, and plenty more. It's such a fun discussion.

Show notes for Ep. 1369

Direct download: woods_2019_03_23.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:30pm EDT

David Stockman, who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan, and who's been a great friend of the Tom Woods Show, returns to discuss his new book, Peak Trump: The Undrainable Swamp and the Fantasy of MAGA. We discuss John McCain (Stockman pulls no punches), the Fed, Trump's economics, Russiagate, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 1368

Direct download: woods_2019_03_22.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:03pm EDT

Cambridge University has rescinded a fellowship offer extended to Jordan Peterson, probably the best-known and most followed academic in Canada's history. He hit back in his characteristic style.

Show notes for Ep. 1367

Direct download: woods_2019_03_21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:31pm EDT

On a previous episode I predicted that the Democrats would not let the transformation of the Supreme Court stand, and would instead try to revive the idea of packing the Court. I was right. In this episode I discuss the history behind the number of justices on the Court, the FDR Court-packing episode, and current proposals from Democratic officials.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1366

Direct download: woods_2019_03_20.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:08pm EDT

You'll never guess what your host did that outraged the delightful "left-libertarian" wing of our little movement this time, but it speaks volumes. I also discuss the ongoing Tulsi Gabbard situation.

Show notes for Ep. 1365

Direct download: woods_2019_03_19.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:15pm EDT

Professor Alex Salter discusses his provocative article for The American Conservative: "Why True Conservatism Means Anarchy."

Sponsor: Blinkist

Show notes for Ep. 1364

Direct download: woods_2019_03_18.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

This one just won't go away. Even people who should know better unthinkingly repeat this one. Here's what's wrong with this claim.

Sponsor: Policy Genius

Show notes for Ep. 1363

Direct download: woods_2019_03_16.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am EDT

Frank Karsten returns to discuss myths of discrimination that virtually everyone believes, and which tend to empower the state.

Show notes for Ep. 1362

Direct download: woods_2019_03_15.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30pm EDT

Mike Cernovich has just released Hoaxed, a superb documentary about the media and how it distorts the news, influences public opinion, and demonizes dissidents. The result: a must-listen episode of the Tom Woods Show.

Show notes for Ep. 1361

Direct download: woods_2019_03_14_fixed.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:59am EDT

I discuss the difficulties and bad consequences of wealth redistribution, both within a country (welfare programs) and between countries (foreign aid).

Show notes for Ep. 1360

Direct download: woods_2019_03_13.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00pm EDT

Gene Epstein returns to discuss the economic side of the brand of nationalist conservatism that's been developing under Trump. Will it help the people it claims to be looking out for? Show notes for Ep. 1359 - https://tomwoods.com/1359

Direct download: woods_2019_03_11.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:17pm EDT

Stephen Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, joins me to discuss the poor record of post-Cold War U.S. foreign policy. How has the foreign policy elite managed to isolate itself from real-world consequences for these failures? How can we insert sensible ideas into a conversation that always takes for granted the necessary for intervention and hegemony?

Show notes for Ep. 1358

Direct download: woods_2019_03_08.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:45pm EDT

People say libertarians aren't interested in good news, and that bad news sells. I'm not sure I buy that, or that that's a specifically libertarian trait. Regardless, I have good news today. Today's episode is a tribute to two partially unsung heroes of liberty. Official Libertarianism pretends they do not exist, which is further evidence of their goodness and importance.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1357

Direct download: woods_2019_03_07.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

In episode 1355 we looked at Einstein's famous essay on socialism. In this episode we drive the final stake through the heart of Einstein's version of socialism: the socialist calculation problem.

Show notes for Ep. 1356

Direct download: woods_2019_03_06.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:00pm EDT

Albert Einstein wrote a famous essay for the socialist publication Monthly Review in 1949 called "Why Socialism?" In this episode I note some of the problems, as well as the surprising admissions, in the essay.

Sponsor: Away

Show notes for Ep. 1355

Direct download: woods_2019_03_05.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:30pm EDT

Last night I asked the folks in the Tom Woods Show Elite, which you can join at SupportingListeners.com, for suggestions for a solo episode I might do. Someone recommended this idea, and I loved it. Enjoy!

