1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:02,320 Welcome back, friends. Welcome back to the Corporate 2 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:06,120 Report. It is February of 2024 and 3 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,600 although it just seems like just a few weeks since the last time 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:11,680 we were talking to Keith Knight about one of his new books. 5 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:16,120 Well, Keith Knight has a new book, as you know, very frequent 6 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,160 guest on the Corporate Report, Keith Knight, who I've talked to 7 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:20,960 many times in the past. You can of course search the 8 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,280 Corporate Report archives for our previous conversations, but 9 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,080 perhaps more importantly, you could be following his work via 10 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,200 the Libertarian Institute or on his Don't Tread on Anyone 11 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:32,960 podcast. At any rate, you should know 12 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,840 Keith Knight by now and his books that we've talked to have 13 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:37,680 talked about before. For example, The Voluntariest 14 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,880 Handbook. Well, he has a new book. 15 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:44,320 It is called Domestic Imperialism 9 Reasons I Left 16 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,320 Progressivism. This is a very, very 17 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:53,520 interesting, very in some ways simple read and not a voluminous 18 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,120 read, but one that I think is important for people to to 19 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,160 probably read, even the people who may not think that this book 20 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,040 is intended for them. But we'll get into that a little 21 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:02,560 bit. First, let's welcome him on the 22 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:04,519 program. Keith Knight, thank you for 23 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:07,520 joining us today. James Corbett, thank you so much 24 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,520 for having me on the show and I love the new website 25 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,720 everythinglooksgreat@corbettreport.com. Excellent. 26 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,920 Thank you for that. OK, so let's get into this book 27 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,280 Domestic Imperialism 9 Reasons I Left Progressivism. 28 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:22,960 It is being published by the Libertarian Institute and I want 29 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:26,560 to state right up front and off the bat like the voluntary 30 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,560 standbook. This book is of course available 31 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,440 for purchase for people who want to actually support the work, 32 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,240 and please do so if you do appreciate it. 33 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,680 It is also available as a free PDF download and you can access 34 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:39,800 it for free, for example on archive.org. 35 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,000 All the links will be in the show notes for anyone who is 36 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,920 curious about this, Anyone who wants to check it out, check it 37 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,760 out and then buy it if you like. At any rate, I hope people will 38 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,840 at the very least take a look through this book. 39 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,960 But let's talk about this domestic imperialism. 9 reasons 40 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,440 I left progressives of them. Now now I I know vaguely about 41 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,720 your background and the points of your biography and story. 42 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:05,400 Keith and I think we probably come from broadly similar kind 43 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,320 of background perspectives. Myself as a Canadian, I was 44 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:10,120 brought up in the Canadian indoctrination system. 45 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,800 So I was a leftist kind of by default, as most Canadians are. 46 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,320 The government loves you and it's there to help you, And 47 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,000 sure, it makes mistakes, but overall it's a good thing and 48 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:20,160 everyone loves government, right? 49 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:22,720 Well, that was the way I was brought up, and that was kind of 50 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,960 what I believed by default. Luckily, I got myself out of 51 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,840 that indoctrination. And from what I understand, you 52 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,880 too counted yourself on the progressive or left side of the 53 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,960 spectrum at one point, but clearly are not there anymore, 54 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,800 broken free of the spectrum as I have. 55 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,240 Let's talk about that. Talk about your background and 56 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:44,640 and how you came to write this book. 57 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,880 Originally I was introduced into politics by my grandparents in 58 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:54,800 Sedona at a very young age, and it seemed like the world was 59 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,960 such a bizarre place. Here we have a bunch of people 60 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:02,280 who want you to be treated equally, and on top of it they 61 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,120 want to give you stuff for free. And then there's a bunch of 62 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:08,120 people who oppose that thing. They want you to have to pay for 63 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:09,240 it. That means some people aren't 64 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,200 going to have access to products or services, and if you're 65 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,600 against treating people equally, that means you want some people 66 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:20,040 to be treated unequally. How could anyone advocate such a 67 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:22,240 thing? Took a while for me to 68 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:24,800 understand. Things like opportunity cost and 69 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,880 the cost of increasing the money supplied simply doesn't make 70 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,320 anything free. Nor does the state first taxing 71 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:32,840 you and then purchasing something on your behalf make it 72 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,240 free. Also this concept of equality, 73 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,840 well, we of course, are not equal to the state. 74 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,480 They have a monopoly, right to issue taxes, conscript men into 75 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,960 fighting wars, start wars and murder civilians by the 76 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,280 thousands. Engaging compulsory education 77 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:52,320 and a host of other things, constantly regulating voluntary 78 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,080 interactions between consenting adults. 79 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:56,280 A blatant crime if we saw anyone else do it. 80 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:01,680 So when I originally saw the world as needing more compassion 81 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,000 or equality, more income mobility, I still held true to 82 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,840 those. But I think libertarianism is a 83 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:12,440 far better way to achieve those ends than any system that 84 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,680 advocates for a system of supremacy where some people 85 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,480 called the state have rights that no other organization does. 86 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:24,960 You know, it's it's so funny to hear where you ended up from the 87 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,080 point where, if I remember correctly, did you You voted for 88 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,080 Obama at one point. I was not old enough. 89 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:32,920 But you would have voted certainly. 90 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,000 Campaigned for him. I have a picture of me in 91 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,360 Washington, DC holding up the newspaper Obama claims 92 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:41,680 nomination. We got him it it. 93 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,520 It was such a great victory for for so many of us. 94 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,680 I mean, here we have a guy so wildly different than George W 95 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,160 Bush, first black president. This is going to really be a 96 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,320 milestone in our history closing down Guantanamo Bay. 97 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,320 He wants an Affordable Care Act. None of those words are 98 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:01,600 dangerous at all. This has got to be a good thing. 99 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:05,520 So yes, very excited about Obama at the time and that's why we 100 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,680 supported him. All right. 101 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,760 So as as you've already laid out there, there are a lot of 102 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,760 reasons why you got off of that plantation, so to speak. 