Mark Mitchell, author of Plutocratic Socialism: The Future of Private Property and the Fate of the Middle Class and President of Front Porch Republic, joins the podcast. Mitchell and Murdock discuss the origins of FPR and the importance of widely-held productive private property in an era when the super rich and socialists have formed an odd partnership.

Host: John Murdock

Guest: Mark Mitchell

Highlights

1:30 Mark Mitchell, happy at home chopping wood

5:00 FPR, the early days

9:00 How not to change the world

12:00 The messy remainder of reality

13:00 From Richard Weaver to “You’ll Own Nothing and You’ll be Happy”

19:30 Gnostic temptations v. the Incarnation

23:00 The odd couple: plutocracy and socialism

31:30 The not so odd couple: productive property and democratic citizenship

36:00 The myth of maximal emancipation

39:00 Tocqueville’s aristocratic fears

45:00 Prospects for property in a time of chronic crisis

52:45 Friendly pushback on COVID and climate (with a cameo by Roger Scruton)

60:00 If they are for it, we’re against it

64:00 Loving our neighbor to counter a nationalized focus

Resources

Buy the book

Mitchell’s bio at FPR

An excerpt from Plutocratic Socialism

Wendell Kimbrough helps us find our way home