The Tom Woods Show

Dennis Fusaro, a longtime political consultant and grassroots activist, found himself in a legal battle for over a year because of what he considers the erratic application of unjust laws that curtail freedom of speech. The jury found him not guilty, in what appears to have been a case of jury nullification. Show notes for Ep. 971

George Orwell has been a mystery to a great many readers. What did he truly believe? Was he a thoroughgoing socialist yet anti-totalitarian? David Ramsay Steele, author of a new book on Orwell, joins me to get to the bottom of it. Show notes for Ep. 970

In this episode I review the history of rights theories in the West from the Middle Ages through the 20th century. Expect to hear about the medieval canonists, the late scholastics, John Locke, Murray Rothbard, and Hans Hoppe, among others. Show notes for Ep. 969

You'd think "I want to free you" would be an easy message to sell -- and yet it isn't. Why is that?   This episode is the talk I gave at LibertyFest 2014 in Brooklyn, New York.   Show notes for Ep. 968

Peter van Buren, a 24-year veteran of the State Department, spent a year in Iraq as Team Leader for two Provincial Reconstruction Teams. When you hear what the U.S. government -- which had destroyed much of the country and completely undermined its civil society -- expected him to do, you won't know whether to laugh or cry. To make things worse, the State Department came after him when he released We Meant Well, the book we discuss in this episode. Show notes for Ep. 967

Mises Institute president Jeff Deist, who was Ron Paul's last chief of staff, delivered an excellent and well-received talk at the Corax libertarian conference in Malta last week.   As usual, though, emotional hypochondria got the better of a small group of left- and establishment libertarians, who are denouncing the speech in hysterical terms.   The speech is so commonsensical, and the reaction on the part of this crowd so perverse and bizarre, that I can't let this episode pass. It's part and parcel of the "Ron Paul is a racist" libertarians who have resented Ron and affiliated institutions ever since being left in the dust after 2007.   So I'm going to play it for you, followed by my commentary. You need to hear it, so you can see for yourself the lengths such folks will go to in order to pretend to be outraged.   Show notes for Ep. 966

It somehow became fashionable among young people to wear shirts depicting a murderer. One supposes the same indulgence would not be extended to shirts depicting non-leftist murderers (if such shirts existed, which they don't). Federico Fernandez is behind an effort to take down the statue of Che Guevara in the latter's home town in Argentina, and to spread the truth about the man. We also discuss the ongoing fiasco in Venezuela. Show notes for Ep. 965

Whether it's "monopoly," child labor, the Depression of 1920-21, the New Deal, or World War II's impact on the economy, our views and interpretations run counter to the conventional wisdom. Here's a defense of our position. I delivered these remarks at the 2017 Mises University program. Show notes for Ep. 964

Lucas Engelhardt, associate professor of economics at Kent State University, joins me to discuss bad ways to reform the monetary system, as well as good ones. (Bad ones include the Taylor rule, inflation targeting, NGDP targeting, and Milton Friedman's approach.) Show notes for Ep. 963

The Austrian School of economics, the school of thought that includes Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Murray Rothbard -- and which influenced Ron Paul, of course -- is the subject of the Mises Institute's week-long Mises University summer program, which I'm attending right now. In the course of taking notes on my computer to help my 14-year-old daughter understand the concepts better, I realized there were some foundational parts of Austrian economics that some listeners may enjoy hearing clarified.   So in this episode I actually show how we can derive economic laws from the apparently sterile axiom that "human beings act." I also discuss where prices come from, and what the fundamental problem with socialism is.   Show notes for Ep. 962

This episode is drawn from the Society and the State podcast, on which I was the guest for the very first episode. We discuss how I went from teaching a handful of college students to reaching many, many more via my online work -- and supported a family to boot. We also discuss a horrendous business failure of mine, and other fun things. Show notes for Ep. 961

Today I'm sharing what's normally a members-only Q&A I did with Bob Murphy at LibertyClassroom.com. It's a smorgasbord of Austrian economics, economic theory, and history -- with all the fun and banter you've come to love with Bob and me. Enjoy! Show notes for Ep. 960

One of my most significant intellectual influences was the extraordinarily productive polymath Murray N. Rothbard. In this kickoff talk at Mises University 2017, I discuss what he taught me, what it was like to meet and interact with him, why he's worthy of study, admiration, and respect, and why it's impossible in the world of ideas not to have enemies. Show notes for Ep. 959

David Weigel, national political correspondent for the Washington Post, released a book this year on the history of progressive rock -- which is a glorious and wonderful excuse for a podcast-length discussion of the subject. What's great about this kind of music, what happened to it, the best places to start, and a lot more. Show notes for Ep. 958

A great many libertarians have read at least some of Frederic Bastiat's work, but it's usually one or two of the same writings. Bastiat's output was vastly greater than what most of us are familiar with, and his life was extraordinarily eventful and exciting. David Hart, an expert on Bastiat, joins us for another look at a most underrated thinker and man. Show notes for Ep. 957

I asked David Gordon, possibly the most well-read person I've ever met, what books he thought libertarians should read. The result was this engaging discussion! Show notes for Ep. 956

Today's episode reaches back into history to the overlooked example of Genoa, where we discover the late medieval origins of entrepreneurial skills and institutions that formed the springboard for early modern economic development. The forgotten republican tradition of Genoa, moreover, poses an interesting alternative to the militarist and statist views of Machiavelli. Show notes for Ep. 955

Nancy MacLean generated much discussion and controversy when she released her book Democracy in Chains, which purports to explain how the "radical Right" -- in which she includes the most implausible figures -- conspired to take over America.   The book is the standard leftist hysteria about outcomes that will obviously never come to pass, plus a healthy serving of innuendo and downright manufactured claims. Tom DiLorenzo and I have fun with it.   Show notes for Ep. 954

West Virginia state legislator Pat McGeehan, who comes endorsed by Ron Paul, has been the sole "No" vote in the legislature for years, but has also scored numerous legislative victories -- so he was thrown out of the Republican Caucus. He shared his insights about success and holding fast to principle that apply to people in all walks of life. Show notes for Ep. 953

Pope Francis is one of the most controversial popes in Church history, and has left a great many churchmen and faithful bewildered. His sympathy for leftist political causes, and his systematic removal of people unsympathetic to his progressive program, are clear enough. We get into some of the details in this episode. Show notes for Ep. 952