Growing the Liberty Movement (w/ Trevor Burrus)

09/21/22 • 56 min

Across nearly a decade, and over four hundred episodes, of the Free Thoughts podcast, Trevor Burrus and I talked a lot about liberty.

Today I invited him on ReImagining Liberty to continue that conversation. At issue is the question of how to approach being an advocate for radical liberalism in a political environment that seems to have lost its taste for it.

We range, as we often do, rather broadly, from how not to talk about liberty, to how to start fruitful arguments, to the dangers of contrarianism and over-attachment to narratives.

Trevor Burrus is a research fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor of the Cato Supreme Court Review. He's also the continuing host of my beloved Free Thoughts podcast, and it was joy getting to sit across microphones from him again.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠.

Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.

Across nearly a decade, and over four hundred episodes, of the Free Thoughts podcast, Trevor Burrus and I talked a lot about liberty.

We range, as we often do, rather broadly, from how not to talk about liberty, to how to start fruitful arguments, to the dangers of contrarianism and over-attachment to narratives.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

Get full access to Aaron Ross Powell at www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.

Previous Episode

Liberalism vs. Leftism (w/ Akiva Malamet)

What's the relationship between libertarianism or radical liberalism and the ideas of the left? Most place them in clear and direct opposition, and argue that liberty advocates should have more affinity for conservatism, at least in its American variety.

My guest today argues otherwise. Akiva Malamet (@akiva_malamet), a writer and philosopher, and contributor to my old website, Libertarianism.org.

We discuss the shared concerns those of us who see radical liberty have with the political left, but also draw important distinctions between socialism and liberalism.

(Here's the article on libertarian and leftist views of power that Akiva and I discuss.)

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

Get full access to Aaron Ross Powell at www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.

Next Episode

Don Lavoie and the Case Against Planning (w/ Pete Boettke)

Chances are, you've never heard of Don Lavoie. I certainly didn't run across him when I was getting into libertarianism in college, and it wasn't until years into my time working for the Cato Institute that I learned about him from my boss, David Boaz.

But Lavoie is arguably the North Star for what the liberty movement needs to become if it wants to reestablish itself in America's shifting political landscape, and if it wants to be more than just a somewhat limited government version of conservatism.

So for today's episode, I'm chatting with George Mason University professor Pete Boettke, one of Lavoie's students. We discuss Lavoie's scholarship, his updating of Hayek's Knowledge Problem argument against economic planning, the problems of socialist calculation, and how to build a case for radical liberty within a politically left framework.