Self in Society Podcast

By: Ari Armstrong
  • Summary

  • Exploring what it means to flourish as an individual and a community.

    selfinsociety.substack.com
    Ari Armstrong
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Episodes
  • Matt Zwolinski on Libertarianism
    Mar 28 2023

    Matt Zwolinski is professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego and the founder and director of USD’s Center for Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy. Zwolinski is the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Libertarianism, and he is the co-author, with John Tomasi, of The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism (available April 4 and available for preorder).

    This is the Self in Society Podcast #30.

    TIME MARKERS

    00 Intro

    0:54 Murray Rothbard, paleo-libertarianism, the “Mises Caucus,” and the meaning of libertarianism

    4:06 The “family resemblance” among strains of libertarianism

    6:22 Would Mises be in the “Mises Caucus”? Mises’s liberalism

    12:57 Baggage with the libertarian label16:46 Locke’s views of property rights

    23:24 Henry George’s objections to Locke

    26:23 Property rights as the central conundrum of libertarianism

    30:18 Limits to Georgism; resources and production

    38:45 More on resources and production

    44:29 House values, NIMBYism, and rent-seeking

    49:35 Strategies to solve “Lockean proviso” problems

    52:07 Existing property rights as historically problematic

    58:15 Addressing the U.S. Black/white wealth gap

    1:00:15 Property generally as making the world a better place

    1:05:01 Would reparations solve past injustices better than a basic income?1:10:00 Systemic racism: criminal justice and education

    1:13:49 Libertarian individualism and structural racism

    1:15:42 Housing policy and structural racism

    1:17:48 Methodological individualism and social justice

    1:25:20 Emergent racism

    1:28:27 The importance of more open immigration; implications for a basic income

    1:33:15 A basic income as better than the existing welfare state

    1:41:17 Matt’s forthcoming books on the basic income and exploitation

    1:42:36 wrap-up

    Zwolinski’s professional page offers links to his various books, including The Individualists, which comes out April 4 (available for preorder).

    A couple of Zwolinski’s essays on the basic income are available online: “A Moral Case for Universal Basic Income” and “Property Rights, Coercion,and the Welfare State.”

    The Routledge Companion to Libertarianism contains the essay mentioned by Zwolinski, “Self-Ownership,” by Daniel C. Russell.

    April 4 Update: I published my review of the book.

    Music by Jordan Smith.

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    1 hr and 47 mins
  • Ian Silverii on Progressive Aims and Tactics
    Jan 21 2023

    Ian Silverii is the former leader of Progress Now Colorado, founder of the political Bighorn Company, and "First Gentleman of Colorado's 7th Congressional District" following the election of his wife Brittany Pettersen.

    My main purpose in hosting this conversation was to see if two people with quite different political beliefs could have a civil and productive conversation. I think we accomplished that. Ian is a progressive; I’m a “free market liberal” (I’ll call myself).

    This episode contains some swear words.

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    2 hrs and 4 mins
  • Dave Kopel on Guns and Tyranny
    Jun 15 2022
    Dave Kopel is research director of the Independence Institute in Colorado and a leading attorney on Second Amendment issues. He is the author of Aiming for Liberty: The Past, Present, And Future of Freedom and Self-Defense, Colorado Constitutional Law and History, several other books, and countless articles. This is the Self in Society Podcast #28. Time Markers 00 Intro 1:06 U.S. violence in context 6:39 Homicides by government 8:15 Civilian gun ownership as protective against mass-murder by government 11:08 Interlude: Some personal connections 11:44 But some governments are better 13:44 Governmental violence in Europe 15:24 Worrisome signs in the U.S. 18:17 Armed racial nationalists as a threat to the country 20:41 Bad governments get guns to bad people; Sudan and Venezuela 23:03 The German example; gun-owner registration lists 24:36 The French example 25:14 What’s behind the global rise of authoritarian movements? What is nationalism? 27:58 The Russian example 30:12 The murders of Hitler, Mao, and Stalin 31:00 The Victims of Communism Museum 31:15 Deficiencies of American history education; the evil of Communism 33:16 The Cuba example 34:16 The Marxism of Antonio Gramsci 36:24 Ideological takeover of American schools 38:04 Guns for personal self-defense 43:02 Police responses to crimes 44:45 Armed teachers 49:49 The movement against armed self-defense 50:55 The Second Amendment and individual rights 53:09 Background checks and gun-owner registration 59:25 "Assault" guns 1:04:45 Wrap-up Kopel’s web site links to his many works. See also his bio page at the Independence Institute. Kopel discusses his recent article, “Guns Kill People, and Tyrants with Gun Monopolies Kill the Most” (which he summarizes at Volokh). Here is the abstract: What are the relative risks of a nation having too many guns compared to the risks of the nation having too few guns? Comparing and contrasting Europe and the United States during the twentieth century, the article finds that the United States might have suffered up to three-quarters of million excess firearms homicide over the course of the century—based on certain assumptions made to maximize the highest possible figure. In contrast, during the twentieth century Europe suffered 87 million excess homicides against civilians by mass-murdering tyrannical governments. The article suggests that Americans should not be complacent that they have some perpetual immunity to being subjected to tyranny. The historical record shows that governments planning mass murder work assiduously to disarm their intended victims. While victim resistance cannot necessarily overthrow a tyrannical regime, resistance does save many lives. Recently Kopel discussed his book on the Colorado Constitution with Jon Caldara. Kopel discusses William English’s paper, “2021 National Firearms Survey.” During the discussion Kopel mentioned Antonio Gramsci. We discussed the Victims of Communism museum. I wrote down my thoughts on nationalism in a 2016 article. I quoted Wikipedia on international homicide statistics. I also quoted the Texas Tribune and a union poll about arming teachers. And I mentioned Robert Zubrin’s article about the Russian authoritarian mystic Aleksandr Dugin.
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    1 hr and 6 mins

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