Isn't about time to get some Austrian Libertarianism on TV?

Miscellaneous Newbies
1

Forgive me, I am entirely new to the economics field, trying to learn on my own in my free time (and have a stack of about 10 books to read on my buruea next to the bed as a result).

I began as a Conservative, inspired by Ronald Reagan…but always had a Libertarian leaning…with Mercantile tendencies…kind of a mess. My Libertarian and Austrian studies have altered my views more to pure Libertarianism…mostly due to reading and watching Mises Institute material.

In an effort to understand the world of politics, and thus the world, I figured I’d better learn something about economics…and was shocked to find that economics had as much variety and rivalry as politics did…maybe moreso.

I consider myself a Tea Partier, and see the Tea Party as an unpolished rise of Libertarianism in America. I think the movement IS Libertarian, but due in large part to ignorance of Libertarian values, principles, and teachings..it remains sort of amorphous and undefined.

I believe in striking while the iron is hot. I believe that if Austrian Libertarian views are presented to the general public, it will garner a tidal wave of support in our country. The Tea Party, in my view, is a symbol of the readiness of Americans, average Americans, to embrace the ideas and philosophies of Libertarianism, and consequently Austrianism, and bring them into power in our struggling nation.

Surely, there must be some corporation or private enterpriser that can be courted to create a Libertarian News channel, or something of the sort?

Fox news dominates cable TV in large part because it is alone in presenting a right wing view of events on cable, whereas the other networks are busy fighting over only the remaining half of the public pie.

This is the time to “Proceed Boldly against evil”. Rothbard, if I understand who he was, would be calling all the Austrians into action to get the word out on national TV right now…this is an opportunity to transform the public’s values that never existed before…the public is ready…the question is are the Austrians ready to put down the pen and take up the limelight?

2

I would say that John Stossel’s new show “Stossel” and now Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “FreedomWatch” making it cable are good moves by Fox. They both lean austro-libertarian and are shown on the Fox Business channel. I’d say we should do all we can to promote these two shows as they’re the best austro-libertarians got right now.

3

I would love to see a libertarian business news network. Stossel and The Judge provide some great general commentary, but there is still a severe lack of freedom-centric economic analysis on TV.

4

I think Stossel and Napolitano are a little to minarchist and not radical enough. We need some hardcore ancaps on tv.

5

Find someone willing to lose a lot of money, and you’ll get your anarchists on TV. With the rising popularity of Stossel and FreedomWatch, I think our best bet is to promote those. Jacob Hornberger, Lew Rockwell, Ron Paul, Donald Boudreaux and other austro-libertarians are frequent guests of these programs.

6

I think the Judge might actually be a closet anarchist. His rhetoric, especially what I have heard in 2010 have been very extreme. Look at some of the stuff he said on Stossel’s show. He is more libertarian than Ron Paul.

As for Stossel, he seems to be a big fan of the CATO folks, and certainly believes that the government is absolutely necessary in some roles. I think he is for the fair tax, or at least he did a whole show explaining it. He seems to focus a lot on social things or business regulation at the small level (i.e a state license to be a florist) But he didn’t think we needed licenses for lawyers, he might have even been against them for doctors, but I am not sure on that.

7

I don’t see why anarchists on tv would be ‘bad for business’ for tv companies. Its all about ratings, and people saying radical things on television could draw a lot of eyeballs. It would need to be packaged in the right way though.

8

Why would they have to lose money? Someone could start a fundraiser for it or they could just charge people for the channel. You don’t think enough people would want to watch austro ancaps on tv?

9

Napolitano says he is against all forms of taxation and doesn’t think an army or navy is necessary. Still any doubts that he is an ancap?

10

@ Josh

I haven’t watched him that much, I just assumed since he’s on Fox that he’s like all those other morons. I’ll look more into him.

11

^^ That’s what I was thinking. No taxes = No government = Anarchy…

12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPEYlo8lR5Y

13

edit

14

He said “I believe ALL taxation is theft”

15

got that now.

16

I think the instinctual libertarianism is the key to success of shows like Napolitano, Stossel, and Beck.

The sucess of those shows is a testament to America’s readiness to embrace Libertarian ideals…the problem is that the presentation of these views lacks structure, and focuses largely on the political.

A news/business channel, analysis of politics, current events, world events, and financial news from a Libertarian view would be unique, radical, and deviate from Fox coverage significantly.

I don’t see how one could possibly presuppose the idea to be a cash sink, given that the semi-Libertarian shows on Fox are some of their biggest ratings grabbers.

All you need is a good slogan…something like “News for Patriots”…everyone wants to own the word “Patriot”, so lay claim to it and sever it’s interpretation from Patriot = Pro-State to Patriot = Pro-Liberty. They’ll make fun initially…but when the public realizes “Patriot” means Liberty Lovers, rather than Republicans or Democrats…it’ll catch on fast. And it would be the only network that is equally devastating to both parties.

And, after all…both parties need to have their power broken for us to restore America to greatness that has been squandered by power hungry parties preaching false platitudes.

17

I’m thinking it would start out like Freedom Watch. First online then get a spot on the air.

18

Why Beck?

19

@ Josh

It seems like some Ron Paulers still don’t believe the Judge is an anrchist.

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/131362

20

Well at the moment we have Stossel on tv, the judge moving to tv from online video, Lew Rockwell show on podcast, and Mises Media podcasts.

I think the next step would be to have a bunch of daily or weekly LvMI podcasts. We have the “Libertarian Tradition” with Jeff Riggenbach (which I like a lot) but nothing else that is regular other than audio version of the daily articles, which I am not that big of a fan of (although I do like the written articles, if I am listening to some audio, I prefer a more natural cadence and word selection than someone reading, even though it is well read)

Then I think the next step would be to start up an internet and satellite talk radio station. This would require actual radio personalities. Don’t know where your going to find them, but I don’t think this would work with economists as hosts. Morning and rush hour shows with the sort of libertarian take on the news of the day, then more in depth stuff during the day analyzing trends, maybe a financial show, and a sort of Austrian 101 afternoon show, Q & A with an economist, debates, and then with old lectures replayed in the late night. Sort of like NPR meets Rush Limbaugh meets Mises.