1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,160 Welcome to Keith Knight, Don't Tread on Anyone and the 2 00:00:03,280 --> 00:00:07,600 Libertarian Institute. Today I am John, joined by Cool 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,600 Apple 29. Sorry, I was trying to read that 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:15,680 as I was doing the introduction. John, where can people find you 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,720 if they want to see where you stand on things and where you 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,920 promote your ideas? Just on Twitter. 7 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,960 I basically anonymous Twitter account so nothing crazy. 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,720 The other day, a lot of people made quite a bit out of Vivek 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:38,320 Ramaswami's tweet. There were a number of things 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,320 that are in here. Let's go through this briefly, 11 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,120 and after each paragraph I'll stop and you can let me know if 12 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:50,960 you agree or disagree. Let's go right here. 13 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:56,800 The reason top tech companies often hire foreign born and 1st 14 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,920 generation engineers over Native Americans isn't because of an 15 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:05,280 innate American IQ deficit. A lazy and wrong explanation. 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,640 A key part of it comes down to the C word culture. 17 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:13,160 Tough questions demand tough answers, and if we're really 18 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,800 serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the 19 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:18,640 truth. What do you think about this 20 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,640 opening statement? I mean yes and no. 21 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,360 I mean wages definitely is going to play a factor. 22 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,360 They are looking for cheap labor. 23 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:32,280 I have worked in tech actually I worked not directly. 24 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:39,560 I was in a like a middle management for a big tech 25 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:47,240 company for around 2 1/2 years. 3 even lived in the Bay Area for 26 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:48,680 like a year and a half, two years. 27 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:55,880 So he's partially right in a way they aren't. 28 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,160 Sometimes it does require longer hours and that is something that 29 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:05,840 I did notice that some workers from India were they had no 30 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,960 problem doing. But it is a wage factor as well. 31 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,680 You know, they are going to work for less. 32 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:17,080 Obviously they're going to want it. 33 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,200 Yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah it. 34 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:26,960 Says our American culture has venerated mediocrity over 35 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,480 excellence for way too long, at least since the 90s and likely 36 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,960 longer. That doesn't start in college, 37 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,480 it starts young. Do you think American culture 38 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,560 has venerated mediocrity over excellence? 39 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:46,040 No, I mean, it pushes hard work. I mean, it's definitely a grind, 40 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,080 but yeah, I would disagree with that. 41 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,960 I would I would say it's more of a victim culture. 42 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,600 I don't think that plays into working hard. 43 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:04,200 Would be OK, because I do feel like, I don't know where I would 44 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,440 get statistics on this, but it seems like I I was in college 45 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,200 about eight years ago and it seems like there were very, very 46 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:18,120 low standards for what people were expected to actually 47 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:20,720 achieve. Big accomplishments would be 48 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,040 things like changing your pronouns or declaring that 49 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,880 you're going to have like a very narrowly focused major. 50 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,960 It didn't seem like people were really striving for excellence. 51 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:37,600 It was much more about people are always entitled to respect 52 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,760 and excellence is kind of promoting bourgeois inequality 53 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,240 culture. So I saw a lot of it when I was 54 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,880 younger where people didn't really care about merit. 55 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,920 Everyone basically deserved the same thing and excellence was 56 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,000 kind of you insulting everyone else in your group did. 57 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,400 Did you see that at all when you were I'm I'm 28 now and this was 58 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:07,280 probably ages 16 to 25. OK, I actually went to college 59 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,600 later because I was in the service. 60 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,520 No, I mean, I would I would definitely say that. 61 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,399 I would say they made the standards basically anyone I 62 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:19,160 would say the bottom could meet it. 63 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:24,480 I mean, I knew a girl, she in one of the math classes, she got 64 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:27,280 a book with essentially the answers because she said she had 65 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:31,680 a learning disability. But it was nothing that would 66 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:34,560 show that she, you know, it was different or anything. 67 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,760 But there's people getting bachelors that, you know, were 68 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,600 given extra time on tests. So that always kind of blew my 69 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,960 mind. And it was a decent state school 70 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:48,480 I went to so. I did notice at Arizona State 71 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:54,640 University there were maybe 15% of the students were East Asian 72 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:00,200 and the library at any given moment was maybe 95% Asian. 73 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,600 I think it definitely has to do with the culture that people 74 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,640 embrace that it totally explain why Asians have higher incomes 75 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:13,200 than whites and why whites have higher incomes than blacks. 76 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,960 Do you think the main thing we're seeing is a cultural 77 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:21,760 divide that can sometimes be seen through the lens of race, 78 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:26,840 or is something like nation what we should focus on as opposed to 79 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:30,560 culture? I mean, it could be a mix of 80 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,600 both. I mean, obviously do you look at 81 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,760 statistics, Obviously different nations outperform the others 82 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,640 and we do get a good amount of the top performers from each 83 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,040 country. I believed it was like Nigerians 84 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:50,000 were one of the most educated groups coming to the US. 85 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:55,160 But I do think Asians, you know, that we heard the term tiger 86 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,280 moms. I could definitely see that. 87 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:02,840 I know many Indian families. I know I don't have statistics, 88 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:06,600 but it seems like the goal is, I mean, colleges need to question. 