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The Bob Zadek Show
by Bob Zadek
Bob talks about the issues that affect our lives on a daily basis from a purely libertarian standpoint. He believes in small government, fewer taxes, and greater personal freedom. America has lost its way, but it cannot and does not need to be reinvented. Our founders were correct about their approach to government, as were John Locke, Adam Smith and the other great political philosophers who influenced them. The country’s first principles are economic and social freedom, republicanism, the rule of law, and liberty. Bob believes we must take the best of our founding principles and work from them because a country without principles is just a landmass.
Episodes
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Confronting the 'Cancelists' with Alan Dershowitz
Today's guest, renowned civil liberties attorney and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, raises the bar and exceeds the highest standards. Professor Dershowitz has published over a thousand articles and 50 books, including several national bestsellers. His autobiography Taking the Stand was a...
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Fixing the Broken Two-Party System
Californians enjoy abundant choice when it comes to cuisine, entertainment and leisure activities. Yet in the political arena, we are stuck with just one choice. The Democrats have effectively had One Party Rule here for the last two decades. Since 1996, Democrats have continuously held a…
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Ted Galen Carpenter on Unreliable Watchdog
Back in early 2021, Cato Institute senior fellow Ted Galen Carpenter urged Washington "to abandon its efforts to torpedo Nord Stream 2." His warnings have been proven prescient by Seymour Hersh's recent revelations, which seem to confirm the US government's involvement in the destruction of the...
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Are Public Sector Unions Unconstitutional?
George Will calls it the year's "most-needed book on public affairs"—Philip K. Howard's Not Accountable tackles public sector unions head-on, arguing that they're not only dangerous, but unconstitutional. Not Accountable is a non-partisan vision for fixing the biggest flaw in government. Consider…
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A Surprisingly Simple Solution to the Chaos at the Border
Images of illegal crossings are disturbingly chaotic and make it clear that there is indeed an immigration crisis. People perceive that chaos means we need government to exercise even more control, even when government is to blame for the chaos (as in the case of immigration). And so we get the...
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What's to Blame for California’s Housing Crisis?
People, and families in particular, are fleeing California in droves. Last year, the population shrank for the second year in a row, in large part because of the lack of new housing and exorbitant prices of the dwindling existing stock. Politicians love to talk about “affordable housing,” but the...
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'Jawboning against Speech' with Will Duffield
Everyone knows that special interests lobby government for favors. The Twitter Files have revealed that lobbying is a two-way street, with government lobbying corporations too – often to silence critics of its policies. Will Duffield of the Cato Institute has become the go-to expert on so-called...
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Civil Asset Forfeiture Revisited
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the FBI goes and does something so egregious that it shocks even long-time Institute for Justice attorneys.If you’ve been following the issue of civil asset forfeiture, you may remember the case of Timbs v. Indiana*, in which the Supreme Court unanimously...
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The 'Broken Window Fallacy' is Back
The word sustainability is rather slippery. We’re told that our current energy consumption is “unsustainable,” and are thus cajoled into spending billions on Green New Deal type legislation by politicians and celebrities who criss-cross the country on jumbo jets. Even allegedly “clean” energy...
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What the IRS’s Hiring Spree Means for You
Ashley Varner of the Freedom Foundation on the financial boon to the Democrats; Looking around today, do we see evidence that the government fears the people? Why should they?Remember when Lois Lerner targeted Tea Party freedom activists as head of the IRS? She retired with a full pension and…
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Shining a Spotlight on the Stealth Airline Bailouts
We all remember the bank bailouts of 2008, but almost nobody talks about the more recent COVID bailouts. $50 billion here; $25 billion there – pretty soon we're talking about real money. The airlines were one of several industries that enjoyed special treatment from the federal government on the...
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Which Side Are You On?
It’s said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. The State of California has repurposed this adage lately, finding ways to remake the country in its own progressive image through the food industry. The last time Professor Richard Epstein joined the show, we took up the “pig case”…
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The Weaponization of Consumer Finance
Not long ago, many businesses competed to extend credit to consumers through unsecured lending, auto loans, home mortgage loans or installment sales. Sadly, true competition is no longer.In today's consumer lending environment, businesses are nothing other than agencies of federal and, to some...
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The Political Pollution of Capital Markets
Two-term SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins is the chief executive of Patomak Global Partners – a New York and DC-based financial services consultancy. Paul served as a member of the congressional oversight panel for TARP (remember that?), was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and an attorney with...
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Do you know your rights?
“Innocent until proven guilty” has been the rule of the American justice system since its inception. It still is today. Unless, that is, you happen to be accused of wrongdoing on a college campus. In that case, you might as well be dragged before the modern-day equivalent of the Star Chamber…
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Punishment without trial? It's the new normal
“How do you plea?” It’s the first question the judge asks you in a criminal trial. But before the accused even has a chance to answer “guilty” or “not guilty,” there is another, prior legal proceeding that rarely gets talked about – even though it pre-empts the need for a trial in 97% of...
