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June 4, 2021 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
24:09
Libertarian Films? Liberal Colleges? A Diet of Insects & Lab Grown Meat? -- You Asked & We Answered!

Ron Paul's two co-hosts, Daniel McAdams & Chris Rossini, answer viewer questions. Thank you for all of the submissions!

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Time Text
Money and Liberal Schools 00:09:48
Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning into the Liberty Report.
Dr. Paul is away again today.
Chris Rossini, the Friday co-host, and myself will be answering questions from you, which is one of our favorite things to do because we appreciate you so much.
We appreciate you watching the show, and we appreciate your participation in what we're trying to do with the Liver Report and the Ron Paul Institute as well.
So, Chris and I, Chris, good morning.
How are you?
Good morning, Daniel.
All right.
How was the weather in New Jersey?
Rainy today.
Oh, no beach, no beach day today.
No beach today.
Okay.
Well, we each have got a few questions that we're going to answer.
And for me, the first one is coming from someone called Real Carl Menger, Mommy Menger.
They have on here.
And it's the question is for Dan.
What will the effects of Biden's hostility toward Russia regarding Navalny?
That's a good question because, you know, unfortunately, the policies don't change, even though the administration's changed.
There was an attempt in the Obama administration for a reset.
Of course, that was botched by Hillary and the team and the crew that are there.
The State Department is the deep State Department, really, rather than the State Department.
And they have a view that the United States is the indispensable nation that has the authority and the ability to run the rest of the world.
And so that's why you see continued hostility.
Probably Trump would have been a little better if he hadn't been hogtied by the machine as he was when he was first elected.
And actually, even before the election, that he was some sort of Putin's pet.
And of course, when that was disproven, it didn't make any difference.
Just like now that we know that Fauci has been a big liar for the past year and a half or perhaps his whole career, it doesn't matter.
Truth doesn't matter.
On this specific case, what it means for the U.S. to continue its hostility toward Russia is that the U.S. will continue to sink further and further into international irrelevance.
It really is like the British Empire after the First World War, but certainly after the Second World War, where in its mind, it was still this great worldwide empire that everyone had to kneel down to and respect.
But in reality, it was crumbled and rotted on the inside as an old boat would be, you know, and that's what the U.S. is doing.
The U.S. is putting sanctions, has been putting sanctions on countries, has been telling countries what to do and pushing people around.
And meanwhile, new connections, new synapses are being formed.
We're seeing synapses formed between Iran and Russia and China, the new Silk Road project.
Nord Stream 2 is breaking into Europe.
So the U.S. continues to sink into irrelevance as it continues to operate under the false notion that the rest of the world wants to be told what to do and will obey, even as the U.S. does in spades, what it accuses other countries of doing falsely.
So we're making our own grave, unfortunately, as an empire.
It's unfortunate, but hopefully when the ashes are there, we'll be able to come out with a new plan and maybe someone will even listen to us.
So Chris, over to you.
Very good, Daniel.
And I do want to point out, thank you, everyone.
We had more questions.
It was very hard choosing today.
So we're sorry if we can't choose you, but because of time constraints, we had to pick what we picked.
My first question comes from Adam Gary, and he writes, what are some good historical examples of countries that have ditched unsound money and replaced it with sound money?
I'll start out by saying that dishonest, unsound money always fails.
There are no exceptions.
It's just the amount of time that the dishonest money exists.
We have dishonest money today, so we're just dealing with time.
It has to fail.
Now, that doesn't always mean a return to sound money.
You can go from one bad system to another, or one that's even worse.
But there have been many times, many more than I'm even aware of, I'm sure, where there is a return to sound money.
What popped into my mind when I saw Adam's question was France in the early 1700s.
There was a big fiat money debacle led by a man named John Law.
And people that are interested in that can look up the Mississippi bubble and the South Sea bubble.
And after that blew up, France would steer clear of fiat money for at least an entire century, to my knowledge.
You know, people, when they're living through it, when money goes bad and it becomes worthless, they really feel the sting.
And here in America, we've gone through it several times, most especially when the country was founded.
There was a continental dollar, it was called, and it became worthless.
There was a saying, not worth a continental.
And that's, you know, that led to our founders putting in the Constitution gold and silver.
They were trying to tell future Americans, do not go down this bad path.
It's terrible.
But alas, you know, new generations come and they think that this time is different.
And it didn't take very long.
You had the Civil War, and again, fiat money popped up.
And in 1869, President Grant, I have this quote right from him.
He said, to protect the national honor, every dollar of government indebtedness should be paid in gold.
So you can see another return.
But again, that was 1869.
You come to 1913 and the establishment with the Federal Reserve.
So you can see that this bad idea has repeated itself in this country.
Same Americans, but it's a bad idea that just keeps repeating.
And now we're in the biggest one to ever exist, the biggest fiat money bubble.
It's going to end badly.
Nobody can predict exactly how.
And we can advocate as best as we can to return to sound money once again.
But I guess, you know, the future is unknown and we'll see what happens.
Chris, that was a really excuse me.
That was a really interesting answer.
Thanks for that.
I learned some stuff that I didn't know.
So I appreciate that.
My second question comes from someone called Shadow Bolt.
And the question is: advice for someone going to a rather liberal college in the fall?
And that's a tough one.
I'm not big on advice, but I went to a pretty liberal school.
I went to UC Berkeley in the 1980s, and it had a reputation as a very liberal school.
And it forced me more toward the conservative side, but those were different times.
That's when the term PC was first starting to be bandied about, the ideas of Foucault and the French.
But there was not the cancel culture there was.
You could still sort of be in a Kona class.
You could still go against the tide.
For me, that meant working for a conservative newspaper just to sort of stick it in their face.
These are different times now.
People don't just disagree with you.
They want to destroy you.
And so I feel for you.
This is a tough, tough issue, and it's not something to be taken lightly.
I think you have to think about very seriously about what you're going to study.
I think if you're going off to a liberal school, and liberal sadly doesn't mean what it used to mean.
It means it actually means reactionary.
That if you're studying the liberal arts and you're going to a liberal school, I honestly think you might be wasting your money unless you are extremely well grounded.
Maybe you took the Ron Paul curriculum and you studied Gary North with Gary North.
Unless you're extremely well grounded, I think you could be in. for a negative experience.
If you're studying the sciences at a liberal school, I think it's a little easier, but I still would recommend keeping your head down.
There have been recent assaults on even mathematics as being some sort of a racist thing, which I think is insane.
But if you are in the sciences and you're going to a liberal school, I would keep my head down and I would quietly and very carefully look for allies, people who you can at least speak with.
The other option really is to be very, very open about your opposition.
And you can join an on-campus conservative or libertarian group and be very open about it.
But that also has some risks.
So you're in for a tough time, I hate to say, but hopefully you'll find some allies and keep yourself sane and enjoy yourself.
Very good, Daniel.
Good advice.
My next question comes from Jen Benham, and she writes, we so appreciate your information and insights.
Well, thank you for that.
I'd like to know which news sources you find most reliable and perhaps most accessible to people who are used to being informed only by the mainstream news sources.
The way I'm going to answer this, I hope it doesn't disappoint you, but I'm not going to give you actual news sources, but more of a bigger picture overview.
Principles Over Partisanship 00:06:28
Where you get your news is not really the important factor, but the principles that you understand means everything.
So for example, once you understand that two plus two equals four, nothing can shake that from you.
When you look at our mainstream media, you know, you have supposedly two sides.
There are some differences ideologically, but overall, they're for bigger government welfare warfare.
And their goal seems to be, or at least that's the way it appears, that to convince you that two plus two can sometimes equals five, because experts say you always hear about the experts and you're supposed to suspend any principles that you know once you see that word experts or you see a white coat or you see a guy in a suit and tie.
And that's what they do.
They try to shake you out of logic.
But once you understand certain principles, and that's what this show, if more than anything is about, is to arm you with mental principles so that nobody can gaslight you.
You know, we can look back because principles never change to like 1922 when Ludwig von Mises pointed out logically that socialism cannot work in 1922.
That entire century of horror could have been avoided if people would have listened to Mises, but they ignored him and hundreds of millions ended up dead.
Because once you logically understand that socialism cannot work, which is what Mises did, he proved that without profits and losses, without markets, without market prices, leaders are totally in the dark and have absolutely no idea what to do.
And that's why everybody starves.
But unless you understand that, it's easy to become susceptible to, oh, yes, let's try socialism.
And that's what keeps happening.
It's the same with the wars in the Middle East.
Daniel mentioned Gary North, but before these wars even started, I remember Gary North saying, There is no way the United States is going to go to the Middle East and impose on people with different culture, different religions, different beliefs, political systems, and just pop up another United States over there.
He said there is zero chance of that happening.
He was exactly right.
It did not happen.
It bankrupted our country in trying to do something so crazy.
But he was right.
And that's a principle that you have to understand.
So, you know, that's what I hope that, you know, the Ron Paul Liberty Report helps our viewers understand certain principles, and the media will never be able to change your mind.
All right, Chris, that's that's a good one.
That's it's a tough question.
It's hard.
There's not, I wish there was a list here of the five things you should read every day, but it's not that easy.
You're right.
And you have to approach it from your own perspective with your own principles.
My next question is from LA Cult TV.
And it's interesting because this is a sort of the nexus between philosophy and culture, and it's important.
We do need entertainment.
We do need culture.
And the question is: questions for both gentlemen.
And I picked this because I hope Chris has some good answers.
Is there any films or books recommend that are liberty-minded or thought-provoking?
And the answer is: there are plenty out there.
There are plenty of great films, and not just with the heavy libertarian message, but in a way, with themes of freedom and liberty.
And a few come to mind just immediately.
And I think Chris probably has some as well.
But my family has always really loved the Jimmy Stewart film Shenandoah.
And the theme of that is that the state does not own your children.
Your family is yours.
Your people are yours.
And this film was set in the Civil War when a southern farmer, Jimmy Stewart, they came around to take his kids to take them off to fight.
And he opposed that very strongly with great acting.
And I think that's a great film.
We actually own, you should own DVDs, right?
Because, you know, films can disappear if they're just online.
The other one I think that's great is Passive Glory.
And that is a terrific anti-war film.
There's such a powerful scene in the end that challenged anyone to not get a tear in their eye.
Very, very powerful anti-war film.
I think a great book to read if you want to know what the deep state is really like and how it came about is Brothers from Stephen Kinzer, who's a terrific writer.
And actually, Dr. Paul was so moved by the book and so interested in the book that he actually bought it for me when it came out after he read it.
So that's a very good book.
You want to know how people like Kennedy, who challenged the deep state, who challenged the idea of a CIA, if you want to know how things happened to people like that that did happen.
Well, look at the people who were operating behind the scenes back then, who now are operating in spades in the deep, dark crevices of Washington, D.C.
So, Chris, I know you have a couple.
I won't take too long.
No, those were excellent.
And I did watch Shenandoah at Daniel's suggestion, and it was excellent.
One of my favorite movies.
I do want to second that one with Jimmy Stewart.
I thought of a few.
One that struck me with the entrepreneurial spirit that really was excellent was Chef with Jon Favreau, where he starts up a food truck.
And I mean, you just, the free market just teams out of that movie.
So I recommend that.
And the other one I thought of, it's a much darker movie, and it's called Mr. Jones.
And that was about the Ukrainian Holdemar with when the Soviets, what they did to the Ukrainians when they took over the food supply.
And you see the starvation and you see the cover-ups that were done by New York Times, Walter Duranty, very powerful movie.
Both of these I would not recommend watching with young ones because of language.
And some of the content is more for adults, but those two I would recommend.
My next question comes from Sayak Roy.
First Steps Toward Liberty 00:06:45
Let's say in a hypothetical situation, you're given the complete charge of the country or become president, let's say.
What would be the first changes you would like to make to bring the country into a path of libertarianism?
This is an interesting question.
And I'm sure if Dr. Paul were taking this question and he became Fed chairman, I'm pretty sure he would say he would shut it down immediately and then quit because there should not be a Fed.
And that's, you know, from a libertarian perspective, you should shut down anything that's unconstitutional, which unfortunately today is just about everything.
But the angle also with this question is a tricky one because you can't just walk in and do something like that.
I mean, look at Trump, and he was not a libertarian.
He was just in a different direction in some things, and he could barely make a move.
He couldn't even, no matter what he said, his people under him would go on TV, ah, he didn't mean that, and nothing would happen.
So it's not just as simple as coming in and declaring liberty for everyone, because if you tried to do that in today's atmosphere, amazingly enough, in America, you would have rebellions everywhere.
People would rebel against having freedom in America today.
And the reason why this happens, and I thought about it, is think about like your car.
The same energy that drives it forward drives it backwards.
And that's how it is with people's beliefs.
You can go forward or you can go backward.
It could be a total fiction.
But if you believe it strongly enough, you will fight for it.
And we saw that in the last year with masks and social distancing.
Totally ridiculous fictions that were not necessary, but look what people did in the name of them because they believed they were necessary.
So the important point is like what we try to do with the show is to educate people with the ideas of liberty so that from the people would want it themselves and understand it.
And as daunting as that may seem at this time, we have the government helping us because everything they do makes things worse and makes things makes people trust them less.
I know from this COVID, just people that are not political, they are upset because they are finding out that this whole year was, you know, it was totally unnecessary and they're upset that politicians did this to them.
So we have the government helping us make our case.
And, you know, ultimately, if people want liberty, it'll happen.
And the government is bankrupting itself.
So they are making the job even easier.
That's a great answer, Chris.
That's really, you know, Dr. Paul always says, you know, the government follows the culture, the laws follow the culture.
And so the culture right now is where is leading to where the government is.
So we need to find some way to bring it back, to bring back the value of liberty in people's minds.
My last question, and I hate to be a tease, but it'll be a bit of a tease.
But this is from James Cabral, who's a good friend of the show.
He watches it a lot.
He's been very generous in supporting the show.
And we appreciate James a lot.
So I couldn't pass by the question.
And by the way, Adam Gary is also a friend.
I haven't been in touch with him for a while, but I'm glad Adam chimed in.
I'm glad you picked this question, Chris.
But James Cabralz asks: when and where will the next RPI conference be held?
And what do you think is going to happen when the unemployment benefits run out in September?
I'm not sure about the second one.
I can only guess that people might have to actually start working.
We'll see if that happens or not.
But as to the first one, I will reveal for the first time that we are actually diligently working on a late summer or late summer conference in Washington, D.C.
But there are many, many difficult factors that may prevent us from actually announcing it.
If we do, it will be announced very soon.
But there are a few things we have to iron out.
As people who follow the show and follow Dr. Paul and the Institute, understand there are certain things we will not accept.
We will not accept the things that were imposed on people for the past year.
We will not accept any of that.
And we will not expect you to have to tolerate any of it.
So, if we can iron a few things out, it may be an abridged, it may be an abbreviated, it may be not as big of a show as we had before, but who knows?
But we are working diligently on it because we want to see you, you charge our batteries, as Jacob Hornberger says every time we hear him speak.
And we want also for people to be able to get together with each other.
So, trust me, we are doing our best and we'll have some sort of announcement within the next week or so.
Very good, Daniel.
I look forward to it.
I hope we can make it happen.
And thank you.
I know Adam Dick, who works for the Ron Paul Institute, is always involved with our conferences.
So, you know, hats off to him for always working so hard on it.
Yes.
My last question, Daniel, is a fun one.
And I doubt this person thought that this question would appear on the show.
It comes from Jake Riley.
He says, What is the liberty position on how well you cook steak?
Rare, medium, well done.
Well, I prefer medium.
Ribeye is my favorite.
But the liberty position is whatever you want.
And the reason I chose this is because it's very topical for our day, because we live in a time where crazy authoritarians are waging war on meat.
And, you know, we hear stories about how they want us to eat bugs and synthetic lab fake meat.
Not just, you know, certain people, everyone in the world.
This is what they want.
Now, in a free society, you want to eat bugs, knock yourself out, eat all the bugs you want.
If you want to eat vegan, vegetarian, any other diet you choose, it's your life.
Eat whatever makes you happy.
It's one of the joys of life.
But a huge problem arises when you want to eat what you want and you want to abolish what other people want to eat.
And that's what this war on meat is all about.
And it is insane to the core.
Food is a critical part of life.
Go to Italy in the countryside, and their life literally revolves around what they're going to be eating that day.
Food Freedom 00:01:04
It fills their life with joy.
It's distinctive to every culture.
When you travel anywhere, even to another state, another country, one of the things, the most things that you most look forward to is eating their food.
So totalitarians have this crazy, distorted view, both of themselves and of humanity at large, that they are there to tell people what they're going to eat.
And there is a two-word answer.
It's a very libertarian answer to their desires.
And the answer is absolutely not.
Great.
I was thinking of two other words, but probably not the right ones.
Great answer, Chris.
Thanks very much.
Now you've got me hungry.
I guess it's my turn to close out the show.
And just to say again, I hope you had a little bit of fun.
I hope you all have maybe had a crap to smile a couple times.
Chris and I really enjoy doing this because we like to talk to you.
We love to connect with you.
And we love the fact that you're interested in the show and Dr. Paul as well.
So we're grateful to you.
We're grateful that you've given us a little bit of your day.
And we hope that we've given something in return.
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