ReImagining Liberty: Recent Episodes
Aaron Ross Powell
Building the emancipatory and cosmopolitan case for radical social, political, and economic freedom. Hosted by Aaron Ross Powell. Produced by Landry Ayres.
www.reimaginingliberty.com
My guest today is Kevin J. Elliott, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Murray State University. He's the author of the upcoming book, Democracy for Busy People, and that's the jumping off point for today's conversation, which digs into what it means to be a good democratic citizen, and what democracy demands of us.
ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.
This is a show about liberalism, but liberalism is a bit of a contested term, slippery, evolving, and claimed by lots of people with rather diverse views about what it means.
My guest offers a helpful framework for clarifying what liberalism is by dividing it in what she's called "The Four Corners of Liberalism": related and overlaping, but still distinct, approaches to the the liberal idea.
Emily Chamlee-Wright, the president and CEO of the Institute for Humane Studies, has made a career of defending the liberal tradition, and her insights in our conversation help clarify what liberalism is and how we should approach and respond to those who would seek to overturn it.
ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
Welcome to the first episode of ReImagining Liberty at its new home with The UnPopulist. This is a show about the emancipatory and cosmopolitan case for radical social, political, and economic freedom. With every episode, host Aaron Ross Powell explores and defends liberalism by talking with scholars, activists, and others working to build a freer world.
For this first episode at The UnPopulist, Aaron talks about why America’s political culture seems so broken, and why this has led to rising illiberalism. He traces the problems to what he calls an “unskillful” approach to politics, and a widespread lack of the virtues necessary for citizens to be good liberal citizens.
Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club: https://discord.com/servers/reimagining-liberty-945306941251522611
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net
I sometimes hear market anarchists say that "Anarcho-capitalism isn't anarchism." This claim, and the disagreements about the nature and values of a free society underpinning it, raises a lot of fascinating questions about liberty, radical liberalism, the characteristics of capitalism, how you even define that term, and the broader movement for liberty.
My guest today is William Gillis (@rechelon). He a fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society and one of the most interesting writers out there on radical politics.
We talk about freedom and coercion, the legitimacy of power, the role of privilege in political action and inaction, and the ways the culture and incentive structure of the mainstream liberty movement make it less effective, principled, and radical than it should be, and sometimes even lead liberty advocates to become apologists for the status quo.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
Get full access to ReImagining Liberty at www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Years ago, a then colleague and I pitched the idea of a book called "The Reasonableness of Radicalism," which would've set out the case for an unapologetically radical political liberty and defended it against calls for moderation. The project never went anywhere, though, because we were told by the people making decisions that they didn't like to use the word "radical," because it might turn people off.
Clearly, that's not a worry I share, and neither does my guest today. Jason Lee Byas is a PhD Candidate in Philosophy at the University of Michigan and a fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society. He's also the author of the best essay I've read in a long time, "Radical Liberalism: The Soul of Libertarianism," which I strongly encourage you to read.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
I've spent my entire career as what you might call a professional liberty advocate. But the last six or seven years have forced a lot of re-thinking on my part about how best to discuss these ideas in the evolving political landscape. The fundamental case for freedom, grounded in shared dignity and mutual respect, remains strong, but it feels like Americas, and much of the world, have proven more willing to reject it recently. Liberalism is ceding ground to the base desire to use power to reward friends and punish enemies.
To help me get a handle on how things have changed, were we stand now, and were it all might be headed, I'm joined today by David Boaz, distinguished senior fellow at the Cato Institute, and my boss for the 13 years I spent at Cato.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com
Available now for supporters. Available for everyone November 16.
We all want to alleviate poverty, and help those living with it. The hard question is how. The left has a set of ideas, focused on redistribution and the welfare state. The right tends instead to view poverty as the result of moral and cultural failings. Libertarians have their own set of …
Few terms in our contemporary political scene provoke stronger reactions than “critical race theory.” If you listen to much of the right, CRT is a Marxist plot to literally destroy America by teaching children to hate the country, its founding principles, and even themselves. The resulting moral panic has led to anti-CRT legislation, and acted as a precursor to the growing anti-trans and anti-gay backlash among reactionary conservatives.
But what is critical race theory? Because few of those people with strong opinions seem to have much of an idea.
Today I’m talking with Sam Hoadley-Brill (@deonteleologist), a PhD student in philosophy and a fellow at the African American Policy Forum. Sam has written extensively about critical race theory, the movement against it on the right, and the way concerns are being manipulated by dishonest activists like Christopher Rufo to roll back the achievements of social liberalism.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Chances are, you've never heard of Don Lavoie. I certainly didn't run across him when I was getting into libertarianism in college, and it wasn't until years into my time working for the Cato Institute that I learned about him from my boss, David Boaz.
