Kibbe on Liberty (Blaze Podcast Network)

Matt Kibbe is joined by Dr. Robert Lawson and Dr. Benjamin Powell, two thirsty economists who have learned firsthand about surviving socialism in Cuba, starving socialism in Venezuela, and the collectivist black hole of North Korea. They also correct the record on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ darling Nordic countries, which turn out to be almost as capitalist as the United States. Order "Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World": https://amzn.to/2GQgWFr

Matt Kibbe talks to Sen. Rand Paul about his new book, “The Case Against Socialism.” In it, Paul takes on the myth of kinder, gentler socialism from progressives like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, pointing out that the ideology is, and has always been, one that leads to poverty, suffering, and death.

Matt Kibbe talks with journalist Nancy Rommelmann about her experiences covering Antifa and the riots in Portland, Oregon. From a beautiful cultural center, the city has devolved into violence and chaos over a few short years. Frustration with lockdowns, anger at injustice, hatred of Donald Trump, and the complete absence of any tools to make things better have led to young people being romanced by a nihilistic desire to tear down the whole system, including commerce, police, and even the city government itself.

Every election cycle, it seems like our choices get not only worse but more limited. The two-party system consistently delivers poor candidates who resemble each other more than they differ. The reason for this is that there’s no competition. Matt Kibbe sits down with Christina Tobin, founder of Free & Equal, to discuss how we can change that. As things stand, it is practically impossible for independent and third-party candidates to get any traction, because the Democrats and Republicans control the process for obtaining ballot access and appearing in debates. After the success of independent candidate Ross Perot in the 1990s, the two parties locked down the debate process, continually increasing the requirements to qualify in order to shut out competitors. Free & Equal’s mission is to win back ballot access and debate exposure for candidates who seek to challenge the uniparty duopoly.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, to discuss the bottom-up revolution sweeping the States, driven by fed-up parents demanding better choices and accountability from failing government schools. While Arizona’s reforms are the new gold standard, and West Virginia is making progress in offering school choice to more students, parents should demand more, especially from Republicans. With students still recovering from COVID lockdowns and long-term school closures, the last thing children need is politics getting in the way of parental rights and much needed reforms.

To celebrate the confirmation of Jay Bhattacharya as director of the NIH, this week’s “Kibbe on Liberty” features unseen footage from Matt Kibbe’s series “The Coverup,” in which Dr. Bhattacharya explains how he was demonized and attacked for his opposition to COVID lockdowns, as well as some greatest hits from Jay’s previous appearances on the show.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a number of troubling truths about the role the pharmaceutical industry plays in shaping public policy and the financial incentives that politicians and bureaucrats have to push certain medical interventions onto unsuspecting citizens. Matt Kibbe sits down with Sharyl Attkisson, author of "Follow the Science," to discuss the hidden connections between the medical-industrial complex and the regulators who have the power to force you to take an experimental vaccine whether you want to or not. It’s impossible to have trust in the public health establishment as long as these blatant conflicts of interests exist and as long as there is no civil or criminal accountability for companies delivering products that have a high risk of causing permanent harm to those who use them.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Phil Magness, senior research faculty at the American Institute for Economic Research, to discuss the rapidly changing narratives on COVID-19. Since the release of the Great Barrington Declaration and all the criticism leveled at it, many of the predictions made two years ago have proved correct. The attempts to suppress misinformation now look incredibly foolish, given that the “misinformation” turned out to be right, and the official narrative turned out to be wrong.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) to talk about where Republicans have strayed from their traditional values. As a high school dropout who turned a bad situation into a phenomenal success story, Rep. Mace stresses the importance of compassion and second chances in politics, crossing party lines to work on issues like ending foreign wars and reforming the criminal justice system. We can create opportunity and lift people out of poverty, but not by mortgaging our children’s futures with irresponsible spending and a one-strike-and-you’re-out prison-industrial complex.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Magno Karl, executive director of Livres, to discuss the recent political changes in Brazil, the country's liberty movement, and the prospects for a freer, more open Brazil in the near future. Karl explains the difference between Brazil's multi-party system and America's two-party one, warns against the dangers of electing a populist strongman, and urges libertarians from all countries to stop bickering with each other in order to more effectively unite in creating a better world free of power-hungry dictators.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Heather Wilson and Jacob Wells, co-founders of GiveSendGo, a crowdfunding website that doesn’t discriminate based on differences in ideology. After several high-profile cases where crowdfunders have blocked campaigns for the Canadian truckers or businesses refusing to comply with vaccine mandates, people are looking for an alternative solution to support companies that are willing to stand up for their values. As cancel culture and deplatforming are interfering even with people’s ability to make charitable contributions to support freedom, competition and entrepreneurship are more important than ever in providing an escape from the woke mob.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Marc Clair, host of the Lions of Liberty Podcast, to talk about their common medium of podcasting and how it’s transforming the way that people get their information. Kibbe recalls how traditional media forced you to compress your message into a 15-second sound bite and focused on scoring points off an opponent rather than listening and learning. Podcasts, on the other hand, prioritize long-form conversations that give people the space to think out loud and explore ideas without the need to be combative or overly simplistic, and that can only be a good thing for our culture.

Robby Soave joins Matt Kibbe for a discussion on identity politics. Is the new radical Left’s trigger warning culture imploding? Plus the Jussie Smollett scandal, only on Kibbe on Liberty.

Matt Kibbe is joined by the R Street Institute’s Adam Thierer and Wayne Brough to discuss the state of free speech on the internet. With Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, we are in the middle of a national debate about the tension between censorship and free expression online. On the Right, many people are calling for government to rein in what they perceive as the excesses of Big Tech companies, while the Left wants the government to crack down on speech they deem dangerous. Both approaches make the same mistake of giving politicians authority over what we are allowed to say and hear. And with recent revelations about government agents leaning on social media companies to censor speech, it’s clear that when it comes to the online conversation, there’s no such thing as a purely private company.

