Alright y'all welcome back to the show It's anti-war radio I'm Scott Horton and now I'm happy to tell you that Tom Woods is on the line Thomas E Woods jr.
That is Tom woods comm is the website.
He's a Fellow perhaps a senior fellow or something like that at the Ludwig von Mises Institute where the Austrian economists gather that's Mises org and He is a historian who and a lot of other things, too But an author of a great the author of a great many books how the Catholic Church built Western civilization 33 questions about American history are not supposed to ask and Well, we who dared say no to war is edited co-edited by Tom Woods history of American anti-war activism from 1812 To current the church and the market more and more and then also a lot of libertarian activist stuff nullification meltdown a free market look at why the economic crisis is all the government's fault and rollback Repealing big government before the coming fiscal collapse the one that hasn't happened yet even Welcome back to the show Tom.
How are you doing?
Thanks for having me And I know you're a hardcore Rampallian always out there beating the bushes for new supporters for his campaign for the presidency, which Makes me very grateful to you that you do so much along those lines But I'm I want to talk with you about the Ron Paul campaign right now But I'm kind of one of if it's okay put you In your role as a historian and really talk not so much about dr.
Paul himself necessarily as much as the revolution as it's called as it's been called since 2007 and kind of what that means in the history of American politics for I What I like to think is this realignment that's actually occurring sort of like everybody Except the very few classical liberals all came together for the New Deal consensus and that big realignment in the 1930s Maybe we have a new realignment Well kind of against that very thing going on right now.
What do you think?well, you know The history that's relevant would be the history since the late 19th century when we started to get this Because to me the key part of the Ron Paul message is the foreign policy aspect I mean, I guess that I guess also the Federal Reserve is a major plank, but those things are are related I think too but the foreign policy is the one that I think really you separate this the sheep from the goats or whatever that expression is because I think there are a lot of right-wingers who would be willing to accept his views on the Fed and just sort of take them as You know kind of oddball and we'll accept this if that's what's necessary to get the rest of this guy's package But it's the foreign policy.
That is the the stumbling block for them.
So I focused on that as his main message so the history that's relevant would be the history of the u.s. since maybe 1898 where there was a more aggressive overseas presence and whether it was justified on Wilsonian humanitarian internationalist grounds or Teddy Roosevelt Ian Nationalist realist ground that doesn't really matter.
The outcome is always the same.
It's always more intervention When have we really seen any type of?even by an outraged minority Serious pushback against this in u.s.
History, and it's pretty rare I mean after World War one there was definitely a disillusionment with Woodrow Wilson that crept in that didn't last Too long because then there was World War two and then maybe during the court there during the the Cold War Vietnam did sour some people on the Empire project, but still in terms of a Slice of the public that was willing to question all the premises behind the reigning foreign policy Very very few whereas now you have a situation where?
Again, not nearly a majority of the public.
It's true It would be very hard to get Pete get a majority of the public out of being plugged into the propaganda news networks Out of feeling like hey It's awesome to be an American because we got more divisions than you have and we can blow you to smithereens and that makes even Though I'm a loser.
I feel better as a human being because I know that it's hard to compete with that I realize that you're dealing with the basis human human emotions But still you've got I mean would have to be in the millions now of people who aren't just saying This war or that war was strategically ill-conceived or is costing us too much money or whatever they're saying the whole thing is based on lies and Profiteering and wickedness and it's immoral and it makes no sense even on its own terms and we'd be much better off without it I mean, I don't think especially a youth movement like this.
I don't know that there is a real precedent for that Yeah, well certainly it doesn't seem like Well, here's here's the thing that jumps out about it all to me.
Is that even though really?
Dr. Paul if you have to classify him, I think in political terms somewhere He's maybe Anthony Gregory would call him a paleo liberal or you know, he's a real classical liberal of the old definition But he at the same time he's such a square, you know in his personal life and whatever He he fits that role of that very conservative and in a way He is extremely conservative in that he's trying to conserve the Enlightenment era What's left of it from the?revolutionary time in American history but he kind of as a Texas Republican genial Old doctor and that kind of thing.
He gives a permission slip It seems like to me for people who thought that if you love America you have to go along with whatever foreign policy because that's always what they've heard their whole life where here's this guy is a conservative old Texas Republican saying You don't have to be you know identify with the politics of Janine Garofalo and The Film Actors Guild or whatever in order to oppose these crazy foreign policies and like you said he puts it all out on The table.
Oh, no.
No, the whole thing is completely corrupt and it's all based on profiteering and lies and it's you know All this kill, you know He's very frank about all of this stuff the kind that he uses the kind of language that is never allowed in that level of political discussion in this country and He really is changing a lot.
