On this edition of Parallax Views, Andrew Koppelman, award-winning John Paul Stevens Professor of Law at Northwestern University, joins us to discuss his new book Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed. We discuss libertarianism from a number of different angles and the ways in which Andrew argues it does not fulfill its promises related to freedom and the functioning of society. Among the topics covered:
- The origins of libertarianism, the philosophy of Fredrich Hayek, centrally-planned economies, and The Road to Serfdom
- Atlas Shrugged author Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, and the influence of Murray Rothbard and "anarcho-capitalism" on the libertarian movement
- An explanation of what Liberalism means within the context of political science/philosophy
- The Koch Brothers and climate change
- Rich and corporate moochers
- Libertarianism in relation to debates about gay marriage and healthcare
- Andrew's thoughts on Jacobin and the socialist Left; his disagreements with them
- Illiberal liberalism and libertarianism
- COVID and libertarianism; the argument that erupted between libertarians Lew Rockwell and Walter Block over COVID
- Privatization of fire departments and the story of Gene Carrick's house burning down (where the book gets its title)
- Is there possible points of agreement between centrist liberals, libertarians, and socialists?
- Libertarianism and drug law/The War on Drugs
- And much, much more!