103 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,280 And in fact, the entire political statist plantation, 104 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:21,200 which is a whole other subject and which I think so people who 105 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,240 encounter the title of this book might think, Oh well, I'm not a 106 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:26,320 progressive, so, you know, whatever, I get it. 107 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,960 Okay, Yeah. But there's a lot of information 108 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,160 in here. First of all, everyone, I think 109 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,560 in their life knows someone like that on the leftist progressive 110 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,960 side of the spectrum who has a lot of that indoctrination, who 111 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,240 needs to be unindoctrinated. And there's a lot of very good 112 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:42,600 points that you bring up in this book. 113 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,440 But also I think there might be some things for self reflection 114 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,000 of a lot of the statists that are in the crowd. 115 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:49,960 But at any rate, let's go through. 116 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,360 I think that probably the best way to tackle this is let's go 117 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,120 through these nine points and just sort of give the overview 118 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,600 bird's eye view and then we can drill down into some of the 119 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:02,640 areas that I think invite some more philosophical into 120 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,240 introspection. Let's start with point #1, 121 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,520 arbitrary divides. What is this about? 122 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,400 So sometimes you will hear commentators say, well, people 123 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,280 should not be divided. People should come together. 124 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:19,680 Well, this kind of implies that murderers, kidnappers, rapists, 125 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,680 thieves, liars. We should just get along with 126 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:24,240 them. Clearly there should be some 127 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,200 divides in society. What the progressive focus is 128 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:29,680 on, though, is not those principal divides that 129 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,840 differentiates people based on actions they choose to 130 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:35,480 voluntarily engage in. Especially we're dealing with 131 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:40,480 consenting adults in in that case, when it comes to the 132 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,320 modern progressives today. And Republicans of course do 133 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,240 this too. But I came from the progressive 134 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,320 side, so I wrote a book on that. We constantly see progressives 135 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,520 pushing fake divides. The biggest one recently was the 136 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,160 vilification of people of Russian descent, constantly 137 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,000 negatively generalizing Russians at every turn, knowing that this 138 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,360 very well could provoke a war with a nuclear power. 139 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,560 We had the Democratic president candidates on stage, Hillary 140 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,360 Clinton saying 17 intelligence agencies, both civilian and 141 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,880 military, have confirmed that Russia is behind the hacking of 142 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:17,480 my emails. That of course was fake. 143 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:22,360 Joe Biden said that the the head of the Russian government, 144 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,160 Vladimir Putin, had bounties on the heads of Americans in 145 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,520 Afghanistan. This was completely fabricated. 146 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,920 And of course 50 intelligence officials came out saying that 147 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,800 Hunter Biden's laptop was most likely Russian disinformation 148 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,280 according to Politico. And that one was fake. 149 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,280 So vilifying people based on this large geographical area, 150 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,280 knowing that if there was a war between America and Russia for 151 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,560 violating our democratic sovereignty, this really could 152 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,520 lead to an exchange. Well, they know that someone 153 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,480 like Putin is not going to get hurt. 154 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,760 It would be the civilians. So that is the primary example 155 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:58,760 that I've come across. But we also see it 156 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,480 differentiating people by gender. 157 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:04,520 Joe Biden had a tweet the other day. 158 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,600 Women make $0.84 on the dollar for every dollar a man makes. 159 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,840 This does not count for the type of jobs women work, the number 160 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,440 of hours they work, the value you create. 161 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,360 If both Mila Kunis and I work the same job, she's gonna get 162 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,800 paid a heck of a lot more than I will. 163 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,240 It also doesn't account for. And for good reason, by the way 164 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,320 it. Also doesn't account for the the 165 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,840 great disparities within demographics. 166 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,720 If you look at black immigrants versus black Americans who were 167 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:42,280 born in America, you see a 30% disparity, according to Nielsen 168 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,200 research. I know there's a selection 169 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,760 process, but this rules out the claim that it's just the result 170 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,200 of employers being racist and bigoted. 171 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,120 And the only solution to this great injustice or this 172 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,480 inequality is for the state to have more money and more power. 173 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,320 That is the central scam that all of these problems that the 174 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:01,920 progressive brings to the forefront. 175 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,240 The solution is always give them more money and always give the 176 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,920 state more power virtually every single time. 177 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,320 Just imagine a friend in your life always telling you 178 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,560 something terrible's about to happen, and the solution is give 179 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:17,560 me more money and power. That would be so convenient. 180 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:19,160 We'd see this person as a fraudster. 181 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,800 We should see the same thing with progressives and reject all 182 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,160 arbitrary divides and judge people by their actions and the 183 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,840 words they say as opposed to any arbitrary demographic. 184 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,960 Very well said. All right, #2, The unavoidable 185 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:35,680 contradiction. What is the unavoidable 186 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:39,240 contradiction? So a lot of what I say applies 187 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,760 to most of progressives. What makes this contradiction 188 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,960 unavoidable is every progressive by definition believes in it. 189 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:51,600 So most of the time you'll hear progressives focus on something 190 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,640 like monopolies being one of the primary reasons that we have a 191 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:56,920 state. Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, 192 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:01,040 famously implemented antitrust laws, which limited the scope 193 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:03,880 and size that firms could be within a certain industry. 194 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,080 The claim was if you have a company that's too big, you'll 195 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,600 eventually get a monopoly or one seller. 196 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,440 In a market, when there's only one seller, you have a huge 197 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,320 power differential between the seller and the consumer. 198 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,360 This leads to higher prices and lower quality products and 199 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,360 services then you'd otherwise get under free market 200 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:24,800 competition. So you need antitrust laws. 201 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,400 The contradiction is that same progressives always advocates. 202 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:31,200 The state has a monopoly on guns. 203 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,480 The state has a monopoly on compulsory education. 