Free Thoughts

Why have people been so fixated on income inequality lately? Is it really a matter of “the 1%” versus “the 99%”? How do things like occupational licensing, energy use, and regulation tie in to this? How do these things stack the deck against poor people?

Show Notes and Further Reading

Here are Ryan Young’s two most recent papers on the inequality, which he coauthored along with Iain Murray...

Why does the left seem better at making non-cringeworthy political videos? Does that necessarily have to be the case?

John Papola joins us this week to share his background at MTV, Nickelodeon, and Spike TV; his thoughts on the filmmaking process; and why it’s essential to tell character-driven stories. We also discuss Libertarianism.org’s new series, Freedom on Trial, which was produced by Emergent Order and directed by Papola...

How much of a role did media coverage play in Donald Trump winning the Republican primary? Is Trump’s brand of conservative populism and identity politics here to stay? Would a Trump loss in November be an opportunity for libertarians to reshape the philosophy of the American right?

Ben Domenech shares his personal theory that explains Donald Trump’s rise to prominence on the political stage...

How much do we know about Confucius? What type of world were the Taoists and early Confucians living in? Were early Confucians pro free-market and pro individualism as we understand the terms today?

Roderick T. Long joins us this week for a discussion on the thought of the early Confucians, who were precursors of modern libertarians...

Is an economy like a machine or a tropical rainforest? Is it more like a mechanical device that can be maintained by an exogenous force (government), or is it more like a diverse ecology, one that includes government actors?

Richard Wagner joins us this week to discuss his new book, Politics As a Peculiar Business: Insights from a Theory of Entangled Political Economy (2016)...

What’s a pretextual police stop? When do police need your consent to a search, and are these searches unconstitutional? 

Jonathan Blanks joins us this week to share his findings on how police searches disproportionately affect minorities.

Show Notes and Further Reading

Jonathan Blanks’s “Thin Blue Lies: How Pretextual Stops Undermine Police Legitimacy” appears in Volume 66, Issue 4 of the Case Western Reserve Law Review...

Most Americans believe that democracy is the most just, fair, and equal form of government we’ve come up with thus far...

Why are Americans so fascinated with our third President? What did Jefferson’s contemporaries think of him?

Robert McDonald joins us this week to talk about the life and ideas of Thomas Jefferson.

Show Notes and Further Reading

McDonald’s book is Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson’s Image in His Own Time (2016).

There is a conception that politics was more civil at the turn of the 19th century; this Reason.tv video proves otherwise...

Was the success of the Star Wars franchise inevitable? What does Star Wars have to teach us about politics, revolution, and constitutional interpretation?

Cass R. Sunstein explores the critical and financial success of the Star Wars movies.

Show Notes and Further Reading

Cass R. Sunstein, The World According to Star Wars (2016)

This is a previous Free Thoughts podcast with Ilya Somin on the politics of Star Wars...

If the Constitution were interpreted according to its original meaning, how libertarian would that Constitution be? How do we decide what the original meaning of the Constitution is?

Randy E. Barnett explains why popular sovereignty resides in individuals rather than in any notion of “the will of the people...