Libertarians Are Exhausting: But they might be onto something(s). [Part 1]
Unf*cking The Republic
UNFTR Media
4.9 • 683 Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2022
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Libertarians can be exhausting. Because libertarianism has so many attractive features and strong statements about “freedom” and “liberty” they have a lot of perceived political high ground when arguing with them. The problem with libertarianism - as it is with Marxism, capitalism and so many other philosophies - is that it’s entirely theoretical. Trying to construct an actual framework around the concepts they hold dear is like arguing over how Santa Claus fits down the chimney. That said, there’s a lot to like about some of the principles of libertarianism and its acolytes are growing in numbers every day. So let’s have at it. In part one of this two-part series we’ll unpack the origins of the philosophy, its dark beginnings and define several strains of the discipline.
Chapters
Intro: 00:00:38
Prologue: 00:02:45
Segment 1: 00:04:41
Segment 2: 00:13:37
Segment 3: 00:23:53
Segment 4: 00:30:27
Show Notes: 00:40:36
Book Love: 00:41:17
Pod Love: 00:41:34
Emails + Shoutouts: 00:45:13
Outro: 01:06:46
Resources
Libertarian Party: Platform
National Archives: Brown v. Board of Education
ThoughtCo: The Declaration of Independence
ThoughtCo: America's Most Influential Founding Fathers
ThoughtCo: Laissez-faire Versus Government Intervention
ThoughtCo: What Is Free Trade?
ThoughtCo: Economics
ThoughtCo: Atlas Shrugged Quotes
ThoughtCo: History and Principles of the United Nations
Book Love
David Boaz: The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom
Nancy MacLean: Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
H. L. Mencken: Notes on Democracy
Thomas Paine: Rights of Man
Pod Love
Pitchfork Economics: How the Radical Right Weaponized Ideology (with Nancy MacLean)
UNFTR Episode Resources
Corporate (Ir)Responsibility (Part I): Financial Fuckery and Tax Evasion.
Corporate (Ir)Responsibility (Part II): Deregulation and Catastrophe.
Building the Climate Industrial Complex.
U.S. Progressivism from 1912 to 2021.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back unfuckers, 99 here. Unfucking the Republic is brought to you by Sam C, Cringy, Cindy S, and Corius, unfucking insane level members of the show. |
| 0:10.2 | To learn more about how you can support UNFTR, go to UNFTR.com. Or if you're interested in becoming a member, you can go right to buymec coffee.com slash UNFTR. |
| 0:20.7 | Before we get started today, I wanted to personally |
| 0:23.2 | thank all of the plant fuckers who reached out to offer positive feedback on our vegan episode last |
| 0:27.5 | week. It was gratifying to hear that it resonated with so many of you, and hopefully it inspired |
| 0:32.2 | you to think differently about our food supply and the connections to climate change, public |
| 0:36.2 | policy, and economics. |
| 0:38.1 | Today, we're talking about libertarianism. And I know Max is excited about this one, because he |
| 0:42.8 | deliberately left it out of our isms episode saying it deserved its own unfucking. So much, though, |
| 0:47.7 | that we're actually doing this one in two parts. We also have some pod love that we wanted to share |
| 0:52.0 | up front, so I'll hand it to Max and catch y'all on show notes. |
| 0:55.3 | Well, thank you, 99. |
| 0:56.5 | Welcome, Unfuckers. |
| 0:57.6 | Before we dive into Libertarianism, I wanted to talk to you about a show that we've recently connected with that I think Unfuckers are going to dig. |
| 1:04.7 | It's called Straight White American Jesus, and it's hosted by Brad Anishi and Dan Miller, two former evangelical ministers who are now |
| 1:12.1 | religion professors. I think Brad's an associate professor of religion at Skidmore College, |
| 1:16.7 | and Dan is the chair of the Liberal Studies Department at Landmark College. So we've covered a bit |
| 1:21.3 | of the evangelical strain of Christianity in America and its historical impact on public policy, |
| 1:26.2 | especially on our episode, Prosperity Doctrine, |
| 1:28.8 | Christ as Capitalist, where we pulled from Jeff Charlotte's work, among others. There's a ton of parallels |
| 1:33.4 | between the track of fundamentalism and libertarianism and the unholy alliance between some of the |
| 1:38.5 | dark money funders that perverted both doctrines, so this is a worthwhile journey. Straight white American |
... |
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