Free Thoughts

This week Matt Zwolinski joins us to talk about the fascinating life of one of the most radical libertarians of the nineteenth century: the lawyer, abolitionist, political philosopher, and entrepreneur Lysander Spooner, who believed adamantly that we have no obligation to do what the government tells us to do just because the government is telling us to do something.Near the end of his life Spooner wrote a letter to then-president Grover Cleveland. We discuss this letter and it’s implications on Spooner’s political philosophy, and the similarities between Lysander Spooner’s principles of natural law and contemporary philosopher Michael Huemer’s ideas on ethical intuitionism.Show Notes and Further ReadingLysander Spooner’s 1886 “A Letter to Grover Cleveland, on His False Inaugural Address, The Usurpations and Crimes of Lawmakers and Judges, and the Consequent Poverty, Ignorance, and Servitude of the People” (Online Library of Liberty link).Lysander Spooner’s other, more popular works on slavery and vice, “The

Robert Nozick, in his essay “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?” proposed that many highly-educated public intellectuals tend to lean towards collectivism and authoritarianism because they expect society to work best in the way that schools and the academic system (which is the system they are most familiar with) operates. Was Nozick’s theory right? Why do academics, philosophers, journalists, sociologists, and other “wordsmith intellectuals” tend to skew left?Show Notes and Further ReadingRobert Nozick’s influential short essay “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?”Friedrich Hayek’s essay along similar lines, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”.George H. Smith also wrote about Hayek’s views on intellectuals in this column: “Intellectuals and Libertarianism: F. A. Hayek”. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Where did the health insurance system as we know it come from? Why are so many people these days getting insurance through their jobs? Why are prices so particularly high in American health care? Is Obamacare working?John C. Goodman notes that what’s critical to understanding the American health care system is that the identity of the party that ends up paying the bill has a huge effect on pricing in the medical marketplace.Show Notes and Further ReadingJohn C. Goodman’s books A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America (2015), Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis (2012), and Patient Power: The Free-Enterprise Alternative to Clinton’s Health Plan (1993). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With the Greek debt crisis in the news, everyone is asking “Are we the next Greece?” Is our current level of debt sustainable? How about our entitlement programs, like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid?Michael D. Tanner joins us fresh from the release of his latest book, Going for Broke: Deficits, Debt, and the Entitlement Crisis (2015). Together we discuss whether or not the American government’s profligate spending can be reined in in time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Michael C. Munger joins us to talk about voluntary transactions and questions of justice in market pricing.What would everyone agree is truly voluntary? Are disparities in bargaining power coercive? What’s wrong with using the state to address these disparities? What about price gouging situations? What about sweatshops?Show Notes and Further ReadingDr. Munger’s 2010 paper “Euvoluntary or Not, Exchange is Just”.Dr. Munger’s 2011 paper “‘Euvoluntary Exchange’ and the ‘Difference Principle’”.Aristotle’s best-known work on ethics, The Nicomachean Ethics.Harvard professor Michael Sandel’s 2013 book on coercion caused by circumstances, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.James Taylor’s 1979 song about working in a textile mill, “Millworker”.A recently-rediscovered short essay by John Locke on the morality of price theory, “Venditio”.Dr. Munger’s new co-edited textbook, Philosophy, Politics, and Economics: An Anthology (2015). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Philosophy is concerned with three basic questions: “What is there?,” “How do I know about it?,” and “What do I do about it?” The three questions correspond to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.Our Cato colleague Matthew Feeney joins us this week to talk about philosophy, rhetoric, why people disagree about politics, performative morality, the non-aggression axiom, and more.Show Notes and Further ReadingLast week’s Free Thoughts Podcast with Andrew I. Cohen on the intersection of philosophy and public policy.Our Free Thoughts Podcast with Michael Huemer on political authority and ethical intuitionism.Brink Lindsey’s book, Human Capitalism: How Economic Growth Has Made Us Smarter — and More Unequal (2012).Jonathan Haidt’s morality quiz at YourMorals.org. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Andrew I. Cohen discusses his new book, Philosophy, Ethics, and Public Policy: An Introduction. We talk about philosophy as a careful, methodical approach to thinking about issues.Is philosophy particularly powerful compared to other academic and scientific disciplines? What counts as public policy and how does philosophy influence it? Is it a good idea to “politicize” philosophy? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Jacob T. Levy joins us to discuss his new book, Rationalism, Pluralism and Freedom (2015).Can rationalism and pluralism be reconciled in the liberal tradition? Why not?How much authority is proper for intermediate groups? When does pluralism shift into illiberalism? How can the balance of power between intermediate groups be used to grow the power of a central state?Show Notes and Further ReadingMontesquieu, The Spirit of Laws (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What would a privately-administered legal justice system looks like? Bruce L. Benson joins us to give us a hint about what such a system would look like as we discuss his book, The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without a State.Is government necessary to provide law and order? How does thinking about the law in economic terms—as a good or service like any other—change how we think about the law? Could you really think of those under the protection of law enforcement as “customers”?How did the law as we know it today—a system of rules and courts provided by the government—come about? How are incentives aligned in our current legal system? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What’s wrong with K-12 education? What about higher education? How can we rebuild American education from the ground up?This week Glenn Harlan Reynolds joins us to talk about his new book, The Education Apocalypse: How It Happened and How to Survive It. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What would the American founders think of our taxation system today, given America’s origins? Daniel Mitchell answers this and other questions as we talk about the different kinds of tax schemes and the different incentives they offer taxpayers.Why is doing taxes so complicated? Why are there so many exemptions, deductions, incentives, preferences, etc. in the tax code? Are the rich paying their “fair share” of taxes? What’s the Laffer Curve and how does it work? What are consumption taxes and why are they better for the long term growth of the economy? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek was one of the world’s foremost intellectuals in a variety of fields, including legal theory, economics, constitutional theory, and neuroscience. This podcast episode provides an introduction to his academic and popular writing.Steven Horwitz joins us for a discussion about Hayek’s life and ideas. What does it mean to think “Hayekian”? What is spontaneous order? Why doesn’t planning work?Show Notes and Further ReadingSteven Horwitz, Hayek’s Modern Family: Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions (forthcoming book)F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (book)F. A. Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society” (essay)F. A. Hayek, Law, Legislation, and Liberty (book series: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we are joined by Peter J. Boettke, who explains this history and tenets of the Austrian tradition in economics. Boettke traces the school’s history from Carl Menger through Eugen Böhm-Bawerk and Joseph Schumpeter, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Murray Rothbard to contemporary economists such as Israel Kirzner, Vernon Smith, and Mario Rizzo. He explains what Austrian economics does and does not do, and distinguishes between what he calls “mainline” economics and “mainstream” economics.What distinguishes Austrian economics from other schools of thought in economics? How did the Austrian school come to be known as the free market school?Show Notes and Further ReadingPeter J. Boettke, Living Economics: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Bernard B. Kerik joins us to offer his perspective on criminal justice in America. Mr. Kerik was the New York City Police Commissioner from 2000 to 2001, and was later sentenced to four years in federal prison in 2010 for criminal conspiracy and tax fraud. He shares his experience in prison and how his own incarceration influenced the way he sees the American justice system today.Show Notes and Further ReadingBernard B. Kerik, From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey from Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate #84888-054 (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re joined by Grover Norquist for a frank discussion about every libertarian’s favorite part of the government: its tax-collection arm. Norquist shares how he got into politics, the idea behind his infamous tax pledge, and his plan for reining in the government’s power to tax its citizens.What’s the right amount of taxes? Zero? How do we get there? Given our nation’s anti-tax roots, have we become too complacent in paying taxes?Show Notes and Further ReadingGrover Norquist, End the IRS Before It Ends Us: How to Restore a Low Tax, High Growth, Wealthy America (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Daniel J. Ikenson explains the idea of free trade between nations on this week’s show. We discuss how Enlightenment-era economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo saw trade as a non zero-sum game and what their theories mean for continued economic growth today. We discuss in detail the idea of comparative advantage, and talk about the effects of regulation on trade.What is a trade surplus? What’s a trade deficit? Is one good and the other bad?Should we be worried about the loss of manufacturing jobs in America? What about job losses from trade? Will “Buy American” laws fix this?What are “anti-dumping” laws and how do they work? What’s the distinction between free trade and managed trade? Should advocates of free trade support free trade agreements?Show Notes and Further ReadingDaniel J. Ikenson, “Did the Profit Motive Spark the Recent Asian Factory Fires?” (Cato @ Liberty blog post)Jason Dedrick, Kenneth L. Kraemer, Greg Linden, “Who Profits from Innovation in Global Value Chains? A Study of the iPod and no