204 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,120 The state has a monopoly on commercial regulation. 205 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,480 The state has a monopoly on taxation. 206 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:41,920 If all these things are so virtuous and totally fine, well 207 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:43,920 then certainly Amazon can issue taxes. 208 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:45,920 The Koch brothers can tax your income. 209 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,160 The Catholic Church can, you know, dictate commandments for 210 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:51,160 you to live by and put you in jail if they catch you 211 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,520 disobeying them. So this inherent contradiction, 212 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:58,160 I think it's so central to progressivism and all of them, 213 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,720 by my definition, advocate a state, and it necessarily 214 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:04,400 involves this. So that's why it's so vitally 215 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:06,640 dangerous. The amazing thing is that the 216 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,880 first opinion on monopoly, that they're very dangerous, they 217 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:14,120 concentrate too much power. That view is held by almost all 218 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:18,400 not just average progressives, the top scholars in these 219 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,240 fields. People like, you know, Sam Cedar 220 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,080 or Jankuger if you're just talking about Youtubers. 221 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,240 But every Democrat who I've ever heard speak, every academic 222 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:29,760 people like Richard Wolf, are constantly saying this. 223 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,680 Yet they advocate the same exact thing when it comes to the the 224 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:39,160 the state. I I love that point, by the way, 225 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:40,840 and I think it's such a simple one. 226 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,960 But yes, monopoly's bad. Unless we're talking about, you 227 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,040 know, justice system, guns, police, military, compulsory 228 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:50,320 schooling, money supply, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. 229 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,080 That's all good monopoly. But you know the the other kind 230 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:54,320 of monopoly we don't like, right? 231 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,360 Anyway #3 Consent to the Governed and Gay Marriage. 232 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:05,480 So this is a concept where the progressive will say that what 233 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,640 differentiates, you know, some government like a monarchy, one 234 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,840 person ruling over all these others versus democracy is 235 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,400 democracy is ruled by the consent of the governed. 236 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,720 That's why autocracy is bad and democracy is good. 237 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:24,160 So calling all of these government is, you know, you're 238 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:26,040 combining things that are totally different. 239 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:31,440 Well, if we're talking about the importance of consent, what they 240 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,920 usually justify it through is a term referred to as the social 241 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:38,600 contract. Now, the word contract usually 242 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:43,400 means James, I will give you $1.00 a month to be part of 243 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,760 corbettreport.com and in exchange I get access to the 244 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,880 great video, the newsletter and everything else you get because 245 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:54,520 you're a member. Now if I don't pay you the 246 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,520 dollar, I don't get access to those parts of the site. 247 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,600 If you stop giving me access to the site, I no longer have an 248 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:01,720 obligation to give you the dollar. 249 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,960 It's very clear this is a contract you get. 250 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:06,480 I give yin and Yang kind of thing. 251 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:11,400 The social contract that the state abides by does not appear 252 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,360 to be anything like this. If you don't chip in, then yes, 253 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,360 you have to go to jail and if you resist them they will shoot 254 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:19,920 you. But the question is what happens 255 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:21,760 if government doesn't keep you safe? 256 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,680 Say they expand NATO after James Baker more or less promised they 257 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:28,920 wouldn't move one inch eastward, and say this provokes a war with 258 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,240 a nuclear power and gets tons of people killed. 259 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,480 Then did they not keep us safe then? 260 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,120 Do they owe us reparations? Then? 261 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:38,040 Do we have to stop paying taxes and abiding by their 262 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:39,960 regulations? What if they kill a ton of 263 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:44,320 civilians in Gaza? What if they lie us into a war 264 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,400 and we have people saying that Muammar Gaddafi has given Viagra 265 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,240 to his troops and this leads to, you know, a travesty in Libya. 266 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:54,920 If they don't hold up their end of this contract, not only does 267 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:57,960 nothing happen, they usually increase the amount of power and 268 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,720 money that they have access to. 911 Pearl Harbor are perfect 269 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:06,120 examples of that. 2020 riots, of course that they didn't hold up 270 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,560 their end of the social contract and nothing happens. 271 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:12,000 So if people really can care about the consent of the 272 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:16,200 governed, what they would want is a private Law Society based 273 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,600 on the concept of volunteerism, where people no longer have 274 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,640 double standards for a group called government and they can 275 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,680 peacefully disassociate from anyone who isn't meeting their 276 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:28,280 standards. That's the ultimate check and 277 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,080 balance that the free market provides, which the state does 278 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,920 not. Yeah, yeah, exactly right. 279 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,080 I didn't consent to nothing. I didn't vote for any of these 280 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:37,800 clowns. Don't blame me. 281 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,040 I voted for Kodos. OK #4 Government failure. 282 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:46,280 There is a gentleman by the name of Tom Hartman, pretty popular 283 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,640 in progressive circles, who said there is one fatal flaw in the 284 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,680 idea of volunteerism, libertarianism, anarchism, 285 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,440 anything. And he says this is referred to 286 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,360 as market failure. This involves when you have 287 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,720 people you know, who are both very kind, virtuous and very 288 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,280 smart, then they could engage in an exchange. 289 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,760 But the problem is, in markets you have a number of things, one 290 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,000 of which is greed. One party could be very greedy 291 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,640 and exploit the other. There could be information 292 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,120 asymmetry. There could be power asymmetry 293 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,720 where one party who produces the printer has a heck of a lot more 294 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,080 knowledge knowledge about printers then the consumer. 295 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,000 Therefore the state needs to coercively intervene and 296 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,320 forcibly stop millions of people from making mutually beneficial 297 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:36,080 voluntary interactions. Now this is a genuinely true 298 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:40,640 criticism, but it's true because it applies to all humans since 299 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,880 the beginning of time, applies to all humans in every system 300 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,320 today, and will apply to any system human beings engage in in 301 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,320 the future. So the knowledge asymmetry 302 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,760 aspect can clearly be seen. When you get pulled over by a 303 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:59,040 police officer, there's huge knowledge asymmetry as to what 304 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,400 you can and can't say in order for him to arrest you. 305 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,160 When it comes to a lot of the lawyers in the legal system, the 306 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,880 defendant and you know, the prosecutor, tons of information 307 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,440 asymmetry. Even with the judge, When it 308 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:17,200 comes to the average citizen and members of the FBICIANSA who 309 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,280 have access to classified information, there's massive 310 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,880 amounts of information, information asymmetry. 311 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:27,280 So the idea that a state is justified and coercively 312 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,120 intervening because of things like information asymmetry or 313 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,800 greed or potential short sightedness of people, those 314 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,560 things exist and always will exist. 315 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,560 The question is, since they'll always exist, what sort of 316 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,240 system should we have? One where we could have 317 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,080 competition among providers for a good or service and 318 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:49,600 disassociate with bad actors who inevitably are greedy, are short 319 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,400 sighted, engage in information asymmetry. 320 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:57,720 Or one where we must fund them against our will and be put in 321 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:02,120 jail if we resist. So that is the concept of 322 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,480 government failure. It takes the market failure 323 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,920 criticism and say yes, it applies to the market. 324 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,240 It also applies to the state, and much more so because the 325 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:16,800 state doesn't face competition. College Four years of work for 326 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,200 $0.00 an hour. This is my favorite title for 327 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:20,960 one of your chapters. I like this one. 328 00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:25,680 Thank you. I remember, you know, I sort of 329 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,640 a lost interest in Barack Obama and said, well, I guess Mitt 330 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:32,440 Romney is a good alternative and was watching these debates. 331 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,240 And I remember Ron Paul saying that there shouldn't be a 332 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,520 minimum wage in me saying, well, this guy's just absolutely 333 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,520 insane. I don't know how he said that 334 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:42,600 with a straight face. I don't know who's paying him 335 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,840 what drugs he's on. But I later considered it and 336 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:50,040 eventually changed my mind. And I thought, what would I have 337 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,560 to say to, you know, the old me in order to, you know, really 338 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,440 give me a good idea of how to understand this issue 339 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,640 reasonably? And I thought, well, are there 340 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:03,720 any examples of people doing very large amounts of work and 341 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,680 not just getting less than the federal minimum wage, getting 342 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:11,400 $0.00 an hour, and in most cases having to pay tons of money in 343 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,920 order to perform the work? College, when I was there, I was 344 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:20,480 working six hours a day at college, you know, listening to 345 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:24,440 the teachers, taking notes, and then when I get home I do more 346 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:29,040 work for $0.00 an hour. So I did all this work without 347 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,760 getting directly compensated, and the question is, if you 348 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,840 advocate the minimum wage, this has to be illegal. 349 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,840 This is one of the greatest crimes against the exploitation 350 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,280 of the working masses that's ever existed and the massive 351 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,200 extraction of their surplus value. 352 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,960 So clearly by the minimum wage logic this should be illegal. 353 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,000 My argument is that it should not be illegal because there are 354 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,560 a great number of reasons why people would do such a thing. 355 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,800 They don't currently have many skills and want to acquire 356 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,320 skills that they can use in the future to be more marketable on 357 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,200 the job and get a higher income than they otherwise would. 358 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:09,600 Two, they don't necessarily need a very big income. 359 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,800 Three, they don't want to commit to much and they just want to 360 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:14,960 get their foot in the door. I want to look at business or 361 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,160 philosophy or science or technology or engineering or one 362 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:23,080 of those things, And giving them a lot of money to do so would 363 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,200 disincentivize producers from bringing them on board. 364 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,680 And it would stop you from getting your foot in the door if 365 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,800 someone else had to constantly pay you or compensate you for 366 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,560 this time when it's at a point in your life when you're not 367 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:37,880 providing much value. So what I tried to do was 368 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,800 extract the principle by which the minimum wage is justified. 369 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,920 All work is worth $15.00 an hour. 370 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:46,960 I then found college to be something that almost all 371 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,080 progressives constantly advocate, which is him 372 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,240 implicitly saying that state education K through 12 is not 373 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,920 that impressive at all. And then even though we've seen 374 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:01,560 a 280% increase in per student funding adjusted for inflation 375 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,760 according to a Reason Foundation, still nothing to 376 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,680 brag about after all this time, All that money, all those 377 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,360 resources, all that opportunity cost and time, and this is what 378 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:13,920 we get. So even though you can say 379 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,440 something like, well, it's mutually beneficial if it's 380 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,680 voluntary and it's between consenting adults. 381 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,760 That is a good theory, but you might think that people are 382 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,960 going to be so exploited you have to have some minimum wage. 383 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,800 We see a massive aspect of the economy college where people do 384 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:34,760 tons and tons of work for $0.00 an hour and the vast majority 385 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,280 drop out if they don't like it or say that you know what, it 386 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,320 was worth it. And I'm glad I got that 387 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,040 experience. So giving people that choice is 388 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,880 vitally important. You know, I'll just point people 389 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,680 in the direction of my podcast episode on the dark history of 390 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,240 the minimum wage, which makes the point that actually minimum 391 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,000 wages were initially brought in to keep people out of the 392 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,560 workforce. And what should give 393 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:00,880 progressives some pause for thoughts, specifically black 394 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,440 people and these other undesirables that we don't want 395 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,280 jobs, give jobs, will make a minimum wage so they can't get 396 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:10,760 their foot in the door anyway. Yeah, the as usual, the reality 397 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,600 is quite the opposite of what it's now received to be. 398 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,160 But anyway, let's move on to number six, Equality and the 399 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,040 Iron Law of Oligarchy. What is the Iron Law of 400 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,680 Oligarchy? I want to get the exact wording 401 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,960 right. This is a idea that I was 402 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:31,240 introduced to by James Burnham in a book titled The 403 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,160 Machiavellians. He's summarizing the work of a 404 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,280 gentleman named Robert Mchell. Here's how he defines it. 405 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,160 All complex organizations, regardless of how democratic 406 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,200 they are when started, eventually develop into 407 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,040 oligarchies. Since no sufficiently large and 408 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,440 complex organization can function purely as a direct 409 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:54,520 democracy, power within an organization will always get 410 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,480 delegated to individuals within that group, elected or 411 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,360 otherwise. So we could see this in almost 412 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:04,320 every aspect of society. A very small portion of 413 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,920 comedians are as successful as Brian Reagan and Jerry Seinfeld. 