As political corruption runs rampant in plain sight, it’s becoming more and more clear that the American legal and economic system is rigged against average citizens. Well-connected insiders get away with murder, while a minor infraction can completely ruin the life of an ordinary person. Big bankers benefit from bailouts and expansions in the money supply, while the rest of us get soaked with the costs of inflation and higher taxes. Lars Mapstead, Libertarian candidate for president, talks to Matt Kibbe about his plans to unrig the system and create a level playing field for all Americans.

In light of recent events, it is incumbent on all champions of freedom to denounce violence in all its forms. Reasonable people can agree that the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, were a tragedy that should never have happened. But this acknowledgement shouldn’t prevent us from seeking the truth about what really happened that day. Matt Kibbe is joined by independent journalist and BlazeTV contributor Steve Baker, who was at the Capitol on January 6 and captured most of that day on film. Among the many things that still require explanation is why the Capitol Police did not provide more security for the event and why certain members of the force have been caught lying in front of Congress.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Jordan and Daniel Harmon, co-founders of Angel Studios, to talk about their new model for financing and distributing movies and television shows. The Hollywood machine has become so expensive and so difficult to break into that it has become all but impossible for independent filmmakers to find an outlet for their creativity. The problem is compounded when you want to make films with different values from those of the studio elites. Angel Studios is solving this problem through crowdfunding and has already demonstrated success with its popular shows “The Chosen” and “The Tuttle Twins,” based on the successful book series.

In this bonus episode of Kibbe on Liberty, Rep. Thomas Massie joins Matt Kibbe to give a play-by-play of his stand against the COVID-19 bailout bill. This is the largest wealth transfer in history. Massie gives the details on how the entirety of Congress avoided accountability for the decimation of the future fiscal safety of regular Americans, and he outlines what he wishes Congress had done instead.

As the Cabinet appointees within the incoming Trump administration take shape, there is cause for hope among libertarians, as well as some cause for concern. Matt Kibbe is joined by Keith Knight, managing editor at the Libertarian Institute and author of the book "Domestic Imperialism: Nine Reasons I Left Progressivism," to talk about why progressives and neoconservatives alike are so quick to agitate for foreign wars and why it's so important to keep hawks like Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo far from the levers of power.

In a recent debate on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Douglas Murray chastised the host for platforming non-experts he claims are spreading dangerous misinformation. Matt Kibbe points out that not only has the expert class completely failed to earn the trust of the American people but that the democratization of knowledge is one of the best things about the internet and podcasting in general. The process of challenging established dogma is what leads to greater dialogue and the free exchange of ideas. This is not unlike the theories of the Austrian school of economics, which prioritizes the importance of individual action over mindless deference to so-called experts, who claim to know what’s best for everyone else.

Matt Kibbe talks to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) about the recent fight over the Speaker of the House election. One of the concessions Kevin McCarthy offered in order to secure the position was the formation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is being likened to the Frank Church Committee, designed to investigate the CIA in the 1970s. This new committee will be focused on identifying ways in which the federal government is violating the civil liberties of American citizens, and putting a stop to it.

The Kibbe on Liberty studio is still under construction. The production team is still working out kinks. Nothing is perfect, but we’re leaking this bonus episode anyways. Don’t mind the cats (or the whiskey)—Kibbe on Liberty is back! Welcome to the counter-counter-revolution in this special bonus episode featuring host Matt Kibbe and executive producer Matt Battaglia.

The release of the Twitter Files revealed that defense agencies are censoring social media platforms to promote a certain agenda, making the war on so-called COVID misinformation look more like a national security issue than a public health one. But the use of propaganda and attempts to control the media narrative are nothing new. Matt Kibbe is joined by Brandan P. Buck, a writer, historian, and Ph.D. candidate at George Mason University, to discuss the rise of the information state under Woodrow Wilson, who covertly manipulated public opinion in order to get the United States involved in the First World War. It’s a particularly ironic, or perhaps Orwellian, historical fact, given that Wilson campaigned for his second term under the slogan “He kept us out of war.”

Matt Kibbe is joined by Deirdre McCloskey, distinguished professor emeritus of economics and of history at the University of Illinois in Chicago, to talk about the language we use as advocates of free market economics. McCloskey points out that economics is essentially a series of metaphors, and that we can best explain its concepts through stories rather than the dry language of academia. Meanwhile, certain jargon or stigmatized terms like “capitalism” are doing more harm than good when it comes to helping people understand why the freedom to innovate makes life better for everyone.

Comedian Lou Perez joins Matt Kibbe to talk about the need for humor in an increasingly humorless political environment, and why polar bears are evil monsters that must be stopped.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to talk about the ways in which public health officials like Anthony Fauci have misled the American people by refusing to consider natural immunity and alternative COVID treatments, instead focusing entirely on vaccine and mask mandates. Rand is dismayed at all the support these policies have gained from pseudo-libertarians and urges people to take control of their medical care by learning to outsmart the hospital bureaucracy to get the treatment they need. When our leaders prove themselves to be untrustworthy, it is incumbent upon each of us to assume responsibility for keeping ourselves and our loved ones healthy.

One of the benefits of America’s federalist system is that individual states can experiment with different policies, allowing the rest of the country to see what works and what doesn’t. New Hampshire has taken that idea and run with it, attempting to gather as many libertarians as possible in one place to create the freest state in the country. Matt Kibbe sits down with Eric Brakey, executive director of the Free State Project, to discuss why this effort is so important, how effective it has been, and why every libertarian, regardless of where they live, should be invested in what happens in New Hampshire, as it reflects the health of the movement and the prospects for expanding freedom in our lifetime.

