The Tom Woods Show

You know you've really mastered a topic if you can explain it to a complete beginner and be understood. You've truly mastered it if you can convey the basic idea even to a child. And that's precisely what the Tuttle Twins book series accomplishes. The most recent volume in the series takes Murray Rothbard's classic essay "The Anatomy of the State" and presents its basic ideas to a young audience. Show notes for Ep. 1286

Ever since it became known that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has spoken favorably about the right of the states to nullify unconstitutional federal laws, we've been treated to a barrage of the usual third-grade arguments from people we are supposed to consider our intellectual superiors. We'll have some fun with those in this episode. Show notes for Ep. 1285

Nullification -- and indeed anything involving the states -- is all about slavery, right? What a surprise: the propagandists are wrong again. In this episode, the Tenth Amendment Center's Michael Boldin joins me for some forgotten history: how northerners expressly used the language of nullification and state sovereignty to fight against slavery. Show notes for Ep. 1284

According to the survey we ran for the Freedom Feud game aboard the Contra Cruise, the #2 most popular guest on the Tom Woods Show is Scott Horton, the great foreign-policy expert. This time, though, we discuss his background, his evolution, how he became a libertarian and foreign-policy expert, and a lot more. Show notes for Ep. 1283

Elliot Resnick and Gene Epstein debate the resolution: "Israel should keep every inch of land it currently possesses." Show notes for Ep. 1282

World War I was a catastrophe for Western civilization. One hundred years ago, on November 11th, it finally came to an end. Author and historian Hunt Tooley joins me for an assessment of the wars long-term consequences for all of us. Show notes for Ep. 1281

Were the midterm elections of repudiation of Trump, a mixed bag, or even an endorsement of Trump? What can we expect over the next two years, and what are the Democrats likely to do in 2020? Dan McCarthy, editor-at-large of The American Conservative and current editor of Modern Age, helps answer these questions. Show notes for Ep. 1280

John F. ("Jack") McManus, longtime president of the John Birch Society, joins me to discuss the Society's founding and history, its controversial positions, its clashes with William F. Buckley and official conservatism, and its present activities. Show notes for Ep. 1279

In today's episode I review some of the golden nuggets from the previous 600 or so episodes. Fascinating people and ideas you may have missed -- and even if you didn't miss them, it couldn't hurt to hear about them again. Show notes for Ep. 1278

Neoclassical economics insists that a separate class of goods, called "public goods," cannot, because of their peculiar characteristics, be efficiently provided by the market and must instead be financed and produced by the state. The Austrian School rejects this line of argument. Today Jakub Wisniewski, author of a new book on the subject, takes on public goods theory and addresses the two toughest cases: law and defense services on the market. Show notes for Ep. 1277

Paul Counts has been an entrepreneur since he began selling pencils at age 8. He's been making his living online for 19 years. He knows both the tech side and the marketing side inside and out -- a rare combination. (I've purchased a lot of his training programs myself.) Since I met Paul in Orlando last March, we've partnered up on several projects together. He's very successful online and (as I've discovered for myself) extremely knowledgeable, so I thought I'd give you good folks a chance to hear from him. Show notes for Ep. 1276

In this episode I delve into some myths and truths of U.S. monetary history, from the colonial period through the creation of the Federal Reserve. The second part is a treat: some audio footage, recorded on the Contra Cruise, of Bob, Tatiania Moroz, and I as contestants in the Crypto Quiz Show, hosted by Naomi Brockwell. Show notes for Ep. 1275

Lysander Spooner, the great 19th-century individualist anarchist, evidently wrote on banking and currency competition, but those works had been lost until now. Phil Magness, through some clever detective work, tracked them down and they're now available, published via the American Institute for Economic Research! (They also shed light on whether Spooner sympathized with socialism or left-libertarianism.) Show notes for Ep. 1274

Donald Trump has indicated his desire to overturn the practice of birthright citizenship, a position Ron Paul and Rand Paul alike have long held. Opponents claim the Fourteenth Amendment requires birthright citizenship. Does it? Show notes for Ep. 1273

Fresh off his Soho Forum debate victory (as measured by Oxford-style rules) against Jacobin magazine editor Bhaskar Sunkara, Gene Epstein joins me for a review of the event and the arguments that gave his opponent so much difficulty. Show notes for Ep. 1272

Why, the reason so many college professors have identical thoughts and hold the same political positions is that they are very smart and all these thoughts and positions are just the logical outcomes of sound thinking. Or that's how left-liberals interpret the situation. I, on the other hand, offer a dissenting voice. Show notes for Ep. 1271

Here's where we libertarians are most often ridiculed -- why, the monetary system we favor is for cranks, they say, and what's more, it's already been tried! Uh huh. In this episode I make the case for money the state can't control. Show notes for Ep. 1270

Ten years after the financial crisis, the standard story still dominates: "deregulation" caused it. This is not even slightly true. It's urgent that we get this right, and not let the Fed's apologists (and the simply lazy) get away with this comic-book answer that encourages all the wrong kinds of policy responses. Show notes for Ep. 1269

Mark Skousen joins me to discuss highlights and lowlights of the history of economic thought, and what we can learn from both. Show notes for Ep. 1268

The Facebook purges continue, with recent victims including the Free Thought Project (3.1 million likes), Police the Police (1.9 million likes), and V is for Voluntary (165,000 likes). I speak to the folks behind these three pages today. Show notes for Ep. 1267