The Tom Woods Show

Chris Calton joins me to discuss one of the most fascinating figures in libertarian history, and how he evolved from defending the Constitution against the claim that it favored slavery all the way to rejecting the very idea that the U.S. Constitution, or any other constitution, could truly bind the people. Show notes for Ep. 1086

Robert Higgs, the distinguished economic historian and author of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, covers some of the alleged success stories of government intervention. Show notes for Ep. 1085

Mises Institute president Jeff Deist joins me to discuss last night's State of the Union address. We discuss policy, style, Democratic reaction, Trump's ideological confusion, and a lot more. Show notes for Ep. 1084

The great Gerard Casey, professor emeritus of philosophy at University College, Dublin, joins me to discuss the years surrounding the English Civil War, a critical period in the history of political thought, when many great (and some rotten) ideas  -- including libertarian ideas like natural rights and self-ownership -- were born or developed. Show notes for Ep. 1083

F.A. Hayek, illustrious member of the Austrian School of economics, won the Nobel Prize in 1974, and wrote prolifically on both economic and non-economic topics. He has been a source of controversy within libertarian circles because of some aspects of his work. Joe Salerno helps us sort everything out about this central figure. Show notes for Ep. 1082

Mance Rayder, author of Freedom Through Memedom, joins me for some big-picture arguments against the state and for freedom. Show notes for Ep. 1081

Strength trainer Mark Rippetoe returns to discuss state licensing, its true motivations, and why a free society doesn't need it. Show notes for Ep. 1080

This episode, featuring Justine Brown, begins with a discussion of Thomas More's classic work Utopia, trying to get to the bottom of what the author meant to convey with it, and then continues with a discussion of utopian communities and theories, and what may be wrong with them. Show notes for Ep. 1079

The media's opposition to Trump has confused and obscured the true nature of the relationship between itself and the American regime. Do we really have an adversarial press? Lew Rockwell joins me to get to the bottom of it. Show notes for Ep. 1078

Michael Douma, Assistant Research Professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown, and Director of the Georgetown Institute for the Study of Markets and Ethics, joins me to discuss what it means to be a classical liberal, or libertarian, historian -- do we have our own methods, are we telling a different story, or what precisely are we doing? Show notes for Ep. 1077

Thomas Hazlett, former chief economist at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a professor of economics at Clemson University, talks about where regulators have gone wrong and the market has gone right, from the radio spectrum debate of the 1920s down to the present day. Show notes for Ep. 1076

Michael Boldin, founder and executive director of the Tenth Amendment Center, talks about a wide variety of resistance movements at the state level against the federal government. Nullification: it's happening! Show notes for Ep. 1075

With the idea of class so central to Marxian theory, libertarians might be tempted to ignore class as a category. But there is in fact such a thing as libertarian class theory, because in libertarian theory there are distinct groups of exploiters and exploited. Gary Chartier joins me to discuss the history and development of libertarian class theory. Show notes for Ep. 1074

Historian Brion McClanahan and I begin by discussing the conservative movement's wary and sometimes hostile reception of his book criticizing Alexander Hamilton. From there, we trace out how Brion went from conventional conservative to Old Right/libertarian. (We love these stories, don't we?) Show notes for Ep. 1073

With Steve Bannon on the outs with Trump and out at Breitbart, David Stockman -- director of the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan -- returns to discuss Bannonism, the Trump economy, and what's in store. And is he sticking to his claim that Trump won't survive 2018? Show notes for Ep. 1072

Lij Shaw has recorded artists from Adele to John Oates, and for over a decade has operated a home studio out of his detached garage. The city of Nashville came after him for this, and persisted even after his neighbors signed a petition in his defense. Here's what happened, and what he's doing next. Show notes for Ep. 1071

Steve Clayton is a former VP at LabCorp, the Fortune 500 company so many of us use to have blood work done. He left behind this prestigious, very high-paying job to strike out as an entrepreneur. He's now an undisputed master of eCommerce (and he's trained numerous Tom Woods Show listeners who have gone on to be extremely prosperous). We talk about his own story, trends in eCommerce, and what he recommends today. Show notes for Ep. 1070

Nobody knew what to expect in a Trump presidency. Daniel McCarthy joins me for a lively review of the past year. Show notes for Ep. 1069

In this interview with MilLiberty, a podcast for millennials, I cover libertarianism, factional infighting, the book that first changed my thinking, how to use technology to undermine the academic establishment, the little savages who dominate the public schools, the trouble with antidiscrimination law, and a heck of a lot more. Show notes for Ep. 1068

ISIS has been defeated, say the headlines, and perhaps the barbarous wars in Iraq and Syria may at last be drawing to a close. But is that the full story? Scott Horton joins me for a reality check. Show notes for Ep. 1067