But Lavoie is arguably the North Star for what the liberty movement needs to become if it wants to reestablish itself in America's shifting political landscape, and if it wants to be more than just a somewhat limited government version of conservatism.
So for today's episode, I'm chatting with George Mason University professor Pete Boettke, one of Lavoie's students. We discuss Lavoie's scholarship, his updating of Hayek's Knowledge Problem argument against economic planning, the problems of socialist calculation, and how to build a case for radical liberty within a politically left framework.
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Get Don Lavoie’s books.
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Mercatus video on Lavoie’s work and influence.
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Boettke and Candela’s paper on technosocialism.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Across nearly a decade, and over four hundred episodes, of the Free Thoughts podcast, Trevor Burrus and I talked a lot about liberty.
Today I invited him on ReImagining Liberty to continue that conversation. At issue is the question of how to approach being an advocate for radical liberalism in a political environment that seems to have lost its taste for it.
We range, as we often do, rather broadly, from how not to talk about liberty, to how to start fruitful arguments, to the dangers of contrarianism and over-attachment to narratives.
Trevor Burrus is a research fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor of the Cato Supreme Court Review. He's also the continuing host of my beloved Free Thoughts podcast, and it was joy getting to sit across microphones from him again.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Available now for supporters. Available for everyone else September 21.
What's the relationship between libertarianism or radical liberalism and the ideas of the left? Most place them in clear and direct opposition, and argue that liberty advocates should have more affinity for conservatism, at least in its American variety.
My guest today argues otherwise. Akiva Malamet (@akiva_malamet), a writer and philosopher, and contributor to my old website, Libertarianism.org.
We discuss the shared concerns those of us who see radical liberty have with the political left, but also draw important distinctions between socialism and liberalism.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
We can argue at length about the proper role of government. But if we're to have any state at all, one of its clear jobs is to protect us from crime, and to punish criminals.
And yet the American criminal justice system is anything but just, and a full accounting of just how bad it is can be pretty harrowing. The criminal justice system is the most direct application of violence by government on its citizens, and it's overrun by corruption, self-interest, racism, and brutality.
To talk about just how bad things are and how we can build a more humane system, I'm joined by journalist Radley Balko (@radleybalko). For years, he's been the top writer in the country when it comes to investigating, exposing, and cataloging the horrors and corruption of the American criminal justice system.
Radley and I talk about the state of our system, the prospects for reform in the wake of the widespread protests after the murder of George Floyd, and why many in the liberty movement tend to turn into law and order, bust some heads conservatives whenever those pushing back on police violence and state injustice get even the slightest bit unruly.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Available now for supporters. Available for everyone else August 10.
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What's the best economic system for achieving prosperity, while maximizing liberty and autonomy? Capitalists give one answer, socialists another.
Capitalists say that free markets not only produce wealth, but that wealth then empowers workers to have more say over their conditions and more freedom to exit from bad working situations, as well as experiment with different workplace organizational structures.
Socialists might counter that capitalism concentrates so much power in the hands of owners and bosses that workers have little or no say in their circumstances, and lack the resources to exit or organize.
To dig into this debate between socialism and capitalism, I'm joined by two guests today. First is socialist, and frequent ReImagining Liberty guest, Matt McManus (@MattPolProf). He's a Lecturer at the University of Michigan and the author of, among other books, The Rise of Postmodern Conservatism.
Taking the capitalist side is Christopher Freiman (@cafreiman), associate professor of philosophy at William & Mary, and author of Unequivocal Justice and Why It's OK to Ignore Politics.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Available now for supporters. Available for everyone else August 24.
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A lot of people seem to be pretty down on freedom right now. Some take it so far as to blame liberty, and political liberalism, for not just our economic woes, but also for allowing our culture to drift away from some kind of socially conservative, right-leaning, often religious imagined ideal. These “post-liberals” have found intellectual purchase, writing talked-about books, headlining conferences, and catalyzing a new reactionary movement.
But do their arguments work? Or are they in fact self-defeating?
My guest today is Michael Tolhurst (@MikeTolhurst), senior director of research at the Institute for Humane Studies. Michael has graduate degrees in philosophy and political science, and today’s conversation features a bit from both.
We talk about the problems of post-liberalism, and why so many are ready to throw away liberty to force their peculiar cultural preferences upon the rest of us.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Available now for supporters. Available for everyone else July 27.
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Cory Massimino (@corymassimino) is back on (Re)Imagining Liberty to talk about the politics of radical freedom at their most radical. Namely, anarchism.
I get asked every so often whether I'm an anarchist. My honest answer is I'm not sure. I believe anarchism as a moral claim is clearly correct. State power is illegitimate. No one has a right to rule, and no one has an obligation to be ruled just because some people call themselves the government. Arguments for why the state is morally permitted to use violence against us and extract resources from us don't hold up to scrutiny.
