The Mindcrime Liberty Show with Dobson and Patton

Ep. 121: What is a good life? Does Bill Gates live a better life than a homeless man?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses, what is the nature of the good or ideal life? Are Amish farmers, McDonald's workers or the homeless living a better life than billionaires, trust fund babies and the power elite? Does work or some form of productive activity a component of a good life and make one "happier"? Is having friends and family a part of a good life or is being a reclusive hermit preferable? Is the Nozick experience machine or Zizek's joke about lemonade and pornography really a good life? Is merely consuming for base pleasures that pleasurable?

Ep. 120: Is selfishness a virtue? W/Rik Storey

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses with Rik Storey, whether seflishness is a virtue? Is Ayn Rand right? Or are the Christian and some communist critics of her right? Does not one need to care for oneself in order to care for others? Is selfishness merely the excess of necessary love to oneself? Aren't most uses of be less selfish by the state and society merely tools of more exploitation? For example, take this Big Pharma unproven j@b, or pay higher gas prices to help the environment and the Ukraine. Was Christ himself purely selfless?

Who is the freest man: Boss, Employee, Master or Slave?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses who is the freest man: the slave, employee, boss or owner? Is Thaddeus Russell's Renegade History of the United States correct in arguing that many abolitionists thought that slaves were too free? Is Aristotle's theory of slavery right? Does this analysis extend into other forms of so called modern "slavery" such as so called wage slavery? Do Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates "work" longer hours than there minimum wage employees? Was Thaddeus Russell right when he debated with Michael Brooks, in that workers managing the means of production would require lots of meetings which not everyone wants to do? Do all people desire or have the capability to be a "boss"? Is there a slavery of being an owner in either the modern form or the historical forms? Are "leaders" held to higher standards or lower standards than their subordinates?

 

Ep 118: Is free speech a Unicorn?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether anyone believes in free speech without limitations? Free speech is commonly cited as a value of certain groups; however, does any society live up to that standard at any time? Can free speech exist in a fashion which meets the SlateStarCodex/GK Chesterton standard, whereby the genuine outgroup gets to say whatever it wants without consequences, formal or informal? What level of punishment or consequences given to verboten ideas means free speech no longer exists? Did free speech exist for Communists in America in the 1950s? Did free speech exist for Christians in the USSR? Did free speech exist for atheists in Zwingli’s Geneva? Did free speech exist during the world wars in any society? Did free speech exist during the “War on Covid”? It is quite clear in all these cases that the outgroup faced consequences or merely the inability to spread the message they wanted to a large audience. Does harassment and doxxing count as free speech? Should right-libertarians support free speech? Does free speech in areas which are genuinely relevant even exist? If an issue is important enough, wouldn’t the cost of being right/wrong or politically correct/incorrect be high? Is free speech a unicorn?

 

Ep. 117: Are landlords criminals? Is the state a landlord?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether those who collect rents from properties are criminals? If this is the case, wouldn’t the state also be a landlord par excellence considering that it collects property taxes and tells the occupants what it can and can’t do? Why do so many progressives, social democrats and others hate landlords but seemingly love the property tax collecting and the money printing managerial state? Are land, housing and rent more expensive because of central banks giving out easy money? Do environmental regulations, which so many people on the Left love, and licensing requirements also make housing more expensive as well?

 

Ep. 116: Can the government pull off conspiracies?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses whether the state is really too incompetent to pull off a “conspiracy.” Libertarians routinely accuse the government of being too incompetent but this argument is incorrect. The problem with the State is that it isn’t incentivized to provide said services for the common good. On the contrary the so-called open and closed conspiracies, which it is accused of, ARE in the interest of certain sectors of the State. Since most sophisticated political theorists including Hoppe, Chomsky, Burnham, Rothbard, Preston and Carson, understand that the State isn’t some grassroots democracy, the question of conspiracies becomes a question of when, not if. The mainstream of course accuses other governments such as Putin, Xi or Saddam (as well as historically the moustache man in the Reichstag) but wouldn’t accuse their own government of it. What makes the American or British state different? The “they” could be relatively innocuous persons merely acting in their own class or career interest. Many of the “they,” just as Socrates thought in the Meno dialogue, could think it's for the good of all or their tribe. There needs to be war in Indochina or the Middle East, so one stages a false flag in order to drum up support. Satanists need not apply (although who knows). Why couldn’t “they” assassinate JFK, stage a false flag, fake a moon landing for PR or hide trafficking? The anti-conspiracy line seems to suggest that no organization can make a plan and keep it secret - Volkswagen did! The Manhattan project was a secret from Truman. This way of understanding human behavior is much more in line with Mises Human action. Humans, acting within organizations, can and do make plans, and can and do act. Some plans are of course a priori impossible but false flags and assassinations are far from impossible.

Ep. 115: Does mental illness exist? W/Rik Storey

The Mindcrime Liberty Show is joined by Rik Storey to discuss, does mental illness exists? Is it merely a tool which ruling powers use to isolate and medicate those who don’t fit in? Is PTSD a rational response to witnessing horrors? What exactly is “normal” or “healthy” behavior especially in the current age? Are the formal institutions of society in any position to say that?  Is mental illness merely a way to get around moral culpability by labelling any unwanted action as something akin to diarrhea or a toothache? What causes mental illness if it does indeed exist? Is mental illness incompatible with a robust understanding of Christianity? If Christianity is indeed true, then would such a society have the category of mental illness?

Ep 114: Why don’t central banks print even more money???

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses, why don’t government central banks print more money? Printing money is extremely useful for the state because it is seemingly “unseen” tax. This “tax”, paid for by inflation and Cantillon effects, also has the effect of weakening those who don’t get the money as quickly and those who are on fixed incomes. What is the limit of state banks from going hyper MMT considering how it allows them to live effectively "rent free"? Does the fear of a radical alteration in your exchange rate between other central banks keep them honest? How much coordination between central banks is there? Does the fear of upsetting the golden goose regulate the state? How real is this fear and what would be its limits?

 

Ep. 113: Are the British Royal family any different than the Kardashians?

The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses the British Royal Family by asking, are they any different than the Kardashians? Are the royals merely attention seeking celebrities with a brand that sells branded merch to adoring fans? Did Queen Elizabeth become a kind of “girl boss” celebrity or is she the last standing member of the ancien regime? Are parliamentary politicians merely celebrities too? If this “celebrityfication” did happen, when did it happen and is this a good development? Does the monarchy still have virtues? What is the role of the royal family in Britain and the wider English world going forward?

Ep 112: What is the purpose of fathers?

The Mindcrime liberty show discusses, what is the purpose of fathers? Are fathers merely sperm donors? Are fathers merely breadwinning money cows to be milked by children and wives? Are fathers a cultural killer app, to use the Niall Ferguson term? Do societies with involved fathers do better than those which don’t? Is there a tension between the idea of an involved father and a successful one? Being successful at anything seems to require a significant number of hours. As Musk jokes, nothing worthwhile was ever accomplished on 40 hours a week, let alone “part-time.” Most fathers in the nuclear family model in the industrial world work outside the home and so are functionally away from their families for much of the time. In the past the number of hours worked was even higher. Even though in death bed confessions people say they want to work less, their revealed preference and necessity seem to dictate otherwise. Why is that and can this tension be resolved? Finally, should the clergy or priestly class be single without any entangling ties of the family?