414 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,800 A very small percentage of singers can sell out Wembley 415 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,520 Stadium or are as good as, you know, Adele. 416 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:19,240 A very small percentage of NBA players sell the vast amount of 417 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,200 NBA jerseys. So notice we're taking people 418 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:25,320 within an industry they're already excelling in not just 419 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,400 comparing, you know, LeBron James to the average person, but 420 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,480 to his direct peers. We constantly see in this 421 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:36,440 division of Labor, we see some people outperforming out shining 422 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:41,840 could even or having a much greater say in outcomes than 423 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,080 other people. So you might think that there's 424 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,680 inequality where there's huge power differentials and then 425 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:52,520 there's systems of equality. Now looking at places like North 426 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:57,080 Korea, South Korea, America, basically any, you know, social 427 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,520 arrangement since the Egyptian empire, you constantly see a few 428 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,720 people with a ton of power and the average person with not that 429 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,920 much institutional power. So immediately that's not to 430 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,240 justify it, just to say that it exists, but it is to say that 431 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,400 with all these systems, we see a very few people having a greater 432 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,920 deal of sway and institutional power within their organization. 433 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,760 It's worth noting that someone like Alexandria, Ocasio, Cortez, 434 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,920 Ilhan, Omar, the main progressives today, Bernie 435 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:33,040 Sanders, have more institutional power than 99.9% of their 436 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,160 constituents ever will. That's because by our very 437 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:40,960 nature, the opportunity cost of getting everyone informed and 438 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,520 then everyone having a say on how more or less everything goes 439 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:49,520 is so costly that people just delegate to authorities who they 440 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,120 trust. So knowing this iron law of 441 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:55,600 oligarchy which so worked of social arrangement, should we 442 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,200 have? Which makes it so the oligarchs 443 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,960 can't get a second of our time or a penny out of our pocket 444 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:02,680 unless we voluntarily give it to them. 445 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,480 And that, obviously, is a free market cause. 446 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,280 A oligarchy that's attached to a state, of course, will abuse it. 447 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:13,080 They will probably abuse any power and then later rationalize 448 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:14,720 it. So so long as we have the 449 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,760 freedom to disassociate with the inevitable oligarchies that will 450 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,960 exist in any society, we're in a much better position than we 451 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,920 than we otherwise would. The classic example that Mckel's 452 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:30,000 uses is that of a labor union. So he says, well, you might say 453 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,720 I am so sick of the bourgeoisie. I've just had it. 454 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:36,360 We are going to form a union. Well, the problem is not 455 00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,320 everyone wants to go to the union meeting after a long day 456 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,440 of work. Even if they have the day off, 457 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:43,920 they might not enjoy meetings and want to do other things. 458 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,400 Not everyone's going to speak up at the meeting. 459 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,440 Not everyone who speaks is going to have equally good ideas. 460 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,000 Not everyone who speaks is going to be equally as good looking, 461 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,760 as equally as persuasive as other people. 462 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,400 So you end up with Jimmy Hoffa and a few of his friends running 463 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,760 the union for 10s of thousands of truckers who more or less 464 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,160 don't have much of A say. So this gets to the heart of 465 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,800 progressivism. That everyone should be involved 466 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,280 and everyone should have an equal say is a complete fool's 467 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,200 errand. It's not only undesirable, it's 468 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,800 unachievable. We will make you have equality 469 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,760 whether you want it or not. Go to the meeting. 470 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:22,360 Yeah, exactly right. And and even at best, it's a 471 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:26,400 quality of outcome for you guys. But somebody has to manage that 472 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,360 and make it happen. I guess we have to be this 473 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:31,400 special class. Oligarchies always develop, 474 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,840 don't they? Anyway #7 voter suppression 475 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:40,400 versus economic suppression. So there was a story that I came 476 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:41,880 across. I actually came across a number 477 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,240 and I put him in the book. Here was one that really stood 478 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,360 out to me. This is a story out of 479 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,800 Washington, DCA. Gentleman named Jay Austin saw 480 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,000 the great deal of homelessness that exists in a wealthy country 481 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,560 like America. And, you know, didn't just talk 482 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,000 about it. He actually, you know, put the 483 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:01,880 pedal to the metal and started making change. 484 00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:04,080 Here's a brief summary of what happened. 485 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:09,760 At a cost that ranges from 10 to $50,000, tiny homes like 486 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:14,640 Matchbox could help ease the housing shortage in the capital 487 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:16,720 city. Heating and cooling costs are 488 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,720 negligible. Rainwater catchment systems help 489 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:21,560 to make the home self-sustaining. 490 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,920 They're an attractive option to the very sort of residents who 491 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,200 the city attracts an abundance single, young professionals 492 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,680 without a lot of stuff who aren't ready to take on the 493 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,720 large mortgage. But tiny houses come with one 494 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,720 enormous catch. They're illegal, in violation of 495 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,000 several codes in Washington DCS zoning ordinance. 496 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:44,000 Among the many requirements in the 34 chapters and 600 pages of 497 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,080 code are mandates defining minimum lot size, room sizes, 498 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:52,040 alleyway widths, and accessory dwelling units that prevent tiny 499 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,880 houses from being anything more than a part time residence. 500 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:00,040 So here we have a huge problem. I am devastated when I drive 501 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,440 around South Phoenix and see so many people without homes. 502 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,720 You actually had someone creating homes at a much lower 503 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:10,600 cost, which would drastically increase the supply of housing 504 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,760 in Washington DC. It would give people with lower 505 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:17,120 incomes access to a place to have a roof over their head. 506 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,960 And the state actually confiscated the houses in in 507 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,120 this case. I also provide an example in Los 508 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:26,280 Angeles where they did the same thing. 