The Mindcrime Liberty Show with Dobson and Patton

Ep. 154: Our beef with declinism. #Tradcats#Libertarianism#Apocalypse

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses the blind spots of declinism. Recently Bob Murphy was interviewed by Reason magazine’s Nick Gillepsie about whether libertarians, or more broadly people on the so-called “right,” are unduly pessimistic. The first question is whether the areas such as economy, culture and fertility/family formation are in decline and when did they start? If it is in decline, what can actually be done about it and what are the social and psychological implications of living in a declining society? Bob Murphy’s answer to the question was he was a Christian which is a robust answer but why get out of bed in the morning, let alone start a family or a business, if indeed the pessimists are right?

 

Ep 153: Did Julian Assange or the Deep State win?

The Mindcrime Liberty show discusses whether the State and the Pentagon “won” against Julian Assange. First of all, we here at this show think Assange is a hero and he will be remembered as a hero by most right thinking persons; however, did the State accomplish what it wanted? The state managed to get Assange, who is in poor health thanks to his time in prison, to plead guilty to the Espionage Act. On top of that he was confined to the Ecuadorian embassy and spent 5 years in one of Britain’s worst prisons. Will this deter both whistleblowers and the publishers of classified material? This is on top of the fact that Assange never even set foot in this entire ordeal on US soil until his short stopover at Saipon. What is the future of whistleblowing and publishing materials against the US as well as larger NATO military-security state?

Ep. 152: Are we all criminals before the State, International law & God?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether anyone is innocent on various levels. Do any innocent people exist in the eyes of god, international law (if such a thing exists) or the managerial state bureaucracy? On the theological level, why do people baptize children if indeed children are considered cute and innocent? When do children become adults? Why do antiwar activists stress the death of children in war considering that they have the potential to become future soldiers if the conflict is long enough. If the Chinese or the Russians were to wage war on any NATO country would we (or most people) be considered accessories to the regime or collateral damage? If the prominent anti war activists/critics including Julian Assange, Norman Finkelstein and Scott Horton, are “right”, are most Americans or British "innocent"? On the most petty level don’t “law abiding” citizens break all sorts of “petty” laws everyday which only rarely/selectively enforced? Are we all guilty of something?

Ep. 151: Is Plato's Guardian model of the family right? Cutrone, Fraser & Caplan.

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether Plato is right in his guardian family model where children are raised without knowing their precise parents. Will keeping parents anonymous cut down on favoritism (as well as disfavoritism) and make society more cohesive and less individualistic? Why are intellectuals so boring and traditional when it comes to family and marriage? Isn’t gay marriage “conservative” as opposed to free love or the platonic guardian system outlined in Plato’s Republic? If any kind of "Heaven" or Kingdom of God exists would monogamous marriage exist in that place or would it be more like Plato's proposed system? 

Ep. 150: Is there a market for truth?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether there is a market for truth? Do people want to know the truth, if it does indeed exist, and can it be produced on the “market”? What are the incentives for those who want to spread the truth? Do the so-called “traditional” print media and “journalists” do so? Did the internet make things better or worse? What exactly do so-called reporters and journalists do? Can someone “report” on an event such as a war which takes place in many different locations plenty of which have restricted access or only "selected" access by local authorities? Does everyone have a bias? Why even bother reading the so-called news if you aren’t sure it isn’t merely propaganda? Outside of voting better, which as good theoretical anarchists and libertarians know is a probably a waste of time, what can a news or truth consumer do?

Ep. 149: If Anarchism existed, would it be right-wing?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether anarchism, or abolishing the state, would lead to what is normally understood as right wing. There is a movement to try to transcend or render meaningless the terms left and right; however, even though the terms may not be entirely useful in all areas, this axis still reveals a lot of truth. Anarchism done in the 21st century and beyond will be abolishing the modern secular liberal managerial state not the ancien regime. If abolishing the modern managerial state one will also abolish state welfare, what Michel Foucault and Charles Murray would call warehousing the poor, as well as the state school system. If these institutions are abolished who will care for and educate the children? Who would care for the elderly and poor? The likely organizations or systems would commonly be called "right wing" or traditional. If abolishing the state merely leads to the abolishment of modern technology what scenarios will that lead to? If there is no birth control, maternity care, medicines and various other technologies it is unlikely modern gender norms will be sustained in this primitive society. Thus by common usage of the terms left and right it is unlikely that abolishing the modern state will lead to any scenario which is left-wing. Whilst there maybe fewer megacorps the left anarchists and left libertarian critics of megacorps misunderstand the progressive role they actually play in modern society. These aren't your grandad’s megacorps nor is this your great-great granddad's state which is being abolished. 