The World Economic Forum’s infamous prediction that “you will own nothing and be happy” appears to be part of a playbook for elites to replace market economies around the world with something that looks a lot like communism. Matt Kibbe is joined by Carol Roth, author of “You Will Own Nothing: Your War with a New Financial World Order and How to Fight Back,” to talk about Klaus Schwab’s plans for lowly citizens who are better off surrendering their autonomy and property rights in order to eat bugs. Roth’s book exposes what the WEF is actually up to and what the average person can do to fight back against its agenda.

Seventy two hours into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Matt Kibbe checks in with Nataliya Melnyk, Director of Bendukidze Free Market Center based in Kyiv. Nataliya has been in the city since the war began, and she offers a unique boots-on-the-ground perspective of the conflict that now puts her directly in peril. Amid warning sirens heard from her apartment, she discusses the history of Ukraine’s relationship with Russia, what Vladimir Putin is really after, and why the citizens of Ukraine have taken up arms to defend their home from Russian troops.

Midjourney and other artificially intelligent image generators are sending shock waves through the art industry as creators wonder whether they will soon be replaced by machines and whether human creativity and purpose are themselves endangered by technology. Matt Kibbe and the Free the People team are joined by artists Sean Robinson and Carson Grubaugh, who recently published the AI generated comic “The Abolition of Man,” to discuss and debate whether we should be optimistic or pessimistic about artificial intelligence’s role in the creative sphere going forward. Just how concerned should we be? Watch Part 2 on LivingtheLine: https://youtu.be/5oKmEj5_IyI

Matt Kibbe is joined by Marian Tupy, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of “Superabundance,” to talk about the ways in which the standard of living has dramatically increased over the years. It has become fashionable to assert that things are getting worse, wages have stagnated, and prosperity is a thing of the past, but in reality the opposite is true. If you look at the numbers, as Tupy does in his book, it’s indisputable that we’ve made amazing progress as a species, and yet many refuse to recognize it. The reason is that utopian thinking leads to comparing the present not to the past, but to an unrealizable ideal that exists only in the imagination. When you make this comparison, you are bound to be disappointed. A more realistic approach shows that this resentment is misplaced and that in fact we should be grateful for all the wealth and prosperity we now enjoy.

In the information age, it’s ironic that the government is becoming more secretive than ever, with an increase in classified documents and a growing reluctance to engage in any sort of transparency. Today's guest is James Bovard, author of "Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty," which is about the massive amount of illegal activity the government routinely engages in and the ways in which whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are punished for attempting to reveal the truth. In this atmosphere of lies and deception, is there any hope for the preservation of American liberty? All I know is, my gut says “maybe.”

The phrase “going medieval” is used to refer to an extreme and brutal reaction to a problem, a colorful figure of speech that can have some sinister implications. With respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health authorities explicitly stated their intentions to go medieval on the virus, something that should have alarmed anyone who knows anything about the state of medicine in the Middle Ages. Matt Kibbe catches up with Jeffrey Tucker, founder and president of the Brownstone Institute, at the 2023 Porcupine Freedom Festival in New Hampshire to talk about the strategic barbarism of the COVID response, a series of plans that have been in the works far longer than most people realize.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Maria C. Werlau, executive director at the Free Society Project, to discuss the popular mythologies surrounding Cuba and its record on human rights. Although American leftists like Michael Moore and Bernie Sanders praise the Cuban system in everything from health care to education, the reality on the ground is much different from what they are allowed to see as tourists and guests of the Cuban government. Rich capitalists from overseas are indeed treated well, but the two-tiered system that rewards political connections is brutal for ordinary Cuban citizens.

Comedian Andrew Heaton joins Matt Kibbe to discuss safe spaces, two-party tribalism, and whether comedy might actually save the world from the enemies of free expression. Over a glass of whiskey and an outrageously loud tie, Heaton ponders whether there’s an audience for thoughtful conversation on the internet and why we can’t all just get along.

Following the recent dust-up over the continuing resolution that maintained Biden-era levels of spending, it’s fair to ask whether the Trump administration is serious about cutting spending, reducing the national debt, and balancing the budget. The Department of Government Efficiency has identified hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending, but Congress still has to act in order to actually make those cuts. Matt Kibbe is joined by Virginia state Delegate Nick Freitas (R) to talk about the Trump administration’s diverse coalition and whether it can hold together long enough to enact Trump’s agenda.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Rachel Ferguson and Marcus Witcher, authors of “Black Liberation Through the Marketplace,” to discuss the ways in which free markets and free people have done more for racial justice and equality than any top-down government program. While acknowledging that minorities still face real problems with structural racism in the United States, Ferguson and Witcher point out that in most cases these structures are imposed by the government rather than eliminated by them, and the largest reductions in racist policies have come during periods of deregulation. While the social justice crowds tend to demand more and more intervention by the state, they ignore the fact that slavery, segregation, eugenics, and all of the other racially motivated programs were products of a large central government, not of ordinary people. Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637583443

Elected Libertarian Jeff Hewitt teaches Matt Kibbe how people like him can succeed in local politics through a combination of hard work and smart messaging. Instead of always shooting for the presidency, libertarians should be populating state and local governments. Only then can they change the world.