Sponsor: Harry's

Show notes for Ep. 1354

Direct download: woods_2019_03_04.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:07pm EDT

Every schoolboy learns that Franklin Roosevelt cured the Great Depression with his New Deal programs. This is false, as libertarians well know. But it's still taught, year after year. In this episode I take this narrative apart.

Show notes for Ep. 1353

Direct download: woods_2019_03_01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

I finish my reply to the AlterNet article containing 11 questions that are supposed to demonstrate whether your libertarian friend is a hypocrite or not. Joining me this time is Professor Peter Klein. If the left is going to refute us, it will first need to figure out what we actually believe.

Show notes for Ep. 1352

Direct download: woods_2019_02_28.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30pm EDT

Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, discusses what's really wrong with health care (hint: it isn't a lack of government involvement) and how to fix it.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1351

Direct download: woods_2019_02_27.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Remember when conservatives used to be antiwar, opposed centralized power, and actually wanted to eliminate government agencies rather than just take them over? Yes, such people once existed. Robert Nisbet, whom you'll never hear mentioned on right-wing radio, but who was one of the great thinkers of that tradition, was one of them. I resurrect him -- not literally, so don't get your hopes up -- in this episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1350

Direct download: woods_2019_02_26.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT

Bob Murphy and I discuss the view, apparently now mainstream on the left, that socialism has been unjustly demonized, and that it would be quite all right to have the federal government in direct control of fully one-third of the economy. We’re not so sure this is such a super idea.

Show notes for Ep. 1349

Direct download: woods_2019_02_25.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:30pm EDT

An article at AlterNet called "11 Questions You Should Ask Libertarians to See If They're Hypocrites" is just crying out to be discussed and demolished on the Tom Woods Show. Today is your lucky day.

Show notes for Ep. 1348

Direct download: woods_2019_02_22.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30pm EDT

"The rich" are one of the few groups we're supposed to hate. Unfortunately, among the so-called rich we have vanishingly few people capable of launching a full-throated defense of themselves against ignorant criticisms. Most are pathetically apologetic, desperately hoping to be loved. Boo. Stand up for yourselves!

Sponsor: Blinkist

Show notes for Ep. 1347

Direct download: woods_2019_02_21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:30pm EDT

Professor Michael Rectenwald, the former Marxist who will deliver the Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture at the Mises Institute's Austrian Economics Research Conference this year, returns for a sneak preview of what he plans to say there about postmodernism, authoritarianism, and "social justice." We also discuss media gullibility, why corporations seem to be jumping on board the SJW bandwagon, and a lot more.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1346

Direct download: woods_2019_02_20.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Both times I've surveyed my listeners, Michael Malice has been chosen as their favorite guest on the Tom Woods Show. Here I try to uncover what makes him tick. That takes us back to his birth in the Soviet Union, his move to the United States, his experiences in school, his exposure to Ayn Rand, the development of his ideas, and a lot more. Plus, I ask him the question he most likes to ask others.

Show notes for Ep. 1345

Sponsor: Curiosity Stream

Direct download: woods_2019_2_19_FIXED.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:31pm EDT

When you read old -- and I mean old, like nineteenth century old -- American writers on money and banking, something jumps out at you: they understood things with a surprising clarity, and had a proto-Austrian conception of why the economy experienced boom-bust cycles. Suddenly it feels less lonely to believe that artificial credit creation leads to a boom that has to end in a bust. In this episode, therefore, I share some unknown American intellectual history.

Show notes for Ep. 1344

Direct download: woods_2019_2_18.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Stephen Presser and I go from William Blackstone, whose Commentaries on the Laws of England played such a central role in influencing early American ideas about the law, all the way to the Marxist-inspired Critical Legal Studies movement, the feminist legal critique, and back again to the originalism movement.

Sponsor: Policy Genius

Show notes for Ep. 1343

Direct download: woods_2019_2_15.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT

How many times has this crisis been chalked up to "greed"? As if people hadn't been greedy three weeks earlier. It's time our amateur moralizers learned a little something, and that's the purpose of this episode. My thanks to the Acton Institute, where I delivered these remarks.