Ep. 148: Does the Left hate the poor? Are Charles Murray and Michel Foucault right?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether Charles Murray and Michel Foucault are right that the left hates the poor? Murray and Foucault are two intellectuals whom some might categorize as being at opposite purposes, they are in fact both critical of the modern managerial welfare state. When the modern left speaks of helping the poor arguably they are “warehousing” the poor by providing them a steady dose of just enough necessities which thereby creates dependency on the state.

Are those dependent on the state likely to criticize, let alone overthrow it? Welfare robs the poor of what Murray would call agency while also demobilizing them. Certain thinkers who at times are associated with the “right” have in the past defended welfare precisely on the grounds to co-op/prevent the revolution. The revolutionary left should appreciate this argument, which is arguably Foucault's leftwing part, by saying that warehoused poor won’t make very effective elite revolutionaries. Murray of course would make the point in coming apart and losing ground that undisciplined and unskilled persons aren’t exactly “flourishing.” Murray himself states that he first recognized this in a rather anthropological manner by working for the peace corp seeing how academics treated the so called “natives.” In this manner Foucault and Murray might be much closer than some think. As the classic aphorism states, if you give a man a fish he isn’t hungry for a day, but teach a man to fish he won't be hungry for a lifetime.

Ep 147: Is saving possible? #Bitcoin #Gold

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether it is possible to save for the future outside of actual material goods. Austro-Libertarians are famous for their criticisms of government backed fiat currency as either outright criminal or just a known fraud. If that criticism is the case, what value does anything denominated in US currency, as well as other fiat currencies such as the Euro, Yen and Pound, have considering state central banks have an incentive to create inflation as a silent tax? What value do the various stock markets have considering that a good portion of its value is backed up by central bankers creating “loose” fiscal conditions through a labyrinth of complicated measures? What value do public and private pensions have considering that a good portion of its value is backed up by the stocks and bond markets which in turn are backed by the printing press? What is the alternative? Is Bitcoin or precious metals the solution for long term savings? One of the problems which gold funds have is that if you don’t own the physical gold you are basically investing in a product which is only worth as much as the gold fund certificate states. In a crunch how much would that be worth? Bitcoin maybe a solution as well but considering the fact that mainstream institutions like Coinbase are very much tied into the financial system combined with the fact it uses lots of energy it poses problems. Land maybe a solution to save for the future but state expropriation through hard and soft means remains a problem. If the state makes it illegal to build anything on your land, or mine your land, it isn’t really your land. Effectively your land has been stolen from you but you keep the title. That land isn’t any more valuable than Hans Hoppe’s parents land in Eastern Europe which was stolen by the USSR (an example of hard state expropriation). How ought one to save for the future? Is the only way to reliably save for the future in material goods?

Ep. 146: Does universal voting damage family and friendships? #democracy #oligarchy #deepstate

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether eliminating voting would make family and friendships stronger. With the growing polarization which is occurring in the major "democracies” there is a growing trend of family, friendships, churches, marriages and business relationships being broken up on the grounds of who one votes for. Is this "rational" or a good state of affairs? Are friendships and families stronger in societies where voting obviously doesn't matter as much and/or the political system is more closed? Is this an argument against democracies? Should people date/marry and make friends with those who are strong supporters of the "other team"? Ought people care less about voting considering the likelihood of affecting the system is mathematically very low combined with the iron law of bureaucratic oligarchy?

Ep. 145: Was the Covid 19 regime failure a Black Pill or a White Pill?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether the “War on Covid regime failure” is a white pill (or provided many of what Sean Gabb calls collateral benefits) or was it a black pill? All three aspects of the war on Covid including vaccine mandates, masks and social distancing are retrospectively being renounced, or walked back/distanced, by most so-called experts. To paraphrase Peter Hitchens everyone thought they were a skeptic at the time but I can clearly recall that they were not. Does the fact that “the trust the science establishment” was dealt such a rhetorical blow count as a victory or is this merely a “cope”? There was no giant victory parade through London led by Neil Ferguson, nor one in Los Angeles with Fauci. Covid, which some at the time have attempted to describe as the biggest story since WWII, is being memory holed. Is the total embarrassment of the mainstream media, pharmaceutical companies and the “pink state”, counterbalance any of the nasty things that did occur or is the black pilled/pessimistic line the more correct and sober view? What should people on the Dissident Right and Libertarian movement think about the memory holed event which occurred almost 4 years ago?