509 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,760 So what this is is economic suppression. 510 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,240 It is coercively stopping two people from engaging in a 511 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,840 mutually beneficial voluntary exchange. 512 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:40,280 The reason this is important is because Bernie Sanders, the one 513 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,080 of the most popular progressives, came out after the 514 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,560 last election and said, well, one of the tragedies we've seen 515 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:50,760 is the great deal to which voter suppression has, you know, can 516 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:55,000 really affect an election. Now, the reality is, if a 517 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,040 person's vote is put in the voting box or in the shredder, 518 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,920 it's not going to make a difference in the actual 519 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,960 outcome. Whether or not you have access 520 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:09,560 to a house really, really has an effect on your life. 521 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,120 Same with occupational licensing. 522 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:13,400 They're constantly engaged in economic suppression. 523 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,120 When they coercively stop people from getting a job where they 524 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:19,960 want to learn on the industry, maybe they want to go there two 525 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,280 or three days just to see if they like it or not, just to get 526 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:23,680 them on the job experience. Nope. 527 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,800 Got to have a license from the state, as opposed to voluntary 528 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,080 private certification agencies giving their stamp of approval 529 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,200 saying these people are good, these people are bad. 530 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,000 Yelp reviews. Amazon reviews. 531 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,560 Word of mouth, anything like that we could have instead of 532 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:40,880 the economic suppression which they advocate. 533 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,680 So the progressive simultaneously believes that 534 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,840 it's vitally important that you get a one in 510,000,000 vote 535 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,360 once every four years between two line psychopaths. 536 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,560 But your ability to make decisions in your life that 537 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:58,600 affect you every single day, well that's not that important 538 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,520 and actually you could choose wrong. 539 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,040 So it's kind of important that we engage in imperialism just 540 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,840 domestically and coercively stop you. 541 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,880 You're welcome. That'll be 30% of your income. 542 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:14,000 And if you don't like it, you have a one in 10 million chance 543 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,400 of helping to sway the next selection between the next two 544 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,080 lying psychopaths. Yeah, exactly. 545 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,560 OK 8 Government provided does not mean universal. 546 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:28,400 There is a dichotomy among people such as Stephen Grumbine, 547 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,520 the creator of real progressives, who will say 548 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,040 things like instead of having this for profit system, what we 549 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:40,080 should have is universal healthcare, universal education, 550 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,800 universal housing. Now what the bait and switch is, 551 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,840 is he's immediately changing from a goal to advocating a 552 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:52,160 process to achieve a said goal. I want everyone to have all the 553 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,760 things that he lists, assuming they want those things in the 554 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,440 first place. So he says we want a goal of 555 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,640 everyone to have anything, therefore automatically implying 556 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,960 the state should coercively fund the operation to achieve this 557 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,960 goal. It's equally as ridiculous as 558 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:09,400 saying I want peace in the Middle East. 559 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,040 Therefore we should send Netanyahu a blank check. 560 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,720 Just because you want some result doesn't necessarily mean 561 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,600 the process you're advocating will achieve that result. 562 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,720 Now, we don't have to get too theoretical about this. 563 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:25,200 All we have to do is look at cases which the state currently 564 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:29,120 provides things for free by increasing the money supply or 565 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,400 first taxing you, and see if they are universal. 566 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,040 Well, the Progressive immediately sees that, well, the 567 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,600 police not only aren't free, they cost a lot of money. 568 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,520 And then the Progressive says we should, you know, abolish or 569 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,320 defund the police. So immediately they see that the 570 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,160 state at least costs something to run. 571 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:48,760 There's always an opportunity cost. 572 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:55,200 Second, you can see that not everyone has equal treatment to 573 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,400 police functions. It's well known that people with 574 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,800 higher incomes are more likely to get, you know, lower 575 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:05,160 sentences than someone who's poor, who's committed the same 576 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,120 crime. Joe Biden committed murder a 577 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:13,280 number of times, most famously August 29th of 2021 in Kabul, 578 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,040 Afghanistan, Seven children dead as a cause of result of him. 579 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,680 It wasn't even a question that universal free, guaranteed 580 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,920 justice would be performed. The question of the state 581 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:26,760 providing education? Is everyone therefore equally 582 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,320 educated since the state provides it and guarantees it 583 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,760 for free? No, this of course is not the 584 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,240 case. Is everyone protected and having 585 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,440 their guaranteed rights protected because the state 586 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,880 coercively funds and controls the police or military? 587 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,120 Of course not. There is not free, universal, 588 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:47,000 guaranteed justice because the state controls the court system. 589 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:52,160 So the concept that I want everyone to have something, it 590 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,600 does not follow, therefore the state should be providing it. 591 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,440 This is really important because it really psychologically gets 592 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,720 to the average person who opposes such a thing and says, 593 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,480 well, if I'm not for universal, that means I only want some 594 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,280 people having it. And they, the kind, virtuous 595 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,640 progressive who, you know, gladly puts billions of 596 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,360 obligations on total strangers without their consent, well, 597 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:14,480 they want everyone to have it, and that makes them better. 598 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,400 So it really tugs at your heartstrings. 599 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,200 And anytime you don't want to be, you know, shunned by the 600 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,400 people in your society, you want to say, OK, yeah, I think we 601 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,480 should have some sort of universal system. 602 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,240 The goal and the process are two very different things. 603 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,360 The state monopolizing the process does not guarantee 604 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:32,920 results. In fact, it gives them every 605 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,120 disincentive to create low cost, low cost, high quality goods. 606 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:40,280 Yes, Disincentive. That's right. 