Economist Dr. Edward Lopez joins Matt Kibbe to discuss the fundamental insights of Nobel laureate James Buchanan and his public choice theory, namely that politicians are just as self-interested as anyone else. Lopez goes on to explain why government assistance programs so often fail, why elected officials don’t keep their promises, and why some regulations actually benefit the corporations they are supposed to restrain.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Lou Perez, comedian and author of “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore,” to talk about the future of comedy in a world where taking offense has risen to the level of a competitive sport. As comedians abandon college campuses and risk having their social media presence destroyed by saying something controversial, comedy has become the vanguard for free expression and the war against censorship. Without jesters to poke fun at the powerful and cloak important truths in humor, society becomes a stagnant, humorless morass that tends ever closer towards authoritarianism. That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637582455

Israel is the new Ukraine! As Congress shifts its interest from funding a war against Russia to funding a war against Hamas, there are few people in Washington willing to push back against reckless spending, even though our own national debt is spiraling out of control. Thomas Massie is one such voice, although his principled commitment to fiscal responsibility has earned him plenty of animosity, including but not limited to accusations of antisemitism. He sits down with Matt Kibbe to defend his votes, and highlight how America’s overspending is the greatest threat to our own national security.

Matt Kibbe gets pickled with so-called Dark Money ATM Lawson Bader, who explains why donor privacy is crucial to a functioning democracy.

Nearly a century after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spearheaded a sweeping set of economic policies known as the New Deal, the debate still rages over whether he was a hero or a villain. Defenders of the New Deal credit it with ending the Great Depression and pioneering a number of important social programs. Detractors claim it prolonged the Depression due to the reckless government spending demanded by Keynesian economics. Matt Kibbe sits down with George Selgin, author of "False Dawn," who argues that both of these viewpoints miss important details about the New Deal and its impact on the economy. In the first place, it was not particularly Keynesian in its approach to spending. Instead, it was Roosevelt's hostility toward private industry that delayed America's recovery for so long.

Dr. Ron Paul sits down with Matt Kibbe deep in the heart of Texas to discuss his intellectual influences and his political history. He talks about his education in Austrian economics, which explains why government intervention in the economy, particularly through the Federal Reserve, makes us all poorer and less free. He also turns his attention to current events, explaining why the U.S. can’t seem to get out of any wars and why the government’s coronavirus response has been worse than useless.

In the first of a series of interviews conducted at the Mont Pelerin Society in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, Matt Kibbe is joined by Daniel Hannan, member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. From his perspective across the pond, Hannan has a typically British pessimism about the prospects for freedom in the post-COVID world. As an outspoken critic of lockdowns, he witnessed a public tolerance for authoritarianism he had previously not thought possible. The terrifying thing about COVID policies was that they were not imposed by governments on an unwilling public but were welcomed and even demanded by many people. That’s a big hurdle to overcome if we want to build a freer society.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a whole host of European countries were faced with a unique opportunity: the chance to free their economy and clean up a corrupt legal system. Of all the ex-Soviet states, few have been as successful as Estonia. Matt Kibbe speaks to Matthew Mitchell, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, about the peaceful and musical revolution that helped lift Estonia out of poverty and oppression as the country’s people embraced the concepts of free markets and personal liberty. Today, this tiny Baltic nation serves as a model for how to get things right, both in terms of casting off the chains of the past and create a free society that empowers citizens to thrive.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Reed Coverdale, host of the Naturalist Capitalist podcast and professional trucker, to talk about the traditional American spirit of liberty and independence and how that has gradually been replaced by desire for short-term comfort over long-term fulfillment. At the same time, we’ve become terrified of experiencing the sort of loss that has been the norm for all of human existence and that goes a long way toward shaping character and inner strength. The country has become so focused on safety and security that no one wants to have adventures any more, but it’s those adventures that make life worth living.

The war against Big Tech is in full swing. Republicans in Congress are attempting to pass the Restrict Act, a dangerous piece of legislation that would not only allow them to ban TikTok, the China-controlled social media app, but would also give them broad powers to regulate Americans’ speech online and silence dissenting voices. Matt Kibbe is joined by Robby Soave, senior editor at Reason Magazine, to talk about why this is a really, really bad idea. The beauty of the internet is that it has given us access to a multitude of voices and a diversity of opinion absent from the old network news channels. But there are those who want to take all that away in order to enforce a single narrative, whether it be about the policies surrounding COVID-19 or the war in Ukraine. Tech companies restricting speech is certainly a concern, but as we’ve learned from the “Twitter Files,” almost all of the worst examples of online censorship were performed at the urging of the FBI and other government agencies. The last thing defenders of free speech should do is give them even more power.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) joins Matt Kibbe to talk about his new book, Our Lost Declaration. The guys also discuss the revolutionary populism of Thomas Paine and the 1993 Mike Myers classic “So I Married an Axe Murderer.”

Matt Kibbe is joined by Maj Toure, founder of Black Guns Matter and Libertarian candidate for city council. The product of a tumultuous youth in north Philadelphia, Maj discovered that most government policies designed to help minorities actually hurt them, the origins of gun control are racist, and the benefits of liberty are for everyone.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Brian Nichols, host of The Brian Nichols Show, to discuss the failures of libertarians to effectively market ideas. In his day job as manager of a sales team, Nichols has learned that the best way to communicate with people is not to tell them what you think they should know, but to listen to their problems, answer their questions, and establish yourself as a source of trusted information others can turn to in times of doubt. By becoming less aggressive and more open, libertarians could go a lot farther towards making inroads with the average American looking for answers to problems, like government lockdowns, that are actively affecting their ability to live and prosper.

