Free Thoughts

This week, Kevin Glass tells us about the mission of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which is to report on what’s happening in local and state legislatures across the United States.He explains why he believes it’s crucial to focus on the governments in our own localities, even in a world where we’ve only got so much attention to give to politics and so much of the news cycle today is monopolized by debates over the proper duties of the federal government while state and local governments are largely ignored. We also have a discussion on the relationship between conservatism and libertarianism. Has conservatism as a philosophy lost momentum? Have libertarians taken over as the thought leaders in right-leaning thought? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Zwolinski joins us this week to talk about his recent paper, “Libertarianism and Pollution,” available on the Social Science Research Network. In it, he examines how various libertarian philosophers and economists, including Nozick, Rothbard, Ronald Coase, and Eric Mack have dealt with the problem of pollution.In a system of strictly enforced rights to private property, how should one account for pollution? Should it be allowed at all? And in either case, how can the term “pollution” be defined?Show Notes and Further ReadingMatt Zwolinski, “Libertarianism and Pollution” (SSRN paper)Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (book)Murray Rothbard, “Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution” (Cato Journal article)Michael Huemer, The Problem of Political Authority (book)Ronald Coase, “The Problem of Social Cost” (Journal of Law and Economics article)Eric Mack, “Locke on Property” (Liberty Matters essay) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Did FDR’s New Deal policies help pull America out of the Great Depression, or were they in fact responsible for the high unemployment in the country until the beginning of World War II? Jim Powell joins us for a discussion on America’s great 20th century experiment with big government.Is the picture we have of the New Deal Era accurate? What was the state of the country leading up to the New Deal? Were these new social programs successful in their goals—and what were their goals in the first place? What are the lessons America learned from the New Deal? Which New Deal programs are still around today?Show Notes and Further ReadingJim Powell, FDR’s Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Jonathan Blanks joins us to discuss civil liberties and police misconduct in America. This episode was recorded at the 2015 International Students for Liberty Conference and features Q&A from the audience.Is there an upward trend in incidents of police misconduct, and if so, why? Is this just a few bad apples, or something more integral to the nature of policing in America? Just how dangerous is it to be a law enforcement officer in America? Dangerous enough to justify the military hardware the police seem to enjoy using so much?Show Notes and Further Reading Jonathan Blanks, “To reduce police violence against citizens, police practices need to change” (Rare article)Jonathan Blanks, “Reasonable suspicion: Are police lying in use of force cases?” (Rare article)Jonathan Blanks, “Race Matters in Ferguson—and in Modern America” (Libertarianism.org column)Jonathan Blanks, “How Equal Rights for Black Americans Still Aren’t Enough” (Libertarianism.org column)Michael Malice, “Why I’ve Never Respected th

This week Jay Cost shares a history of corruption and factionalism in the United States from his newest book, A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption (2015).How does government grow? Where do political factions and interest groups come from? How have politicians handed out favors to these groups in the past, how do these systems work now, and is there anything we can do about it? Is political corruption worse now than it was in the 19th century and earlier?Show Notes and Further ReadingJay Cost, A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption (book)Jay Cost, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic (book)Robert Remini, The Life of Andrew Jackson (book)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Peter Suderman joins us to help suss out the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a law he says is so complex and opaque that “no one person” understands every single part of it perfectly. We discuss the long history of the idea behind a government-backed and mandated health care system and its unlikely origins, the “three legged stool” necessary for implementing the PPACA, and the philosophical ideas behind the law.We also discuss challenges to the PPACA, including King v. Burwell, a case that will be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court this week.What is Obamacare, and what does it do? How does it work? Why did we have to “pass it to find out what’s in it,” as Nancy Pelosi so infamously put it? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Modern campaign finance laws are incredibly opaque and labyrinthine. Allen Dickerson joins us this week to help make sense of them.What makes a fair election? Equal money? Equal time? How do PACs and Super PACs work? What’s a “dark money” group? How does the current campaign finance system hurt the little guy more than the established campaigner?Show Notes and Further ReadingJohn Samples, The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Alan Gura joins us for a talk about gun rights at the Supreme Court.What does the text of the Second Amendment say, and how have courts interpreted it over the years?What’s the story behind District of Columbia v. Heller? McDonald v. City of Chicago? How did standing work in these cases? Why was the NRA opposed to these cases?And now that the right to keep and bear arms has been upheld by the Supreme Court as an individual right, what’s next for gun laws in America?Show Notes and Further ReadingDistrict of Columbia v. Heller (Wikipedia article)McDonald v. City of Chicago (Wikipedia article)Brian Doherty, Gun Control On Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Scott Bullock joins us to talk about eminent domain, civil asset forfeiture, and a few very important legal cases brought by the Institute for Justice.What is eminent domain? Can the government use eminent domain for “economic development”? Who is Susette Kelo, and why is her case special?What is civil asset forfeiture? Why do police get to keep the proceeds from forfeiture? How can we reform forfeiture laws to incentive police to do the right thing?Show Notes and Further ReadingKelo vs. City of New London (Wikipedia page)Jeff Benedict, Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage (book) Forfeiture Abuse: Even Your Drums Aren’t Safe From the Police (video)Federal & Local Law Enforcement Agents Try to Take Family Motel from Innocent Owners (video)Scott Bullock, Marian Williams, Jefferson Holcomb, Tomislav Kavandzic, “Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture” (report)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re joined by Michael Shermer to talk about his book The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (2015).What exactly is science, and how does a belief in science advance culture? How are natural rights related to science? How does Shermer define human flourishing—and how does science and reason help us achieve it? What’s the difference between science and pseudoscience, and how can we tell? What, if anything, does government have to do with all this? And lastly, how do scientific beliefs change over time?Show Notes and Further ReadingMichael Shermer, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (book)Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (book)Benjamin R. Barber, If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities (book)Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (book)Peter T. Leeson, The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates (book) See acast