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The Presumption of Liberty & Occupational Licensing
What do landscape architects, manicurists, kickboxing trainers, and yoga instructors from California all have in common? Besides making our state healthier and better looking, all of these professions require an occupational license. What's wrong with that, you might wonder? Licensing might sound...
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Who's to Blame for the Opioid Crisis?
When things aren’t going well, people always look for a scapegoat. When it comes to the opioid epidemic, the CDC’s preferred scapegoat has been pharmaceutical companies. Meanwhile, the DEA blames doctors for over-prescribing pain medication, and has tightened regulations on the quantity that can…
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Midterm Elections Special: The Surprising History of Gerrymandering
Books about American history are often dry. Even more when the topic is political history. Most of us remember the boredom of civics lessons on log-rolling, pork barrel spending, and Gerrymandering – shortcomings in our democratic system rooted in the selfish interests of our elected officials....
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*Gone Viral* Goes Viral
Like most Americans, Justin Hart was minding his own business – a successful data visualization business – when the pandemic snuck up on us in early 2020. Seeing that something was amiss in the reported figures, he felt compelled to start the Rational Ground organization as an “answer to the…
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"I'm From the Government and I'm Here to Help" - Cathy Reisenwitz
My guest this Sunday is Cathy Reisenwitz, author of the Sex and the State Substack, and one of the clearest thinkers on the topic of decriminalizing sex work. Too often, Cathy notes, all sex work is conflated with the loathsome and illegal practice of sex trafficking. However, the response by...
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Patri Friedman on the Competitive Governance Universe
At the center of the competitive governance movement is Patri Friedman –the co-founder and Director of the Seasteading Institute, who more recently founded Pronomos Capital, a venture capital firm devoted to transforming the “governance industry” by promoting the idea of startup countries. Patri...
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The Mass Surveillance nobody is talking about
When you hear the words “mass surveillance,” you probably think of Edward Snowden’s revelations that the NSA tracks everything we do online. However, such surveillace may not be our greatest concern. Jonathan Hofer, a research associate at the Independent Institute, notes that the most prolific...
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Lies, Damned Lies & the Inflation Reduction Act
Whenever you encounter a claim by a politician that they are going to “create jobs” or “reduce inflation,” you should be very suspicious. Most Americans are aware that recent price increases are connected with new government spending, although fewer want to face the music that the solution is...
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Student Loan Debt Forgiveness
Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason and the main author of Reason's morning newsletter, the Reason Roundup – an essential part of my daily reading. She is also co-founder of the libertarian feminist group Feminists for Liberty, and a professional affiliate of the journalism program...
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Dick Morris on the 2022 and 2024 Elections
Much of the discussion around the 2020 election has hinged around the question of who won – i.e., who got the most votes – while skirting more important questions about the procedure. Was it fair? None of the members of Team Conservative were available to comment on their report in the NCC’s...
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Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy
This week I continue my series on the National Constitution Center’s Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy project. While most commentators are glued to the political horse race – obsessing over the 2024 midterms or the latest twist in the Trump saga – my show remains a place to discuss ideas and...
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The Libertarian Dream Team - Ilya Somin
Commentators across the political spectrum are scrambling for the hottest take on the raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, with Jonah Goldberg and Kurt Schlicter taking opposing views. But only the libertarians like Neily are consistent in condemning abuses of government power across the...
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Arizona Chooses Students Over Systems - Matt Beienburg
Last week I reported on a huge victory for state-based liberty in Arizona, where Governor Doug Ducey recently signed into law a bill that makes school choice available to all K-12 students in the Grand Canyon State. HB 2853 made universal an earlier “Empowerment Scholarship Account” program that...
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Which State is the Most Free?
My listeners know that I am an optimist, despite all of the doom-and-gloom type stories we read daily. This week, there has been more bad news – as usual. Two pieces from the American Institute for Economic Research especially caught my eye: one about the Fed’s recent interest rate hikes, and...
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Progressive Conservatism with F.H. Buckley
This Sunday, I’m happy to welcome F.H. Buckley back to the show to discuss his newest book, Progressive Conservatism: How Republicans Will Become America's Natural Governing Party. Progressive conservatism sounds like an oxymoron – a bit like an exact estimate, jumbo shrimp, or a dull roar....
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Exploring the Borderlands of Legal Whiteness with David Bernstein
You’ve heard of legally blind, and even legally blonde, but what about legally white? GMU Law Professor and Volokh Conspiracy blogger David Bernstein explores “the borderlands of legal whiteness” in his new book, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America. Fellow…
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The Economist’s View of the World
Joe Biden’s gaffes are usually unplanned slips of the tongue – not pre-meditated social media posts that presumably received approval from staffers prior to publication. However, his recent Tweet demanding that gas stations lower their prices to alleviate the “pain at the pump” is far more...
