The Bob Zadek Show

The Founders of the United States came up with a system of government that was revolutionary… for 1776. Borrowing from the free cities and republics of Europe as well as the Native American Iroquois Confederacy, they tried to approximate the consent of the governed as best they could – splitting powers among the branches of government, across the states, and between those states and the federal government.

Today, with power increasingly concentrated in Washington DC, many Americans are feeling the loss of their consent. What do you do when neither presidential pick represents your beliefs, and there is no credible third party to turn to for help?

Is there a third way?

This Sunday, I was joined by two leading experts on “competitive governance” – a truly revolutionary idea that promises to renew freedom of choice and consent of the governed. Joe Quirk, President of The Seasteading Institute, and open source legal theorist and Chapman University law professor Tom W. Bell will make the intellectual case for the most viable alternatives to the winner-takes-all election result.

The Seasteading Institute notes that 34% of registered voters chose not to vote in 2016. Their Vote to Float campaign aims to break dissatisfied voters out of the “Coke vs. Pepsi” mindset, and see the opportunities for choosing your own government once the seasteading concept becomes a reality. If you’re not familiar with seasteading, go back and listen to my archived shows with Joe Quirk and Patri Friedman (see below).

If you have been following the project, you’ll still want to listen for an update on the seasteading movement. We will also go into greater depth on the theoretical underpinnings behind private governance, as explored in Professor Bell’s 2018 book Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations (Cambridge University Press 2018). Bell will also fill us in on the latest developments in the world of land-based start-up societies, free ports, SEZs and other examples of competitive governance.

Finally, we discussed the nature of consent in government in the 21st century, and how technologies like the internet, seasteads, and arbitration, enable possibilities that the Founders never imagined.

Peter Wallison on the Electoral College and Mail-in Ballots

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Quentin Kopp on Kamala Harris’s sketchy early career as a California DA.

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Reason Magazine provides a public service by reminding us what Kamala Harris would have us forget: Until her recent about-face, Harris was a hardcore drug warrior and draconian prosecutor.

Her record as a prosecutor isn’t the only thing Harris has to explain heading into the general election. With Joe Biden’s health in question, she has quickly become the most important Vice Presidential nominee in recent memory – yet little has been said about her early career in the Bay Area as a District Attorney and rising star in the Democratic Party.

This Sunday, I’m joined by former San Francisco Supervisor and Judge Quentin Kopp – an elder statesman and fiercely independent veteran of California politics – to discuss his eye-opening article on a little-known story of corruption from Harris’s early days as SF District Attorney. From earning multiple salaries for cushy political appointments, to denying knowledge of a hush-money settlement paid to a top aide over sexual harassment allegations, the Democratic Vice Presidential hopeful has quite a bit of explaining to do.

Kopp, who recently resigned from the San Francisco Ethics Commission (calling it a waste of taxpayer dollars), has also became the chief critic of the High Speed Rail effort he led back in 2008. As it stands, he says the project has watered down the original vision too much, while the price tag has exploded.

We’ll discuss his new effort to found a third party in California for Independents under the banner of “Common Sense” to bring about the change that a majority of Californians want, but which neither party seems capable of delivering.

Don’t miss the live conversation, this Sunday (9/6, 8-9am PACIFIC), and call in with your questions for Quentin about Harris, High Speed Rail, or whatever else is on your mind.

So this is how the Republic dies? Robert C. Wright on the attack on
American small business.

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The Founders were clear that the maintenance of the American Republic required a certain kind of citizen. Without property owners who have a stake in good governance, they knew the experiment in liberty wouldn’t last. Robert E. Wright writes with eloquence and humor about two less-than-funny trends, which have collided this year to produce the biggest blow to American Independence in our nation’s history.

Forced closures of “non-essential business” and the deference by local police to the widespread destruction of property have gutted America’s substantial but shrinking proprietor class. In his AIER article So Long Independence? Wright shares some troubling statistics, including this one:

“By the end of July, more than half the companies listed on Yelp were said to be permanently shuttered.” [55% of businesses closed on Yelp have shut down for good during the coronavirus pandemic - MarketWatch]

To interpret this as solely economic news is to miss a more important point about the instability of democracy without widespread property ownership. As G.K. Chesterton once quipped, the problem with capitalism is not that there are too many capitalists, but that there are too few.

The consolidation of power in the hands of a smaller number of billionaires means fewer checks on extreme politics of both the right and the left. Wright thinks we’ve been far too quick to cede power to scientific experts and calls the closure of the economy the worst public policy in a century.

He joined me to dig deeper into the long-term political consequences of lockdowns. We will look at California’s uniquely damaging policies – many of which preceded COVID – and their effect on the middle class and small business owners.

University of Chicago professor Casey Mulligan on his time as Trump’s top
economic adviser.

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Casey Mulligan served as the chief of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers from July 2018 to June 2019. During that time, he experienced a different version of the events that have made recent headlines (i.e., Ukrainegate) in other White House "tell-alls."

Mulligan's new book, You’re Hired! Untold Successes and Failures of a Populist President, has much the same cast of characters as Bolton’s recent memoir, but it follows a very different script. Mulligan is an economics professor at University of Chicago and, as such, the focus of his book is on ideas – not attitude. However, we do learn a great deal about the personalities working behind the scenes, including that of the "Tariff Man" himself.

Professor Mulligan joins me this Sunday to tell the story of his time crafting analysis and advice on regulations, international trade, immigration and prescription drug policy for the President. A picture emerges of a politically incorrect president who has a hard time admitting he is wrong, but who also listens to his economic advisers (in most situations).

Hear from the man who has been called “the smartest man in the White House” how he used supply and demand to advance one of the biggest deregulatory pushes in recent history. Is Trump genuinely opposed to Washington insiders and special interests, or is it a self-serving act to appeal to his populist base?

We will compare the legacies of Reagan and Trump on the vital issue of international trade and will also discuss how the continuation of generous unemployment benefits is adding to the costs of pandemic and delaying economic recovery.

Ron Jones, physical educator and historical kinesiologist, on the history
of the 1918 flu pandemic and its lessons for today.

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Ryan “Reg-of-the-day” Young of CEI on the Remedy for a Novel Recession

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