Kibbe on Liberty
Blaze Podcast Network
Kibbe on Liberty is a weekly podcast with libertarian author and economist, Matt Kibbe. Kibbe believes that honest conversations, driven by intellectual curiosity and mutual respect, can ignite a new revolution of free thinking and a willingness to question the official narrative. That means talking, and listening, to a wide variety of people outside the echo chamber of officially sanctioned experts. Kibbe on Liberty's guests include politicians, economists, musicians, comedians, writers, radio personalities, activists, journalists, and even magicians—with topics of conversation ranging from current affairs to obscure philosophy, from craft beer to the Grateful Dead. Cold one in hand, settle in for the next brain-stimulating hour of Kibbe on Liberty.As the president of Free the People, Kibbe has decades of experience in the libertarian political sphere. He is the author of three books, including Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff, a #2 NY Times Best Seller. Kibbe is a fanatical DeadHead, drinker of great whisky, and collector of obscure books on Austrian economics.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 30, 2020 • 60min
Ep 88 | Nobel Laureate on the Morality of Markets | Guest: Vernon Smith
Matt Kibbe is joined by Nobel laureate economist Vernon Smith to talk about how the market process is not only efficient, but also encourages communities to peacefully cooperate. The misconception about laissez-faire economics is that it’s ruthless and Darwinian, but Smith shows through his own experimental work that free markets foster morality and consideration of others far more than top-down systems like socialism. They also dig into the legacy of Adam Smith, the first person to fully explain these ideas to the Western world.
Sep 23, 2020 • 1h
Ep 87 | How to Bridge Our Toxic Political Divide | Guest: P.J. O’Rourke
Matt Kibbe sits down with P.J. O’Rourke, author of “A Cry from the Far Middle,” to talk about the polarization of 21st-century America. O’Rourke’s brand of commonsense centrism holds that it’s bad to give anyone too much power, especially the government, but that we’ve lost these basic truths as we spend more time on social media playing politics as a team sport. The problems that George Orwell warned us about have ultimately become self-inflicted, but that also means that we can reverse them if we put our minds to it.A Cry from the Far Middle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802157734
Sep 16, 2020 • 57min
Ep 86 | The Threat of Emergency Socialism | Guest: Sen. Mike Lee
Matt Kibbe sits down with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to discuss the upcoming series, “The Constitution: Line by Line.” Everywhere we look, we see government exceeding its authority, imposing harmful regulations, and delegating power to unfireable bureaucrats, or as the senator calls it, “emergency socialism.” As a scholar and student of the Constitution, Mike Lee is the perfect person to point out the importance of our nation’s founding document in defending liberty in 2020.
Sep 9, 2020 • 50min
Ep 85 | Human Life Is Not Disposable | Guest: Hannah Cox
Hannah Cox, conservative commentator and writer, sits down with Matt Kibbe to talk about criminal justice reform, the 2020 presidential election, and the Black Lives Matter protests. Although everybody’s talking about fixing problems with police and the justice system in general, no one is actually doing it, with both parties fielding candidates apparently uninterested in creating real solutions.
Sep 2, 2020 • 1h 9min
Ep 84 | Finding Purpose in a Simple Life | Guest: Gary Collins
Matt Kibbe sits down with Gary Collins, author of “The Simple Life,” to figure out why people are struggling to find happiness in 21st-century America. Since our immediate needs for food and shelter have been met, we must dig a little deeper to find our place in life. From his off-the-grid home, Collins argues that all you really need is to stay healthy, get out of debt, and find a purpose that gets you out of bed in the morning. He also shares Kibbe’s passion for the music of Rush and the inspirational lyrics of Neil Peart.
Aug 26, 2020 • 1h 7min
Ep 83 | How Ron Paul Became a Beacon for Liberty | Guest: Dr. Ron Paul
Dr. Ron Paul sits down with Matt Kibbe deep in the heart of Texas to discuss his intellectual influences and his political history. He talks about his education in Austrian economics, which explains why government intervention in the economy, particularly through the Federal Reserve, makes us all poorer and less free. He also turns his attention to current events, explaining why the U.S. can’t seem to get out of any wars and why the government’s coronavirus response has been worse than useless.
Aug 24, 2020 • 40min
Ep 82 | What America Can Learn from Lebanon's Financial Crisis | Guest: Patrick Mardini
Matt Kibbe sits down with Patrick Mardini, founder of the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies, to talk about the recent explosion that rocked the port of Beirut, killing hundreds. It turns out that a big part of the problem was mismanagement by the Lebanese government, which at the same time has created a massive recession, incurred huge amounts of debt, and devalued the currency to the point where 80 percent of locals' savings have been wiped out. Mardini concludes with some free market reforms that could start to improve the country's long-term outlook.
Aug 19, 2020 • 52min
Ep 81 | The Future of the Liberty Movement Is Empathy | Guest: Brad Lips
Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips sits down with Matt Kibbe to discuss his book, “The Freedom Movement: Its Past, Present, and Future.” He argues that we need to take the ideas of socialism seriously and address them with the same passion against injustice that those on the Left do. This means talking about inequality of opportunity, systemic injustices, and the way authoritarianism abroad robs individuals not only of their freedoms, but of their lives and their dignity.
Aug 12, 2020 • 47min
Ep 80 | Be Careful What You Wish For in Bipartisanship | Guest: Sen. Rand Paul
Matt Kibbe sits down with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to talk about trillion-dollar bailouts, the science of the coronavirus pandemic, violence in Portland, police reform, and a host of other issues. While many bemoan the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, Sen. Paul points out that every compromise between Republicans and Democrats ends up spending money we don’t have, putting our country further in debt, and creating inflation that hurts us all. The only time your wallet is safe, the senator argues, is when Congress is out of town.
Aug 5, 2020 • 54min
Ep 79 | China Is Denying Hong Kong’s Autonomy | Guest: Simon Lee
Simon Lee, freedom protester fighting for Hong Kong’s independence, sits down with Matt Kibbe to discuss China’s increasingly aggressive posture toward Hong Kong. While its status as an important trading port and a gateway to the rest of the world once made Hong Kong a beacon of economic freedom, perceived weakness in the West is now emboldening the Chinese Communist Party to ramp up censorship and oppression of the people in Hong Kong.
