Philosophisn't Roman Raies

The world-renowned dermatology expert, relative of Holocaust survivors, and author Dr. Steve Feldman is running for Congress to represent North Carolina’s tenth congressional district as a Libertarian Candidate. 



Feldman believes that the debt burdening the government is unsustainable and that eliminating the deficit is essential to free resources for more useful allocations. Unlike me and other candidates I have interviewed like the former Libertarian Candidate Jeff Scott, he does not see unsustainable debt and unwise policies as a result of deliberate corruption. He instead believes that people in office genuinely mean well but make misinformed decisions due to shortsightedness, biases, and mistakes. As a Congressperson, he promises to focus on achieving his policy goals rather than making enemies. Having interviewed several political candidates, worked for a political campaign as a publicist and recruiter, and worked for a nonprofit social justice-focused organization as a researcher, I find his optimism to be a very rare trait among the politically active. Some of his statements intrigued me and made me wonder how they would be received if he won office. 

His message on foreign policy rests on ending what he sees as a politics of aggression that creates immoral military actions, unjustified blockages and sanctions, and unnecessary rivalries.  unnecessary death. Despite initially facing pushback from his community, he is adamant about publicly voicing opposition to the maintaining of Israel’s apartheid, which he explained is a legacy of ethnic cleansing rather than a security necessity. His worldview might be best expressed by his historical fiction novel Bent Towards Justice, which I still have yet to read, that tells the story of a Polish Holocaust who confronts his mistaken belief that Palestinians are bound to be enemies of the Jewish people. Altogether, this is a fascinating discussion that I hope you will listen to, and if you live in North Carolina’s tenth congressional district, that you vote for Steve Feldman.

Until the 1940s, Argentina’s political economy was an archetypal example of agro-export model capitalism. Politics existed to serve Argentina’s elite landowning oligarchy whose interests were tied to foreign interests, particularly those of the British empire. Electoral politics was tolerated only so far as it did not interfere with the business of extraction. Argentina’s markets were never laissez-faire, but rather, cronyist. Monopolies like CADE supported politicians in return for capturing Argentina’s markets and state support. At one point, British shippers had the rights to transport 80% of Argentine beef exports and a British company became the beneficiary of loans borrowed from Britain by the Argentine state.

 Argentina’s historical trajectory underwent a reversal just as dramatic as its inception. The elites of today's Argentina are antithetical to those of earlier eras. Populist support gives statist and tight control of Argentina’s finances, industry, trade, and distribution of social services. Instead of using this power for good, Argentina’s politicians exploit it to enrich themselves and their cronies. 

Since that time I have found that almost all of the English language news media is missing crucial context about why Argentina, a country whose economic model involves heavy subsidization of economic and political activity, public industries, and the strongest labor unions in the world would suddenly inaugurate a libertarian “revolutionary” as president. 

Since Milei’s election, it has become very clear that ‘shock therapy’ a mix of currency devaluation and austerity will cause severe economic pain for the average Argentine and even Argentine businesses in the short run. But Juan Ignacio Castellini, former Head of the Justice of the Sarmiento Group, believes that setting Argentina down with a new path of economic development is worth it. Check it out.

Alex Darlington, Chair of the Stair Party argues his wide-ranging, yet poignant critique of the American Political-Economic system. The American government has liberal democratic institutions, but the ways by which society is ruled more closely resemble kleptocratic ones. Rather than giving voters authentic choices to change the status quo, in his view, the two major electoral parties wield power the same way monopolies usurp competition in markets.  The systematic gatekeeping by the Republicans and Democrats drives away dark horse challenger candidates and scares voters into submission by constantly resorting to fearful “Vote for the lesser of two evils” rhetoric. Meanwhile, the government continues to devalue the currency to finance the public debt and America’s chronic trade deficit. During the pandemic, it lavished subsidies on multinational conglomerates that have outsourced production while neglecting the developmental potential of local communities. The Stair Party has a platform to reverse all these trends by spearheading development and industrialization along local lines. Though I challenged Alex on some of his assumptions about the American voter and repercussions in international politics,  I agree with many of his economic beliefs and critiques of corruption, at least in the spirit of devolving power to make it closer and more accountable. This was the single most challenging Philosophisnt conversation I have had so far. He has given me much to think about, and I hope listening to this episode does for you too. 

I speak with Ray Nothstine of the John Locke Foundation about first principles thinking, economic policy ideas, and complicated trends in American politics. He explains the key ideological premises driving tensions between different variations of conservatism within the Republican party and the broader conservative movement.



He is a fascinating thinker whose work I would recommend for thought-provoking insights. 

His key links can be found here in the link



https://www.johnlocke.org/about/team/ray-nothstine/

Matt Torrijos is a construction worker and Marxist who spends his free time researching politics, and reading Marxist theory. In this episode, he gives one of the clearest and most thought-provoking explanations of the Marxist view of history that I have ever heard. Many textbook explanations will emphasize the historical context of Marx's thoughts, but Matt Torrijos takes things a step further; he argues that automation and other technologies Marx only could have speculated about make the progression of stages of history, inevitable.

Matt is also a Christian who believes not only that Marxism is compatible with Christian ethics, but that his ethics as a Christian impel him to support Marxism. He clears up a major misconception about Marx's often-quoted remark about religion as an opiate for the masses and makes a clear case from the Christian tradition why a socialist or communist view is imperative.

We also briefly discuss Matt's relation to Omar Torrijos, the Panamanian leader responsible for gaining control of his country's canal which was a U.S.-held territory until the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977. Matt did not know he was related to Omar Torrijos until after he had become a Marxist and the relationship is more distant than I initially believed. Matt's views on his distant relative are not his area of expertise, but it was very interesting for me to hear what he had to say based on his familiarity with Panamanians.

Michael Gavin is the founder of Uniic Media, the Viva La Pura Foundation, and Be Uniic Media and Marketing. He discusses his journalistic philosophy and entrepreneurial motivation to change the media landscape through his Uniic Media. Uniic Media focuses on conciseness so that important details which are often missed due to repetitiveness of coverage in other media sources are included in Uniic Media stories. 

We discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the gossip culture of DC, current economic situations, and factors that have contributed to the decline in media trust. Michael also discussed his personal experience facing and witnessing antisemitism against himself, those in business, and his community while growing up. I was shocked at how blatantly present antisemitism was in some formal settings where people could be expected to be more reserved rather than open about beliefs.

I highly recommend Uniic Media's newsletter or bookmarking its page. The stories are highly explanatory, and its think pieces are highly researched based with none or very minimal abstract appeals to ideology or dogma. More about Michael's other projects such as the Viva La Pura Foundation can be seen on his Linkedin. 



https://www.uniicmedia.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgavinjr/