The June 27, 2019 Democratic presidential debate featured more familiar names, and was much more vicious. We review the winners and losers (in terms of prospects; in terms of ideas they were all losers, obviously), and what's likely ahead.

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Show notes for Ep. 1438

It's that time again, folks. The debate analysis episodes I did with Lew back in 2015 and 2016 were among my most downloaded ever. We're doing it again for the Democratic debates, starting with this episode, covering the debate from June 26. Plenty of inanities to unpack here!

Show notes for Ep. 1437

Maj Toure, founder of Black Guns Matter, is running for Philadelphia City Council on a pro-gun, libertarian message he says is making inroads with the public. He knows all the arguments inside and out. It's safe to say the City Council has never encountered anyone like him. We discuss his background, how the gun issue became important to him, why he's running as a Libertarian, what his influences are, how he answers anti-gun propagandists, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 1436

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne manages to get pretty much every aspect of American economic history wrong as he lectures us on the wickedness of laissez-faire. Peter Klein joins me for the smash.

Show notes for Ep. 1435

That's what Current Affairs editor Nathan J. Robinson says. How well do his arguments hold up? I scrutinize them in this solo episode.

Show notes for Ep. 1434

The chairman of the Libertarian National Committee recently linked to what has to be one of the most preposterous articles I have ever read, alleging Russian involvement in the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign. The Ron Paul Institute, for its part, has been accused of whitewashing the records of dictators and turning a blind eye to injustices abroad. Institute executive director Daniel McAdams joins me to address all this.

Show notes for Ep. 1433

Gary Chartier has written an excellent book on business ethics that situates one's life in the market within an overall framework of human flourishing. He covers a variety of controversial topics with great skill, and in such a way as to be most persuasive to people unfamiliar with our ideas. In this episode we discuss what it means to live a good life, and then proceed to issues like property, advertising, boycotts, corporate social responsibility, labor and workplace issues, and more.

WARNING: Audio glitch at 22:10. Turn your volume down a bit if you have sensitive ears. It was unfixable.

Show notes for Ep. 1432

Two great Michaels join me today: Michael Boldin, founder and executive director of the Tenth Amendment Center, and Michael Heise, founder of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party. We get updates from both Michaels, I ask them what it's like to engage in this kind of activism in the age of Trump, and they discuss how the two of them are collaborating in fruitful ways in support of worthy state-level initiatives. Fun!

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Show notes for Ep. 1431

The great Murray Rothbard, known as Mr. Libertarian, was first and foremost an economist, but he brought his characteristic iconoclasm also to the study of history, where he tore through old orthodoxies and regime propaganda to get to the real story of the American past.

Show notes for Ep. 1430

Scott and I discuss the life and work of the heroic William Norman Grigg, who covered stories that would otherwise have remained in obscurity, generally pertaining to various ways -- largely but not exclusively involving the police -- the state ruined people's lives.

Show notes for Ep. 1429

Carey Wedler has been producing libertarian content online for years, but as she first became politically aware, she was a progressive. I love stories like these, so we discuss the various insights she had that led her down our path.

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Show notes for Ep. 1428

The heroic Karen Straughan returns to the show to throw cold water on the cartoonish images of an oppressive patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and the usual kit and kaboodle, and finds that feminists, far from advancing equality, can consistently be relied upon to push double standards.

Show notes for Ep. 1427

Jacqueline Isaacs, a contributor to the book Called to Freedom: Why You Can Be Christian and Libertarian, joins me to discuss whether these two systems are compatible.

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Show notes for Ep. 1426

Libertarian content creator Liberty Doll joins me to discuss the importance of gun rights, particularly for women, and responds to the most common arguments from the other side.

Show notes for Ep. 1425

(N.b.: some sensitive subject matter.) Ladies of Liberty week begins with Brave the World, as my guest Julia is known to her followers. We talk feminism, family, promiscuity, children, the state, and being an adult.

Show notes for Ep. 1424

Virtually every major news source covered what Tucker Carlson had to say in the monologue of his FOX News program the other day, when he declared Elizabeth Warren's economic plan to be a simple matter of economic patriotism that most Americans would support, and that out-of-touch Republicans, too enamored of libertarianism (!), would do well to heed. David R. Henderson joins me to respond.

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Show notes for Ep. 1423

Ben Lewis joins me to discuss the controversial America First Committee, which favored nonintervention in the Second World War (until Pearl Harbor).

Show notes for Ep. 1422

A recent Facebook meme suggested that of course Bernie Sanders' wealth redistribution plans are constitutional -- why, we have the general welfare clause to authorize them! Ugh. Today I go through the (rather extensively documented) original intent of the general welfare, interstate commerce, and "necessary and proper" clauses.

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Show notes for Ep. 1421

Last week I received the news that Murray Polner, my co-editor on the book We Who Dared to Say No to War, had died at the age of 91. Murray had been a man of the left, but we thoroughly enjoyed our collaboration on that antiwar volume. In today's episode I cover the ideological diversity of the true antiwar movement.

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Show notes for Ep. 1420

The war machine is a tough nut to crack. Trump wanted troops out of this place and that, but they're still there. Who is really making policy? Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo is trying to pretend that George Washington would have supported his foreign policy. It's all in this episode.

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Show notes for Ep. 1419