This week we’re talking with Mark Calabria about homeownership and federal housing policy in the United States and its role in the 2008 financial crisis. Why does homeownership seem to be so important in the U.S.—or at least so important to our politicians? How do mortgages work, and how has the government been involved in tinkering with the mortgage market? What do Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration do? How do inflation rates and interest rates affect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s loan guarantees? How do people respond to these incentives? And finally, what caused the 2008 financial crisis and how can we avoid a repeat crisis?Show Notes and Further ReadingRandal O’Toole, American Nightmare: How Government Undermines the Dream of Homeownership (book)Peter Wallison, Thomas Stanton, and Bert Ely, Privatizing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks: Why and How (book)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on the show Elizabeth Nolan Brown shares her thoughts on libertarianism and feminism. How can issues that affect women be approached from a libertarian perspective? It seems that there are more women among younger generations of libertarians. Is there an explanation for this? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Peter Van Doren joins us to explain the economics of decision making in politics. What is public choice theory and how does it explain what happens in a majority rules democracy? Is public choice a type of macroeconomic theory? How does ordering a series of votes change their outcome? What’s rent-seeking? What does the phrase “concentrated benefits and diffuse costs” mean? What’s the median voter theorem and how does it affect our politics in America?Show Notes and Further ReadingKenneth Arrow, Social Choice and Individual Values (book)Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (book)Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (book)James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy (book)Michael E. Levine and Charles R. Plott, “Agenda Influence and Its Implications” (article)Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) (Wikipedia article)Say’s Law (Wikipedia article)Pareto Efficiency (Wikipedia article) See

This week we invite Timothy Sandefur to talk about the right to earn a living. Is this right to economic activity one that is upheld by the Constitution? Where did this right come from? How is the right to earn a living being violated in the United States today, and what does the legal environment surrounding this right look like?Show Notes and Further ReadingTimothy Sandefur, The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law (book)Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (book)”Slaughter-House Cases” (Wikipedia article)”Lochner v. New York” (Wikipedia article) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re talking about one of the most bestial and savage things the state can do to the individual: torture. Our discussion is especially relevant in light of the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation programs.What exactly did the C.I.A. do and why is it being seen as torture? How long has this program been going on? What makes people say that torture is okay in this situation? What happens now? Can we charge specific people with criminal actions? What does it say about us as a nation if we approve of torture?Show Notes and Further ReadingU.S. Senate Report on the C.I.A.’s Detention and Interrogtion Program (Full text version, hosted on Wikipedia)Patrick G. Eddington, “Brennan, Torture, and the Accountability Vacuum” (blog post)Washington Post, “New poll finds majority of Americans think torture was justified after 9/11 attacks” (article)Pew Research Center, “Americans’ views on use of torture in fighting terrorism have b

This week we’re joined by Terence Kealey, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Buckingham, to talk about the public funding of scientific research.Many people believe that science and research are public goods and thus need financial support from the government. But is science really a public good? How does government money sway scientific results? If we got rid of public funding, what would happen to scientific research?Show Notes and Further Reading “Does Public Funding of Science Enhance Scientific Progress?” (Cato Policy Forum Video)Terence Kealey, The Economic Laws of Scientific Research (book)“The Sources of Economic Growth in OECD Countries” (OECD Study) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re talking about energy, and specifically the fossil fuels that power everything in our modern world from electronics to manufacturing to heating to our trains, planes, busses, boats, and cars.What’s the “secret history of fossil fuels?” What is the moral case for using fossil fuels? Is it possible to eventually get renewable sources of energy to work well? If using fossil fuels is bad for the environment, should we care? Or is that the wrong way of looking at it? How much has fossil fuel use benefited humanity? Can that be quantified?Show Notes and Further ReadingAlex Epstein, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels (book)Indur Goklany, “Reducing Vulnerability to Climate-Sensitive Risks is the Best Insurance Policy” (essay)The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels (Cato Capitol Hill Briefing video)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re talking about Uber, Airbnb, and other business models that are based on “sharing” human and physical resources, often using information technology to facilitate these transactions. In other words, the sharing economy.How do these new business models work? Are they even all that new?Are consumer feedback systems effectively replacing the quality-control mechanisms that are ostensibly the reason for government regulation in these markets? Asked another way, how safe are these services without government licensing and regulatory oversight?What effect have these new business models had on traditionally regulated services like taxicabs and hotels?Why do libertarians seem to like the sharing economy so much? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we discuss the philosophy of utilitarianism and it’s relationship with libertarianism.What is utilitarianism? How is utilitarianism related to economics? What makes utilitarianism seem to work so well when applied to economic thinking? And where does it go wrong?Show Notes and Further ReadingAdam Gurri, “Morality, Economics, and the Problem with Preferences” (column)Adam Gurri, “Liberty with Dignity, Mutual Respect, and Morality” (column)Jeremy Bentham and J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism and Other Essays (collection)Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (play)Alfred C. Pigou, The Economics of Welfare (book)Ronald Coase, The Firm, the Market, and the Law (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jim Powell claims that liberty is relatively rare thing in the span of human history.Why does it seem like liberty has gained a toehold and flourished in the United States in a way it hasn’t in other places around the world? And then, once it was established, how did liberty grow in America?Show Notes and Further ReadingJim Powell, The Triumph of Liberty: A 2,000 Year History Told Through the Lives of Freedom’s Greatest Champions (book)Captain John Smith, Writings with Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America (book)William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.