It seems I was reading article today about just the Damn-near riot going on when he gives a speech that they're so excited to hear someone that Honest who actually has a shot at being able to get up there and veto some things Yeah, of course, you're right now, I think As I say historically, it's hard to really find a parallel to him particularly because when you do look at anti-war movements They are sort of viewed as being countercultural and and you know People who are a little offbeat tend to be associated with them So it it tends to push off the bourgeois mainstream that feel you know The the soccer moms and the minivans feel uncomfortable with that crowd But hey, you know, we're a big tent now.
It's great It's amazing and you know, it's so fun to watch him give a speech and we're there just interrupting him going They're just going shut up old man.
We want to chant in the Fed for a while and he's just giggling up there He just doesn't know what to do So I I've been in the audience when there was 20 of us in the audience listening to Ron Paul talk and it's just great seeing him up there just Rocking every TV on earth.
Alright, we'll be right back Tom woods.com All right, y'all welcome back to the show it's anti-war radio I'm Scott Horton.
I'm talking with Tom woods Tom woods.com Mises org.
He's the author of rollback repealing big government before the coming fiscal collapse and he's a historian author of a great many books and we're talking about the Ron Paul campaign and You know what it means it's To me.
Well and Tom I think you and I long before Ron even ran In 2007 we talked on this show about the realignment where the people on the left and the right and among libertarians who have their priorities straight in Opposing really the very worst things going on and that is of course the Empire and the destruction of the Bill of Rights along with our economy that we can all realign and focus on stopping these horrible policies And here just right in time really before it's too late.
I hope like rollback the title of your book Repealing this thing before it all falls apart the heart the hard way here.
He comes waltzing right in we have the perfect opportunity and You know, it seems like a pretty, you know, like later on this will be a really cool chapter in American history no matter how it works out that You know either we we get it done right and it's really cool just like it should be or It's another one of those where you go.
Oh, man, and then America joined World War one with the rest of them or whatever.
It's one of those that you wish you could take back evermore For getting it wrong But anyway, I just wonder what you think about all that the realignment whether it's whether some of this is going to stick I know it's hard to get Democrats to change parties and vote in a caucus or something like that when it comes to the Electoral thing, but I'm thinking more in terms of the ideas and the later on.
Yeah, I mean, I hope so It would be nice to see once in a while when I get a hostile progressive I did a YouTube called war is better than Ron Paul say some progressives and Basically, my theme is well whenever somebody let's say posts on my face I have a Facebook so-called fan page and once in a while a hostile progressive will post there and say I can't support that nutcase Ron Paul why he favors blah blah blah blah blah listing all these things that the president has no authority over anyway, and So I always write in the in the reply I say let me translate your comment your trick your comment translated into real English is I'm sorry people of Iran But I'm afraid you will just have to be killed Because I can't bring myself to support the one person who won't bomb you to smithereens Because he doesn't match my views on this this this and this none of which would obviously change under him as president anyway But I'm too self-centered to realize that I mean, that's basically what you're doing You're sending a letter to the people of Iran saying I'm so sorry But my progressive sensibilities are such that you're just gonna have to be killed because that's less important to me Than satisfying and making myself feel good about myself, which makes them the perfect Counterparts to the conservatives who say who at least pretend that they agree with him on drastically cutting back everything, right?
I'd set that their thirst for the blood of innocents just Cannot be turned over to this guy and his you know, they see him as some sort of a weakling I guess because he just He wants to relent on the killing for a second, I suppose now well, that reminds me of a second point that I want to make again thinking about historically the we think about foreign policy and American opinion and what Americans have thought about the various wars they participated in and What's interesting to note is that you do see in the past some?
Opposition to war that isn't entirely based on hey, this is too expensive or We should have been bombing this other group of people instead of that one So it's one of the first example actually in US history of there being a kind of a coalition between people of unlike minds Progressives and old-time conservatives was as you know, the anti-imperialist League at the end of the 19th century Fighting against imperialism in the Philippines and they didn't just say oh, this is this is Undesirable because it's going to make our republic into an empire, which is a good argument That's good enough but they went on and chronicled all the the atrocities that were taking place the The fact that Teddy Roosevelt was pretty much looking the other way at these things that this was just a grotesquely It all is horrendously bloody So it's nice to see that we are part of it, but that never really became a mass movement I mean that was Had a decent number of members, but not not anything like the Ron Paul movement But to see this many people who are moved not just by the strategic arguments that Obviously we need to retrench from overseas to avoid going bankrupt.
That should be obvious to anyone at all But also to see people who look overseas and see fellow human beings suffering And they don't get caught up in the flag and the Sean Hannity propaganda But they just look at other human beings and they and these are some of them are people of no religious faith And yet they are more likely to look Upon the humanity of other human beings than many of the self-proclaimed Christians who advocate these policies I think this is a this to me is one of the great things about this movement is that it's not entirely Just based on Self-centeredness and and America this and America that it really is about I mean when the word love is in revolution Spelled backwards, that's that's not just some Little bit of agitprop like that's something real This is really based on the idea that there are certain things There are certain ways human beings ought to treat each other There are ways we ought to treat each other Here in the US and there are ways that we ought to treat people around the world and it's the same way if there's a Single law that binds everybody and this has become this radical Crazy idea, but suddenly it's become kind of fashionable.
