Kibbe On Liberty

Rampant inflation is making it harder for Americans to put food on the table and is one of the main drivers of the political dissatisfaction that led to Donald Trump's reelection. Yet, many economists remain bemused by the average worker's concern over rising prices. This is because many ivory tower academics are narrowly focused on their areas of study and have lost touch with the concerns of ordinary people. Matt Kibbe sits down with Lydia Mashburn Newman, managing director of monetary economics at the American Institute for Economic Research. to discuss how the Federal Reserve, coupled with reckless government spending, is the main contributor to inflation, and the need for someone like Ron Paul to go in and clean house.

The mismanagement and subsequent cover-up of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the greatest scandals in American history, and it's crucial that those responsible are held accountable for their lies and deceptions. It's also imperative that we put safeguards in place to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. That is the task of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, chaired by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio). The subcommittee has just released a 500-page report detailing its findings, and Rep. Wenstrup sits down with Matt Kibbe to go through those results and talks about criminal referrals for the culpable parties.

Donald Trump has signaled that the foreign policy of his second administration will put America first and avoid foreign entanglements. However, he has also leaned into his persona of international tough guy, ready to limit foreign trade with tariffs and quotas. Matt Kibbe sits down with Magatte Wade, director of the Center for African Prosperity, to discuss the need for the United States to work together with other nations to help create a wealthier, more prosperous future. This is not about handing out foreign aid or funding other countries' wars but about supporting the institutions that empower entrepreneurs and innovators to bring opportunity to the whole world.

Donald Trump won re-election in large part due to his promises to end the war in Ukraine and pursue an “America First” foreign policy. At the same time, some of his Cabinet picks have been troublingly hawkish. Matt Kibbe is joined by Dan Caldwell, senior adviser at Defense Priorities, and Reid Smith, vice president of foreign policy at Stand Together, to discuss what we can expect from the incoming Trump administration, how to correct some of Joe Biden’s previous mistakes, and the importance of encouraging the president-elect in the right direction when it comes to war and military adventurism.

As the Cabinet appointees within the incoming Trump administration take shape, there is cause for hope among libertarians, as well as some cause for concern. Matt Kibbe is joined by Keith Knight, managing editor at the Libertarian Institute and author of the book "Domestic Imperialism: Nine Reasons I Left Progressivism," to talk about why progressives and neoconservatives alike are so quick to agitate for foreign wars and why it's so important to keep hawks like Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo far from the levers of power.

For the last four years, the media has persisted in characterizing January 6 protesters as a violent mob intent on overthrowing a legitimately elected government. However, many of the people now being prosecuted were innocent bystanders or journalists simply trying to cover the event. One such man is investigative journalist and BlazeTV contributor Steve Baker, who comes straight from the courthouse to talk to Matt Kibbe about how he was forced to enter a guilty plea for a crime he didn’t commit and how his life has been turned upside down by a twisted justice system bent on locking him away. With the re-election of President Trump, there is now some hope that he and his fellow journalists can finally be liberated from these politically motivated prosecutions.

On this episode of “Kibbe on Liberty,” recorded the morning after Donald Trump’s decisive victory, Matt Kibbe is joined by Jack Hunter, co-founder of BASEDPolitics, to analyze the election results. Both are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for important liberty-friendly policies, bolstered by the MAHA movement and an anti-authoritarian political realignment. Beginning with Trump’s pledge to free Ross Ulbricht, Matt and Jack lay out a white-pilled wish list. Will a new Trump administration include Cabinet posts for Thomas Massie, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Mike Lee, and Vivek Ramaswamy? What about the waste-slashing ideas of Elon Musk and Ron Paul?

In this special election edition of "Kibbe on Liberty," Matt goes solo, unleashing an epic ramble-rant about the big political realignment happening right before our eyes and the opportunities for libertarians working to free America from the tyranny of lockdown authoritarianism. While Donald Trump openly courts the libertarian vote, a New Resistance is forming, motivated by a reverence for free speech, skepticism of endless foreign wars, and a desire to make America healthy again. With old-school liberals like RFK Jr., Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, Nicole Shanahan, and Bret Weinstein now joined together, what kinds of new coalitions and alliances might we help create or join — together? 