Show notes for Ep. 1342

Direct download: woods_2019_2_14.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Cliff Maloney, president of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) -- an organization I have enthusiastically supported for over ten years -- joins me to discuss their strategy for the campuses and society at large. YAL developed out of Students for Ron Paul, and are on the front lines of getting our message to young people who might otherwise never hear a dissenting voice.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1341

Direct download: woods_2019_2_13.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00pm EDT

Ben Lewis and I go back into conservative/libertarian history to discuss the work of Frank Meyer, who thought the conservative and libertarian positions were not so difficult to reconcile. Conservative stalwart Russell Kirk wasn't buying it, and the two feuded vigorously. Murray Rothbard, too, weighed in on the controversy.

Show notes for Ep. 1340

Direct download: woods_2019_2_12.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:30pm EDT

Friends and foes of the market alike refer to capitalism as a system of "competition." Is that really its characteristic feature, and is that what distinguishes it from other systems? This is actually a misunderstanding, and one that probably turns plenty of people off to the market. What's the right way to think about and explain it? That's what Antony Sammeroff and I discuss in this episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1339

Direct download: woods_2019_2_11.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT

In this episode I explore the history of the idea that society can more or less run itself, that there are certain observable regularities in our relationships with one another, particularly in commerce, that cannot be interfered with without negative consequences, and do not actually need to be interfered with in the first place.

Show notes for Ep. 1338

Direct download: woods_2019_2_8.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT

Walter Block, who holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Chair at Loyola University in New Orleans, joins me to discuss some particularly tricky questions for libertarians.

Show notes for Ep. 1337

Direct download: woods_2019_2_7.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law, discusses the grounds on which U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor found Obamacare unconstitutional. We discuss John Roberts' decision for the Supreme Court as well.

Show notes for Ep. 1336

Sponsor: Skillshare

Direct download: woods_2019_2_6.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:30pm EDT

That's a provocative title, to be sure. Author William Cavanaugh, a professor at DePaul University, is not saying that what we recognize to be religious beliefs can never inspire violence. What he is saying -- and I won't spoil the episode by spelling out his thesis here -- forces us to rethink what we thought we knew about religion, secularism, and war.

Sponsor: Away

Show notes for Ep. 1335

Direct download: woods_2019_2_5.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT

We hear lots of calls for "affordable housing," and much less discussion about what might be making housing not so affordable. Ryan McMaken of the Mises Institute shows that -- surprise -- the government's fingerprints are all over this problem.

Sponsor: Harry's

Show notes for Ep. 1334

Direct download: woods_2019_2_4.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Looking over many Tom Woods Show episodes, I discovered a common theme: finding freedom in an unfree world. It's not true that we libertarians only complain. We build. So I talk secession from: the screwed-up American health care system, the monetary system, the education system, the traditional 9-to-5 job, and a lot more.

Sponsor: Blinkist

Show notes for Ep. 1333

Direct download: woods_2019_2_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT

Historian Brion McClanahan joins me to discuss an article on secession, particularly on the nineteenth-century southern secession, that makes the rounds every once in a while in fashionable libertarian circles. Libertarians can't support secession across the board, the author says, because some seceding states intend great evil once seceded. He further says there's no right of secession of an American state anyway. Are these statements sound? That's what we discuss today.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1332

Direct download: woods_2019_1_31.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am EDT

In one of my Twitter exchanges, I came across a fellow who thought the vulnerable would be worse off under libertarianism, since they'd be less likely to have access to education, etc. Since a lot of people think this way, I thought I'd address issues like this in this episode.

Sponsor: Curiosity Stream

Show notes for Ep. 1331

Direct download: woods_2019_1_29.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Richard Cobden, the nineteenth-century pro-trade, noninterventionist member of Parliament, once said, "The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace and the spread of commerce and the diffusion of education than upon the labor of Cabinets or Foreign Offices." I take this one sentence and riff on it, covering themes in modern European history, development economics, noninterventionist foreign policy, and more.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1330

Direct download: woods_2019_1_28.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Today I talk to Ethan Blevins with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which does pro bono work for people wronged by the state. Crazy laws and regulations in left-wing Seattle keep these folks pretty busy, but they take on cases all over that part of the country. Nice to have an encouraging episode once in a while!