At the same time, I have worries that a society without any state at all won't be a paradise, but instead unbearable—potentially so bad that avoiding it outweighs the harms of enforcing illegitimate authority. But I'm not certain of that, and I believe thinking through those issues is central to the liberty project.
We shouldn't assume we need the state, but should instead tackle the question of its necessity head on. Today's conversation is about that.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Available now for supporters. Available for everyone else July 13.
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When I was a scholar at the Cato Institute, interns frequently asked me for reading recommendations. My advice was typically to read books outside of the libertarian canon. This was for a couple of reasons.
First, because understanding the ideas of those who disagree with us helps us be better advocates for our own ideas. But, second, because thinkers who aren't necessarily aligned with our politics perfectly, or who reject them entirely, nonetheless have valuable insights to offer. Intellectual provincialism leads nowhere.
It's with that lesson in mind that I brought intellectual historian Jason Kuznicki (@JasonKuznicki) on today to talk about the French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault. Foucault is often either looked at skeptically by non-leftists, or just ignored entirely. But his studies of knowledge and power, and the relationship between the two, offer powerful tools for critiquing the state, as well as other forms of coercion.
With Jason's help, we explore Foucault's core ideas and some of his most famous works. And we place them in the context of the broader struggle for liberty.
Links:
“The Use of Cruelty in Society: A Qualified Appreciation of Michel Foucault” by Jason Kuznicki
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
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Today's episode is about transgender rights, and the growing cultural backlash among conservatives against the very idea of transgender identities.
My guest is Kelly Wright (@anarchakelly), a Brooklyn-based writer and activist and an affiliate of the Center for a Stateless Society.
We explore the myths and objections that conservatives have about transgender people, gender affirming healthcare, and the greater prevalence of transgender identification.
We look at how treating transgender people with respect and acceptance, and giving them the healthcare they need, improves lives and lowers suicide rates.
We dig into the nature of gender identity, and what it means for self-expression.
And we tie it all in to the cause of liberty, which means nothing if it doesn't support and embrace the right of everything to live lives, and express identities, of their own authoring.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
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Today’s episode begins with a discussion of how border militarization and foreign intervention create a feedback loop of increasing violence and restrictions on freedom.
We then take those lessons and apply them to the broader question of how we should approach politics and public policy, and the ways our thinking can get tripped up by over-investment in narrow paths to change.
Myh guest is Nathan Goodman, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Economics at New York University. His research focuses on defense and peace economics, self-governance, institutions, and public choice.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
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Welcome to the very first bonus episode of (Re)Imagining Liberty. Today we’re looking at Robert Nozick’s classic work of libertarian philosophy, Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Released in 1974, it’s the book that put libertarianism on the map within contemporary academic philosophy.
Nozick argued for a strong conception of rights and then traced out what that means for government, including whether rights allow for any government at all. Anarchy, State, and Utopia deserves its classic status and is a genuine delight to read. But that doesn’t mean that its arguments are air tight or that it’s the best defense of libertarianism.
To help me (re)assess Nozick’s book, I’m joined by professor Matthew McManus (@MattPolProf), author of The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism: Neoliberalism, Post-Modern Culture, and Reactionary Politics, and Julian Sanchez, senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
Whether you agree or disagree with Nozick’s arguments in Anarchy, State, and Utopia, is a terrifically fun book to discuss.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
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Postmodernism, like Marxism and Critical Race Theory, has become a catch-all term for whatever upsets the right in the culture war.
But what if, instead of destroying libs with logic and reason, the American right has become itself deeply postmodernist, rejecting ideas of objective truth in favor of satisfying, but false, narratives?
Joining me today is professor Matthew McManus (@MattPolProf), author of The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism: Neoliberalism, Post-Modern Culture, and Reactionary Politics.
We discuss the features of postmodernism, as well as the distinct features of postmodern conservatism, and we dig into why postmodern conservatism is on the right, and how it finds its roots in cultural and economic changes.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts
Does American conservatism still provide a home for liberty-minded ideas?
Looking at the state of the modern, post-Trump Republican Party, as well as the intellectual centers of gravity among the American right, the picture's rather discouraging.
To get a better sense of where the right is now, and how liberalism fits (or doesn't) within it, it's important to look backwards. What has the American right traditionally looked like? How has that changed? What lesson can we learn as we worry about where the right has ended up today?
To discuss all that, I'm joined by my friend Paul Matzko (@PMatzko). He an historian of American politics and author of The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement, from Oxford University Press.
We explore the nature of the right, and whether it even makes sense to think of it as a unified ideological perspective.