As trust in the government school system plummets, more and more parents are stepping up and taking a more active role in their children’s educations. Now, those parents are representing a major voting bloc in the swing states, and they will have to decide which candidate will better support their rights. Matt Kibbe sits down with Corey DeAngelis, author of “The Parent Revolution,” to discuss how issues like school choice and parental rights will impact the election and whether the actions taken by administrators and teachers’ unions during the pandemic will create blowback for Democrats.

Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic and the disastrous lockdowns that accompanied it, we’re still looking for answers on who to blame for the millions of deaths as well as the countless livelihoods destroyed. Since the corporate press has failed to do its job in holding government officials accountable, independent journalists have had to pick up the slack. Matt Kibbe sits down with Christian Britschgi, associate editor at Reason magazine, to discuss the role that Dr. Anthony Fauci played in funding the gain-of-function research that likely led to the release of the virus and then covering up his involvement to protect himself and his allies. While most people only learned who Fauci was in 2020, he has been a major player in researching bioweapons for decades.

As Hurricane Helene brought devastation to Asheville, North Carolina, and surrounding communities, it’s been remarkable how ineffective FEMA and other government agencies have been at helping victims. More galling, government bureaucrats are actually impeding private efforts to offer aid to those in need. Matt Kibbe sits down with Amy LePore, co-founder of Dissident Media, who explains how the centralization of emergency services after 9/11 has led to an obstructive bureaucracy incapable of responding to the needs of citizens.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave government authoritarians the opportunity to exploit the public’s fear to seize power. It was shocking to see how quickly many people were willing to abandon their principles for the promise of protection, but it’s hardly the first time this has happened. Matt Kibbe sits down with Logan Albright, head writer at Free the People and author of "Freedom over Fear," to discuss the history of the politicians and bureaucrats using the rhetoric of fear to consolidate their own power and strip the citizens of their civil liberties. From xenophobia during war and FDR’s economic fascism during the Great Depression to surrendering privacy in the name of anti-terrorism and moral panics about the corruption of children, both the political Left and Right will take any chance to scare us as long as we keep letting them. Pick up your copy of “Freedom Over Fear” here: https://a.co/d/6DrdFXX

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a number of troubling truths about the role the pharmaceutical industry plays in shaping public policy and the financial incentives that politicians and bureaucrats have to push certain medical interventions onto unsuspecting citizens. Matt Kibbe sits down with Sharyl Attkisson, author of "Follow the Science," to discuss the hidden connections between the medical-industrial complex and the regulators who have the power to force you to take an experimental vaccine whether you want to or not. It’s impossible to have trust in the public health establishment as long as these blatant conflicts of interests exist and as long as there is no civil or criminal accountability for companies delivering products that have a high risk of causing permanent harm to those who use them.

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen in late 2019, and the ensuing investigation into its origins, revealed a dangerous lack of concern among bureaucrats and elected officials for biosafety and biosecurity. Not only did our government fund research to make viruses more deadly to humans, but it continues to do so, refusing to back down or admit any wrongdoing, paving the way for a future pandemic that makes COVID-19 look like the common cold. In his research for "The Coverup" series, which examines the national security apparatus’ involvement in the development of the COVID virus, Matt Kibbe speaks with Bryce Nickels, professor of genetics for Rutgers University and co-founder of Biosafety Now, to find out what we as a society should be doing to prevent the development and spread of future pathogens. Their conversation also serves as a preview of the upcoming episode of "The Coverup" featuring Dr. Richard Ebright.