89 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,600 They're expected to go. So that's something I can 90 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,720 believe. As well as Jewish families too. 91 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,960 Oh, definitely, yeah. Yeah, and there was one more. 92 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,640 OK, I wanted to say that I get that there's a selection 93 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,080 process. People don't randomly come from 94 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:28,000 Japan, South Korea and China to America, only the most ambitious 95 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:29,440 ones. Those people tend to be more 96 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,240 ambitious. The point is that this 97 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,520 completely refutes the progressive narrative that all 98 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,800 differences in incomes between the races are as a result of 99 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,320 white supremacy. The fact that whites, I think, 100 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,040 are like 12th on median income after Japanese Americans, 101 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,440 Taiwanese Americans, Indian Americans, That is such a 102 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,880 poisonous, divisive thing that colleges have been pushing. 103 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:57,840 Whereas it's so empowering to realize that this is fake 104 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,520 because you realize you can actually do things to change the 105 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,240 way your life is. You have a lot of control. 106 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,360 You can show up to work on time. The main reason people got fired 107 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:11,600 at my last few jobs was attended something that's almost totally 108 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,040 within your control. You can ask for on the job 109 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,040 training. You can look at people you 110 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,680 admire and see what skills they have and try to emulate them. 111 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,920 You can get a mentor. There's a reason only a small 112 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:24,960 percentage of people get paid the minimum wage, because 113 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,400 employers are competing for their skills. 114 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:32,160 So I just hate this. The system's against you, so 115 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:34,920 don't bother working hard, don't bother showing up on time. 116 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:36,600 The system's still going to screw you over. 117 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,480 Anything else on this cultural aspect of Ramaswamy's tweet 118 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,800 before we move on? No, I mean, I didn't. 119 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,960 I do see where he's coming from. I do think he's kind of doing a 120 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,560 sleight of hand with. He's leaving out a part about 121 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,400 wages. I do agree with him culturally, 122 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:00,200 you know, they are looking for people that match what he was 123 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,000 saying so. I agree. 124 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:08,920 All right, You have a picture of Pat Buchanan in your Twitter 125 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,280 bio. And this made me say, well, this 126 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,600 gentleman and I have to have a lot of overlap on something. 127 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,680 This started after a John and I got into a respectable 128 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,960 disagreement on Twitter. I wanted to have him on so we 129 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,080 can lead by example and show that productive conversations 130 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:30,040 can happen even when tensions get a little high on X. 131 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,360 Keep calling it Twitter. What are the great lessons you 132 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:37,360 have learned from Pat Buchanan? This was Richard Nixon's speech 133 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,559 writer and later presidential candidate. 134 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:48,160 One of the great lessons my it was where the right went wrong 135 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:52,960 basically talked about the rise of the neocons from the party. 136 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:59,200 You know, I grew up during the West era where, you know, I 137 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,520 always kind of thought I knew history. 138 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,240 I knew a little bit about Reagan and all that. 139 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,600 I was younger, but it was always thought that Republicans were 140 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,920 the Hawks, you know, that, you know, they were always kind of 141 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:17,720 neo connish, just him breaking down the history of the party 142 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:22,800 and kind of like how it went, you know, Nixon, Vietnam, 143 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,960 basically. It kind of did open my eyes and 144 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:28,240 it was a different way of thinking. 145 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:32,000 You know, we got to see the failure of Iraq and Afghanistan. 146 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:39,520 You know, the I think the you know, the Ukraine war, 147 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:46,280 obviously, you know, Russia is at fault for it overall. 148 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:50,280 But I mean, they were, you know, HW Bush talked about, you know, 149 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,440 pushing the borders or the dangers of it. 150 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,320 And if he said that today, I mean, he would be called the 151 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:01,920 Russian asset. And so probably his neo probably 152 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,960 is just foreign policy. I also agreed with that. 153 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:08,160 He'll probably disagree as a libertarian, but he didn't 154 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:13,320 mention corporations. They kind of their loyalty to 155 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:18,640 the US compared to past, you know, isn't really, you know, on 156 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:24,040 the same level. So to the US so but those this 157 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,600 foreign policy really was special to me so. 158 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:32,760 I was really surprised to see a Republican presidential 159 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:37,000 candidate said the US should not have entered the Second World 160 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,840 War or the First World War. He makes a very good case in a 161 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:44,040 Republic, not an empire, and he was opposed to the first Iraq 162 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,720 War in 1991. Him and Joe Sobrin, along with 163 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,160 my colleague at the Libertarian Institute, Sheldon Richmond, got 164 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,160 to together and I forget what they had called it. 165 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,400 It was like Committee to Avoid a Holocaust or something. 166 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,600 It was something very provocative like that where they 167 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,920 said, look, we just won. There was this terrible Cold 168 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:06,920 War. We were on pins and needles for 169 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,240 decades worrying there'd be a nuclear exchange. 