The Mindcrime Liberty Show with Dobson and Patton

Ep 62 MacIntyre vs Marx. Why the left will fail on its own terms.

The mindcrime liberty show discusses  MacIntyre and his book After Virtue. In After Virtue MacIntyre outlines an argument which ends up as one of the best  arguments against Marxism and the left generally.  If the current society, which most Marxists and leftists reside in ie the "West," is so impoverished, wretched and terrible as so many Marxists and leftists claim it is and full of various "isms" and "problematic" historical persons and institutions how will a better society emerge out of this impoverished mess which they claim the existing west is? One can dispute who is and isn't in the west but some phenomena like that clearly exists.   The third wordlist might be able to make an argument or some uncontacted group but those groups are increasingly far between.  Certain "western" ideas have went almost everywhere including some form of Marxism which itself a "western" idea.   Marx, Hegel, Kant and Engels are all they themselves are part of historical Western civilization for better or worse. Most Marxists interpret these kinds of arguments as "ad hominem" but if most of them are part of the managerial class then why would they be the ones to actually do it?   They either can claim that the current society and its past isn't as bad as they claim it is or they become as described by MacIntyre  the spectre of "pessimistic Marxists" and in a sense as MacIntyre describes ceases to be a Marxist.  "Conservative" socialists are no socialists at all!  If one is skeptical of man or the society writ large  one in  some sense cannot advocate a utopian poltiical program because one doesn't think there is actually a "tolerable" poltiical institution.   Anarchism of some variety might exist as a tolerable political institution but the contents of said anarchism will be disputed and to bring in another point which MacIntyre makes there is no way to actually determine which argument is "correct" other than of course naked power (a la Nietzche).   Although MacIntyre  is no "anarcho capitalist" or right libertarian he does use Robert Nozick as an equal to John Rawls in one of the later chapters of After Virtue.  Capitalism, even in its corrupted form which Murray Rothbard wouldn't recognize as being such, does exist in some diluted way or another and of course the enemies of it clearly describe the existing society as such.  Capitalism (ie private property, family and competition between firms and the "anarchy" of production) is one of the central elements of the West and fits what Thomas Sowell describes the constrained or tragic view which is very much skeptical of "progress."   Finally in a related point MacIntyre makes, which most Marxists interpret as ad hominem,  is with respect to virtues themselves and how to be a "better person." If one is going to build a better society one is going to need virtuous and courageous persons and for the most part Marxists undermine the virtues or are outright skeptical of them promising a society free from want and pain. 

Ep 61: The errors and blind spots of Historians. What can we know? W/Terminal Philosophy.

The Mindcrime liberty show is joined by Terminal Philosophy to discuss what can actually be known about history.   How does issues of epistemology, propaganda and  interpretation effect history?  How much of history, especially which is relevant, is merely lost to history and unknown? What can we know about the ancient Egyptians, Spartans or even say Alexander the Great? How much of written accounts do we actually have? Of the phenomena we do have information and text available what is missing?  What perspectives is one getting?    Is the student of history only getting the "NY times version" or elite version of history?  If one merely relied only official reports and the NY Times' to understand the recent American elections or the war in Iraq  one would be getting quite an air brushed and one sided version of history.  It isn't hard to expand this analogy to past events and one would be left with doubts about what can known.    At least Societies in the "west" for all their censorship have a tradition of "openness" to some degree but on the contrary how does one know about closed societies such as a North Korea or the former Soviet Union?  What can actually be known about history and with what confidence?  Is philosophy a better guide than history?  

Ep. 60: What was Mediaeval Christendom with Matteo Salonia

The Mindcrime liberty show is joined by Matteo Salonia to discuss medieval Christendom and its various legal, political, social and economic phenomena. The modern period heralds the end of the mediaeval Catholic Christendom and beginning of the modern nation state. What changed to achieve this and how were these ideas transmitted?  What was the key ideas and institutions themselves? What changed with the reformation and early modernity? 

Ep.59: Are Children overrated? Are children sentimentalized by the left and many conservatives?

The Mindcrime liberty show discusses whether children are overrated with respect to different political groups and outlooks.  Why do so many political/social  movements across the spectrum seem to be about defending or doing things "for the children."  Are they really doing it for the children or their own power?  What are the downsides of the sentimentalization of children  and using them as political props?  

Are children closer to animals or are children undeveloped  humans. When does a child become an adult and are teenagers a "new" category?    Do adults want to become "children."  Are children innocent with respect to Christianity? How ought the law treat children?  

Ep. 58 In defense of Child Labor. Is it any worse then schooling?

The Mindcrime libertyshow discusses child labor both historically and in the future.  Swithun starts by discussing a mises institute article which chronicles how some of the worst aspects of child labor in England described by Charles Dickens had to do with functionally state mandates not "free market" capitalism.   

 

"Thus, in advocating the regulation of child labor, social reformers asked government to remedy abuses for which it was largely responsible. Once more, government was "a disease masquerading as its own cure." To their credit, some reformers realized that regulations to help the poor did precisely the opposite. "

https://mises.org/library/legal-child-abuse

 

We continue our discussion with pointing out that scarcity is a historic fact which few people other then right libertarians will acknowledge.   Its only recently that society has been rich enough to have significant portion of the population doing "useless" work.  That useless work is known as mass schooling which for many people is quite alienating work involving tests and papers which they don't care to take and the teacher doesn't care to administer.  Is this any better than many current jobs? At least with a job you get paid and something productive is produced.  It is true that if one wants a high paying job and one isn't an innovator the only real way is to get a good education for a skill.  Funnily enough mass schooling tends to fail many of the people it claims to help and is a kind of jail anyways for disgruntled non academic persons in particular young men of all races and many backgrounds.  Would these people be any better off working?   How would that effect the immigration debate if one had an increase in effective working hours?  