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Judicial Round-Up with Clark Neily
I originally invited Clark Neily to join me to discuss his essay on what libertarians should think about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to make everyone happy with a discussion of such a controversial issue. And yet Clark and his co-essayist Jay Schweikert do an...
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Disney versus DeSantis
“The bonds will be paid by Disney. They will be paying taxes, probably more taxes. They will follow the laws that every other person has to do, and they will no longer have the ability to run their own government.” – Governor Ron DeSantis, at a Fox News town hall (April 28) The story of how the...
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Food (Waste) Freedom
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, there are few things more terrifying than a government bureaucrat who is trying to help us. In California, we are confronted with the stuff of nightmares on an almost daily basis. Baylen Linnekin of Reason Magazine reports on the latest do-gooder legislation that…
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Splintered: Critical Race Theory and the Progressive War on Truth
Back in February, frustrated San Francisco parents voted to recall three school board members for spending more time renaming schools than planning their post-pandemic re-opening. Among the school names being “canceled” were Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Muir, and even Dianne Feinstein…
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FDA’s New Rules Against Smoking
The sun has set on the Golden Era of Tobacco, much like the bygone Golden Era of Hollywood. Perhaps once movie stars stopped smoking cigarettes on the Silver Screen, audiences found the activity less glamorous. Or perhaps the dramatic decline in smoking rates was a more rational response by...
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Rethinking Industrial Policy
We’ve been hearing about the end of globalization for the better part of the last decade, and yet rumors of its demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated. The latest calls for American energy independence and re-shoring manufacturing are part of this broader trend, which seeks to insulate…
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Evan Bernick on the Dobbs Draft
Politico’s publication of a leaked draft of the Dobbs decision has turned the Internet upside-down, with rampant speculation about who the leaker was, whether the decision is final, and what will happen next if early-term abortion once again becomes a policy issue for states to decide rather than…
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Art Carden on Price Theory & Its Discontents
What do competitive markets have to do with truth? Ask a philosopher and you might get one answer. Ask an economist and you will get another. Ask an economist with a philosophical grounding, and you get Art Carden’s fantastic piece, The Misuse of Knowledge in Society: Intervention Means Prices…
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California’s Food Fight
Hoover Senior Fellow and host of the Defining Ideas podcast “The Libertarian” , Richard Epstein returns to the program to discuss a new case making it’s way to the Supreme Court: This past week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in an important case that could determine the structure of...
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Free Speech & the Scientific Method
“Science,” it has been said, “advances one funeral at a time.” In other words, what was once heterodox only became accepted as orthodox truth when the defenders of the old paradigm died off, or could no longer maintain their position of authority in the face of clear new evidence. Dr. Jeffrey...
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Checking in on Bail Reform
America’s high prison incarceration rates are known around the world – an embarrassment for an alleged beacon of liberty. Yet few realize that we have another problem associated with our jails. Those charged with a crime are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but our bail system...
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The United States of Anonymous
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, a pseudonymous writer who called himself “Junius” came under scrutiny for his letters protesting the abuses by the Crown against his fellow Englishmen. Professor Jeff Kosseff recounts the myriad motivations Junius had for remaining anonymous…
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The Economic Consequences of Russian Sanctions
“This will only be the beginning.” Those six ominous words are not what many Americans will want to hear when it comes to the increased prices they’ve been paying for everyday purchases. Whenever I want to break the bad news to my audience about the state of out-of-control spending or inflation…
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Who Decides?
The Honorable Jeffrey Sutton, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, joined the show to discuss his new book, Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation. The book comes as a sequel to his 2018 book, 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Bob talks about the issues that affect our lives on a daily basis from a purely libertarian standpoint. He believes in small government, fewer taxes, and greater personal freedom.
America has lost its way, but it cannot and does not need to be reinvented. Our founders were correct about their approach to government, as were John Locke, Adam Smith and the other great political philosophers who influenced them. The country’s first principles are economic and social freedom, republicanism, the rule of law, and liberty. Bob believes we must take the best of our founding principles and work from them because a country without principles is just a landmass.
HOSTED BY
Bob Zadek
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Bob Zadek Show have?
The Bob Zadek Show currently has 357 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Bob Zadek Show about?
Bob talks about the issues that affect our lives on a daily basis from a purely libertarian standpoint. He believes in small government, fewer taxes, and greater personal freedom. America has lost its way, but it cannot and does not need to be reinvented. Our founders were correct about their...
How often does The Bob Zadek Show release new episodes?
The Bob Zadek Show publishes regularly with 357 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Bob Zadek Show?
You can listen to The Bob Zadek Show on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Bob Zadek Show?
The Bob Zadek Show is created and hosted by Bob Zadek.
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