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? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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 the Police” (Thought Catalog article)Radley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces (book)Bruce Benson, To Serve and Protect: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice (book)William Stuntz, The Collapse of American Criminal Justice (book)Gallup, Confidence in Institutions (poll) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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)  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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)  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.