When truth is treason in the empire of lies, sometimes it takes a court jester to say what everyone else is thinking. Matt Kibbe catches up with actor and comedian Rob Scheider at 2024’s FreedomFest in Las Vegas, to talk about how the formerly apolitical comic felt compelled to come out as a warrior for freedom purely by virtue of the fact that no one else would. Schneider is a reluctant intellectual, who would rather be making movies than talking politics, but he also believes that there comes a time when silence is a betrayal. In the wake of totalitarian COVID lockdowns, censorship, endless wars, and an increasingly corrupt political process, comedians may just be the ones who wake us all up.

The Make America Healthy Again movement is seeing a renewed interest in addressing chronic disease, obesity, and other health problems that plague Americans. But at the same time, the incompetence and dishonesty of the public health establishment during the COVID-19 pandemic have left people more skeptical of medical experts than ever. Matt Kibbe sits down with Dr. Joseph Marine, Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, to talk about what needs to be done to restore the country's faith in good science as well as what we can expect from Trump nominees like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jay Bhattacharya as they take the reins of dysfunctional and corrupt agencies like the NIH and HHS.

Alexandre Pesey, founder of Institut de Formation Politique, joins Matt Kibbe to talk about the state of liberty in France. In their conversation, Pesey reveals the truth about the Yellow Vest movement, why the government is cracking down on free speech, and how some of America’s worst ideas originated with French thinkers.

Matt Kibbe sits down with comedian JP Sears to talk about his evolution from a spiritual satirist to a champion of freedom. As the political landscape has shifted, JP saw his liberties legitimately threatened for the first time and was surprised to find how little the rest of his community cared. The generation that grew up with participation trophies has gotten used to never having to deal with discomfort, which leads them to expect someone else to solve all their problems. What they have to realize is that if you want to live free, it’s not always going to be safe or easy, whereas if you want to feel safe, it means giving up most of your personal autonomy.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Glenn Beck, author of "The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st-Century Fascism." They talk about the gatekeepers of the internet who suppress ideas, news, and stories that do not fit the mainstream narrative. Glaring similarities can be seen to China’s model of a social credit system—both in free speech online and the pandemic lockdowns, when so many of our freedoms were stolen in the name of safety.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Stephen Kent, author of “How the Force Can Fix the World,” and Free the People executive producer Matt Battaglia to discuss the valuable moral and political lessons of the world’s most popular movie franchise. The Star Wars saga contains deep and highly relevant truths to help us repair much of what is wrong with the world today, starting with the need to reject fear and embrace hope. At a time when it seems like every aspect of society is dominated by the fear of what might go wrong, we are desperately in need of a moral compass that points toward redemption, forgiveness, and a future that can be better and brighter than today.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to discuss the upcoming series, “The Constitution: Line by Line.” Everywhere we look, we see government exceeding its authority, imposing harmful regulations, and delegating power to unfireable bureaucrats, or as the senator calls it, “emergency socialism.” As a scholar and student of the Constitution, Mike Lee is the perfect person to point out the importance of our nation’s founding document in defending liberty in 2020.

Matt Kibbe sits down with self-described Lunatic Farmer Joel Salatin and Rep. Thomas Massie to talk about the food shortages Americans are experiencing as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. The complex interactions that allow food to make it from farm to table have been disrupted by central planners who think they know better, with disastrous results. Rep. Massie has introduced legislation to help fix the problem, but as long as the lockdowns continue, the food supply will suffer.

Cryptocurrency has the potential to liberate millions of people from the government’s money system, but there are some who want to use that very tool for evil instead of good. Matt Kibbe talks to Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) about the possibility of the Federal Reserve creating its own digital currency that would be controlled by the federal government. In addition to being prone to massive inflation, a central bank digital currency would be used to track your every purchase and could be denied to people who behave in ways that the state deems undesirable. In Canada, truckers were locked out of their bank accounts for protesting COVID policy. Imagine if Justin Trudeau had the ability to deactivate the very dollars in their pockets as well.

When people talk about the need for government-sponsored medicine, they’ll often use words like “compassionate” and “humane,” but neither of those terms describe what’s been happening at the National Institutes of Health. Matt Kibbe and Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the White Coat Waste Project, talk about some of the horrific cases of animal cruelty and abuse that the government has been financing for years. We’re not just talking about fruit flies and nematode worms here. Dogs and cats are being tortured and killed, often with little to no scientific justification. And your tax dollars are paying for it. The mission of the White Coat Waste Project is to shine a light on these disgusting practices and hopefully put a stop to them once and for all.

Venezuelan expatriate Daniel Di Martino talks to Matt Kibbe about what it was like to grow up under the government of Hugo Chavez. While young people in America are flirting with democratic socialism, Martino explains how these same policies catapulted his country from prosperity to almost unimaginable poverty and oppression. Will America learn this lesson before it’s too late?

Matt Kibbe sits down with Libertarian Party presidential candidate Jacob Hornberger to discuss the future of freedom in America. Hornberger talks about how he discovered the ideas of liberty, the philosophy of libertarians today, and how these ideas can be applied to build a better, more prosperous country. In the midst of an election in which both major parties are campaigning to hurt people and take their stuff, he argues that the Libertarian Party offers something completely different.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Matt Ridley, author of “How Innovation Works,” to talk about the mysterious process of economic and technological progress. Ridley points out the futility of trying to engineer innovation from the top down, when we should instead focus on policies that get government out of the way and allow innovators to flourish. Buy How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062916599/

Are the teachings of Christianity compatible with libertarianism? Economist Deirdre McCloskey thinks so. At the Mont Pelerin Society conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, she sits down with Matt Kibbe to lay out her vision of a Christian libertarianism that values the individual over the collective, embraces markets, and demands that we treat each other with kindness, humility, and love. These lessons are more important than ever in a time when politics is dominated by division and hatred.