Ep 57: Keith Preston on what should be done about Israel and why liberal democracy won't fix it.

The Mindcrime liberty show interviews Keith Preston about Israel.  We discuss the past and future of Israel and how this conflict emerged and if any "solution" actually exists.  We begin the discussion by pointing out why a one state liberal democracy in the western European context, which is the de facto solution many of the western left such as Chomsky, Glen Greenwald and Cornel West give, will probably fail and lead to a civil war almost immediately.  We also discuss issues of immigration and homesteading and why the left hates Israeli as well as why the American left has failed to make any impact in favor of the Palestinians. We finally end with a discussion of the future of American-Israeli relations.  Has  American influence restrained Israel? Would Israel going alone be more aggressive? Who exactly controls whom in this relationship?  Does Israel have America wrapped its thumb or is it a more symbiotic relationship. 

 

Keith Preston is the author of many books including Thinkers against Modernity and runs the great website www.attackthesystem.com 

Ep 56: Is murder wrong? What is murder? What is "justified" killing? What is harm?

The mind crime liberty show discusses the very relevant question of whether murder is wrong and if murder is wrong what makes it wrong.  Murders apparent wrongness tends to be more or less assumed and we investigate this assumption.  If one digs deeper "murder" is a key concept in almost all areas of philosophy, theology, history, war and ethics which is mostly just assumed as a starting point. If one removes this starting point (ie murder is wrong)  what then is the big deal about wars, genocides and abortions?  Why is it the case that certain organizations, namely the state, is allowed to "justly" murder someone.  What is the difference between murder and justified killing (ie an executioner or say a soldier).  Is there actually a distinction? 

What are the best and most persuasive arguments in favor of not killing/murdering others.  Why is it the case that its so weakly argued considering its alleged importance to all facets of life.  What do golden rule or Kantian type arguments miss? How do these ethical theories deal with outliers or exceptions? Is Divine command theory or natural law a more effective and persuasive argument?  

 

 

Ep 55 Is wage "slavery" (ie working at McDonald's) a form of slavery that ought to be abolished?

The Mindcrime libertyshow discusses whether wage "slavery," such as working for McDonald's, Amazon or Walmart at a low wage, ought to be abolished?  Would low wage jobs in large firms exist in a free society?  Would anyone choose to work at these kinds of jobs if better options existed and why do these jobs exist?  What exactly defines slavery? What is the difference between working for amazon as a picker, serfdom and classic chattel slavery?  Does dignity and autonomy matter?  What exactly is a dignified job and would paying them more make them less "slave" like. Why aren't interns, adjunct professors and TA's considered wage slaves even though at times they can make as much money if one does a full hourly accounting?  What does Marx, Hoppe, Nozick and Walter Block agree on and disagree on when it comes to technical economics related to free labor under capitalism and slavery? Are people as free and creative as many of the left libertarians claim people are?  If barriers to entry were removed would there be more small business owners and self employed people?  

Ep 54 Crypto currency skepticism or crytpo to the moon? #Bitcoin #Eth #Doge

The Mindcrime libertyshow is joined by Duncan Whitmore of Mises UK who wrote an essay entitled Crypto Skepticism to discuss both his essay and crypto currency in general.  Does crypto currency ranging from the very well established Bitcoin and Ethereum to the plethora of startup alt coins and even meme coins like dogecoin have any future?  Is crypto currency merely a ponzi scheme for lunatics, a Chinese weapon against the FED as Peter Thiel has described it or is it a fascinating technology which can wrestle away the states control of the money supply?  Why is money needed anyways (why not just barter?) and can money exist without the state controlling it?  Why not go back to gold and silver?  What are the strengths and weakness of crypto currency?  We discuss all of this in this episode. 

 

A link to Duncan Whitmore's excellent essay.

https://misesuk.org/2021/03/12/crypto-scepticism/

Ep 53: Is Moldbug (Yarvin) or Mises right about banking and finance?

The Mindcrime liberty show discusses whether Curtis Yarvin (ie Moldbug) is right about banking and finance based on two old posts from his blog Unqualified Reservations entitled The Misean Explanation of the Bank Crisis and Maturity Transformation Considered.  Yarvin describes the financial system fairly effectively noting that Maturity transformation which the most common form is known as fractional reserve banking is the dominant feature.   Yarvin, like Mises and most Austrian economists, note how unstable this system is and describes why it blows up every so often. To quote yarvin himself this poorly engineered system  "coats the entire area with radioactive material" in his excellent analogy. Why is fractional reserve banking so unstable?  Could fractional reserve banking work without the state as a lender of last resort. What would banking look like in a stateless society, ancapistan or a freed market?  Would there be any fractional reserve banks? Why is the state so interested in controlling the money supply? How did this current system come about?  How does Moldbug's solution of nationalizing the banks compares to other solutions in particular various Austrian economists solutions?  

 

https://www.unqualified-reservations.org/2008/10/misesian-explanation-of-bank-crisis/ 

https://www.unqualified-reservations.org/2008/09/maturity-transformation-considered/