Society and the State | Life, Liberty, and Your Pursuit of Happiness

Anyone who has found himself or herself prepared for an unexpected situation knows how comforting it is to realize that you have the ability handle unforeseen challenges that arise. Sometimes, however, the desire to become self-reliant can morph into the caricature of "the prepper" with an almost pathological focus on what can go wrong. Where is the golden mean of being prepared but not over-prepared? For that matter, what exactly are we preparing for?

For every person who is making sound investments that will bring them future happiness and security, not very many are neglecting their most important asset of all—themselves! Connor has the opportunity to pick the brain of Paradigm Life CEO Pat Donohoe on the importance of investing in yourself. No matter what your plans are for the future, this kind of self improvement can pay off richly on many different levels.

Everyone encounters things they find disagreeable, from time to time. But is there a point where each of us must draw a figurative line in the sand rather than simply go along to get along? It's a decision that will come to each of us, at some point. This is when most of us learn whether or not we'd be willing to suffer for our principles. In this episode, we discuss how to best decide what's worth taking a stand for and how to do so effectively.

What kind of reaction does the term "dark money" elicit when you first hear it? If it's a mixture of fear and suspicion, you may be playing right into the hands of the political operatives who coined the phrase. Zac Morgan from the Institute for Free Speech joins Connor to discuss how campaign donations have never been more public and the chances of the Koch brothers or George Soros taking over the world may have been exaggerated.

If there is such a thing as a civic religion, then voting might well be considered its high sacrament. We've all heard people say, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain." But what should we make of those who say, "Not voting means you've consented to the status quo"? With another highly polarizing election cycle dead ahead, now is a good time to sort out what our vote represents and how consent plays into the way we choose to vote—or not vote.

Given recent events in the Persian Gulf, it's not hard to imagine that the United State government is on a collision course with the Iranian government. Who is pushing the hardest for military action? Is a war between the U.S. and Iran a near certainty? Author and correspondent Gareth Porter joins us to help sort the fact from fiction and to explain the possible reasons that we are being steered toward more military action in the Middle East.

Everyone loves the idea of getting something for free. This is something politicians regularly use to their advantage as they try to leverage votes by promising their constituents free stuff. One of the more popular promises of late is the prospect of a free college education for everyone. What should we think of free college and is there really such a thing as free higher education?

It seems like there's no shortage of scientific studies to justify or debunk nearly anything you can think of. For some issues, it's the perfect appeal to authority. After all, who would dare argue against science? Tim Errington from the Center for Open Science joins us to discuss where some scientists go astray and how we can best keep fact and fiction separate within the realm of science.

For some time now, a great many career-seekers have been following the same predictable script of going to college, getting a degree and then finding someone to hire them. What if there was another way to begin a productive and fulfilling career without having to take on backbreaking amounts of student loan debt? Connor shares insight into the book "Skip College - Launch your career without debt, distractions or a degree" which he recently edited. Learn what some of the the most innovative and creative minds are suggesting as alternatives to the standard script most of us grew up with.

As Independence Day approaches, most everyone looks forward to the celebrations, the parades, the fireworks and time off work. Are we forgetting what it is that we're actually celebrating each year? Professor Kevin Gutzman joins us to talk about the courageous act of treason that set America on a path to independence and set in motion the most remarkable experiment in freedom in human history.