In today’s hypersensitive environment of political correctness, it seems like nobody can even take a joke. We’re told that speech is violence and that certain subjects are off limits for humor. But comedian Lou Perez believes that, now more than ever, we have a responsibility to hold a mirror up to society using the oldest and best form of social criticism: jokes. Perez and Matt Kibbe discuss their new comedy series, “Comedy Is Murder,” produced by Free the People. They take a look at the first two episodes, which tackle the absurdity of gender politics among homicide detectives and question whether gun owners are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend their families. Comedy Is Murder: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL36_JCmmBwZo1VpgR9vhdI33iCyOxOIuV

Former New York state gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe joins Matt Kibbe to discuss a wide variety of issues from the War on Drugs to why Republicans and Democrats can’t unite the country. Through his experience with addicts, Sharpe explains how prohibition laws are actually responsible for most overdoses. He also weighs in on how Millennials view work differently from their parents and the appeal of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

From Eadweard Muybridge’s experiments with sequential photography to the earliest motion pictures, the power of sequential images to tell stories and communicate ideas has long been recognized. The medium of comics, once thought to be fit only for children, has emerged as a rich and vibrant source of creativity and passion among artists and writers. Matt Kibbe is joined by Matt Battaglia, executive producer at Free the People and author of the new book "House on Fire," to talk about art, creativity, and the ways in which comics can both predict the future and respond to the various challenges faced by 21st-century American society. House on Fire: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1736860569/

When Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that restaurants in the District of Columbia would be required to turn away some customers based on their medical history, Eric Flannery told his customers that he would never discriminate against them. As a result, the city revoked his liquor license and ultimately shut down his restaurant entirely. Matt Kibbe sits down with Eric to find out why he was willing to stick his neck out to resist this authoritarian policy. They are also joined by Robert Alt, president and CEO of the Buckeye Institute, who is representing Eric in his case against the city, which has been using emergency powers for nearly two years in defiance of the long-standing legal principle of public accommodation.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Robert Alt, CEO of the Buckeye Institute, and Eric Flannery, owner of the Big Board, to celebrate the filing of their constitutional challenge against the District of Columbia. After Eric announced that his restaurant would not discriminate against the unvaccinated, the city pulled his liquor license and ultimately shut him down completely. Nine months later, after Eric was forced to burn through his life savings, the Big Board is open and the outstanding fines have been dismissed. But Eric and Robert are fighting on in defense of the fundamentally American principles at stake. Their new legal challenge argues that the D.C. government did not have the authority to issue a string of emergency orders that resulted in the Big Board’s shutdown and that these actions, by seeking to evade congressional review and judicial scrutiny, violated the U.S. Constitution and the Home Rule Act of 1973. Watch Free the People's documentary coverage of this story: Shut Down Indefinitely | Part 1: https://youtu.be/hA-iPTXJfQE Shut Down Indefinitely | Part 2: https://youtu.be/OWAa7P8DmBI

For the last four years, the media has persisted in characterizing January 6 protesters as a violent mob intent on overthrowing a legitimately elected government. However, many of the people now being prosecuted were innocent bystanders or journalists simply trying to cover the event. One such man is investigative journalist and BlazeTV contributor Steve Baker, who comes straight from the courthouse to talk to Matt Kibbe about how he was forced to enter a guilty plea for a crime he didn’t commit and how his life has been turned upside down by a twisted justice system bent on locking him away. With the re-election of President Trump, there is now some hope that he and his fellow journalists can finally be liberated from these politically motivated prosecutions.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) to talk about the deep political and social divisions running through the country that erupted into violence last week at the U.S. Capitol. Roy argues that frustration over the election is partly a proxy for a whole range of other frustrations Americans are feeling—and that the only solution is federalism and decentralization. As long as one side is trying to impose its will on the other from the top down, polarization, extremism, and even violence will only get worse.

Matt Kibbe sits down with Mark Pellegrino, a film and television actor who’s had roles in such successful projects as “The Big Lebowski,” “Lost,” and “Mulholland Drive.” They talk about Mark’s devotion to Ayn Rand and the philosophy of freedom, cancel culture in Hollywood, postmodernism, and how dignity comes from autonomy and self-worth, not a government handout.

Think all college professors are socialists? You’re in for a shock with guests Peter Boettke and John B. Taylor, professors of economics at George Mason University and Stanford University. Matt Kibbe asks tough questions on how we can educate young people and reclaim words like “liberalism,” “democracy,” and “capitalism.” The three discuss influencers like Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Adam Smith, and the mysterious Mont Pelerin Society.

When the socialist policies of Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chavez transformed Venezuela from a prosperous country into a humanitarian disaster, it was big news all over the world. The New York Times ran stories about residents of the impoverished nation having to eat their own pets in order to survive and any number of similarly horrific narratives. But at some point, discussion of Venezuela’s downfall simply stopped, as readers got bored and preferred to focus on issues closer to home, like the American economy or the pandemic. But just because we stop talking about something doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. In Venezuela, things have only gotten worse. Matt Kibbe talks to Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan activist and the director of Alumni for Liberty, about Maduro’s continued efforts to control the population by outlawing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the desperate attempts of the Venezuelan people to survive the actions of their own government. As Americans, it’s important that we not forget about the plight of Venezuela, as it carries important lessons that we should heed if we want to prevent our own country from traveling down the same socialist path.

