Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Snarkiness

Ok, we lied to you, this is not a two-parter. In fact, it’s not even a three-parter. It’s a four-parter.

In this episode, Aaron and Jason each give their nominations for spots 4 and 3 of the best presidents. From the Founding to the War of 1812, from the Gilded Age to the Roaring 20s, these are our picks for some of the best, but not the best of the best, presidents. We also learn that Aaron traces the majority of America’s political woes as originating with Alexander Hamilton, no matter how catchy the Broadway Musical may be.

George Washington’s Farewell Address: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Washingtons_Farewell_Address.pdf

William Hogeland on the Whiskey Rebellion: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2006/05/william-hogeland/libertarians-socialists-and-the-whiskeyrebellion/

Theme by Nathan Keightley

Jason and Aaron move on from the list of worst presidents to the happier topic of the best presidents. In part 2 of our now-tentatively-three-part (and we’re REALLY going to try to keep it at three parts, but at this point, no promises) series on the Presidents, Aaron and Jason give their “bottom of the best” ranking, with Jason vehemently disagreeing with Aaron’s number 5 pick, and Aaron being mostly bamboozled at Jason’s.

John Boles’ “Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty”: https://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Architect-American-John-Boles/dp/0465094686

Boles and Hall’s “Seeing Jefferson Anew in His Time and Ours”: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Jefferson-Anew-Time-Ours/dp/0813929938

Grant’s Autobiography: https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-General-Ulysses-Grant-Memoirs/dp/193494114X

Ron Chernow’s “Grant”: https://www.amazon.com/Grant-Ron-Chernow/dp/159420487X

Every podcast comes to the point of doing lists, so we thought we’d get it out of the way! In part one of our two-part series, Jason and Aaron give their “worst five” of the U.S. Presidents, each using their own criteria and viewpoints to say who they believe deserve to be in the White House’s “Hall of Shame,” and realizing that, as bad as people want to paint our current political sphere, it could always be worse, and has been in the past.

An overview on LBJ’s War on Poverty: https://fee.org/articles/what-the-war-on-poverty-and-the-vietnam-war-had-in-common/

Dr. Burton Folsom and Jim Powell on the true legacy of FDR’s New Deal: https://fee.org/articles/fdrs-folly-how-roosevelt-and-his-new-deal-prolonged-the-great-depression/?fbclid=IwAR235cNupyrENADaxV1WrssHnVvgDekvmltiWSaRd3kd4gUcgRHFr6xp-ts

Robert Higgs on the New Deal: https://fee.org/articles/the-mythology-of-roosevelt-and-the-new-deal/

A still-recovering-from-the-flu Aaron is joined by Brianna Walden, Associate Director of Criminal Justice at Stand Together and the Charles Koch Institute, to discuss criminal justice reform!

Brianna talks about her work with the Charles Koch Institute and Stand Together, as well as discussing the systematic problems within the justice system that make it so problematic, especially the problem of over-criminalization. Aaron and Brianna discuss why criminal justice reform is an important issue in our everyday lives (even if you may not think it is), and how everyone can get involved in trying to fix the problem.

A list of nonprofits and organizations that work with Stand Together to seek “civil society” solutions to criminal justice system problems: https://standtogetherfoundation.org/catalyst-network/?cat=criminal-justice

SHRM and the Charles Koch Institute’s Report on Workers with Criminal Records: https://mk0qeluyepi9drvw7cng.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/CKI-SHRM-Report.pdf

Prison Fellowship’s “Outrageous Justice” materials: https://www.prisonfellowship.org/about/justicereform/landing-pages/outrageous-justice/outrageous-justice-study-guide/

A news-spot on the recent clemencies granted in Oklahoma: https://standtogetherfoundation.org/catalyst-network/?cat=criminal-justice

Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy”: https://justmercy.eji.org/

Themesong by Nathan Keightley

Aaron and Austin tackle the question of conspiracy theories, as belief in such theories is often used as an attack on non-mainline political beliefs. Are all conspiracy theories created equal? What makes a conspiracy theory worthy of consideration as opposed to being summarily dismissed? When should we listen to “tin foil hats” and when should we not? What specific conspiracy theories do we believe, and which do we not?

Austin talks about the hierarchy of conspiracy theories, and how some are more believable because they reflect our everyday experience. Aaron talks about the psychological taxonomy of conspiracy theories, differentiating healthy skepticism from conspiracy ideation. Finally, the hosts go over some popular conspiracy theories from Internet Politics Land, and give their thoughts on them.

And also, Epstein didn’t kill himself.

It’s a “live” episode! Aaron is joined by guest Capt. Nils Gransberg, to continue our discussion of Middle-Eastern Affairs from last week.

Nils talks about his experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, and why they gave a more libertarian perspective on foreign policy, especially given the absurd notion that somehow we can force democracy into these places. Nils talks about his experiences with Turkey and the Kurds, and how our current situation is essentially history repeating himself, how Russia’s growing power in the Middle East shouldn’t be keeping us up at night, and how just because men like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may die, that doesn’t mean much for the larger picture unless our foreign policy changes overall.

We apologize for the sound quality, especially the constant banging, etc. We didn’t realize that we’d forgotten the muffling pads on the ambient mic stand until it was too late, so every time anything touched the table, it vibrated the mic stand.

Theme by Nathan Keightley

Depending on who you ask, President Trump’s recent actions regarding Syria are either a fundamental and base betrayal of America’s national honor, or a step in the right direction for getting us out of foreign wars. Well, everyone else has their opinions on this mess, so why shouldn’t we?

Jason talks about the history of the U.S.’s involvement in the Middle East, the utter failure of proxy wars like the one in Syria, and how the situation America has found herself in is because of her failure to heed the Founders’ warnings. Aaron points out (once again) the dangers of high construal level thinking, and how such thinking is being exhibited on all sides of the political spectrum, from progressives to neocons to libertarians, who act as if there is a “clear” solution to this problem. They also discuss why “nation-building” is doomed from the start, the dangers of “I told you so” thinking, and frogs inflating their throats as a threat display.

Andrew McCarthy for The National Review on the oft-unmentioned complexities of the Syrian situation: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/turkey-and-the-kurds-its-more-complicated-than-you-think/?fbclid=IwAR1T5NtJ6ArTlTLiZyPp0U5zJDPuNJnGbW7ecIwX1NEqDQDf6c-68d-Q6n0

Reuters reporting that U.S. Troops in Syria will simply be shifted to Iraq: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-usa/all-us-troops-withdrawing-from-syria-expected-to-go-to-western-iraq-pentagon-chief-idUSKBN1WZ01S?fbclid=IwAR0Co4S3nH7r38RwViAOHSHR9maVvlu9zb2Rn5aa7cPlVC0ibvhZrGrzhbI

Well the vaping “crisis” is still ongoing, as is the sheer stupidity of the government and society-as-a-whole’s response demanding that “somebody do something!” and “won’t someone think of the children???”

Jason starts us off by making the important comparisons to the 18th Amendment and prohibition, and why the failures of that prohibition should warn us of trying future prohibitions. He also gives perhaps the greatest, snarkiest rant yet heard on this podcast. Meanwhile, Austin talks about the dangers of prohibition being used to assuage moral panics or indulge peoples’ fears, because of how such bad uses of laws lead to a lessened respect for the law in general, as well as the importance of remembering that laws are always enforced with violence, and if you aren’t willing to see someone killed over a law, you probably shouldn’t support it. Aaron talks a little bit about the psychological impossibility of top-down, governmental solutions actually leading to social change.

Themesong by Nathan Keightley

Rare’s Jacob Grier writing about the vaping panic, as well as pointing out previous moral-panic based legislation and how it has utterly failed: https://reason.com/2019/10/14/the-vaping-crisis-is-a-moral-panic-led-by-anti-smoking-crusaders/?fbclid=IwAR3l9tdyGZjntLvNSWnhND2fcFaSA96Y-xR_u15NuL-2-3qAXNc4lLpnFCc

The Washington Times’ piece on the “crisis,” and how the causes are totally unrelated to the supposed “fixes” proposed by government: https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/13/outbreak-of-vaping-related-lung-injuries-linked-to/

After Aaron has some melodramatic fun with sound editing, Jenn and Aaron discuss the newly-released (and apparently controversial) movie “Joker.” They discuss the statements released before the film indicting it for potentially stirring up dangerous imitators by its portrayal of the joker, the claim that the movie is “pro-incel.” Jenn gives her views on why, despite not liking the movie, she found parts of it interesting, while Aaron applies its message and themes to the modern political sphere, especially regarding hero-worship, populism, and the societal need for “othering” villains and oversimplifying morality.

A.O. Scott’s Review of Joker for the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/movies/joker-review.html

Jeff Yang’s Review for CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/06/opinions/joker-political-parable-donald-trump-presidency-yang/index.html

An article from The Atlantic summarizing Todd Phillips’ and Joaquin Phoenix’s responses to the “controversy”: https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/599326/

Theme Music by Nathan Keightley

As we begin the official Halloween season, Aaron discusses one of the things that scares him the most: how research and statistics are treated in pop-culture and the mainstream news. Aaron goes through the importance of “thinking statistically,” and how statistics (often considered scary to many) are so often misused, mis-represented, and mis-applied, especially recently, with everything from polling about Trump’s approval to the so-called “vaping crisis” being represented by bad research conclusions and at least questionable reliance on fundamental statistical assumptions.

Don’t worry, there is almost NO math involved in this podcast!

NOTE: We apologize for the noise of Aaron’s neighbors dogs. Apparently, a beagle is loud enough to get its bark heard even through soundproofing, which is probably great news for people who use beagles to hunt and is terrible news for the rest of us.