607 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:42,200 Yeah. OK, Yes, OK. 608 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,520 And finally, Chapter 9. It takes a little bit different 609 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,120 form than the other chapters, which are argued more 610 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:49,520 straightforwardly. This chapter. 611 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:53,760 It contains quotations from the don't tread on anyone podcast, 612 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,800 little less excerpts and snippets from that podcast. 613 00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,720 It is entitled How Could anyone be an Anarchist? 614 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,960 Which it's a question that a lot of progressives would ask. 615 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,440 What isn't it? So how do you answer that 616 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,520 question? So as I list you know, 8 617 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,040 chapters of me complaining about something the average person 618 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:14,960 might say. Well, progressivism is the worst 619 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:16,760 system. Except for all the others. 620 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:18,800 All you do is complain about things. 621 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,360 What are the alternatives? So what I try to briefly make 622 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:26,960 the case is that the system of anarchism, while may not be, you 623 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:31,240 know, widely accepted by the masses, there is still a its 624 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:35,960 first, logically reasonable and economically sound, and 3rd it's 625 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:39,520 quite around. It's all around us in a number 626 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,280 of ways. So in the case of even something 627 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,600 like roads where they say this is the ultimate, you know, 628 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,960 knockdown, turns out the 1st Rd. built in America, the 629 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:51,280 Philadelphia Lancaster Turnpike was of course privately built. 630 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,360 Today we have people like Vinci concessions constantly building 631 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:59,640 roads on every continent that when you research Vinci, Vinci 632 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,680 concessions, they're a great company providing transportation 633 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,600 now. So immediately you see some 634 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:09,000 things being privatized. But you might say, well, not 635 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:10,639 like really, really important things. 636 00:34:10,639 --> 00:34:12,120 Maybe some small things can be done. 637 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:16,960 It turns out I got a job in the tech field some time ago and 638 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,239 when a company experienced A ransomware attack, they called 639 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:26,440 us the private company to save their most valuable information. 640 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,840 This is all their work for 20 years was being held and it was 641 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,719 totally encrypted and none of them. 642 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,199 I did go to the office and spoke with people there. 643 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,560 None of them said quick call 911, quick call the FBI. 644 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,679 Our, you know, our property rights are the most sacred thing 645 00:34:41,679 --> 00:34:45,560 we have around is has been stolen, is now encrypted and we 646 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,199 don't have access to it, even though they could have. 647 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,760 They just saw that it was so inefficient that they called the 648 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:55,280 private IT company, got a hold of Paypal's security team, got a 649 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,800 hold of the Dropbox security team, got a hold of Google Drive 650 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:03,240 security. They cancelled their credit 651 00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:05,560 cards because of those information. 652 00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:10,360 All of their banks had private security on the back end, not 653 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,840 because, well, all these corporations are so good and 654 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,160 they care about the masses. They're self interested just 655 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,440 like anyone else. But because they want customers, 656 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:21,120 they provide the security that everyone wants. 657 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,400 So when everyone says, well, what about security? 658 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,680 What about the roads? The fact that everyone wants 659 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,080 those is a good indicator that they will be provided by 660 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:32,600 entrepreneurs in a marketplace. So the way I try to pique 661 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:37,160 people's interest is I get these are all four professors, I 662 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:40,400 believe, or at least well recognized authors in this 663 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:45,080 field, and I just asked them. There are a lot of criticisms of 664 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,480 the free market. Are there any unique criticisms 665 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,840 of the free market that don't also apply to government? 666 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:55,760 And they make the case that there are no unique criticisms 667 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:57,400 of the free market. Of course you have terrible 668 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,320 things that could happen. However, that in no way 669 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:04,440 justifies forcibly stopping billions of people from engaging 670 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,280 in voluntary exchanges. So what I'm trying to do in that 671 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,680 chapter is provide an alternative for the way people 672 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:15,880 see the logic of anarchism. Also give some empirical 673 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,280 examples and say that very well accredited people in their 674 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:22,960 fields do recognize this as a very reasonable alternative 675 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,320 compared to statism. Right. 676 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,320 And isn't it funny how anarchists are called utopians? 677 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,400 Oh, you've got utopians think no, no, no, The statists are the 678 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:35,080 real utopians who think, oh, don't worry, it's government 679 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:39,160 funded, so it's taken care of. No, no, no, no, no, it's it's 680 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,480 exactly the opposite of reality. All right. 681 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:46,040 And after that point, you have some quotes from a wide number 682 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,560 of individuals on a lot of different subjects and an 683 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:53,000 appendix and then afterward. But I I, I want to just look at 684 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,320 a couple of quotes, one that I think is great because I think 685 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,920 this is a genuinely handy little tool for people who are sick of 686 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,160 hearing from progressives in their lives about the Swedish 687 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:03,640 model. And can't we be more like the 688 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,120 Scandinavian countries, etc. You have a quote from Johann 689 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:07,760 Norberg from Lessons from Sweden. 690 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:12,000 The funny thing is that if the Sanders is and Ocasio Cortezes 691 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,920 of the world made the US more like Sweden, what would really 692 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:16,800 happen? They haven't updated their 693 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:19,560 perception of Sweden. And if the US became more like 694 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:23,040 us, the United States would have to have more free markets, more 695 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,640 free trade, pension reform with private accounts, a National 696 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,160 School voucher system with freedom of choice and public 697 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,480 funding going to private schools as well, low corporate taxes and 698 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,880 no taxes on wealth, property and inheritance. 699 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,040 Be careful what you wish for, which is a good point, because 700 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,640 yeah, I think people don't know what they're talking about. 701 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:41,800 Yeah, we should be more like Sweden. 702 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,880 What, you mean Sweden from the 1960s or something? 703 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:45,320 What are you? What are you basing this on? 704 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:47,520 But there's another quote in here that I think is a good 705 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,040 launching point for perhaps a different exploration. 706 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:52,560 Because, OK, again, these are all points that you could 707 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:54,080 certainly use. Absolutely. 