Ep 353 | Privacy Still Matters More Than You Realize | Guest: Naomi Brockwell
In an era when most Americans have put so much of their lives online, it’s easy to be complacent about online privacy. We’ve been told that as long as we have nothing to hide, we have nothing to fear. But in fact, an increasingly powerful surveillance state is a major threat to individual liberty and to the country as a whole. Matt Kibbe sits down with Naomi Brockwell, founder and president of the Ludlow Institute, to talk about why privacy still matters and to outline several ways that ordinary people can easily safeguard their digital data. This is important, because once the government knows everything about you, it can use that information to silence criticism and stifle dissent. Even those who approve of the current administration have to imagine that at some point, someone else is going to be in power, someone who might want to crack down on all the freedoms we hold dear. Without privacy, it becomes almost impossible to push back against oppressive regimes.
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Ep 352 | Is It Rational to Be Pessimistic? | Guest: Matt Ridley
Author Matt Ridley is well known for his book "The Rational Optimist," which argued that the world is consistently getting better year after year. In the 15 years since that book was published, however, world events have convinced many people that the opposite is actually true. Matt Kibbe sits down with Ridley to discuss his next book project, in which he will update and reflect on his earlier conclusions to see whether there is still reason to be optimistic or if in fact it is rational to be a pessimist.
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Ep 351 | How Do We Make America Love Again? | Guest: Warren Farrell
In a divided America where various groups, including men and women, are increasingly at each other’s throats, is there a way to set aside hatred and judgment in order to love one another? Matt Kibbe sits down with author and educator Warren Farrell to talk about his new book, “Role Mate to Soul Mate,” which seeks to help couples communicate better and build stronger relationships. The same principles apply to political discourse as well. Instead of listening and understanding, too many people have fallen back on accusations and finger-pointing, to the point where it leads to horrific acts of physical violence, such as the murder of Charlie Kirk. Farrell’s work is crucial if we want to live in a country where individuals are treated with kindness and humanity instead of being demonized for their opinions.
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Ep 350 | Disrupting the Higher Ed Cartel | Guest: Pano Kanelos
At the Universidad de la Libertad in Mexico City, Matt Kibbe sat down with Pano Kanelos, chancellor of the University of Austin, to talk about how higher education has gone wrong and what can be done to fix it. In the wake of the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk on a college campus, the fact that universities have become increasingly hostile to open discourse and the pursuit of truth has become more obvious than ever. Ideologically driven curricula, combined with rising costs and the student debt crisis, have made higher education a less appealing prospect, which is a shame when you consider that the purpose of universities was always supposed to be the expansion of human knowledge, not just preparing students for the job market.
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Ep 349 | Trump’s Tariffs Are Really About Executive Power | Guest: Phil Magness
Economists are united in pointing out that tariffs on foreign goods are really nothing more than a tax on American consumers, but what fewer people understand is that Trump’s policy on trade is not really about revenue or even about economic protectionism. Matt Kibbe is joined by Phil Magness, senior fellow at the Independent Institute, to explain how the tariffs represent a unilateral expansion of executive power that is now being challenged by the courts. It’s important to remember that Trump will not be president forever, and sooner or later, a Democrat is going to occupy the White House again. At that point, Democrats will be more than happy to use these expanded executive powers in ways that will horrify Trump’s base.
Kibbe on Liberty is a weekly podcast with libertarian author and economist, Matt Kibbe. Kibbe believes that honest conversations, driven by intellectual curiosity and mutual respect, can ignite a new revolution of free thinking and a willingness to question the official narrative. That means talking, and listening, to a wide variety of people outside the echo chamber of officially sanctioned experts.
Kibbe on Liberty's guests include politicians, economists, musicians, comedians, writers, radio personalities, activists, journalists, and even magicians—with topics of conversation ranging from current affairs to obscure philosophy, from craft beer to the Grateful Dead. Cold one in hand, settle in for the next brain-stimulating hour of Kibbe on Liberty.
As the president of Free the People, Kibbe has decades of experience in the libertarian political sphere. He is the author of three books, including Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff, a #2 NY Times Best Seller. Kibbe is a fanatical DeadHead, drinker of great whisky, and collector of obscure books on Austrian economics.
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