Edward H. Crane joins us this week as we talk about the beginnings of the Libertarian Party in the early 1970s and Crane’s involvement with that organization. We also talk about the founding and early history of the Cato Institute, and we talk generally about Cato’s purpose and mission.What was early-1970s libertarianism like, and how has libertarianism changed over the past 40 or so years in America? How did Cato get started and then grow into the organization it is today? What’s Cato’s role as a think tank? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week George H. Smith joins us to talk about Individualism: A Reader, the first in a series of readers published by Libertarianism.org and the Cato Institute. In it, Smith and his co-editor Marilyn Moore have compiled 26 selections from 25 writers on the topic of individualism.How has the idea of individualism evolved over time? What are some common misconceptions about individualism? Is a commitment to individualism somehow antithetical to the idea of community? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Timothy P. Carney joins us this week for a discussion on how the complex system of lobbying and regulating and subsidizing works in Washington D.C. He points out that big government and big business often scratch each others’ backs at the expense of the taxpayer, gives several examples of this behavior, and explains how it benefits both parties.Show Notes and Further ReadingTimothy P. Carney, The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money (book)Timothy P. Carney, Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses (book)Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916 (book)New York Times, “Catfish Farmers, Seeking Regulation to Fight Foreign Competition, Face Higher Bills” (article) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Otteson is the author of The End of Socialism (2014) and is a professor of political economy at Wake Forest University. This week he joins us to talk about socialism and explains several problems with the philosophy’s methodology that makes it unworkable in the real world.What exactly is socialism? What’s the distinction between socialism and corporatism? Why doesn’t socialism work? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.