Show notes for Ep. 1329

Direct download: woods_2019_1_25.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:36pm EDT

Some libertarians shrink from this kind of language, but I don't see how it can be doubted, especially now. In this episode I discuss not just the Covington high school students, but also the media's general pro-regime bias.

Show notes for Ep. 1328

Direct download: woods_2019_1_24.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress joins me to discuss the Green New Deal proposal, which seeks a radical transformation of the American economy in the service of "green" energy targets.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1327

Direct download: woods_2019_1_23.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:16pm EDT

Frequent guest Bob Murphy returns, this time talking about his new (co-authored) book, The Case for IBC. This is an acronym for "Infinite Banking Concept," a strategy that uses properly designed whole life insurance policies as a way to "become your own banker." The concept was developed by Nelson Nash, who besides working in insurance was personally tutored in Austrian theory by Leonard Read himself. Bob explains how the average person can benefit from IBC, and he answers common objections like "Isn't it better to buy term and invest the difference?" and "Why would I put my money in life insurance when the dollar is going to crash?"

Show notes for Ep. 1326

Direct download: woods_2019_1_22.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

A law professor recently included a thought experiment on a constitutional law exam: suppose Lincoln had survived the assassin's bullet, and later wound up facing articles of impeachment for some of his actions during the war. This is obviously a useful exercise, since many people feel an emotional connection to Lincoln and his cause, but this is precisely what law school is supposed to be about: can you suspend such thoughts and think entirely about the law? Well, guess how one critic characterized the exam. You already know the language used to condemn it. Brion McClanahan and I review the accusations against this professor, and the extremely valuable and thought-provoking questions on his exam.

Show notes for Ep. 1325

Direct download: woods_2019_1_21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Musician Tatiana Moroz has an audience a portion of which is new to libertarian ideas, so she asked me newbie-friendly questions: how I get non-libertarians to start thinking differently, who will build the roads, what about the police, the truth about the Federal Reserve -- fun questions like that.

Show Notes for Ep. 1324

Direct download: woods_2019_1_19.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EDT

Author and publisher Victor Koman joins me to discuss agorism, the anti-political, anti-state philosophy and strategy developed by Samuel E. Konkin III. Those chapters that exist of Konkin's would-be treatise, Counter-Economics, have just been released for people to read for the very first time. We discuss those chapters and the ideas found in them, and how what Konkin calls the "counter-economy" can challenge the state.

Show Notes for Ep. 1323

Direct download: woods_2019_1_18.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:27pm EDT

Professor Jeff Herbener just completed the first of two courses for my LibertyClassroom.com website on American economic history, an area where there are plenty of misconceptions and fallacies to refute. In this episode we talk about 19th-century monetary policy and bank panics, fiscal policy in an age of limited government, colonial inflation, and lots more.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1322

Direct download: woods_2019_1_17.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:58pm EDT

A hundred years ago progressives thought it best that we be ruled by experts. Their vision culminated in the administrative state we have today, in which federal agencies make law, at times even clearly at odds with the actual wording and intent of Congress. Peter Wallison joins me to discuss the problem and the solution.

Show notes for Ep. 1321

Direct download: woods_2019_1_16.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:35pm EDT

Tucker Carlson, who's been great on some issues, has been speaking out against what he considers the free-market fundamentalism (I wish!) of mainstream conservatism. He says we need to understand that there's more to life than GDP, etc. Since this line of argument makes me crazy, I devoted this episode to answering it.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1320

Direct download: woods_2019_1_15.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:20pm EDT

Steve Clayton was a vice president at LabCorp, where many of us have gone to have blood work done, and took a chance: he left it all behind to go out on his own as an entrepreneur. The gamble paid off magnificently. Today we compare notes on what works and what doesn't, and the features your online business should have to maximize your likelihood of success.

Show Notes for Ep. 1319

Sign up for Steve's important presentation!

