Listener Question: Can Socialism Lead to Optimism?

Panel answers Philip's question about socialism's motives, debating whether its moral goals can be redirected toward liberty.

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Episode notes

This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Matt Welch are joined by associate editor Liz Wolfe to discuss President Donald Trump's executive order blocking states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence regulations. The panel debates whether a single national framework for AI is necessary to keep American tech companies competitive or whether it represents a serious blow to federalism. They also examine the White House potentially reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug and what that change could mean for the cannabis industry, tax policy, and federal drug enforcement.

The editors then turn to mass shootings in Australia and at Brown University, including the actions of a bystander credited with saving lives at Bondi Beach, and what these incidents suggest about gun control debates. They discuss the U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker and threats of land strikes against the Nicolás Maduro regime, and cover the conviction of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai under China's national security law and what it signals for press freedom and U.S.-China relations. A listener asks whether modern socialism reflects moral aspirations that could be redirected toward liberty rather than centralized power.

0:00—Trump blocks states from regulating AI

10:31—Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug

18:39—Mass shootings in the U.S. and Australia

26:59—U.S. seizes Venezuelan oil tanker

36:48—Listener question on optimism for socialism

46:08—Jimmy Lai found guilty by Hong Kong court

57:12—Weekly cultural recommendations