Americans can’t seem to agree on how to handle crime. On the Right, we have the tough-on-crime, lock-’em-up mentality that prioritizes punishment and low tolerance for antisocial behavior. On the Left, we hear talk about compassion and rehabilitation, while thieves and vandals are allowed to loot and pillage our cities without consequences. Restorative justice constitutes a different way of thinking about criminal justice altogether, recognizing that the traditional prison model has failed to prevent recidivism, while the zero-accountability strategy implemented by cities like San Francisco has been a disaster for public safety. Matt Kibbe sits down with restorative justice professionals Kathleen McGoey and Lindsey Pointer to discuss their work in the field, as well as their new book, “The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools for Online Learning,” which gives practical instructions on how to implement restorative practices in your own community.

Most people think about taxation as a bite out of their paychecks, an extra expense at the grocery store, and a massive hassle around April 15 every year. All this is correct as far as it goes, but what we too often fail to appreciate are the massive ways in which tax policy shapes our lives and our decision-making. Matt Kibbe sits down with Scott Hodge, president emeritus of the Tax Foundation and author of the book “Taxocracy,” to discuss how taxation is used for social engineering by a government that wants to control and restrict your available choices. This concept is not limited to the so-called “sin taxes” on items like alcohol and tobacco but includes tax incentives for behavior deemed desirable by politicians and bureaucrats, such as buying a home or having children. Hodge argues that the use of tax policy to shape citizens’ behavior is fundamentally opposed to free will and the idea that we are the authors of our own destinies.

The quickest way for mothers to become politically activated is when their kids are threatened. This week, Matt Kibbe sits down with Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, to discuss the many ways in which the federal government is failing and neglecting America’s children. As a member of her local school board, Justice saw firsthand that teachers’ unions and school administrators consistently prioritized their own needs above those of the children. Then, during COVID lockdowns, the widespread school closures represented a callous disregard for the well-being of kids. At the same time, parents were waking up to school curricula filled with critical theory and gender ideology propaganda. In response to their activism, concerned parents were smeared and demonized by the federal government, labeled domestic terrorists for the crime of taking an interest in their children’s education. Moms for Liberty is holding its annual summit this week in Washington, D.C., with tickets still available for those wish

Merry olde England isn’t so merry these days, as its police force has been busy arresting citizens for posting “offensive” opinions on social media. One police commissioner even threatened to extradite Elon Musk, along with other Americans, for disregarding the United Kingdom’s anti-hate-speech laws. The American Bill of Rights drew many of its provisions straight from the tradition of English common law, which now seems so distant from the country’s censorious policies. Matt Kibbe is joined by Daniel Hannan, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords, to find out what’s going on with our neighbors across the pond. Hannan argues that these speech regulations are a return to the prosecution of blasphemy that was once common, only with modern social justice tenets substituted for religious ones.

Every election cycle, it seems like our choices get not only worse but more limited. The two-party system consistently delivers poor candidates who resemble each other more than they differ. The reason for this is that there’s no competition. Matt Kibbe sits down with Christina Tobin, founder of Free & Equal, to discuss how we can change that. As things stand, it is practically impossible for independent and third-party candidates to get any traction, because the Democrats and Republicans control the process for obtaining ballot access and appearing in debates. After the success of independent candidate Ross Perot in the 1990s, the two parties locked down the debate process, continually increasing the requirements to qualify in order to shut out competitors. Free & Equal’s mission is to win back ballot access and debate exposure for candidates who seek to challenge the uniparty duopoly.

At 2024’s FreedomFest, Matt Kibbe catches up with John Mackey, the serial entrepreneur who founded Whole Foods and is now launching the new wellness company Love.Life. Mackey wants to empower individuals to take control of their own health in a way that is increasingly difficult in the American health care system. Despite these challenges, Mackey remains a long-term optimist about the future of liberty, pointing to the decentralized wisdom that spontaneously emerges from creative people working and cooperating to solve big problems. It’s easy to be gloomy about the country’s direction given the events of the last few years, but as long as there are entrepreneurs like Mackey building new systems, there is plenty of reason for hope.