170 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,600 We won. The last thing we need to do is 171 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,360 go finding enemies like Saddam Hussein, let alone provoking 172 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:20,480 NATO. In Buchanan's 1999 book A 173 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,720 Republic, Not an Empire, one of the first sections is titled 174 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,800 Quartering Conflict with Russia and he warns against, he warns 175 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:31,120 against NATO expansion, especially to Georgia and 176 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,560 Ukraine, the two countries Bush junior said would come into NATO 177 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,400 as he was leaving office in 2008. 178 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:42,760 Buchanan was just so brilliant on on being able to see where 179 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:47,280 where this stuff led to. I also really appreciated how he 180 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:52,520 mentioned empires that spread themselves too thin end up going 181 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:56,800 away, end up vanishing. So if you're pro America, it 182 00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,800 doesn't necessarily follow that you want to provoke conflicts 183 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,400 because this could weaken your nation as the examples he uses 184 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,800 as Czarist Russia over expanded in the First World War and 185 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,680 couldn't defend their own capital in Moscow and the 186 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:11,680 Bolsheviks were able to take over. 187 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:16,600 The Ottoman Empire over expanded in its First World War, in the 188 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,880 First World War and they came crumbling down. 189 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,400 Kaiser Wilhelm's empire over expanded with a war on two 190 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,200 fronts. The Japanese Empire he uses, not 191 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:27,400 to mention the Soviet empire over expanded. 192 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,960 So they're just so many great lessons from Pat Buchanan. 193 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,000 Anything else on him before we get into the new Cold War? 194 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,200 No, not really. I mean, you touched all bases, 195 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,360 but it I mean, it is interesting to see his legacy once he 196 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,760 passed. I mean, I know in the 90s he was 197 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,680 kind of forced out by the National Review. 198 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,360 But I am curious how this new generation, especially Trump 199 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:54,960 winning, is going to treat him so. 200 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:01,520 And did you support, did you support President Trump in the 201 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,600 last election? Yes, I voted for Trump. 202 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,720 Yeah. And what were your main reasons 203 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:13,880 for doing so? Just his policies. 204 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,280 I know he kind of backtracked abortion, but just overall, you 205 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,160 know, he talks about protectionism and terrorists. 206 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:26,200 He's still capitalist heresy. You know, she did try to track 207 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,760 this center. She's, you know, anytime you 208 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:33,520 have a Democrat and you are going to backslide into statism. 209 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:40,160 So those would be my reasons. Yeah, My whole thing was, yeah, 210 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,280 his willingness to negotiate with both Xi Jinping and 211 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:48,120 Vladimir Putin. I thought that was so important 212 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,480 when all he said was basically the dying needs to stop in the 213 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:56,720 Russia Ukraine conflict, which is not some brilliant 214 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:00,160 contribution intellectually, but it was a hell of a lot more than 215 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,920 we were getting from Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris. 216 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:06,920 No, definitely. There's no wars. 217 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:09,520 That's always been a major selling point. 218 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,720 Sending troops to like eastern Ukraine would be insane. 219 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,240 So which is something that there's been. 220 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,520 Oh yeah? When were you in the military? 221 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:29,000 I had a break in service. I was in 2010 through 2014. 222 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:33,960 So the things that come to mind in that era, well, 2014 there 223 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:38,160 was the Maidan Revolution. Was there any discussions in the 224 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,320 military about what was happening in Ukraine in 2014 225 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:46,120 like amongst you guys? No, no, that wasn't really. 226 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:50,040 It was just another, I mean, you don't really pay too much 227 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:55,120 attention that international news, but I was just like 228 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,320 another third world country heading conflict. 229 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,600 So not conflict, change of government. 230 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:08,600 So in 2011, there was the NATO operation in Libya. 231 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:10,880 Do you have any information on that? 232 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,760 No, I mean, there's no like troops on the ground or 233 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:20,640 anything. You know, one of the I think 234 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,520 submarines launched Tomahawks, but I'm not too familiar with 235 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,680 what took place. I think it was mostly an air 236 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:31,160 war. But yeah, there is no like boots 237 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,320 on the ground as far as I know. Maybe evacuating people. 238 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:39,000 But yeah, I mean, it was just maybe it was the bad guy. 239 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,840 I didn't really know too much. I knew about Libya. 240 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:50,040 I knew about Gaddafi. Still kind of neo, neo connish, 241 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:55,040 but yeah, we didn't I, I think they just didn't know what to do 242 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:56,880 after it fell. They kind of just thought it 243 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:01,240 would sort of stuff out. Yeah, Obama even makes that 244 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:03,040 clear in his book of Promised Land. 245 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:07,160 He said we took out Gaddafi's regime at a lower cost than we 246 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,000 were spending in Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis. 247 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,960 Unfortunately, due to a lack of historic democratic institutions 248 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,840 in Libya, it created somewhat of a power vacuum. 249 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:19,720 So that was just shocking to read. 250 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,600 And then the other thing in that time frame, Obama came out and 251 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:28,840 said Bashar al-Assad is using chemical weapons and Assad needs 252 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:33,360 to go was his headline. My understanding is that with 253 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:38,480 Operation Timber Sycamore, they ended up siding with Al Qaeda in 254 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,840 Syria to overthrow Assad. Is this accurate? 