Independent Conversations

Campuses are overtaken by protest encampments, Jewish students are targeted, and higher ed leaders can’t manage to condemn antisemitism while protecting free speech. But the problems go deeper—like the plagiarism that university faculty would never tolerate in their students. On other fronts, what’s up with all these bans on lab-grown meat? And does the Biden administration understand how money works? Graham Walker, Phillip Magness, and Williamson Evers discuss all this and more on this episode.

Trump tried tariffs, he wants to try them some more, in order to help workers; what’s wrong with that? California wants to help workers by enforcing a new “fast food” wage law; what could go wrong? Hint in both cases: things can backfire. Did RFK, Jr. get the hint? Probably not, but he’s sure railing loudly against the perils of Big Government. These issues and more animate the conversation among Graham Walker, Phillip Magness, and Williamson Evers.

When a state, like Texas or Florida, tries to protect people’s free speech rights against biased social media companies, is the state then violating the free speech rights of the social media companies? How’s President Biden doing at shrinking inflation? And what’s going on with Alabama’s IVF laws?

Ever wonder why California gas prices are perpetually higher than in other states? Or why residential real estate in California is overwhelmingly more expensive than elsewhere? Or why wildfires got so out of control in recent years? Or why a visit to a California DMV office has been such an ordeal—but is maybe a bit better in recent years?

What’s behind the ugly antisemitism on campuses and elsewhere that surged up after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023? The viciousness against Jews took a lot of people by surprise, but it did not surprise Dr. Benjamin Ginsberg, author of The New American Anti-Semitism. He talks with Independent’s Graham Walker about the book in this episode of Independent Conversations.

Can Javier Milei overcome resistance to fulfill his free-market reform vision for Argentina? We find out on this episode, by consulting two Independent Institute experts with extensive knowledge of Latin American affairs: Alvaro Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Gasave.

In this episode of Independent Conversations, historians Amity Shlaes and David Beito discuss FDR's policies of Japanese internment, spying on Americans, and violations of free speech and reveal a troubling portrait of FDR much different from the standard orthodoxy found in today’s historical studies.

Will free speech in America end up being a casualty of the war between Hamas and Israel? What does the domestic American DEI industry’s posture on the war reveal about their ideology? On other fronts, do we need to regulate Artificial Intelligence and how about banning TikTok? And why is Josh Hawley teaming up with Bernie Sanders to attack Citizens United?

When the feds lean on social media firms to take down alleged misinformation, it turns out that’s government censorship—according to the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling is worth celebrating, but there are cautionary side issues. Also, it looks like we’re heading into another round of debt ceiling crisis. Some say the President is constitutionally obliged to ignore any limits and spend more than the government takes in. Hmmm. We discuss these issues, and more, in this episode.

Guns are in the news, and nobody’s happy about it. First son Hunter Biden has been indicted on gun charges. Probably more significantly, the Governor of New Mexico has reacted to gun violence in her state by suspending 2nd Amendment gun rights in Albquerque and surrounding areas. Can she do that? We find out, in this episode.