Direct download: woods_2019_1_12.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:00pm EDT

Today, Sasha Hodder, an authority on the legal and regulatory aspects of cryptocurrency, discusses the regulatory hurdles faced by crypto, but also advances in privacy for users.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show Notes for Ep. 1318

Direct download: woods_2019_1_11.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:30pm EDT

Allen Mendenhall, who holds a Ph.D. in English from Auburn University, joins me to discuss what libertarian literary criticism looks like.

Sponsor: Blinkist

Show Notes for Ep. 1317

Direct download: woods_2019_1_10.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:30pm EDT

Pat Flynn -- fitness expert, libertarian, and entrepreneur -- joins me to discuss one of the vanishingly small number of books in personal development that gives you specific action items to improve yourself, as opposed to a ceaseless stream of fortune-cookie maxims. Chances are, your efforts at self-improvement are misdirected; Pat is truly where it's at.

Sponsor: Away

Show Notes for Ep. 1316

Direct download: woods_2019_1_9.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

In this episode, I review some themes from my 2011 book Rollback, which makes the case against, well, pretty much everything -- the Fed, the military-industrial complex, the whole kit and kaboodle. I also discuss an interesting development in the James Damore case at Google.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show Notes for Ep. 1314

Direct download: woods_2019_1_8.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT

She says it's about time people "pay their fair share," and that she needs the dough to fund her Green New Deal. Others are saying that since we had high top marginal rates in the past, it's no problem to have them now -- and maybe the economy would be even better! Well, no, no, and no.

Sponsor: Harry's

Show Notes for Ep. 1314

Direct download: woods_2019_1_7.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:45pm EDT

The latest claim -- if you can believe it -- is that so-called dollar stores make the poor poorer. This isn't the first time the private sector has been condemned for expanding the choices available to the poor; I discuss three such cases in this maddening episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1313

Direct download: woods_2019_1_4.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:03pm EDT

If you say Trump makes political mistakes, you get scolded: why, what do you know, Mr. Know-It-All? He managed to get elected against all the odds! He knows what he's doing! Now while that cautionary note is valid as far as it goes, the man is mortal, after all. And his mistakes are stupefying: truly unforced errors.

Show notes for Ep. 1312

Direct download: woods_2019_1_3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:18pm EDT

As the new year begins I devote this episode to (1) a review of the decisions by Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin to leave Patreon and build an alternative, and (2) taking stock of the War on Terror, and why we can be cautiously optimistic.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show Notes for Ep. 1311

Direct download: woods_2019_1_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:42pm EDT

In this final episode of the Tom Woods Show for 2018, I'm joined by Michael Maresco (the "Ron Paul rider"), Bryan Thome of the Ron Paul Forums, and Jordan Page, musician of the Revolution. We exchange old stories, talk about what went right and what went wrong, and assess where we are today. Tremendous fun.

Sponsor: Skillshare

Show notes for Ep. 1310

Direct download: woods_2018_12_21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm EDT

Scott Horton joins me to discuss the reality of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, and the hysterical establishment response, from center-left to center-right. We also discuss fears about the fate of the Kurds, whose safety has been used to justify a continued U.S. presence.

Sponsor: Blinkist

Show notes for Ep. 1309

Direct download: woods_2018_12_20.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:42am EDT

The Weekly Standard, a neoconservative magazine with a 23-year run, is dead. Longtime neocon slayer Paul Gottfried joins me to discuss the magazine, its editorial line, and its demise -- and what, if anything, it all means.

Show notes for Ep. 1308

Direct download: woods_2018_12_19.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:41pm EDT

Ron Paul says he can't think of a more prolific free-market economist in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis than my guest today, Bob Murphy. Today we follow Bob's personal and intellectual trajectory, from a high school student who knew he wanted to be an economics professor, to one of the most accomplished and widely praised economists working in the tradition of the Austrian School today.

