How Murray Rothbard Changed my Mind on War | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

[@heyassmanx]

Every time I'm randomly in conversation with an economics major, I ask if they've ever heard of the Austrian school, Murray Rothbard or anarcho-capitalism and am stupefied to still have never gotten a "yes". There's a reason these schools of thought don't receive proper discussion in major educational institutions, and it's the same reason a truly honest politician could never make it in today's political landscape...

[@fountaincap]

I didn't major in econ but took a few courses in it and was lucky to have a conservative/libertarian professor who had us read Rothbard and Hayek among others and even described anarcho-capitalism to us as an interesting idea we might want to check out. But this guy sure made a lot of enemies among the Marxist student body and you're right that having a formal education featuring Austrian economics is exceedingly rare.

[@benjammin6228]

fountainhead Keynesian economics seems to be more common I think. I don't know for sure because I'm not a econ major.

[@traceybaldwin6509]

I had Econ I & II in college in the 80s, and all I ever heard was Keynesian theory. Never heard of Austrian economics until Ron Paul.

[@wyattjd1157]

@@fountaincap That guy sounds like a walking baseball bat, where do I go to take his classes?

[@jasonbracewell6345]

​@@wyattjd1157I had an Austrain professor my first econ class in college. He name dropped Austrian economics explicitly.

[@rkheusuk1]

I had the privilege of attending this meeting and had the honor of meeting Dr. Ron Paul in person at that time.

[@ProlificThreadworm]

Nice bro. Like this comment to pass on to me 🤜

[@juanfelipe8484]

Amazing

[@tylerhurson8515]

Wow, having known of him only from his radio show, Tom Woods is so much more animated that I imagined him to be. What an excellent speech.

[@Harrichael]

you should check out his talk on depression of 1921

[@joeyservo]

The guy really has standup comic-esque timing. I would have murdered to have a professor like him back in college, in any subject really.

[@BluesmaNeedham]

This might actually be one of the best speeches I have ever heard. From the delivery, to the incredible words of wisdom and truth in it, this was fantastic.

[@Equity213]

I LOVE Toms point about "we" at 12:00 I always have to point this out when debating

[@jubjub2112]

I love what Woods says about the state and "we" . . . this really has been pummeled into our heads and hearts from our earliest education/indoctrination! The moment I heard this simple truth (that there is no "we" regarding the people and the state) it made perfect sense! Beautiful!

[@morga68657]

I received a degree in Economics from Penn State. In 4 years, not a word on the Austrian views. Not until I heard Tom woods, started to read Rothbard, Hayek and Mises did I realized, what a bunch of garbage I was taught college. Thank you Tom Woods and the Mises institute.

[@Swazzyvr7]

Here we are 10 years into the future and it look worse then when they had the talk

[@duncant63]

I salute you Sir. So great to listen to this!

[@JDoubleOP]

This is consciousness rising !!! Amazing speach Mr. Woods

[@cguerra]

Your story about talking in front of the Desert Storm Veterans inspired me to keep studying and blogging about them. I will read Anatomy of the State next! thanks!

[@benjammin6228]

Carlos Guerra I listened to the audiobook brought to you by the mises institute.

[@ThingWhatKicks]

Unquestionably one of Tom's greatest talks!

[@1998awest]

Man, I love Dr. Woods. He has that rare ability to teach extremely well and entertain all at the same time. I laugh my ass off and learn great stuff from him. What's great about this lecture is how he has the integrity to call himself out for being wrong on previous views. How many great academics do that? Someday, some brilliant whipper snapper will give a great speech saying how wrong he/she was until he/she found this crazy Tom Woods guy who made him/her question the conventional wisdom.

[@JDoubleOP]

"It takes nothing to join the crowd, it takes everything to stand alone", but..... you're not alone !!! Thank you.

[@xxmrbiu3xx]

That was an intellectually beautiful speech! Bravo good sir, Bravo!

[@yinzjagoffs]

Thank you Tom, you have helped changed my life and view of the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[@bearsrule865]

Thank you Tom Woods. You, Ron Paul, and Judge Napolitano are my greatest inspiration

[@Revjuan14]

Amazing , everyone around the word needs to listen to this

[@GenwealthPartners]

Thank God for Nelson Nash who introduced me to Mises!