708 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:57,760 There's a lot of good ammunition in here to for your arguments 709 00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:01,480 with status and progressive progressives specifically, but 710 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:05,480 also for status in general. And there's a great, great quote 711 00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:08,280 here from Michael Malice that I think makes a point that comes 712 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:10,080 up all the time. I'm sure you've heard it a 713 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,400 million times, He says. If the government didn't have a 714 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,640 monopoly on security, only rich people would be able to have 715 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:20,120 security. Just like when the government 716 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,280 got out of other businesses, the only cars produced were 717 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,760 limousines, the only clothes produced were tuxedos. 718 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:29,280 And the only food produced was foie gras. 719 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:31,040 Yeah, exactly Right. Yeah. 720 00:38:31,240 --> 00:38:34,480 No one would ever try to provide any sort of service to anyone 721 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,000 except the billionaires, right? Oh, wait, that's not how it 722 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,480 works in reality. No, there's actually. 723 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:44,360 Yes, businesses are catered to all sorts. 724 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,560 And there are people who to the lowest rung of the economic 725 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,960 pyramid and the highest rung as well, and they can all exist. 726 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,240 Why not both? Yeah, it's such a simple point, 727 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:56,240 but it does speak to, I think, what could be another. 728 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,600 And correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know what your intention 729 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,560 was in writing this book. But I think this this book might 730 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,200 also be useful for status who are not progressives and don't 731 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,560 consider themselves on the left side of the spectrum at all, but 732 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,920 who still have a lot of status conditioning to maybe question 733 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,360 some of their own assumptions and some of the things they 734 00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:17,160 think about, what government provided, security and other 735 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:18,560 sorts of things might be necessary. 736 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,480 Tell us about your intention for who you think that this book 737 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:25,440 might be beneficial for, what audience you're writing for? 738 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:29,560 So I definitely wanted to catch people's attention with the 739 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:34,360 title and the provocative cover where I have my sort of Mount 740 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:37,760 Rushmore of terrible progressives from Woodrow Wilson 741 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,960 to Ocasio Cortez. Not that she's as powerful, but 742 00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,480 she is certainly making the ideas of statism so popular and 743 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:48,120 so widely respected among people, especially in my 744 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:51,280 generation. So the original audience 745 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,680 actually was progressives. That's why I kept it so short 746 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:56,160 and sweet. And even the chapters 747 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:58,040 themselves. Elves can be read individually. 748 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,560 That's why I might round off with the same point a number of 749 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:03,680 times throughout. That's why the last section is 750 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:05,840 just miscellaneous. Quotes don't even have to read 751 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,480 them in order, can sort of go randomly. 752 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,680 So it was sort of to provoke interest by progressives 753 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:15,680 originally. But also, I knew that there were 754 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,840 a lot of people who do not like progressivism who wanted a 755 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:23,040 summary of why someone who was a progressive left those ideas 756 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,600 behind and wanted it in a very concise form. 757 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:29,320 My last book. Was 318 pages and quite a few 758 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:33,280 people said, yeah, I really enjoyed it, but gosh, so many 759 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:35,400 other books to read, so many other things to do that I'm 760 00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:40,520 like, OK, I gotta make something so short that even each chapter 761 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,200 is going to make a point that's at least going to provoke some 762 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,280 thoughts in the mind of a progressive. 763 00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:48,800 Not because I think they're going to say, well, thank you, 764 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:50,800 27 year old for writing this book. 765 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:54,000 I've been wrong forever, but just to sort of create some 766 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:58,680 insecurity in this position. So the goal is to plant seeds in 767 00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:02,120 the minds of progressives, and I tried to use enough variety so 768 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:06,160 anyone can learn something new, or at least find a productive 769 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,640 way to think about a position that they. 770 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,720 Currently hold it's certainly you've definitely accomplished 771 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:14,800 that. This is certainly readable in 772 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:17,880 bite sized little chunks and even for people who aren't good 773 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:21,000 readers or or fast readers, they can certainly just put this on a 774 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:25,040 coffee table or what have you and just get through it pretty 775 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,920 easily and pretty quickly. It is not a difficult read, and 776 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,880 in fact if you're a fast reader, we have spent more time talking 777 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:32,680 about it now than it would have taken you to read this. 778 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:37,960 So at any rate, here we are. I don't know what else to say. 779 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:42,600 This is an important book to have as ammunition in your info 780 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:46,960 arsenal, especially especially if you are inclined to argue 781 00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:50,120 with a a progressivist, I think even for statists who haven't 782 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,800 quite broken their conditioning. At any rate, tell people again 783 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,680 where they can get the book. They can get the book at 784 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:59,000 libertarianinstitute.org, right? When you go on the website, 785 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,480 you'll see it. The book collection. 786 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:04,440 We got a ton of variety of books there, from people like Tom 787 00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:09,440 Woods and Laurie Calhoun Getting into the issues with the COVID 788 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:11,040 hysteria. We have people like Sheldon 789 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,840 Richmond providing insights into the Israeli Palestinian issue 790 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:19,600 going back to 1897. I believe his book starts and we 791 00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,800 have people like Joe Salas. Mullins published a short book 792 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:26,840 titled The Fake China Threat. We Really try to provide Variety 793 00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,800 at libertarianinstitute.org. Excellent. 794 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,240 Well, of course the link will be in the show notes, as people 795 00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:34,720 already know. So if you didn't find it at 796 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:37,280 libertarianinstitute.org, you can go to the show notes to find 797 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,960 it and to find links to Keith's other outlets and work. 798 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,240 Keith, you always do good work and a lot of food for thought 799 00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:46,640 here. So and I once again, I just want 800 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,320 to say I appreciate the fact that you put this book out as a 801 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,000 free resource as well. I certainly hope people will 802 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,560 support the book and buy a physical copy for to have 803 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:56,840 physical media and to support the person who's making it. 804 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:01,040 But also it's there as a free resource for people to use in 805 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,520 their information dissemination efforts. 806 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:04,960 So we'll leave it there for today. 807 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:06,520 Keith Knight, thank you so much for your time. 808 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:08,880 James, thanks so much for having me.