Matt Kibbe talks to Jennifer Sey, former brand president of Levi’s, about how she was pushed out of the company over her views on COVID lockdowns. In this off-the-cuff conversation, Sey is bursting at the seams to explain how she legged it from the jeans giant rather than button her lip, as it became increasingly clear that some political leaders were in the pocket of Big Pharma, telling pants-on-fire lies to the public, and implementing policies that were apparently made up on the fly. Not wanting to feel hemmed in, she buckled down and wrote a book, “Levi’s Unbuttoned,” about her experiences, in which she stitches up those who wanted to silence her and others like her.

Matt Kibbe is joined by the R Street Institute’s Adam Thierer and Wayne Brough to discuss the state of free speech on the internet. With Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, we are in the middle of a national debate about the tension between censorship and free expression online. On the Right, many people are calling for government to rein in what they perceive as the excesses of Big Tech companies, while the Left wants the government to crack down on speech they deem dangerous. Both approaches make the same mistake of giving politicians authority over what we are allowed to say and hear. And with recent revelations about government agents leaning on social media companies to censor speech, it’s clear that when it comes to the online conversation, there’s no such thing as a purely private company.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Jack Hunter, co-founder of Based Politics, to discuss the results of the midterm elections, what we can learn from a lukewarm performance from Republicans, and the state of conservatism in the United States. One clear takeaway is that those Republicans who took a clear stand on liberty issues did better than their less principled counterparts. Thomas Massie, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ron DeSantis won their races because voters recognized leaders who are willing to stand up against the tide of authoritarianism coming from Washington. In other cases, generic Republican candidates simply failed to capitalize on Americans’ widespread feelings of dissatisfaction, with a lack of inspiring candidates or a convincing case for how they would govern more responsibly.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to discuss the results of the recent midterm election. Many people were expecting Democrats to take a beating after COVID lockdowns, a weak economy, and record inflation, but for the most part, this didn’t happen. There are several explanations for this, including a number of lackluster Republican candidates and failure to sufficiently convince voters that Republicans would govern more responsibly. After all, many of the problems Americans now face started under a Republican president. If Republicans want to win in the future, they need to stand for something tangible. This is why Ron DeSantis had a good night, while moderate Republicans like Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker struggled. There’s also a conversation to be had about the role of Donald Trump in the GOP’s future, after many of his endorsements appeared to do more harm than good.

Matt Kibbe talks with economist Per Bylund about his new book, “How to Think About the Economy: A Primer.” Bylund explains what the economy actually is and how it works in terms that are easy for anyone to understand. Economics is not, as many believe, the study of money or finance, but a way of understanding human decision-making given the constraints of scarce resources. Per also explains the basics of the Austrian School of Economics, which differs in several important ways from the Chicago School and the Keynesian School, which are generally more popular with politicians and policymakers.How to Think About the Economy: A Primer: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1610167554/

Matt Kibbe sits down with Will Ruger, president of the American Institute for Economic Research, to discuss the theory of foreign policy realism and how we can apply it to international conflicts like the war in Ukraine. Contrary to what critics claim, realists are not isolationists. They recognize a role for the American military on the world stage. But at the same time, they think that involvement should be restrained and always focused on America’s clear national security interests. By contrast, the neoconservative approach imagines that the United States has a duty to order the world as the U.S. government sees fit, engaging in nation-building and taking sides in every conflict around the globe.

Matt Kibbe is joined by comedic magician Doc Dixon to talk about what it was like being an entertainer during the years when live performances were mostly prohibited. As a libertarian, Dixon saw the dangers of lockdowns earlier than most — dangers not only to his ability to earn a living but to the mental health of a nation deprived of human interaction. From there, the discussion swings through a variety of topics, including the business of magic, the healing power of comedy, drug legalization, and the Ron Paul revolution.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Marian Tupy, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of “Superabundance,” to talk about the ways in which the standard of living has dramatically increased over the years. It has become fashionable to assert that things are getting worse, wages have stagnated, and prosperity is a thing of the past, but in reality the opposite is true. If you look at the numbers, as Tupy does in his book, it’s indisputable that we’ve made amazing progress as a species, and yet many refuse to recognize it. The reason is that utopian thinking leads to comparing the present not to the past, but to an unrealizable ideal that exists only in the imagination. When you make this comparison, you are bound to be disappointed. A more realistic approach shows that this resentment is misplaced and that in fact we should be grateful for all the wealth and prosperity we now enjoy.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Robert Alt, CEO of the Buckeye Institute, and Eric Flannery, owner of the Big Board, to celebrate the filing of their constitutional challenge against the District of Columbia. After Eric announced that his restaurant would not discriminate against the unvaccinated, the city pulled his liquor license and ultimately shut him down completely. Nine months later, after Eric was forced to burn through his life savings, the Big Board is open and the outstanding fines have been dismissed. But Eric and Robert are fighting on in defense of the fundamentally American principles at stake. Their new legal challenge argues that the D.C. government did not have the authority to issue a string of emergency orders that resulted in the Big Board’s shutdown and that these actions, by seeking to evade congressional review and judicial scrutiny, violated the U.S. Constitution and the Home Rule Act of 1973.Watch Free the People's documentary coverage of this story:Shut Down Indefinitely | Part 1: https://youtu.be/hA-iPTXJfQEShut Down Indefinitely | Part 2: https://youtu.be/OWAa7P8DmBI

Matt Kibbe sits down with Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, to discuss the bottom-up revolution sweeping the States, driven by fed-up parents demanding better choices and accountability from failing government schools. While Arizona’s reforms are the new gold standard, and West Virginia is making progress in offering school choice to more students, parents should demand more, especially from Republicans. With students still recovering from COVID lockdowns and long-term school closures, the last thing children need is politics getting in the way of parental rights and much needed reforms.