The Freedom Report

Have you ever walked a mile in another man's shoes? 

In today's episode of the Freedom Report podcast, Austin Petersen offers his expert analysis on the cultural issues that are killing the advancement of libertarian ideas. 

 Why do libertarians always seem to lose the big battles for limited government? I think I know why, and it has to do with that innate human trait that we seem to be lacking: empathy. As hyper-individualists, libertarians frequently suffer from the fact that they carry a puritanical thought process that inhibits creative libertarian types from advancing the cause using the types of social cues that our fellow humans are giving us. 

This episode of the Freedom Report podcast was broadcast live on Facebook on June 28th, 2016. 

Libertarian Party activists supporting the presidential ticket think they have a foolproof plan to win votes: alienate conservatives and go full blown leftist in their policies. Will that work? Here former LP presidential candidate Austin Petersen and editor in chief of Liberty Viral Laura Meyers sit down in a live chat with fans to discuss.

Fox Business Network hosted a presidential debate for Libertarian Party candidates Austin Petersen, John McAfee, and Gary Johnson. Here's the audio from the first part of the debate. The second half of the debate will air Friday April the 8th.

 How has Trump managed to spark such a strong national movement in the United States? Because he's right about one simple thing. The issue of political correctness is killing this country. 

Thomas Jefferson said that he has sworn eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. Is political correctness a form of tyranny just as malevolent as big government? 

Today's episode of the Freedom Report podcast looks at the specter of political correctness and admits that Donald Trump is at least right about this one thing. 

With Rand Paul falling to nearly dead last in every measure of a presidential candidate's prowess, is this the end for his 2016 campaign? TLR's editor in chief Keith Farrell sat down with Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Austin Petersen to discuss Paul's chances, and if there might be a chance for the Kentucky senator to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. 

Paul is polling behind John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, and even his sworn rival and notoriously unpopular with conservatives Chris Christie. How did we get here? And how did Donald Trump manage to stay in the lead for so long, and destroy support for real conservatives in the race like Paul? 

Farrell and Petersen believe that while Trump takes a horrible message and packages it beautifully, Paul takes a beautiful message and packages it horribly. Unable to shore up his libertarian base, Paul has been making more and more moves to appease the more hawkish base of the GOP, who would much rather have someone like a Rubio or Cruz. Paul can't out neocon a neocon, and while he's stood firm on issues such as the NSA's domestic spying programs, he's waffled on immigration issues, pushing an ultimately failed effort to temporarily freeze the passports of French citizens in the wakes of the attacks on Paris. 

Is there any hope for liberty in 2016? Farrell and Petersen dive into the real nitty gritty, and don't hold back in this 45 minute discussion of the 2016 race, war and foreign policy, and whether there are any chances for libertarians to grab a victory in the short term. 

Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Austin Petersen's latest podcast focuses on the attacks by ISIS in Paris. Petersen describes the legal processes which the United States must follow in order for any escalation of force to comply with constitutional law, and describes the steps he would take in order to combat Islamic terrorism. 

Do we have to sacrifice liberty for security? Petersen says no, and in this show he describes why. 

Also included is a fairly lengthy description of life on the campaign trail, and what steps you can take to be involved in the Petersen 2016 campaign. 

Is it possible to support more than one candidate for president in 2016?

Today's episode of the Freedom Report podcast takes a look at the state of the liberty movement. Does it have to be Rand Paul or none at all? What are our strengths and weaknesses as a movement? 

Politico has been taking aim at Rand Paul and the liberty movement in recent weeks, publishing story after story attacking us, spreading lies and misinformation sprinkled with just enough truth to hit hard. A story titled "The False rise and fall of Rand Paul" is full of distortions and half-truths that all aim at one goal, undermining the liberty movement and our champions. This episode of the Freedom Report breaks down what's true and what isn't in the piece, as well as offers some insight into what might happen if Rand Paul were to win the GOP nomination and be forced to compete against an eventual Libertarian Party presidential nominee. 

Are libertarians losing because their movement is a bunch of lame, whining, weak, neckbearded cucks?

Today's episode of the Freedom Report podcast is a speech given by Libertarian Party presidential candidate Austin Petersen at LibertyFest in NYC on October 10th, 2015. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to talk to you today about one thing: Fighting for freedom.

Now, I know, as libertarians, we're not used to fighting.

Not because we're wimps.

Not because we're neckbeards.

Not because we're betas and cucks.

Not because we're whatever the liberals at Salon or the white nationalists at The Right Stuff think we are.

No, because fighting is almost always irrational.

But my friends, we are up against irrational people.

And if you doubt that, you've only to look at the two major parties.

I always find it interesting to watch the difference between how those parties govern and how they campaign.