255 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,560 I don't. I had friends in Syria. 256 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:51,960 I never went myself. I don't know. 257 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,960 I know some of that, aren't I, I don't know. 258 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,960 I'm pretty low rank. I don't know what they would if, 259 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:03,120 if they sided with Al Qaeda. I maybe some arms I think got 260 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,119 up. I think there was an art, but 261 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:09,040 wasn't it, that they gave the Obama administration, they 262 00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:12,400 basically funded a couple of I think it was like an al Qaeda 263 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:19,480 branch of it and that preceded ISIS I believe came along later. 264 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,720 But I think they did get US arms. 265 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,160 I thought. I think the term they used was 266 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,880 like a moderate Al Qaeda. I can't remember the exact term, 267 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,080 but I think it was like Susan Rice or somebody made like it 268 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,920 was like moderate Islamic rebels or something. 269 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:38,960 It was something kind of wild. But I do recall that. 270 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,920 But like big decisions now I have no idea. 271 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:47,240 What do you think people need to know about the new Cold War with 272 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,560 Russia? My personal view is I think it's 273 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:56,280 good that Trump is going to talk and work with Russia itself, 274 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,360 talk to Putin and anytime you have communication, you're less 275 00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:04,720 than the risk of war. I mean, I don't think Biden and 276 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:06,920 them are even discussing anything. 277 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:13,000 I do think if you turn the temperature down, I do think the 278 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:18,520 war in Ukraine will end soon just because Trump's also coming 279 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:21,480 into office and the amount of men power. 280 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,800 I mean, I'm sure Russia wants to retool in Ukraine. 281 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:26,560 So they're not, they're not going to have a country. 282 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,680 They just keep fighting at the rate they are. 283 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,720 The manpower's got to be crushed. 284 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:37,680 But no, I don't see much change happening. 285 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:40,320 I'll probably just still be training with NATO countries. 286 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,560 I think Trump will pressure NATO into increasing his spending. 287 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:47,640 I do think the new Cold War would be extremely bad though, 288 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:52,800 too, Especially, you know, Russia feels threatened. 289 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:55,520 We don't know what comes next after Putin. 290 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:01,600 You know, he's pretty not. He is a rational actor and just 291 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:06,080 to act, you know, trying to overthrow up the second world's 292 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:09,600 nuclear power hoping for an overthrow is or an unstable 293 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,680 country. He's not, you know, smart in my 294 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:14,840 opinion. I know that's kind of. 295 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,880 Rambling. It is beyond psychotic that they 296 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:23,320 would even think about something like regime change in Russia or 297 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,920 the constant vilification of Putin, or the fact that Jake 298 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,720 Sullivan or Anthony Blanken haven't even reached out to 299 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,720 either Lavrov or Putin. It is just unbelievable. 300 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:37,280 I never would have guessed that they would go what, 2 years? 301 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:42,560 I think December of 21 is the last time Biden and Putin spoke. 302 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:47,040 Biden's wearing that stupid mask when he's on webcam talking to 303 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:48,680 Putin. He's just so pathetic. 304 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:52,720 All right, let's talk about tariffs. 305 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,120 Do you think tariffs are something that should be 306 00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,160 embraced by Americans for the purpose of preserving domestic 307 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,200 jobs? I grew up in kind of Rust Belt, 308 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:09,040 so I'm I am sympathetic to them. Republicans do have a history of 309 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,840 using them. If you look at Reagan, I mean, 310 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,880 it depends on what, how you use them. 311 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,560 I think you'd be strategic with it. 312 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:24,200 I mean, I don't think it's good to, you know, have a country 313 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,600 that maybe doesn't like us, like China have, you know, such a 314 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:35,520 large control of our trade. But I mean, you can, I mean, at 315 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,800 least in my opinion, I mean, you have to be strategic about it. 316 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,920 The American consumers aren't going to tolerate, you know, too 317 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:46,040 much, you know, price hikes, as we just saw at this election, 318 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,440 so. Would you say China doesn't like 319 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,800 us? Out of the 1.2 billion Chinese, 320 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,120 how many do you think really don't like us? 321 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,760 I know they're more patriotic. The younger generation is more 322 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,960 patriotic. I have some studies on that. 323 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,440 I don't think they hate us. I think they see us as a rival. 324 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:11,360 I do think they do want to undercut US militarily. 325 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,280 I do think that I don't think that they and they want to 326 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,040 surpass us. I don't think that they, you 327 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:27,440 know, want to, you know, destroy the. 328 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,360 No, I'm sorry You had cut out there. 329 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:41,800 It'll all, it'll all mesh together when it comes to the US 330 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:48,480 China relations. I just don't see why it is so 331 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,720 bad if the US is giving them dollars that every year are 332 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,480 losing their value because the Federal Reserve keeps increasing 333 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:57,200 the money supply. The government keeps spending 334 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,320 more money. We're sending them dollars. 335 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,520 They're sending us actual products and services. 336 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:06,160 It seems like the US is winning on this side of the deal. 337 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,960 Millions of people in lower and middle class have that have, you 338 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,120 know, middle incomes. They have access to products 339 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:16,600 that our parents never could have imagined having. 