We talk about the origins of the Goldwater/Buckley/Reagan new right, and about whether it was ever as committed to individual and economic freedom as many today imagine it was.
We dig into the question of libertarianism or classical liberalism's place in the conservative right coalition, and ask if any place remains and whether it's possible to regain one.
History often complicates convenient narratives. This couldn't be more true of the stories we in the liberty movement like to tell ourselves about American conservatism.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
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For years, I’ve proudly called myself a libertarian, because “libertarianism” best describes my commitment to robust freedom, as well as my understanding of the threat government poses to it.
But lately I found myself less willing to use the label when talking to new people. Not because “libertarian” no longer accurately describes my political views, but because certain groups claiming the label have become louder and more visible, and have, unfortunately, tarnished the term with an illiberal ugliness most people, rightfully, find repulsive.
I'm talking about the so-called “paleolibertarians,” those of the unfortunate libertarian to alt-right pipeline. They’re ubiquitous in libertarian circles on Twitter and, lately, they've even managed to takeover the Libertarian Party.
To talk about these unfortunate trends in libertarian activism, and what it means for the future of the liberty movement, I’m joined by Andy Craig (@AndrewRCraig) and John Hudak (@johnmhudak).
Andy is a staff writer at the Cato Institute and, until recently, was active within the Libertarian Party. John is co-founder of Fakertarians, where he exhaustively catalogs and responds to the bad ideas, and worse personality, among the illiberals calling themselves libertarians.
We talk about what’s changed in the years since Trump’s rise, how so many have come to deeply misunderstand the animating values of the libertarian project, and what can be done to combat illiberal populism.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
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I've long argued that it's important for everyone engaged in political debate to understand the ideas, theories, and philosophies they're arguing with.
That understanding begins with taking them on their own terms, trying to appreciate them the way those who hold them do. In other words, you shouldn’t just read what your side says about the other guys, but instead look to how the other guys talk about their own ideas.
What's more, critically engaging with, and making a real effort to understand, perspectives that aren't our own is often fascinating. And, even if you ultimately reject their conclusions, you can still learn a lot, and gain valuable insights that make your own thinking more nuance and robust.
That why, when I was first kicking around ideas for ReImagining Liberty, I knew I wanted to do an informal series on perspectives and philosophies outside of what falls within the radical liberal tradition.
Today I'm pleased to kick that off with my friend Ian Bennett (@EpochPhilosophy), host of the excellent Epoch Philosophy YouTube channel. The topic is Marxism. Ian's a Marxist. I'm not. But, as I said, there's value in having a clear understanding of Marxism, of what Marxists actually believe, and what Marx actually said, instead of what libertarian or conservative critics say they belief or say he said.
My conversation with Ian is a perfect introduction to Marxism for non-Marxists. We talk about what Marxists mean by capitalism. (Spoiler: It's not simply a synonym for free markets.) We talk about alienation, about revolution, about how Marxists view socialism as a kind of radical democracy.
I hope you'll enjoy our discussion as much as I did -- and learn as much from it as I did.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
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One of the difficult, and interesting, questions a system of political liberty needs to deal with is how to approach differing conceptions of what the good life looks like and how people ought to behave.
We can say that the government shouldn't interfere in people's lifestyle choices, but does that mean we should also say that being pro-liberty means being pro- every choice people might make, as long as it's peaceful?
My guest today is Stephanie Slade (@sladesr), a senior editor at Reason Magazine. She recently published an article about whether a commitment to political and economic liberty necessarily entails a commitment to and celebration of social liberalism and cultural progressivism.
Stephanie and I diverge in some ways in how we answer that question. Which makes it an important discussion to have.
We talk about whether libertarianism is only a political project, or if it's an ethical one, too.
We talk about the role of social conservatism in a free society, how both the left and the right are too quick to use the state to enforce their social preferences, and how we can have a more tolerant world and more just world if we'd all just mutually disarm a little.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community. Sign up here: https://reimaginingliberty.substack.com/subscribe
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe
Welcome to the inaugural episode of (Re)Imagining Liberty.
My goal for today's conversation was to set the direction and tone of the whole (Re)Imaginging Liberty podcast going forward. And to do that, I brought on my friend Cory Massimino (@corymassimino), a philosophy student and a fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society.
He's also one of the smartest young scholars I know, and our talks and Twitter debates over the last several years played a large part in the evolution of my thinking.
In today's episode:
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We talk about the need for the liberty movement to decouple from its historical alliance with conservatism and the American right.
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We explore the ways reading outside of your comfort zone and exposing yourself to ideas you're inclined to disagree with can be hugely beneficial.
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And we wander into topics like liberty and virtue and libertarianism as a project of emancipation.
Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community.
https://www.patreon.com/ReImaginingLiberty
Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.
Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe