The Unshackled Waves Ep. 38 Philosophy Show on Libertarianism

Video Version

Show Description
Welcome to the philosophy show, a new episode format where we focus on a single philosophical issue for the duration show, exploring its ideas and our different points of view on it. The first topic is libertarianism and to discuss this I am joined by Unshackled contributor Sam Oldfield. We both have a long association with libertarian movement in Australia so this is a topic we believe needs discussing.

We first define what is libertarianism and its key principles. We then explore its history from its birth during the American Revolution and the development of classical economic theory. We then chronicle its rise during the industrial revolution and then fall with the onset of the two world wars and decline of the Empires. We then explore it’s role in the Cold War and defeating communism before moving on to more contemporary developments.

We then discuss the Ron Paul Revolution which brought about a libertarian resurgence in 2008-12, we highlight why it was successful and why it was able to bring together a grand coalition of supporters from different political backgrounds. We then discuss why after 2012 it began to fall apart including the concerning direction the libertarian movement took. This includes its embrace of left wing social justice issues and promotion of open borders.

We then finish off with a return to the basics with a discussion about why libertarians embrace the free markets and why leads to a more to more prosperous and fairer society than big government does. We also discuss some misconceptions about libertarian social policy and how being a libertarian does not mean you must be a social liberal.

Theme Music Super Power Cool Dude by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…

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