[@RuFFRyDas87]

Great talk to come back to after a day of reading Rothbard. You the man Woods!

[@therotaryrocket]

Ain't gonna lie, I really did, and that was before seeing your comment....haha, Tom is an amazing speaker, and it's an amazing message. Very encouraging, we need to get the message out!

[@TheProgressiveParent]

thanks Tom! very inspiring

[@MrLibertyFighter]

Awesome speech Mr Woods, once again! Keep fighting the GOOD fight brother!

[@Sigridovski]

Tom Woods in fantastic, though he keeps saying he is not. I cried after this lecture. It is wonderful!

[@bossking6927]

nice public speaking very entertaining and educational thank you

[@an.unarmed.civilian]

In my opinion Mr. Woods is one of the liberty movements most valuable assets. Keep it up good sir.

[@pretorious700]

I'm aware of all of this. I was drafted, I didn't volunteer. and when I returned home, I actively protested against the war.

[@PeterSodhi]

Outstandingly intelligent and funny.Great post.

[@jeffiek]

Nice ending. Mr. Woods is maturing into a powerful speaker.

[@zazszdzfzgzhzjzkzlzx]

Good talk!

[@sendtoanthony]

I enjoyed his book “Meltdown". Didn't know he was so funny. I'm guilty as well for cheering on the wars.

[@imonlyamanandiwilldiesomed4406]

Yup, Tom is funny. This is the funniest thing i've seen from him: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqPGfmibramrmcU Blooper reel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZSln5h7jNWCsM0

[@Loomr]

How ever I am sympathetic towards Rothbard. It is just that his revolution has not happened in any country or area yet. I feel that whether we are talking about natural science, behavioral science or political science this reality is our testing lab, and that given enough time, those theories that are to happen will happen at some point. The Rothbardian model should come into being if it is a realistic one. I'd be happy to see it and live there if it does.

[@TroySmithforD]

this guy is always on point!! very sharp

[@truccojorge]

Great job, Tom !!

[@xcrazycolbyx]

Powerful speech. Great work!

[@tripletwentyy]

Come to think of it, I don't remember my own sudden leap to reading Rothbard lol. I'm sure Woods's incremental shift to Rothbard, et al can be pieced together by studying enough of his material. In a few of his other vids, he refers to various periods of intellectual maneuvering as he honed his craft/perspective, which I'm sure we've all experienced a time or two, or three..

[@WillAdamsmusic]

Fantastic as usual!

[@mjl1621]

What got us into WWII was getting involved in WWI, and it was really a continuation of the same war. WWI was a European war, and it made no difference to the U.S. who won that war. But the treaty of Versailles placed the blame of the war on Germany and that led to the rise of Hitler. But because of our involvement we had into WWII. If we stayed out of WWI we could have avoided most of the wars of the 20th century. Its entangling alliances that lead to world wars.

[@kensurrency2564]

You can thank the elites who run the world. They carried Wilson into office, and he did everything they wanted. Lied us into WWI, engineered the Treaty, guaranteed another war. The elites just needed a demagogue, it could have been Ludendorff just as easily as Hitler. The 20th Century was all planned, tied up in a neat bow by the time the Y2K ‘crisis’ ended. The 21st Century has also been planned, don’t you think? PNAC was setting up the problem-reaction-solution to the first ‘crisis’ of the new century. It’s all planned, and it’s waaaaaaaay above our heads.

[@JakeNonphixion]

Damn... Almost teared up there at the end.

[@Loomr]

Mandate from whom? If you see a crime happening do you ask whether you have a mandate to stop it?

[@FishFromInnsmouth]

Wow he's a good speaker, would love to see him run for office some day.

[@MiriBenii]

Nothing has changed for thousands of years and nothing will change.

[@tabletalk33]

Outstanding!

[@marsssone21]

Great speech!

[@pretorious700]

I'm an American expat in thailand. I am a US veteran, served in Vietnam, I lost my older brother in the same war, my father was a decorated vet in the Army Air corp in WW2. I had a small engineering business in the US for over 30 years, paid huge personal and business taxes, provided capital that supported families, etc. Now the IRS wants to collect income taxes on money I make here on my retirement farm. Just consider that for a moment. I collect no social security, and don't plan to ever.

[@urbanpsych0]

you're a wise man Tommy.

