Free Thoughts

Is it true that, “an unjust law is no law at all?” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Privacy may seem simple, but it’s much harder to define than it seems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where does our idea of free speech come from and why is it so powerful? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not to burst your bubble—but inflation is at the highest it has been for the past 40 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Was the USSR an evil empire? Cathy Young thinks the answer is quite simple—yes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Heaton presents “International Relations Theory for Dummies” (his words, not ours). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

California has had solid economic growth recently, pockets of vast wealth, and an extensive social safety net—yet it also has the highest poverty rate of all 50 states. What makes California so strange in terms of poverty and inequality? Michael Tanner joins Trevor to breakdown the many causes influencing the various forms of poverty in The Golden State. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Bryan Caplan joins Trevor to explain how everything from immigration, education, workplace issues, and more are all part of labor economics (and why that matters). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spencer Ackerman joins Trevor to discuss how the events of September 11th, 2001 changed terrorism from “something some people do” into “something some people are”; creating an opportunity for authoritarian violence, unfettered surveillance, and nationalist populism to grow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After nearly a decade of hosting Free Thoughts, this is Aaron’s last episode. Trevor sits down with him to discuss how they met, how they’ve changed since then, and what they hope listeners take away from their time together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The "Notorious PVD" sits down with Aaron and Trevor to discuss his knowledge of nuclear regulation, gas taxes, roving motorcycle gangs, and the purpose of intellectual inquiry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone values honesty, but figuring out just what it entails can be difficult. In today's episode, we're joined by philosopher Christian Miller to discuss what it means to be honest and which features of our environment can push us towards dishonesty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natural foods. Natural medicine. Natural living. They all sound good, and lots of people tell us we need more of them, and that government policy should support them. The trouble is, as guest Alan Levinovitz explains, nailing down just what counts as "natural" is awfully difficult, and that difficulty leads to a lot of bad thinking--and bad laws. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

Are elections really under more threat than they have been? Is there more fraud than there used to be? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are prisons so different from nation to nation? And how are these institutions governed internally and externally? David Skarbek sits down with Trevor and Aaron to explore differing methods of incarceration, the issues with each method, and how, or if, a prison can be considered “successful.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Star Wars saga isn't just an epic story of galactic conflict. It's also a moral parable, exploring virtues, and probing questions of how to live, and how to live with each other. Stephen Kent, author of How the Force Can Fix the World: Lessons on Life, Liberty, and Happiness from a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carissa Byrne Hessick joins the podcast to discuss the fact that 97% of convictions in the United States every year are the result of people pleading guilty, often via a plea bargain, rather than having a trial before a jury of their peers. How did we get to a situation where the vast majority of criminal convictions come prior to any trial taking place? Hosted on Acast. See ac...

Johan Norberg joins Trevor this week to talk about the notion of progress and gives us all a few reasons to look forward to the future. Why is there a systemic bias towards pessimism when hard data shows the world is getting better and better every day? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Ryan Neuhofel joins us this week to talk about his practice, NeuCare, which is a very different way to approach primary care medicine in the United States. What is direct primary care? How should health insurance work, and how is it broken in our health care system today? How do primary care doctors currently get paid? Why is managed health care so expensive? Is direct primary care part o...

Shon Hopwood joins us this week to tell about his journey from bank robber to federal prisoner to U.S. Supreme Court practitioner and Georgetown law professor. What’s it like in federal prison? How did Hopwood become a jailhouse lawyer? If people do in fact “age out” of criminal activity, then what should our prison system look like? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information...

Not so long ago, we embraced social media as a life‐​changing opportunity to connect with friends and family from across the world. But now, many people are choosing to see or argue the negative impact of social media and large tech companies. Robby Soave provided a comprehensive overview of this phenomenon in his new book,  Tech Panic . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

Individuals like to argue that as we engage in market activity, the more likely we are to become selfish & corrupt. Even Adam Smith, who famously celebrated markets, believed that there were moral costs associated with life in market societies. Ginny Choi explains that successful markets require and produce virtuous participants. Markets serve as moral spaces that both rely on and reward their...

Mark Calabria is the former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates and supervises Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. During his service at the agency, Calabria led the response to COVID-19, as well as laid the groundwork for a removal of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government conservatorship. Prior to his heading of the Federal Housing Finance Ag...

Steve knows the world has truly gotten better for human beings. Not enough people recognize or appreciate that. We hope that this episode inspires you to help a neighbor or call a friend. How does gratitude compare to resentment? Do we have the mental space to be thinking about the welfare of everyone else? How different are you on social media compared to real life? Why do GoFundMe’s wo...

Samuel Goldman highlights three pillars of mid-twentieth-century nationalism, all of which are absent today: the social dominance of Protestant Christianity, the absorption of European immigrants in a broader white identity, and the defense of democracy abroad. Most of today's nationalists fail to recognize these necessary underpinnings of any renewed nationalism, or the potentially troubling cons...