In this episode of My Idiot Brother Questions Everything, we ask one of humanity’s oldest and most uncomfortable questions: Can you make people good — or just scared of getting caught?

From the Founding Fathers to Prohibition to today’s moral crusades, we dive into the messy business of legislating morality. Along the way, we’ll meet Thomas Jefferson the rationalist, a few witch-hunters who really needed hobbies, and the occasional Spartan who thought murder made great cardio.

We’ll encourage critical thinking — not just opinion — to explore why many laws are secretly moral, why moral laws so often backfire, and why freedom without some moral compass tends to run off the road. It’s part philosophy, part history, and part “maybe we should think this through before writing it into law.” If you’ve ever wondered whether government should make you a better person, or just leave you alone to do it yourself — this episode’s for you.