Kibbe On Liberty

When the socialist policies of Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chavez transformed Venezuela from a prosperous country into a humanitarian disaster, it was big news all over the world. The New York Times ran stories about residents of the impoverished nation having to eat their own pets in order to survive and any number of similarly horrific narratives. But at some point, discussion of Venezuela’s downfall simply stopped, as readers got bored and preferred to focus on issues closer to home, like the American economy or the pandemic. But just because we stop talking about something doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. In Venezuela, things have only gotten worse. Matt Kibbe talks to Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan activist and the director of Alumni for Liberty, about Maduro’s continued efforts to control the population by outlawing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the desperate attempts of the Venezuelan people to survive the actions of their own government. As Americans, it’s important that we not forget about the plight

It’s easy to take a revisionist view of our initial attitudes toward the COVID-19 lockdowns now that several years have passed and the initial fog of confusion has been replaced by a series of increasingly inconvenient facts for the COVID-authoritarians. But Matt Kibbe’s guest this week has had the courage not only to revisit his former views but even to publish them! Tom Woods is the host of “The Tom Woods Show” and author of “Diary of a Psychosis: How Public Health Disgraced Itself During COVID Mania.” Woods catalogues how, as the pandemic progressed, the folly and foolishness of lockdowns became ever more clear as public health officials backtracked, contradicted themselves, and made a series of entirely arbitrary recommendations with no basis in science or sound policy.

Political polarization in the United States has never been worse. At least, that’s what we’ve been told by a media culture that feeds on sensationalism and fearmongering. But it turns out the truth is somewhat more complicated. In their new film, “Undivide Us,” Kristina Kendall and Benjamin Klutsey bring Americans together to have the kinds of difficult conversations that we’re told we can’t have any more. What they find is that, far from being too tribally entrenched to hear one another, most people are actually eager to hear other points of view and to humanize viewpoints besides their own. In this conversation, Matt Kibbe and his guests explore the idea that we can disagree without being disagreeable and that we can use our differences to make social progress rather than to simply attack one another.

All over the country people are relocating in search of better living conditions, greater economic opportunity, and more freedom. But where to go? Conventional wisdom would probably suggest states like Texas or Florida, but two economists from the American Institute for Economic Research say that conventional wisdom is for suckers! In a new study entitled "Freedom in the Fifty States", Will Ruger and Jason Sorens use science to discover which state really is the freest of them all. In this conversation, Matt Kibbe digs into the data while trying to defend his decision to remain in the festering swamp that is Washington, DC in spite of all the available evidence.

Concluding a series focusing on different points of view on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Matt Kibbe is joined by three members of the Israeli liberty movement for firsthand accounts of what it’s really like to live in the midst of war. Moshe Gorin and Lior Abutbul of the Kohelet Policy Forum, along with Boaz Arad of the Ayn Rand Center Israel, share their experiences surrounding October 7, Israel’s response to the attacks, and whether the policies of the local government contributed to a lack of preparedness.

In this latest in a series of conversations highlighting different perspectives on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Matt Kibbe talks to Sheldon Richman, author of Coming to Palestine and executive editor at the Libertarian Institute. Richman argues that it's possible to feel empathy for the tragedy of the October 7th attacks on Israel, without having to support American involvement in the war or the policies of the Israeli government. While there is a tendency to equate any criticism of Israel or support for the Palestinian people with antisemitism, Richman points out that the Jewish community has itself been historically divided on the question of Zionism, rendering such accusations patently ridiculous.

When COVID lockdowns were imposed, the focus by policymakers was on protecting the citizens of developed countries from the virus. While they failed to do this, they also neglected to consider the impact of people struggling with poverty around the world. David Malpass, former president of the World Bank, talks with Matt Kibbe about how lockdowns created grievous harms for people living in developing countries. This does not just include economic hardship, but also impacted the development of children, health, nutrition, and death rates. It’s ironic that many of the people who claim to care most about helping the poor turned a blind eye to these damages in their uncritical support of lockdown policies.

The international monetary system is a mess, but how did it get that way? In large part, it is due to a deal that was cut in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944. At the scene of the crime 80 years later, Matt Kibbe sits down with economics professor Larry White to dissect how the pre-World War I stable gold standard was transformed into one of fiat currencies that encourage overborrowing, overspending, and the rampant inflation we are seeing today.

Following the horrific attacks on October 7, the war between Israel and Hamas has sparked a heated debate about whether the Israeli government’s response has been appropriate and what role, if any, the West should play in supporting the Israeli cause. In a series of conversations with people holding diverse views on this topic, Matt Kibbe sits down with Craig Biddle, founder and director of the Objective Standard Institute. Biddle argues that Israel is a society that respects the rights of its citizens in a way that the surrounding Islamic theocracies simply do not and that Western liberals have an obligation to support societies that stand up for human freedom. He rejects the non-interventionist claim that this is a regional conflict and none of America’s business but say rather that it is a battle between civilization and savagery in which we all have a stake.

