The Tom Woods Show

Stefan Molyneux and I have a wide-ranging discussion about what's been happening to the libertarian movement, the periodic witch-hunts, and why, in the age of the Internet (where you can build an audience even without the approval of the Official Libertarian Institutions), the drama doesn't matter all that much anymore. Show notes for Ep. 1106

The Bolshevik Revolution continues to be romanticized to this day. Plenty of communists claim that if only the Soviet Union could have stuck to the original principles of the Revolution, the horrors would not have occurred. Problem: the horrors began with the Revolution, and the origins of the horrors are to be found there. Show notes for Ep. 1105

Here's an overview of what I said about communism to an audience of students at the University of California at Santa Barbara last night. Were the crimes of communism mere aberrations? Were they perversions of an otherwise noble ideal? Or were they the natural, expected outcomes of awful ideas? Show notes for Ep. 1104

David Gordon, whose knowledge the late historian Ralph Raico compared to the Library of Congress, joins me for a potpourri episode in which all kinds of wicked errors are delightfully smashed. Show notes for Ep. 1103

Johnny Rocket, host of the Johnny Rocket Launch Pad (on which I've been a guest, in one of my favorite interviews ever), joins me to discuss his Liberty Force Comic as well as other, unconventional ways we might bring our unorthodox message to the masses. Show notes for Ep. 1102

In the wake of the recent school shooting in Florida, New York Times bestselling novelist and former firearms instructor Larry Correia joins me to respond to the barrage of demonstrations against guns. If you oppose gun control, you value guns more than your own children, they say. That's the intellectual level of the discussion so far. Larry and I raise it by 50 points in this episode. Show notes for Ep. 1101

Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, joins me to answer questions submitted by members of my Supporting Listeners group. Topics include the state of the housing market, precious metals investing, Puerto Rico after Irma, the ongoing carnage in the retail sector, and more. Show notes for Ep. 1100

Steven Slate, who once struggled with drug use himself, joins me to talk about whether what we think we know about addiction is really true. Is addiction a "disease"? Is "treatment" the only way to deal with it? Are people who believe that don't need treatment "in denial"? Is moderate consumption always off limits for people who have had problems? Show notes for Ep. 1099

According to stakeholder theory and the Corporate Social Responsibility movement, it's not enough for a corporation to create products that satisfy consumer preferences and please their stockholders. A much wider range of people, or "stakeholders," should also have a say in the firm's activities -- which should take into account not just the interests of shareholders, but also employees, the community, even society as a whole. Peter Klein joins me to assess and critique all this. Show notes for Ep. 1098

This is one of my favorite episodes ever. Author and homeschooling parent Laura Blodgett joins me to discuss themes in her 52 Weeks to a Better Relationship with Your Child series. Even if you don't have children, I insist you listen -- there's an awful lot of wisdom in here. Show notes for Ep. 1097

Professor Kevin Gutzman is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books on American history. He's politically on the right while nevertheless holding much of the "conservative movement" in contempt. His views aren't boilerplate Rush Limbaugh. Therefore, he's part of the Tom Woods Tell-Me-Your-Story project. How does someone -- a historian, no less -- come to adopt views more or less like ours, without getting caught up in the conventional Hillary-or-Mitt spectrum? Show notes for Ep. 1096

Sherry Clark, co-host of Talking Freely on WETR 92.3 FM / 760 AM in Knoxville, Tennessee, joins me to talk women and libertarianism, as well as homeschooling, the Libertarian Party (and infighting), and how she went from neoconservatism to ancap. Show notes for Ep. 1095

Bryan Caplan, a professor of economics at George Mason University, has just released a provocative (and really excellent) book that takes aim at the education system virtually all of us grew up in. The claims made for it -- virtually all of them -- collapse on close examination. And he doesn't say the system has been corrupted by political correctness, and we just need to get back to its noble origins. His critique is far more sweeping, and devastating. Show notes for Ep. 1094

Kevin Duffy, a principal of Bearing Asset Management, gives his assessment of the U.S. economy as a whole and of particular sectors: housing, precious metals, auto loans, and more. Show notes for Ep. 1093

Mark Perry joins me to discuss the recent Nuclear Posture Review, which some say represents a dramatic break with the past in terms of nuclear policy and the possibility of using nuclear weapons. How concerned should we be? Show notes for Ep. 1092

The great comedian and brilliant libertarian Dave Smith and I talk about pretty much everything: what libertarianism is really all about, why Ben Shapiro's attack on Ron Paul is dumb, how I changed my mind on war, and a lot more. Show notes for Ep. 1091

Antony Sammeroff, who co-hosts the Scottish Liberty Podcast, leads an amazingly productive life. He balances his work, his passion, his personal life, and his health. He does what we all wish we could do. How? Show notes for Ep. 1090

Gene Epstein, formerly of Barron's, joins me to discuss the work of Noam Chomsky, whose views in some areas are so well formed, and in others are simplistic and disappointing. Chomsky is one of the people who Gene says led him to libertarianism, so this is a gem of a discussion. Show notes for Ep. 1089

Per Bylund, a professor of entrepreneurship, suggests a new way of thinking about inequality, its causes (and its mitigation), and whether we should even care about it. Fun! Show notes for Ep. 1088

Is the Nunes memo, which speaks of the politicization of the FBI in the service of opposing the election of Donald Trump, really a "nothingburger," or is there something there? Ray McGovern, no Trump partisan, has been blacklisted by much of the progressive media (which once loved him) because he won't go alone with the Russiagate story, and he sharply dissents about the significance of the memo as well. Show notes for Ep. 1087