When they govern, they take an entire loaf of freedom that we used to have like it's nothing, and then, just to show how magnanimous they are, they toss a few crumbs back to us.

And then, when campaign season rolls around, you know what they do?

They say, 'Look at all these crumbs you have! If someone else gets elected, you won't have those. Isn't that horrible?'

And it works!

Because no one is standing there saying, 'Screw the crumbs! We want the whole loaf of bread back, and we’ll take it by force if we have to!’

All we do is mouth platitudes at them about how there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

Well, it's not enough to say 'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'

We have to stop these bullies from getting their free lunch by taking it from us!

Now, if we want to do that, we’ve got an uphill battle.

Because it is now crystal clear that we can expect no help from the two major parties.

Let’s start with the Republicans.

Now, I know a lot of people here probably think the Republicans are great because of Rand Paul.

But you know what? Rand Paul’s not leading the polls.

Donald Trump is leading the polls.

Now, Donald Trump’s a lot of fun. He’s a great entertainer.

But if you think Republicans have anything in common with libertarians, look at what Trump stands for.

He’s more socialist than Barack Obama on universal healthcare.

Elizabeth Warren loves his tax plan because it targets Wall Street.

And he wants to leave Medicare and Social Security untouched.

I thought this was what those ‘evil, socialist Democrats’ were supposed to be like.

So why’s Donald Trump leading in the polls?

I’ll tell you why.

Because he wants to round up every illegal immigrant in this country, deport them to Mexico, and build a wall to keep them out.

And that’s all you have to say to get the Republican base to love you.

They will sell our country out for socialism, just as long as they don’t have to dial “1” for English.

I guess hitting a button on your phone is a microaggression?

So while the Republicans might have helped us in the past, let’s not kid ourselves.

They may say they support innovation, but when a Muslim boy builds a clock, they try to shut down him down more fiercely than patent trolls.

They may say they support economic freedom, but when an immigrant wants to sell her labor for less than a white man, they complain about unfair competition louder than unions.

They may say they support the rule of law, but when a bigoted county clerk refuses to do her job, they talk like they’re defending sanctuary cities.

They may say they want the government out of marriage and family, but they cheer when Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee audition for the role of American Ayatollah.

Don’t mistake their opportunism for principle.

And the Democrats? Don’t make me laugh.

Oh sure, they’ll complain lo

Fox News published an op-ed this week titled "The collapse of Rand Paul and the libertarian moment that never was." In it, author Jerry Taylor describes how Paul is failing because the American libertarian movement isn't really libertarian, and wouldn't know how to sell the message even if it were coherent anyway. 

From Fox News: 

The secret of Trump’s appeal to Paul’s base is that a large segment of the “Ron Paul Revolution” leavened its libertarianism with a pony keg of crazy. Birthers, 9/11 Truthers, a wide assortment of conspiracy theorists (many of whom believe the Federal Reserve to be a modern manifestation of the Illuminati), and naked racists rivaled the number of reasonably sober libertarian-ish voters among the faithful.

Trump won their hearts by throwing even more crazy into the mix and stirring up a white, working class populism last given political life by George Wallace.

Paul let these voters down because he was disinclined to offer the distasteful dog whistles that his father traded for extremist support, much less the louder, baser appeals that are Trump’s stock-in-trade.

The second voter bloc Rand Paul hoped to bring into his camp—Tea Partiers—has likewise rejected the Kentucky Republican. That’s because there are few Libertarians there, either.

Today's Freedom Report podcast breaks down these statements, and analyzes the current state of the liberty movement to show why these claims may or may not be true. Listen, and subscribe on iTunes. 

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The Jason Stapleton Program

Today's Freedom Report podcast looks at recent comments by Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson over whether the United States could turn into a fascist state resembling Nazi Germany. Carson disagreed with an assertion that “a situation like what took place in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s could never happen in America,” it was reported.

“If you go back and look at the history of the world, tyranny and despotism and how it starts, it has a lot to do with control of thought and control of speech,” Carson said.

He said, “If people don’t speak up for what they believe, then other people will change things without them having a voice. Hitler changed things there and nobody protested. Nobody provided any opposition to him."

Carson was asked later if his jabs were intended to be aimed at President Obama, but he responded: “No. I am saying in a situation where people do not express themselves, bad things can happen. I think that example is pretty clear."

Is Carson right? Could America turn into a fascist state? Is political correctness a sign of the demand for enforced conformity? In his seminal work "The Road to Serfdom," economist F.A. Hayek described the processes by which a democracy can turn into a dictatorship. Today's show will look at the steps a nation must take to turn into a dictatorship, and contrasts that with the United States today.