Following a series of highly visible (and highly embarrassing) congressional hearings with the heads of major universities, the debate over what speech should be permitted on college campuses has reignited. Matt Kibbe sits down with Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of FIRE and author of "The Canceling of the American Mind," to discuss cancel culture and the hypocrisy of college administrators who are fine with allowing vocal anti-Semitism while also maintaining a “speech is violence” attitude toward more conservative opinions.

Israel is the new Ukraine! As Congress shifts its interest from funding a war against Russia to funding a war against Hamas, there are few people in Washington willing to push back against reckless spending, even though our own national debt is spiraling out of control. Thomas Massie is one such voice, although his principled commitment to fiscal responsibility has earned him plenty of animosity, including but not limited to accusations of antisemitism. He sits down with Matt Kibbe to defend his votes, and highlight how America’s overspending is the greatest threat to our own national security.

Are the teachings of Christianity compatible with libertarianism? Economist Deirdre McCloskey thinks so. At the Mont Pelerin Society conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, she sits down with Matt Kibbe to lay out her vision of a Christian libertarianism that values the individual over the collective, embraces markets, and demands that we treat each other with kindness, humility, and love. These lessons are more important than ever in a time when politics is dominated by division and hatred.

As America continues to experience painfully high levels of inflation, the need for a sound money supply that serves as a reliable store of value has never been clearer. At the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, Matt Kibbe sits down with economist Judy Shelton, author of "Good as Gold: How to Unleash the Power of Sound Money." Shelton argues that the appeal of a gold-backed currency is in the trust people hold in a time-tested finite resource that cannot be abused by an activist central bank.

In the second of a series of interviews conducted at the Mont Pelerin Society in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, Matt Kibbe is joined by Daniel D’Amico, director for the Stephenson Institute of Classical Liberalism to discuss the much maligned and abused L-word. Liberalism in its classical sense conveys a respect for individualism, personal freedom, and limited government. Despite its co-option by progressive leftists, it remains a better word, both etymologically and aesthetically, to describe the kind of world those at the Mont Pelerin Society are fighting for. While many people are enamored with more collectivist ideas like socialism these days, liberalism remains the standard by which countries are judged. If you go looking for justice, prosperity, freedom, and happiness, you will find it in those societies that are the most liberal in their construction.

In the first of a series of interviews conducted at the Mont Pelerin Society in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, Matt Kibbe is joined by Daniel Hannan, member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. From his perspective across the pond, Hannan has a typically British pessimism about the prospects for freedom in the post-COVID world. As an outspoken critic of lockdowns, he witnessed a public tolerance for authoritarianism he had previously not thought possible. The terrifying thing about COVID policies was that they were not imposed by governments on an unwilling public but were welcomed and even demanded by many people. That’s a big hurdle to overcome if we want to build a freer society.

Generations of development economists, non-profit leaders, and charitable organizations have struggled to understand why Africa lags so stubbornly behind the Western world in terms of living standards. Explanations have focused on the continent's geography, its history, and its people, but Magatte Wade, author of "The Heart of a Cheetah," has a different tale. She tells Matt Kibbe that the solution to African poverty lies not in combatting poverty, but in promoting prosperity through stronger, more liberal institutions, better protection of property rights, and more freedom.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was designed to prevent the church from running the government and vice versa. In contrast to European countries where church and state were synonymous, America was founded on the belief that people should be free to practice any faith they chose, and the result is one of the most diverse religious landscapes in the world. Matt Kibbe sits down with Logan Albright, head writer for Free the People and author of “Libertarian Paganism: Freedom and Responsibility in Nature-Based Spirituality,” to discuss one of the fastest-growing religions in America and what its values have in common with libertarian ideals of individual freedom, non-violence, privacy, and personal responsibility.

The term “conspiracy theory” has long been used to dismiss ideas as the unhinged ravings of paranoid lunatics. But it’s naïve to assume that people never conspire and that there are no plots going on behind the scenes. As we learn more about the inner workings of government, it’s increasingly clear that not all conspiracy theories are crazy and some are actually true. Matt Kibbe is joined by Connor Boyack, author of “The Tuttle Twins Guide to True Conspiracies,” to discuss some of the documented historical examples of the U.S. government’s sinister machinations, diabolical experiments, and human rights abuses, from Project Mockingbird to MK Ultra.

The government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was built on lies — from the origin of the virus to the effectiveness of facemasks. No one has been more vigilant in exposing those lies than Sen. Rand Paul. In his new book “Deception: The Great COVID Cover-Up,” Sen. Paul brings the receipts on the worst public policy failure and power grab of our lifetimes. Matt Kibbe hosts an exclusive livestreamed conversation during which the senator discusses his book and answers questions from the audience. Signed copies of Sen. Paul’s book can be obtained at https://premierecollectibles.com/deception

The public response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing government lockdowns was a shocking wake-up call to many of us about the nature of our fellow human beings. The acceptance and even embrace of totalitarian policies took us by surprise, but it’s not that hard to understand through the lens of collective hysteria. Matt Kibbe is joined by researcher and entrepreneur Mark Changizi to analyze the ways in which crowds can be dumber than individuals and how groupthink can lead to horrific outcomes.