340 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:18,720 This increases our standard of living. 341 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,680 And we're sending them Federal Reserve notes, which we are 342 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,600 constantly admitting that, oh, those are going to, those are 343 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,160 going to be eventually worthless. 344 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:31,040 It seems like, one, we shouldn't vilify billions of people and 345 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:35,040 provoke another war, even if it means potential regime change in 346 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,240 Taiwan or anything. But more importantly, it seems 347 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:39,840 like we're at the benefiting end of this. 348 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:44,160 Is there something I'm missing? No I do see your point and I 349 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,680 think Ron Paul made a made a point just like that to be 350 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:52,560 honest. No I agree I will take I don't 351 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,320 think we should vilify China. I do get 6 being some of the 352 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,760 comments that talk about Russians and their culture you 353 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:05,760 see on X as well. I think the point I would make 354 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:11,400 is that you talk about a higher standard of living and I agree 355 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:17,120 our GDP has gone up, but I mean, look at would you say people are 356 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:19,200 happier? I know that's kind of a cop out, 357 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:24,480 but do you think maybe Americans having extra TV, is it worth 358 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:28,360 like the not job security, you know, the lower fertility rates? 359 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:31,360 I feel like that does play a role into it when you lose 360 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:36,080 manufacturing jobs. I mean, would having an extra TV 361 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:40,840 or fridge in your house lead to it for granted? 362 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,760 It's been our standard of living is much higher than the 70s. 363 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:50,000 But I mean mental health rates, fertility rates, you know, 364 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,320 people aren't buying starter homes. 365 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,080 I know that isn't all tied into trade, but I do feel like 366 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,000 there's some correlation. Maybe we have sold out and I 367 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,840 think you can as talked about that as well in trade wars. 368 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:05,560 But I would love to hear your response. 369 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:10,560 I know I can't prove the rise of GDP has that would be dumb to 370 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,680 say. I know I can't prove that trade 371 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,440 wars that hollowed out manufacture are not trade wars, 372 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,480 but the free trade kind of hollowed out the industrial base 373 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,800 led to this stuff. But maybe there's some 374 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,200 correlation if you understand what I'm saying. 375 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:32,760 Sure, there's definitely jobs that are changing and I think 376 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:37,600 18180% of people were employed in America in the agricultural 377 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:39,920 industry. Now it's only 2%. 378 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:44,680 So jobs can definitely change. I think people are less happy in 379 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:46,400 general today. I think that's as a causal 380 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,800 result of losing religion and not finding something fulfilling 381 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,280 to replace it with. I don't think it's because they 382 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,520 have more access to products and services. 383 00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:01,080 I think the previous generation saw happiness as the result of 384 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,240 frequent positive social interactions with other people. 385 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,600 Today people see happiness as acquiring more material goods, 386 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,840 and that is totally terrible. That is something I'm on board 387 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,280 with. I just don't think tariffs would 388 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,160 be a solution to that. But when it comes to job 389 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,680 security, I think the best way to not be insecure is to have a 390 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,520 lot of options. Because if when I originally had 391 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,600 a job I was terrified I was walking on egg shells terrified 392 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,560 to quit. Once I gained a lot of on the 393 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:39,280 job skills and the area I live in, Chandler Gilbert in Mesa, AZ 394 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:43,000 started to expand and have more businesses, I had no problem 395 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,760 being a little more stern with my boss. 396 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,400 I was happy to ask for a raise, knowing if he didn't give it to 397 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,400 me, I could apply somewhere else. 398 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:54,800 So I think job security would come from having more job 399 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:59,320 opportunities for the average person, and that could result 400 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:04,480 from massive deregulation. As we've seen since the 60s and 401 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,440 70's, the code of the Federal Register pages, the number of 402 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:09,960 regulations has absolutely skyrocketed. 403 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:14,040 Even though there was a small drop under Reagan and small 404 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:15,840 under Trump, it's not even close. 405 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:20,760 The net gain in regulations. This increases compliance costs 406 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,400 for all businesses. But Amazon and Walmart are not 407 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,240 terrified of going out of business if the minimum wage is 408 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,880 increased or if there's another regulation, it's small 409 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,480 businesses which get canned out. So this means employees have 410 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,200 fewer options than they otherwise would in a less 411 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,680 regulated environment, and they're more insecure on the 412 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:43,440 job. And because there's fewer 413 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,560 opportunities, employers don't have to work so hard to attract 414 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,280 good talent by offering more money to employees. 415 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,080 So I definitely see the loss of jobs as something terrible. 