The John Stossel Interviews Stossel TV

You’ve heard the mantra “safety first.”

Politicians used it as a justification for Covid lockdowns.

But Mike Rowe, former host of "Dirty Jobs”, has his own slogan: “safety third.”

Why “safety third?” It’s easy to save lives, says Rowe, but LIVING life is more important.

I made a couple of short videos with Rowe.

But he has a lot of other interesting things to say on lockdowns, why college is a waste of money, the dignity of work, and more.

So here is our full interview.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis is more pro-freedom than many politicians.

He's a rare democrate who talks about economic freedom and individual liberty.

But I have problems with some things Polis believes.

He wants to force businesses to provide services for gay weddings. He signed universal pre-k, and Colorado lags in school choice.

Polis is also unusual because most Democrats won’t debate ideas with me. He will.

Many people hate Charles Murray.

They call him “dangerous” because he wrote about racial IQ differences.

But angry protestors fail to recognize that Murray is not a white supremacist.

He’s a thoughtful researcher who has published more than a dozen scholarly books about things like the impact of welfare, the pursuit of happiness, and the meaning of libertarianism.

Some of his work influenced presidents.

One of his books influenced my way of thinking.

Here is my full discussion with Murray.

Green activists want to BAN fossil fuels. I wish they’d listen to energy author Alex Epstein.

He explains how fossil fuels make the world better, and how banning them ruins lives.

How can fossil fuels be “moral" when activists tell us, “keep it in the ground?"

Because:

“3 billion people …. still use less electricity than a typical American refrigerator” says Epstein.

To allow them to have a modern life, “that's going to depend on fossil fuels.”

But what about pollution and climate change?

I push back throughout this podcast.

The conservative Christian satire group, the Babylon Bee, is part of a growing movement of new, anti-establishment comedy and anti-woke comedy.

“Leftists have become so…religiously zealous about their beliefs,” says Editor-in-chief Kyle Mann.

That preachy establishment comedy created a market for something new.

“We have to create our own platform,” says Bee actor Chandler Juliet.

It’s good that comedy like this exists.

I don’t like talking to politicians. But Ron Paul is different.

Paul talked about free markets and limited government long before I had a clue how important they were.

When I interviewed Paul in 2007 for ABC News, ABC wouldn't put the interview on Broadcast TV; they only played it online.

Now everything we do is online— I like it better this way, we were able to have a long conversation and cover many more topics.

*Interview originally recorded February 14, 2022*