The Founders gave us the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, which was intended to protect Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures. The measure was drawn from the Biblical concept that “a man’s home is his castle.” However, the government now believes it can legally and secretly accumulate and preserve intimate aspects of our lives just in case it might need them someday. We were not invited to discuss and debate it. We were not even told about it until a whistleblower (or if you are so inclined, a traitor) disclosed it all. The issues in the “NSA Controversy” are enormous. How did we lose our right to privacy? What protections do we have against Big Brother? Is any of this legal? To what extent should we simply rely on Obama’s request to “trust them?” This issue transcends party lines, transcends political philosophies and transcends age demographics. Who is watching you and do you care??

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For the past several decades, a dominant educational issue has been the choice between public, private and charter schools. Parents have also had to evaluate and determine which school districts are the best. But that was the past. Today, they are offered all of those choices plus the option of home-school teaching assisted by computers. This does not mean teaching kids how to use a computer, but rather using a computer as the teacher. The choices are more vast than ever and they give parents the freedom to control how their kids are taught. Next step, bringing market discipline to a college education so students will be able to pay college tuition based on the market value of the knowledge purchased, not the artificially high prices created by the duel influences of government price supports. No one, and I mean no one, knows this better than Katherine Mangu-Ward, joins Bob in this episode. Katherine is a Yale graduate and a managing editor of Reason magazine (Bob’s favorite) who formerly worked as a reporter for the Weekly Standard and as a NY Times researcher. Bob also discusses the alphabet soup of totalitarianism – the IRS, NSA, and FISA courts. So much to cover, so little time. So very important. Don’t miss tomorrow’s show.

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James Madison considered food regulation “little short of madness.” When France tried to ban the eating of potatoes, Jefferson noted that such a ban allowed fallible leaders with their own prejudices to employ “coercion” over the French diet. Does this sound true to you, Mayor Bloomberg? The reach of governmental regulation extends right into our gullet, dictating what we are allowed to eat. Salt? Absolutely not. Sugar? No way. Raw milk? Don’t be silly. Jayson Lusk, professor of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University and author of “The Food Police,” will join Bob this Sunday with a menu of outrageous and scientifically unjustifiable laws and regulations which will enrage you… and help you plan your next meal. You’ll learn that your stomach is not your own. Don’t miss it.

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Have you noticed that on the important issues of the day, Democrats and Republicans are moving in a Libertarian direction? Politicians are discovering that Libertarian values have been awakened in more and more voters. Only a few years ago, the very word “Libertarian” was not part of the public conversation. How times have changed. Is this the start of a second American Revolution? Bob’s guest, Judge Jim Gray, sure hopes so.

Judge Gray was Governor Gary Johnson’s running mate on the Libertarian ticket in the 2012 presidential election and our strongest proponent for a sane drug policy. In this Sunday’s encore episode, he presents his thoughtful views on health care, foreign policy, gun control, immigration, same sex marriage, drug legalization, and education. Bob and Jim present the info in the Libertarian way, with principles, not politics as the guide.

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It is hard to imagine words that are less American. Our Bill of Rights assures us freedom of association and the right to join or not join any group. Of course, if you are a group which many are not especially fond of or a group which many oppose, the only way to insure membership growth is to have membership required. That is how unions seek to preserve their strength, or what is left of it. In 26 states (and declining) states permit “closed shops,” where union contracts require an employer to fire any employee who refuses to join a union. How else does government tilt the playing field so as to insure that workers are forced to support unions, even when their conscience and wallets dictate otherwise? In this episode, Stan Greer, Senior Research Associate for the National Institute for Labor Relations Research shows the insidious ways that unions survive only by undermining the protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. You’ll get angry, but you’ll understand why Libertarians and unions cannot co-exist.

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“War” is the ultimate political cover for the unconstitutionally excessive exercise of governmental power. Any politician addicted to the wielding of power has discovered that war is the perfect narcotic; the ideal cover. Just find an enemy, declare war on them, or it (i.e. “terrorism,” “poverty,” “drugs”) and a world of weapons and powers becomes available. Then, as in the case of the war of terror, the authorization by our President to kill American citizens on foreign soil becomes possible, eavesdropping without warrants is accepted, and travel restrictions become standard. Add drones to this mix and much of the values which define us are eroded. In this episode, Bob is joined by Chris Preble, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Studies at The Cato Institute. Chis has studied the profound effect of drones on foreign and domestic policy, the erosions of national borders and the threats to our privacy. Bob and Chris will also discuss cyber war, what it is and what it is not. The so- called “main stream media” has ignored this issue which transcends party lines and changes all of us from citizens to subjects. This is too important to miss.

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What was the secret of America’s emergence from a collection of very different British colonies with nothing in common except a love of freedom? Its secret was open borders. “Let them all in,” was our immigration policy . . . and it worked! It brought to America the world’s “tired, . . . poor, . . . huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” And breathe free they did. Yes, they remained tired and perhaps somewhat poor, but their fatigue resulted from the work they did for themselves and their families. Their efforts made America a powerful economic engine. Today, America seems willing to turn its back on the secret sauce of its political and economic success – the conditional welcoming of all who cherish economic and political freedom.

Who could be better to discuss immigration with Bob than Alex Nowrastah, the immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity? Bob and Alex discuss the political, economic and social issues surrounding this most controversial topic. With so much bigotry, misinformation, hyperbole and pandering out there, you need to get the real story.

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In the past 15 years, California’s high tax burden caused 340,000 (mostly) high earners to go to other states like Nevada where they can keep more of their earnings. Is there a pattern? You bet there is. Americans are “voting with their feet” more than ever before. Not just pro golfer Phil Mickelson who makes a pretty penny, but average wage earners. Where do they move from, where do they go …and why? Travis Brown has studied this extensively and he authored “How Money Walks,” the definitive study on which states are winning or losing the competition for taxpayers and businesses and what the results tell us. Join Bob and Travis in tomorrow’s encore episode to celebrate federalism in operation, just as the founders envisioned.

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It is hard to imagine words that are less American. Our Bill of Rights assures us freedom of association and the right to join or not join any group. Of course, if you are a group which many are not especially fond of or a group which many oppose, the only way to insure membership growth is to have membership required. That is how unions seek to preserve their strength, or what is left of it. In 26 states (and declining) states permit “closed shops,” where union contracts require an employer to fire any employee who refuses to join a union. How else does government tilt the playing field so as to insure that workers are forced to support unions, even when their conscience and wallets dictate otherwise? In this episode, Stan Greer, Senior Research Associate for the National Institute for Labor Relations Research shows the insidious ways that unions survive only by undermining the protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. You’ll get angry, but you’ll understand why Libertarians and unions cannot co-exist.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Have you noticed that on the important issues of the day, Democrats and Republicans are moving in a Libertarian direction? Politicians are discovering that Libertarian values have been awakened in more and more voters. Only a few years ago, the very word “Libertarian” was not part of the public conversation. How times have changed. Is this the start of a second American Revolution? Bob’s guest, Judge Jim Gray, sure hopes so.

Judge Gray was Governor Gary Johnson’s running mate on the Libertarian ticket in the 2012 presidential election and our strongest proponent for a sane drug policy. He will also present his thoughtful views on health care, foreign policy, gun control, immigration, same sex marriage, drug legalization, and education. Bob and Jim present the info in the Libertarian way, with principles, not politics as the guide.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download