416 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:58,840 I don't think it's because there's too many voluntary 417 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,000 exchanges. I think it's because there's too 418 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,560 much third party coercion by people in Washington, DC and 419 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:10,720 state governments as well. Anytime I see, like if you take 420 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:15,240 the big examples, a blockade on Yemen, a blockade on Gaza, 421 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,160 Churchill's blockade of Germany in the First World War. 422 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,840 These places ended up having mass starvation because they 423 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,040 couldn't trade as much. So when you don't trade food, 424 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,360 starvation is clear, but when you don't trade technology, it 425 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:31,640 seems like it's less clear. But you're also impoverishing 426 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:36,240 your domestic population. That is my final justification 427 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:41,000 for opposing tariffs and domestic imperialism of a 428 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,960 regulatory state. Anything else on tariffs before 429 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:48,360 we move on? No, I mean, I agree with you, 430 00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:52,120 especially on the regulation. I'll I'll agree with you there 431 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:54,440 just because I agree with the choices. 432 00:27:55,160 --> 00:28:00,040 So this home, my home state, once the jobs from way it's kind 433 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,840 of a bluish state. Everybody was leaving for the 434 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,160 Reds, not red states, but the states with like easier to start 435 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:08,840 businesses. Ohio is a big one. 436 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:13,200 People are moving to just because you know, it's easier to 437 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,320 start businesses. They have more options. 438 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,720 So I definitely see that family members actually. 439 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:20,720 So I do agree with regulation cutting it. 440 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:23,880 So I definitely see your point there. 441 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,360 Who is your favorite president ever and why? 442 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:37,000 I used so favorite president ever, I kind of consider who's 443 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,320 the best. It's going to seem a pop out. 444 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:45,440 You know, I would say Washington just because he set the tone and 445 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,560 culture. So if you look at other 446 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:52,400 countries that became free during the revolution around 447 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,600 this time period, it could have, America could have easily 448 00:28:55,600 --> 00:29:00,120 backslided. Shay's rebellion, all that from 449 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,080 Washington. It's kind of set the tone, which 450 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,040 allowed basically smooth transfer of power. 451 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:12,000 He was small. I mean, he kind of just made it 452 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,240 all happen aspect. I mean, he was the ultimate 453 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:17,600 underdog. So that's, it's a corny answer, 454 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:21,680 but I would say Washington modern, I would probably say 455 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:27,120 Reagan just because he basically got away from LBJ's massive 456 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,040 government or at least tried to. So yes. 457 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,920 That is another point for Reagan which I should have considered. 458 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:41,400 I would say my favorite president after having read RN 459 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,040 the Nixon memoirs. It's 1000 pages of his entire 460 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,920 life. Reading that, I would I'm 461 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,920 tempted between either Nixon or Eisenhower. 462 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:56,840 I might say Eisenhower when he invited Nikita Khrushchev to 463 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,320 tour America. This was the Butcher of 464 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:03,080 Budapest. In 1956 he was given that title 465 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:08,720 and in 1959 he was willing to shake hands without conceding 466 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,680 really anything. He basically drew red lines 467 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:17,360 saying until we have exactly he was able to draw red lines that 468 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:21,360 were much more reasonable. He said you can't have any bases 469 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,480 in Guatemala. We will go to war over this but 470 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:28,400 until we give West Germany a war guarantee we're not going to do 471 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,160 it unless 10 other countries get on board. 472 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,960 I saw him as much more caring about peace. 473 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,760 This is why, as some. Are you pro-life? 474 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,000 I am, yes. Yes, me. 475 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,880 Too. So I definitely believe that the 476 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,520 fetus is differentiated from property. 477 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,240 In the property person's dialectic. 478 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,400 The fetus is a human life. I also think we should extend 479 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,760 that pro-life position to people in our own country and other 480 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,720 countries as well. So I see Eisenhower and his anti 481 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:05,920 war stance as practicing real world pro-life diplomacy. 482 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:11,120 So that is my reasoning for liking Eisenhower the most, 483 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,720 especially there's a chapter in his second book, I think it's 484 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,160 titled Waging Peace is the book where it talks about his 485 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,960 reasoning for his discussions with the Soviets. 486 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,040 And it really, really makes you appreciate this guy. 487 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,400 He did hate war. That is, I mean, that is true. 488 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,360 He was very different from my car there. 489 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:31,760 I do, I know, I keep bringing it up. 490 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:35,160 But Ron Paul, I think he's the same argument for being for life 491 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,840 as well and extending it to war. So that is I I will give the 492 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:41,800 libertarians that. I will give that. 493 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,640 Who was the? Worst president ever and why? 494 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:49,920 Worst president? Ever. 495 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:55,680 I mean, it is. A hard question I see worst 496 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,920 modern president would probably be LBJ, Medicaid or Medicaid, 497 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,480 the expansion of it, civil rights law. 498 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:09,800 It was good, but it happened. But how he weaponized it, 499 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,440 basically now it controls every part. 500 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:19,360 Not every part, but basically it hammers every business no matter 501 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,320 what. Disparate. 502 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,840 And then Vietnam too. I mean, he essentially did it. 503 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,440 I mean, it's more complex than the elites, but he basically did 504 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,880 it not to seem weak against Goldwater. 