In the first of a series of shows filmed at this year's PorcFest, Matt Kibbe sits down with organizers Carla Gericke and Dennis Pratt to discuss this remarkable gathering of liberty lovers from all across the nation. PorcFest is just one part of the larger Free State Project, an effort to gather libertarians and other freedom-minded folk in the state of New Hampshire to influence public policy and build a community. Whether you want to run for office, start a business, or just live near people who share your ideals, the Free State Project hopes to create an island of liberty apart from the increasingly polarized and authoritarian tendencies gripping the rest of the country.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Prof. Randy Barnett to talk about the Constitution and how it should be interpreted. Barnett’s new book, “An Introduction to Constitutional Law,” highlights 100 Supreme Court cases that everyone should know to understand how the law of the land has evolved over the course of America’s history. An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1543813909

As Hollywood continues to prioritize ideology over quality entertainment, filmmakers who just want to tell compelling stories are finding alternative avenues for production and distribution. Angel Studios is one such alternative, breaking out in a big way with the film “Sound of Freedom.” Matt Kibbe talks to Angel Studios co-founder and president Jordan Harmon about the company’s latest release, “Cabrini,” which is proving to be both a critical and financial success. Part of the reason for that is Angel Studios’ passion for the art, which is about amplifying light in the world rather than simply making a quick buck or pushing a particular narrative onto the public. Visit https://angel.com/kibbe to find showtimes in your area and purchase tickets.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of Openthebooks.com, to discuss the complex web of payola that exists between major pharmaceutical companies and scientists at the NIH. Many of these government bureaucrats, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, receive royalty payments for products they work on. Now that they are in a position to regulate, and even mandate, the use of certain treatments, this creates a major conflict of interest. We can’t trust those in the government to pick winners and losers in the marketplace when doing so allows them to enrich themselves at the expense of the American taxpayer and even at the cost of public health.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Brian McWilliams, co-founder of Lions of Liberty, and Calum Nicholson, visiting fellow at the Danube Institute, to discuss the failures of the technocratic state in managing public health during a pandemic, spreading democracy abroad, and just about everything else. While it’s difficult to find a silver lining in the last two years of chaos, one bright spot may be the revelation to many people that those who wish to design society from the top down really have no idea what they are talking about. The people who hold the levers of power imagine that they know enough to understand, and therefore effectively control, the lives of millions of people, but we now have enough empirical evidence to see very clearly that that is simply not the case.

Matt Kibbe talks to Gil Dagan, Leadership Outreach Coordinator for Students for Liberty in Israel, about the recent riots and rocket strikes in Jerusalem. In this highly charged atmosphere, Gil attempts to give a balanced take from a libertarian perspective about both the historical roots of the conflict and the situation as it exists today. As extremists on both sides continue to escalate and provoke violence for political reasons, ordinary Israelis and Palestinians generally just want to live their lives in peace and freedom.

Matt Kibbe is joined by the Atlas Network’s Dr. Roberto Salinas León to discuss the future of Mexico and its relationship with the United States. The conversation covers immigration, free trade, drug cartels, and why Mexico’s new president has a grudge against cold beer. With all these challenges, can Mexico avoid going down the same populist road as Venezuela?

Matt Kibbe is joined by Jenin Younes, litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, to discuss the imminent Supreme Court decision on whether OSHA can legally mandate that workers take the COVID-19 vaccine. From a constitutional standpoint, the answer seems obvious, but unfortunately the Court has shown that it is not immune to the propaganda perpetuated by government agencies and the media operating on their behalf. As it becomes more and more difficult to obtain unbiased health care information and the public loses trust in the medical establishment, proposals such as the mandatory vaccination of children become increasingly troubling. But will the Court agree?

Dave Rubin, host of The Rubin Report and author of “Don’t Burn This Book,” sits down with Matt Kibbe to discuss the political Left’s response to the coronavirus. Rubin points out that the lockdown has revealed a unification on the Right around states’ rights and individual freedom, but that the only thing leftists have in common is a race to demand ever more government and further concentration of political power. Buy Don't Burn This Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609625/dont-burn-this-book-by-dave-rubin/

Matt Kibbe is joined by Jeremy Kauffman, CEO of Odysee and LBRY, to talk about how Blockchain can provide a safe haven for free speech online through alternate social media platforms. Because of its decentralized nature, Blockchain-based services can’t be censored or tampered with in the same way that other websites can, with the implication being a freer, more secure internet in the future. Of course, this also means that the government is eager to crack down on this technology, as it poses a threat to its ability to control communications.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Republican congressional candidate Lily Tang Williams to talk about her experiences growing up under Chinese communism and the ways in which the United States is starting to be influenced by the same kinds of authoritarian policies. Mao Zedong’s socialist experiment resulted in 45 million deaths, but young people today have barely even heard of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The lockdown policy during the coronavirus pandemic originated in China, and now the American government is openly pondering a system of vaccine passports that looks a lot like the Chinese social credit system. This is a totalitarian policy that gives the government total control over the degree to which citizens are allowed to participate in their own society.

Economist Max Gulker sits down with Matt Kibbe to discuss some of the big ideas coming out of the Democratic primary. From Yang’s universal basic income to Elizabeth Warren’s technocratic plan for everything, Max points out that top-down solutions from the presidency are almost guaranteed not to work because of the way complex economies operate in the real world.

Venture capitalist and Draper University founder Tim Draper joins Matt Kibbe to talk about lockdowns, free speech, regulation, and the proper role of government. Draper argues that when the government gets involved with telling people how to live, it creates more problems than it solves. Instead, the government should inform and educate citizens to make their own decisions.

Matt Kibbe sits down with three members of the New Hampshire Libertarian Party to talk about the Free State Project and the pro-liberty trend in New Hampshire politics. As members of the Mises Caucus, which recently took over the Party's leadership, they are adamantly opposed to lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and other authoritarian responses to the pandemic. They attribute their success not only to the power of their message, but to the strong community bonds that characterize the libertarian movement in New Hampshire.