Yeah, it's like Daphne aviatar human rights first Yeah, I mean what's so hard to understand about that man?
I know I know but I mean you just there's just this constant fight It's gonna be fun though, too Let me be evil here for a second and just point out that After they're done giving it to Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum or whichever other devil It's gonna be fun in an ironical kind of way that They had their chance again and the American people told him no again The one guy who was going to bring the Empire home the one guy who was going to you know Submit to the Congress the 2013 version of the 2007 Freedom Restoration Act that repealed 15 horrible Bill of Rights shredding laws immediately and all that kind of thing that they told them no again Peace and Liberty and a sound economy on a silver platter and they told them though again Thomas Jefferson resurrected only without all the compromising slavery issues and embargoes against British goods and And Running for president and they're telling him no again And they have two chances even and they say no they prefer what Newt Gingrich I don't know Tom.
No, I've said it's fine in a certain sort of suicidal kind of way Well people who go to Tom woods calm who haven't seen it yet should type into the search box 26 things I've had my it's my most viewed post in the history of the site 26 things non-paul voters are basically saying and it when you really spell it out It is as you say Scott pretty harrowing that people would be this dense basically Now let me add though that I think there is a colossal mistake being made and I was warning about this from the get-go I think the campaign thought that the best thing to do would be to you know Look Ron got this foreign policy, and there's nothing we can do about it So we'll just try not to talk about it the best we can and we just go from there now I can understand them saying something like we have to pitch it in a way That's going to be palatable to primary voters, so I'm okay with that as long as you're not compromising But not to mention it at all which is I mean you don't see in any of the ads There's no official communications talk about it.
It's just nothing so there's been no attempt to defend it No attempt to get panels of foreign policy experts who agree with him Just anything I just make the case there is a great case to be made for his foreign policy and Then you think his own campaign were to notice his leadership qualities, and you know anytime anybody says hey What do you think about you know things he goes well?
You know I really would like to end the wars and go ahead and let him talk and he'll talk about the wars all the Time he'll put foreign policy first all the time USA Today said hey if you were to tone it down a bit more you'd probably could win this thing and So why don't you do that and he said that's the last thing I'm gonna do I want to win But I want to win because I get everybody to agree with me about these wars We have to end these wars we have to be right about ending these wars.
I mean man Yeah, I don't know Okay, I mean the fact that this guy would go into Florida and say we got a open up trade with Cuba Fully who else does that and I don't care if you think the embargo in Cuba is the greatest policy in the history of The world you should have voted for him just for the guts that it took to do that instead of just sitting there flattering you Yeah, well, I think America is gonna be better off for this thing I hope the Republican Party doesn't end up better off for this, but I'm very grateful to for for him for what he's done and all the people exposed to the libertarian idea by him It's just incredible.
Yeah, and that's why he looks happy every time we see him.
Yeah, it's true It really is hey, you know what and I don't know if you're talking to people on the campaign or what?
But um, they're talking in the chat room here and they're making a great point that They're not seeing a lot of town hall type events and from what I know from last time and this time, too just you know one glance at Ron Paul flicks calm will I think prove that Ron Paul is great in the town hall things Problem is is if the guy with the microphone is way in the back and the sound system in so good and he can't quite Hear the question right or whatever but that can be solved pretty easily by just having people come up to the front or whatever Have a little bit better interaction but there's been some of these things especially in New Hampshire where he just is batting a Thousand up there because he has time to not give his TV answer but to really explain to them You know what?
He really thinks about stuff and you can just see him being converted you know on live studio audience by the dozens and dozens as their heads start to nod that they're really Finally start understand what this guy's about and they like it, you know He's yeah, I'd like to see more of that too because that would help on the foreign policy front Yeah And you know if you clicked actually you have to go back a few pages on Ron Paul flicks and you can see some really great Ones back especially coming up before New Hampshire and a few in Iowa but Anyway, I don't really want to talk about the electoral politics stuff anymore because it doesn't matter And really we're over time So I'll let you go, but I'll thank you very much for your time on the show today Tom as always a pleasure Scott Thank you.
Everybody.
Check out Tom woods website Tom woods comm and especially Tomwoods.com/books for rollback the politically incorrect guide to American history Nullification how to resist federal tyranny in the 21st century and This one I think is really important for you to understand about how the world works because he really understands Well and writes it very well in this very important book Meltdown a free market look at why the stock market collapsed the economy tanked and government bailouts will make things worse It came out and what like January o9 or whatever right at the dawn of the financial crisis Explaining what's really going on here, and I think you benefit from it immensely and also of course on point We who dared say no to war co-edited with Murray Polner anti American anti-war writing from 1812 to now