[@jubjub2112]

Excellent! I too was once a supporter of Obama (though I couldn't say "ardently"). I saw Obama as the lesser of two evils, but was unaware that there was a politician, and party, and ideology that so closely matched my views and beliefs. Ron Paul is a true American treasure, and Tom Woods and the rest at the Mises Institute are brilliant! They brought be back from political death!

[@SomewhatStaid]

Sometimes I feel like Tom Woods is hypnotizing me.

[@MrSpan0701]

I always like to hear Tom speak.

[@tripletwentyy]

Interesting thought but who knows? Don't want to call it wrong track but...the more I study about the free market and authentic capitalism, the less possible the scenario you illustrate seems. Specific sources I'd suggest are Lew Rockwell, Butler Shaffer, and of course Tom Woods. But Shaffer has some great writings on what you've mentioned above...

[@tripletwentyy]

I see, have it your way, TJ. My questions are now answered.

[@hobbit2245]

God DAMN! Tom Woods is on FIRE lately! I don't know what happened, but something made him REALLY angry recently and it comes out in his presentations.

[@Craftstorm]

Years between them, and yet comments on this video tend to be unusually well written, wouldn't You agree?

[@Clownlife432]

Amazing

[@Zarrov]

I was not talking about destruction nor wars in specific, destruction has many names. But your words are good example of why there is tremonodus lack of understanding on american libertarian part what foreign policy is, and how unique US situation in that regard is. Becuase of natural geopolitical position of US it is one of the rare examples in history, where isolationism could make sense for the time being till circumstances would not change.

[@willyevans]

Tom Woods is a national treasure.

[@tripletwentyy]

No, I'm asking honest questions, backed by honest curiosity. I'm not really concerned with being called 'dumb,' (you've done this before, but it's all good) or trading asinine remarks on a silly internet chat-thread. But if you do indeed have ample, substantiated refutations to any of Woods' work, I'd be happy to read. I've read half of his books, and many of his recommended books. Perhaps you have books of your own that address Woods' historical shortcomings?

[@VitaSineLibertatenih]

He is just brilliant.

[@jackson32]

I used to be a one of the sheeple and didn't think ( I think that was the problem) anything much of the Iraq war and all the innocent civilians who were killed. It's encouraging to know people can wake up and see that they were wrong, dead wrong, about something so important as war. Being ignorant like that is bad enough , but what is worse is continuing to hold those beliefs when people are trying to wake you up.

[@tripletwentyy]

OIL stands for what again?

[@Paetaor]

I used to watch Rush when I was in college but I never fell for the war BS. As a Canadian I can confirm that we are war-fatigued from Afghanistan, I can only imagine how most Americans feel. Not seeing our brave men and women coming home in boxes anymore has lifted a great weight from our colective shoulders. I hope America can shed this burden sooner than later.

[@travisguyer7947]

Love this guy!

[@mjl1621]

There have been repressive regimes since before and after of the founding of this country and the founders understood that the people would be inclined to want to intervene. But the reason Washington, Jefferson, and Madison supported a non-interventionist foreign policy is because they believed that we should only be concerned with our own security, and that the people under repression would have to establish their own governments like we did, and that we should be an example.

[@secondsleep]

I agree. I don't think we need to continue our streak of imperialistic world-policing, but I don't think we can apply the private market model to everything-- one of which is the US armed forces.

[@BrionMcClanahan]

Thanks!

[@Joe11Blue]

What is hard to understand is how people with so much twisted and irrational thought make it through life.

[@tripletwentyy]

Explain again the cause of WW1?

[@CSBurksesq]

What is with the ominous music? I expect Jimmy Carter to sit there, smile and tell us we're all going to die.

[@tripletwentyy]

If he doesn't have a clue, then a clue is not something I desire.

[@Portekberm]

brilliant

[@tripletwentyy]

It's gonna be alllll right, Sovereign.

[@modelmark]

Great talk, I'v always said that the things won't get better until libertarians and anarchists will stop saying 'we' when they talk about themselves and their coercers.

[@tripletwentyy]

The only examples I can think of right away are predatory lenders, but their actual success is debatable. and tobacco co.'s, but what exactly are they wasting? Generally what business is successful despite its wastefulness and damaging tendencies? Damaging to what, the environment, people? And wasteful in what regard? Are they wasting time, money, resources, equipment? Yet somehow 'success' pops out of the equation. I guess some biz practices backfire (ie house-flipping), but that's speculation.