While visiting Prague to attend the New Intellectuals Conference, hosted by the Ayn Rand Center Europe and LibertyCon 2022, Matt Kibbe ran into several young persons from Ukraine who were eager to tell the world about what is going on in their country. It’s shocking to hear about the devastation and ruined cities brought about by the Russian forces. Yet, contrary to all expectations, Vladimir Putin is encountering massive resistance not only from the Ukrainian military, but from the ordinary citizens of the country as well. It’s inspiring to hear these students describe their experiences in occupied Ukraine and proclaim their determination to keep their country free and democratic. As they say, freedom is in Ukrainians’ blood.

Donald Trump has signaled that the foreign policy of his second administration will put America first and avoid foreign entanglements. However, he has also leaned into his persona of international tough guy, ready to limit foreign trade with tariffs and quotas. Matt Kibbe sits down with Magatte Wade, director of the Center for African Prosperity, to discuss the need for the United States to work together with other nations to help create a wealthier, more prosperous future. This is not about handing out foreign aid or funding other countries' wars but about supporting the institutions that empower entrepreneurs and innovators to bring opportunity to the whole world.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor-in-chief of Reason, to discuss how government and tech companies form an unholy alliance to restrict our speech online. In this libertarian nerd-fest, they also talk sex work, the War on Drugs, and capitalism, and as a bonus, you’ll get an answer to the burning question of whether Mark Zuckerberg is a lizard person.

Matt Kibbe talks with Li Schoolland, who grew up in China under Mao Zedong, about the many ways that Chinese communism persecutes individuals and crushes opportunity. As elites in the U.S. increasingly look to China for ideas about economic and social governance, we have to remember that country’s abysmal record of human rights violations and grinding poverty. Not only does communism emphatically not work, but the government knows it doesn’t work, yet clings to it anyway because political power is more important than an improved life for the Chinese people. It’s a road that the U.S. must shun at every opportunity.

As Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency ramp up their efforts to dismantle the federal Department of Education, its defenders are screaming that returning education to the states will destroy schooling in this country. Matt Kibbe is joined by pro wrestler and Knox County, Tennessee, Mayor Glenn Jacobs to debunk these nonsensical claims. From their shared love of the band Rush and the Austrian school of economics, Kibbe and Jacobs discuss the common-sense notions that underlie good economic and political thinking: the power of the individual, the virtue of not wasting taxpayer money on ineffective and corrupt programs, and the desperate need for reform in Washington's broken system. The only people who can oppose such obvious wisdom are the ones who have a financial stake in perpetuating institutions that serve legislators and bureaucrats rather than the people themselves.

The second Trump administration has awakened Democrats to the dangers of executive power, but they have no one to blame but themselves. Matt Kibbe goes through the history of the expansion of executive authority, in which the presidency becomes more and more dominant over the other two branches of government. A lot of what we are now seeing can be traced to Barack Obama, who boasted that he could do what he wanted without Congress because he had a pen and a phone. Since then, there has been an arms race between the two parties to see how much they can get done with the presidency alone. It’s a strategy that only harms the American people and our freedoms and will almost certainly come back to bite the very people who started it.

Merry olde England isn’t so merry these days, as its police force has been busy arresting citizens for posting “offensive” opinions on social media. One police commissioner even threatened to extradite Elon Musk, along with other Americans, for disregarding the United Kingdom’s anti-hate-speech laws. The American Bill of Rights drew many of its provisions straight from the tradition of English common law, which now seems so distant from the country’s censorious policies. Matt Kibbe is joined by Daniel Hannan, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords, to find out what’s going on with our neighbors across the pond. Hannan argues that these speech regulations are a return to the prosecution of blasphemy that was once common, only with modern social justice tenets substituted for religious ones.

Matt Kibbe is joined by BackWordz frontman Eric July to talk about a whole slate of government policies that are proving unbelievably destructive for the black community. From pandemic lockdowns that drive artists and small business owners out of business to the explicitly racist history of labor regulations like the minimum wage, big government always oppresses those with the least power in society.

Matt Kibbe is joined by Jack Hunter, co-founder of Based Politics, to discuss the results of the midterm elections, what we can learn from a lukewarm performance from Republicans, and the state of conservatism in the United States. One clear takeaway is that those Republicans who took a clear stand on liberty issues did better than their less principled counterparts. Thomas Massie, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ron DeSantis won their races because voters recognized leaders who are willing to stand up against the tide of authoritarianism coming from Washington. In other cases, generic Republican candidates simply failed to capitalize on Americans’ widespread feelings of dissatisfaction, with a lack of inspiring candidates or a convincing case for how they would govern more responsibly.

The gender ideology movement has become extremely influential (and extremely radical!), but how much do the activists we see on college campuses and teaching elementary schools actually represent transgender people? Matt Kibbe is joined by Sara Higdon, a trans woman and the host of “TRANSform to Freedom,” who explains why she does not believe that gender is fluid, that women can become men, or that biological men should compete in women’s sports. Trans adults should be treated with respect and compassion, but that does not mean that men calling themselves women should automatically and unquestioningly gain access to all female spaces, or that drugs and surgery should be forced on young children. According to Higdon, this extreme ideology is actually a setback for people like her, who just want to live and let live.

The Deep State, that collection of unelected bureaucracies that run the government and maintain the status quo in spite of what the American people vote for, has been identified as one of the biggest threats to liberty and democracy faced by our country. Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to dismantle it. But can it be done? At this year’s annual Porcupine Freedom Festival in New Hampshire, Matt Kibbe caught up with the presidential hopeful, as well as former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, to find out what the chief executive can actually do to rein in D.C.’s alphabet soup agencies and restore accountability to the American government.