505 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:37,360 On communism, I wouldn't say that was the only reason, but I 506 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,560 mean that was a huge part. And then to extend the war. 507 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:44,840 Yeah, he. He probably would be the worst 508 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:47,480 modern president overall. I would have to think about it. 509 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:54,120 Maybe, yeah, I'd say LBJ, probably just because he's 510 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,680 impacted our country the most at this time. 511 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,760 I think. The case for LBJ is very good 512 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:04,480 that he might be the worst. I would just have to go with 513 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:09,320 Woodrow Wilson getting involved in the First World War on 514 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,280 America's with the American involvement. 515 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:17,640 People forget that this led to 116,000 American deaths led to 516 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,960 military conscription of men. I want to say ages 18 to 41 was 517 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:28,160 the original range that he used for conscription. 518 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,400 He had the Espionage Act putting people in jail for speaking out 519 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:37,280 against the war. He had the creation of the 520 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,480 Federal Reserve monopolizing the currency, which the biggest 521 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,520 thing is it outlaws potential competing currencies so it 522 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,360 doesn't keep the Fed on their toes. 523 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,720 Even if there's no other major currency, the fact that there 524 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,000 could be a potential one I think would stop them from constantly 525 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,760 inflating. He also solidified the income 526 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:00,280 tax. So I would have to say Woodrow 527 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:06,280 Wilson is my least favorite for those reasons when it comes. 528 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,199 To Yeah. No. 529 00:34:09,199 --> 00:34:11,199 I was going to say. I know you said you're a Nixon 530 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:13,600 fan. I was always curious. 531 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:18,199 I've heard different things from, I know libertarians, the 532 00:34:18,199 --> 00:34:21,360 gold standard. How did you feel about that or 533 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:23,600 what? What's your take on that? 534 00:34:23,679 --> 00:34:26,920 Because I mean, Nixon was also the peace candidate as well. 535 00:34:28,199 --> 00:34:30,600 So what's your take on his price control? 536 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:34,000 Because economics you kind of he was more of a. 537 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:40,320 I guess big government. Republican or the before Reagan 538 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,520 revolution Republican? So I was interested in your 539 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,400 thoughts on that it seems. Very clear that the price 540 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,520 controls led to shortages in the economy. 541 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:56,639 This is something Nixon even admits in the August 1971 542 00:34:56,639 --> 00:35:00,000 chapter of his memoir. But to this day, he still 543 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,800 defends the gold standard. Now when he talks about why he 544 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:08,080 went off the gold standard, he said the British came to the 545 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:12,440 Americans, the ambassador, and said we want these 3 billion 546 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,600 Federal Reserve note dollars. We want to exchange this for 547 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:19,240 gold. Nixon's reasoning was if we gave 548 00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:22,760 them the gold, it might entice everyone else to come get their 549 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,200 gold. Now, if we don't give them the 550 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:29,600 gold in response, people might say, well, the US has defaulted 551 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,640 and can't pay its debts. So Nixon said that he was stuck 552 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:37,560 in a very difficult situation and decided to close the gold 553 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:39,600 window. He uses the word temporary. 554 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,360 It's been 50 years, so I don't think it's temporary. 555 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,520 So the original justification for him doing it was not well. 556 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,360 It'll be great for economic growth and it's really good to 557 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,320 be able to print money without having a backed currency. 558 00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:59,200 His original justification was it would make us look bad. 559 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:03,040 So now when all the Paul Krugman's of the world are 560 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,320 saying, oh, what a great thing it is that the Federal Reserve 561 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,880 can print money at will and has a monopoly on this, That was 562 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,840 never the original justification for why Nixon got us off of it. 563 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,640 I think it was a mistake in the long run. 564 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:19,040 He says getting off the gold standard was on net a good 565 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:22,080 thing. I think having a commodity based 566 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,320 currency is a great check and balance when it comes to 567 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:28,480 governments. It's good to have the Supreme 568 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,560 Court. It's good to have, you know, a 569 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:32,600 population that can resist something. 570 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:34,520 It's good to have the Second Amendment as a check and 571 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,760 balance. But the a concept that you can't 572 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:42,520 spend too much without affecting the price of a commodity. 573 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,760 It's one check and balance to stop the government from 574 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,800 constantly overspending. The more resources that the 575 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,800 government spends money on, the less resources there are 576 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,920 available for the voluntary sector, which I see as the great 577 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,000 civilized wealth creator within society. 578 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:01,160 So I would certainly oppose that. 579 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,200 And the more dollars that are easily printed when you don't 580 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,120 have a gold standard means people who save their money 581 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,760 basically lose the value drastically. 582 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,360 A lot of safe. So it creates a disincentive for 583 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,440 people to save. So if they're not going to save 584 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,560 up to buy a house, well, then they engage in low impulse 585 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,760 control behaviors and they're more likely to go to strip 586 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,960 clubs, more likely to buy drugs to deal with their lot in life. 587 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,240 I mean, so few people in my generation are actively saving 588 00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:31,920 up for a house. So all of this is certainly 589 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,960 connected to a very weak currency. 590 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:39,800 So I would still like Nixon a lot, but that I think was 591 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,200 definitely the wrong move. I liked your point. 592 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:46,880 About low impulse control, I very rarely hear that argument 593 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,920 over you. Know why, people? 594 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:53,520 Have, I mean that doesn't, people don't really talk about 595 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:55,040 it. I think Victoria Ramashan did 596 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:58,680 actually talk about it so as well. 597 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:02,920 So it is nice to hear that argument from a libertarian 598 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,840 point of view. What is your? 599 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:11,160 Most important issue. Most important. 600 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:16,840 Issue, most important issue would be just preserving the 601 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:23,280 culture of the US. So when I say culture, the US 602 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,920 immigration plays a role. All these different things play 603 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,440 a role. But for me it is we are a free 604 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:34,200 enterprising country. I know I disagreed with you on 605 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:40,000 how much you know the government should tip the scales, but just 606 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:44,520 the entrepreneurship, the suspicion of small government as 607 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:46,480 well to. Me. 608 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,880 Those are the biggest. Things and you saw with when 609 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:53,720 Obama, Clinton as well, but Obama seemed to be the one that 610 00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:59,320 really kind of stepped it up to that next level of being not 611 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,960 individualism, but more, you know, he'd always say the word 612 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:07,120 community and just basically individualism. 613 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:12,320 Even for every group that's come here, they've always, you know, 614 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,680 it was less about political power, more about wealth 615 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:18,920 generation. You don't look at the Italians, 616 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:24,840 the Jewish, you know, blacks, you know, a big thing was 617 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,600 Motown, these, you know, culture, they wanted to build 618 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,400 wealth. And then having the culture 619 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:34,920 shift to, you know, a more community based, more big 620 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:39,400 government, more, you know, in our life, it's more the mindset 621 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:43,160 to be that we lose kind of our independent streak. 622 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:47,240 We kind of rely more on, you know, the nanny state. 623 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:51,200 And so that's my, you know, biggest fear that we end up like 624 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:57,480 a, a Britain or we end up like a, you know, one of, you know, 625 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:01,640 the European countries that are just stagnant, at least to me, 626 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:06,000 or Spain even. So at least to me, all the other 627 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,320 issues kind of come from that abortion. 628 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,320 That is something that we do have to win that minds on. 629 00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:15,600 But we have they have been making progress. 630 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:20,320 But that to me was the biggest win is the rejection of kind of 631 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,440 the nanny state. But we saw this in the last 632 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,520 election. Excellent points. 633 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:29,600 Now I can really see why LBJ, it makes sense is your least 634 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:31,320 favorite. Anything else? 635 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:36,320 The the greats is. My gosh, how annoying is that? 636 00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:38,120 It's up there with the Patriot Act. 637 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:41,720 It's like, Oh yeah, how can you give them these names? 638 00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:44,400 Anything else you want to discuss? 639 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,480 No, that's. Pretty much it if you're 640 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:50,000 interested in the Great Society book. 641 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:54,560 I forget who wrote it, but I it was like the history of it. 642 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:57,240 I think it's Anthony Shells. I can't remember her name. 643 00:40:57,240 --> 00:41:00,880 She wrote the FDR book as well. They're forgotten amnity. 644 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:04,520 Schlaze I think is her name. Yeah, she. 645 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,880 Yeah, there's a great book on the Great Society. 646 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,440 You know, at one point one of the programs were basically 647 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:14,240 giving money to rioters that were organizing riots in the 648 00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:17,560 inner city. So at one point the government 649 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:21,400 was handing them money and they would, you know, so it is, it is 650 00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:24,400 a quite a wild ride. So. 651 00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:28,720 But let's figured you'd enjoy that book. 652 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:30,120 Yeah. Great. 653 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:36,080 Society, A New History by Amidi Blaze, I think is how you say. 654 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:41,160 I did read a book she wrote titled The Forgotten Man. 655 00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,080 Yeah, FDR. And that was on FDR. 656 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,360 I have not even heard of this book, so that is very 657 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,560 interesting. I will check that out now. 658 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:55,840 Your favorite Pat Buchanan book? I would have to say Churchill. 659 00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:59,240 Hitler in the Unnecessary War I thought was such such an 660 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:01,360 excellent book. Do you have a favorite Buchanan 661 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:06,360 book? Death of the less I would say, 662 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,040 just because. I mean he makes. 663 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:14,680 I mean, all the problems he addressed, they were kind of, I 664 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:17,720 mean he called it like 25 years ahead of time. 665 00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:21,400 So I'd say death of the less I've read. 666 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:25,400 Death to super, I've read. I've read the Churchill. 667 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:28,560 I don't agree with it. I do. 668 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:37,840 So I do see the points he makes. I don't agree with that, but he 669 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,160 is. I mean, he basically makes the 670 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,080 strongest arguments for that point of view. 671 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:45,440 So I will give him that. Death to the last with the right 672 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,200 and wrong, death to superpower. I think it was decent. 673 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:52,440 So let's agree, yeah. The title was Suicide of a 674 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,480 Superpower. Can America last to Can America 675 00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:59,280 survive to 2025 is the actual title. 676 00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,000 So we will see. We will see. 677 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:06,320 Thanks to everyone for watching the Libertarian Institute on X 678 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:07,320 John. Thank you for your time, 679 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:09,120 brother. I appreciate it. 680 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:09,640 Thank. You for that?