Guest's Podcast: The Bob Murphy Show

Show notes for Ep. 1307

Direct download: woods_2018_12_18.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:30pm EDT

For lots of people the stock market seems hopelessly complicated, and people who discuss it seem to employ a strange lingo outsiders can never master. So today we answered a bunch of questions submitted by my Supporting Listeners. Guests today: Gene Epstein, formerly of Barron's and now director of the Soho Forum, and Alex Merced, vice chair of the Libertarian Party and a ten-year veteran of Wall Street. Sponsor: Away. Guests' Websites: TheSohoForum.org LearnEconomicsNow.com AlexMerced.com

Show notes for Ep. 1306

Direct download: woods_2018_12_17.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:42pm EDT

Patreon is a platform that a lot of content creators use to raise money from appreciative fans who want to support them. But Patreon has joined the purge bandwagon, too. What alternative do people have? It turns out that cryptocurrency, and a brand new platform, are major pieces of that puzzle. Naomi Brockwell joins me to discuss.

Show notes for Ep. 1305

Direct download: woods_2018_12_14.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:21pm EDT

Stephan Kinsella, the libertarian theorist and author of "Against Intellectual Property", asked me the other day about my college admission experience. He and I each have a child in the tenth grade, so the topic of college comes up in our households. I didn't think I had much interesting to say about it, but we decided he would in effect host this episode and ask me questions. The resulting conversation turned out to be great!

Show notes for Ep. 1304

Direct download: woods_2018_12_13.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:30pm EDT

Jason Manning, a professor of sociology at West Virginia University, has accomplished a feat I could never have matched: he's co-authored a scholarly and dispassionate overview of what he calls "victimhood culture," particularly as manifested on college campuses. He traces the origins of the phenomenon and the hysteria, exaggeration, one-sidedness, and intolerance that accompanies it. And he takes the discipline of sociology itself -- at least as studied and promoted today -- for cheerleading for a point of view rather than offering dispassionate analysis.

Show notes for ep. 1303

Direct download: woods_2018_12_12.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:49pm EDT

The social media purge continues: Sargon of Akkad was just removed from Patreon despite not being an extremist by any definition. Today Michael Malice and I discuss the ongoing case of Gavin McInnes, who was just banned from YouTube after having been removed from other platforms. (His Proud Boys, critics claimed, was an extremist group.)

Show notes for Ep. 1302

Direct download: woods_2018_12_11.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:06pm EDT

Feminist author Meghan Murphy, who had a large following on Twitter, was recently removed from that platform because of what appear to be fairly innocuous Tweets related to transgenderism, and even lost a book contract as well. The incident highlighted divisions among feminists regarding transgender issues.

Show notes for Ep. 1301

Direct download: woods_2018_12_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:38pm EDT

In this episode I talk a bit about Trump, then about the cause of the boom-bust cycle, then entrepreneurship, and then public speaking.

Quite a potpourri -- and a darn good one, if I may say so. This episode is drawn from my recent appearance on the Justin Mohr Show.

Show notes for Ep. 1300

Direct download: woods_2018_12_06.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 10:44pm EDT

David Stockman, who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan, shares reflections and anecdotes about the late George H.W. Bush. We then discuss how the Fed, rather than trade deals, has been harming America. (And also: why I won our gentlemen's bet....)

Show notes for Ep. 1299

Direct download: woods_2018_12_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:00pm EDT

With the passing of former president George H.W. Bush, we've heard much talk of his having been an underrated president. Daniel McCarthy joins me to offer his assessment.

Show notes for Ep. 1298

Direct download: woods_2018_12_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:59pm EDT

Allen Mendenhall holds a Ph.D. in English from Auburn University as well as two law degrees (from Temple and West Virginia). He is an associate dean at Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law and executive director of the Blackstone & Burke Center for Law & Liberty.

Show notes for Ep. 1297

Direct download: woods_2018_12_03.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:54pm EDT

Leah Farrow and Josh Griffin, co-hosts of the No Regerts podcast, join me to discuss the history of tattoos and the state, regulation and self-regulation, and a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 1296

Direct download: woods_2018_12_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 12:19pm EDT

This week David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan, made some comments about the problems with what he called Donald Trump's "statism," and with Federal Reserve policy. He was immediately barraged with criticism from Trump supporters who thought he was a "liberal" (as if liberals are concerned about statism or Fed policy). In this episode I discuss what it all means, particularly in light of what Scott Adams told us two episodes ago.