[@thomasjefferson4192]

I approve this message.

[@Joe11Blue]

It's we as in everyone that you are including with your idiocy. Even though three days ago you were telling me that I was obligated to your whims. Look at that you are learning finally.

[@tripletwentyy]

Those doubts didn't sound minor

[@lamdash]

Thumbnail to this video: "Watch out, we've got a badass over here."

[@TheRandalf90]

Why isn't there any woman in the conferences?

[@TheBest-ff8zz]

I'd suggest, that he and his fellow liberterians would study the field of military strategy and what it means having psycho dictators with WMDs, and only then consider deriding the meanings of and for war..

[@icespilled2731]

Right on!!

[@TomWoodsTV]

Type in Nullify Now Los Angeles Woods.

[@deinish1]

I always kinda disliked Tom Woods because I thought there was this Neo Con element in him, but now I realize how disgraceful that was of me. The guy is a legend.

[@efrem1]

I was stupid as well Dr. Woods regarding war. Don't be down.

[@benjammin6228]

efrem1 same.

[@gildobacci4996]

from 16:50 to 18:50 awesome

[@tripletwentyy]

What is your purpose, kind sir?

[@TomWoodsTV]

On your planet I apparently said 1000 people opposed the Vietnam War. What I said on this planet was that about 1000 left-liberals hold the views of the warfare state I lay out in this video. You said "millions" of leftists agreed with what I was saying here decades ago. My reply to you was: oh, really? Leftists were as consistently antiwar as I am in this speech, root and branch and on principled grounds? Some opposed the Vietnam War, but as you concede, very few are consistent.

[@lamdash]

Thank god.

[@tripletwentyy]

Legitimate demand as opposed to state-induced demand (ie affordable housing), where the price of the good is determined by the consumer and producer, not public policy. What waste are you referring to? Not intimately familiar with recycling woes, but are you saying landfills are 80-85% filled with recyclables and recycling plants are polluted with unrecyclable toxic waste? Who controls these facilities, the state? Probably, and therein lies your problem. Again, what's wrong with Au, Ag, and Cu

[@TheRandalf90]

You misunderstood me. I wasn't saying to put any quotas, I just wanna to know if there isn't any women in the mises institute. I'd like to see some women speech too, only that.

[@wiimooden]

Israel is by far the dominant state in the region, thanks to the US' continuing support. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, while it appeared as though they were pursuing relations with Hamas (they've actually experienced a sharp rift recently), is now occupied with domestic affairs. Not even Iran at this point can be said to be much of an aggressive military threat.

[@Zarrov]

States operate in environment of anarchy. There is no one who enforces rules of behaviour. Therefore the only rule there is is your power translated to infuence in name of security. Becuase security means potentially everything all states in order to preserve their freedom and ability to develop have to spread their control/influence over other parts of the world. War is just one of the means to achieve that goal. Security does not necesarily translate to economic gain.

[@tripletwentyy]

Yea but if there is very little or no policy (regulation) at all, then what is there for them to influence, other than natural market forces? In a free society, if one's only way of obtaining wealth/influence is thru political means, they would not survive. The market rewards efficiency and responsive innovation and punishes inefficiency/incompetence (govt). As for currency, it would be much stronger and far more sound...those at the proverbial bottom wouldn't need govt assistance anyway...

[@caversmill]

Woods is great

[@Alfosan2010]

What is the difference between the goverment and mafia? _______________ (feel free to fill in the blank)

[@ProlificThreadworm]

Its the social contract

[@lamdash]

I was making a reference to an Internet joke and not at all speaking about politics. I will simply hope that you replied to the wrong comment.

[@Elmgren76]

Would be fun to see Tom Woods debate Barack Teleprompterobama.

[@Liberty-Jamie]

I love how uni didn't teach him this. And that was back then. Think how bad university must be now.

[@pretorious700]

Why didn't you pay attention in grammar class?

[@vaughanstarr3725]

Starving Iraqi kids with sanctions? Such an argument removes any responsibility of the Iraqi regime.

[@ghostKurt]

Cypress Hill brought me here?!