Show notes for Ep. 1295

Direct download: woods_2018_11_29.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:11pm EDT

Jordan Page, musician of the Ron Paul Revolution, just released "The Ballad of Lavoy Finicum," about a man who was shot and killed by Oregon state troopers in 2016 (Jordan tells the story). We also take a few moments to discuss Jordan's appearance at the #WalkAway march in Washington.

Show notes for Ep. 1294

Direct download: woods_2018_11_28.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:33pm EDT

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, joins me to discuss the Trump phenomenon and what people missed about it (and therefore why they didn't see his victory coming), plus democracy, persuasion, debating, Hillary Clinton, and plenty more.

Show notes for Ep. 1293

Direct download: woods_2018_11_27.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:11pm EDT

James Tooley has both chronicled and contributed to the extraordinary phenomenon, unknown to almost everyone, of low-cost private schools in the developing world. He's now bringing this model to England itself, his home country, and he's already got people talking. Of course, the usual suspects are trying to throw obstacles in his way, because his low-cost model is obviously an embarrassment to them. A truly wonderful discussion.

Show notes for Ep. 1292

Direct download: woods_2018_11_26.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 9:22pm EDT

Scott Horton and I discuss World War I and its hideous legacy. Also: why the Progressives favored intervention, what the Social Gospel clergy had to say, where Hitler came from, and a lot more.

This episode is drawn from my recent appearance on on the Scott Horton Show.

Show notes for Ep. 1291

Direct download: woods_2018_11_23.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:26pm EDT

A 9-year-old boy wrote me a letter not long ago, part of which asked me about politics, because he describes himself as "very interested in running for president someday." Jeff Deist and I discussed the kind of things children that age might want to think about when it comes to politics, without turning them into 9-year-old cynics.

Show notes for Ep. 1290

Direct download: woods_2018_11_22.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 11:02am EDT

In this episode my colleague Bob Murphy interviews me about everything from public speaking (and my tips) to my resentments (and how I overcame them), our religious differences, my major contribution to the historical profession (not a joke!), and a lot more. One of my all-time favorite episodes.

This episode is drawn from my appearance on the very first episode of the Bob Murphy Show.

Show notes for Ep. 1289

Direct download: woods_2018_11_21.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:31pm EDT

In recent years researchers have discovered therapeutic uses for psilocybin mushrooms where the results have been extraordinary. Kevin Matthews of Decriminalize Denver joins me to discuss these findings, current law, and what the law should be.

Show notes for Ep. 1288

Direct download: woods_2018_11_20.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:38pm EDT

Mance Rayder's second book is like a bazooka aimed at the leftism that is de rigueur in academia, entertainment, and culture. Using well-chosen memes, Mance demonstrates the double standards and inconsistency that characterize so many leftist arguments, and makes the case for the free society -- the missing option in our political discussion.
 
(Also in this episode, Mance finally drops the pseudonym and reveals his real name.)

Show notes for Ep. 1287

Direct download: woods_2018_11_19.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:36pm EDT

You know you've really mastered a topic if you can explain it to a complete beginner and be understood. You've truly mastered it if you can convey the basic idea even to a child. And that's precisely what the Tuttle Twins book series accomplishes. The most recent volume in the series takes Murray Rothbard's classic essay "The Anatomy of the State" and presents its basic ideas to a young audience.

Show notes for Ep. 1286

Direct download: woods_2018_11_16.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:19pm EDT

Ever since it became known that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has spoken favorably about the right of the states to nullify unconstitutional federal laws, we've been treated to a barrage of the usual third-grade arguments from people we are supposed to consider our intellectual superiors. We'll have some fun with those in this episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1285

Direct download: woods_2018_11_15.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:03pm EDT

Nullification -- and indeed anything involving the states -- is all about slavery, right? What a surprise: the propagandists are wrong again. In this episode, the Tenth Amendment Center's Michael Boldin joins me for some forgotten history: how northerners expressly used the language of nullification and state sovereignty to fight against slavery.

Show notes for Ep. 1284

Direct download: woods_2018_11_14.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:55pm EDT

According to the survey we ran for the Freedom Feud game aboard the Contra Cruise, the #2 most popular guest on the Tom Woods Show is Scott Horton, the great foreign-policy expert. This time, though, we discuss his background, his evolution, how he became a libertarian and foreign-policy expert, and a lot more.

Show notes for Ep. 1283

Direct download: woods_2018_11_13.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:25pm EDT

Elliot Resnick and Gene Epstein debate the resolution: "Israel should keep every inch of land it currently possesses."

Show notes for Ep. 1282

Direct download: woods_2018_11_12.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:58pm EDT

World War I was a catastrophe for Western civilization. One hundred years ago, on November 11th, it finally came to an end. Author and historian Hunt Tooley joins me for an assessment of the wars long-term consequences for all of us.

Show notes for Ep. 1281

Direct download: woods_2018_11_09.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 5:35pm EDT

Were the midterm elections of repudiation of Trump, a mixed bag, or even an endorsement of Trump? What can we expect over the next two years, and what are the Democrats likely to do in 2020? Dan McCarthy, editor-at-large of The American Conservative and current editor of Modern Age, helps answer these questions.

Show notes for Ep. 1280

Direct download: woods_2018_11_08.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 7:30pm EDT

John F. ("Jack") McManus, longtime president of the John Birch Society, joins me to discuss the Society's founding and history, its controversial positions, its clashes with William F. Buckley and official conservatism, and its present activities.

Show notes for Ep. 1279

Direct download: woods_2018_11_07.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 8:11pm EDT

In today's episode I review some of the golden nuggets from the previous 600 or so episodes. Fascinating people and ideas you may have missed -- and even if you didn't miss them, it couldn't hurt to hear about them again.

Show notes for Ep. 1278

Direct download: woods_2018_11_06.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:54pm EDT

Neoclassical economics insists that a separate class of goods, called "public goods," cannot, because of their peculiar characteristics, be efficiently provided by the market and must instead be financed and produced by the state. The Austrian School rejects this line of argument. Today Jakub Wisniewski, author of a new book on the subject, takes on public goods theory and addresses the two toughest cases: law and defense services on the market.

Show notes for Ep. 1277

Direct download: woods_2018_11_05.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 4:57pm EDT

Paul Counts has been an entrepreneur since he began selling pencils at age 8. He's been making his living online for 19 years. He knows both the tech side and the marketing side inside and out -- a rare combination. (I've purchased a lot of his training programs myself.) Since I met Paul in Orlando last March, we've partnered up on several projects together. He's very successful online and (as I've discovered for myself) extremely knowledgeable, so I thought I'd give you good folks a chance to hear from him.

Show notes for Ep. 1276

Direct download: woods_2018_11_04.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:19pm EDT

In this episode I delve into some myths and truths of U.S. monetary history, from the colonial period through the creation of the Federal Reserve. The second part is a treat: some audio footage, recorded on the Contra Cruise, of Bob, Tatiania Moroz, and I as contestants in the Crypto Quiz Show, hosted by Naomi Brockwell.

Show notes for Ep. 1275

Direct download: woods_2018_11_03.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 10:54am EDT

Lysander Spooner, the great 19th-century individualist anarchist, evidently wrote on banking and currency competition, but those works had been lost until now. Phil Magness, through some clever detective work, tracked them down and they're now available, published via the American Institute for Economic Research! (They also shed light on whether Spooner sympathized with socialism or left-libertarianism.)

Show notes for Ep. 1274

Direct download: woods_2018_11_02.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 1:45pm EDT

Donald Trump has indicated his desire to overturn the practice of birthright citizenship, a position Ron Paul and Rand Paul alike have long held. Opponents claim the Fourteenth Amendment requires birthright citizenship. Does it?

Show notes for Ep. 1273

Direct download: woods_2018_11_01.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 6:45pm EDT

Fresh off his Soho Forum debate victory (as measured by Oxford-style rules) against Jacobin magazine editor Bhaskar Sunkara, Gene Epstein joins me for a review of the event and the arguments that gave his opponent so much difficulty.

Show notes for Ep. 1272

Direct download: woods_2018_10_31.mp3
Category:Talk Radio -- posted at: 2:50pm EDT