Podcast (kinsella-on-liberty): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:51 — 95.1MB)
Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 037. [Transcript.]
I spoke last weekend at the “Liberty in the Pines” (facebook event) conference at Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches, Texas. Sponsored by the Young Americans for Liberty chapter and the Charles Koch Foundation, this one-day event brought together liberty-lovers of all stripes from surrounding areas. My speech was “Locke’s Big Mistake: How the Labor Theory of Property Ruined Political Theory.” Stefan Molyneux and Jeff Tucker appeared and delivered speeches as well (with Jeff’s inspiring keynote resulting in a resounding standing ovation). Walter Block conducted an “Ask a Libertarian” Q&A session (remotely), and relative newcomer Jessica Hughes delivered a surprisingly radical and resounding speech on “The Constitution of Faux Authority.” [Update: See Liberty in the Pines Roundup.]
This podcast episode includes my speech and Q&A (about 54 minutes) plus the panel Q&A (about another 50 minutes). The panel Q&A touched on issues like peaceful parenting, spanking, and so on. Not to toot my own horn, but I know I have a lot of a/v material out there, so I do believe this speech of mine is one of the most important I’ve ever done.
Update: See Stephen Decker’s report on the event.
Update: See also Hoppe on Property Rights in Physical Integrity vs Value, discussing International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215, 246 (1918), where the Supreme Court recognized a quasi-property right in the fruits of one’s labor, what is sometimes called the “sweat of the brow” doctrine (a doctrine later rejected in the copyright context in Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991).
For some background on some of the issues I discussed, see:
- Hume on Intellectual Property and the Problematic “Labor” Metaphor
- Locke on IP; Mises, Rothbard, and Rand on Creation, Production, and “Rearranging”
- “Locke, Smith, Marx and the Labor Theory of Value,” Mises Economics Blog (June 23, 2010) (archived comments)
- “What Libertarianism Is”
- “How We Come To Own Ourselves“
- “Montessori, Peace, and Libertarianism“
- John Bremer, “Education as Peace”
Update: The YouTube at the bottom had inferior audio to the podcast version that I recorded using the iPhone in my pocket. The YouTube immediately below incorporates the superior audio track (thanks to Manuel Lora).
Original YouTube, with inferior audio:
Fantastic presentation. Highly recommended. I think focusing on “who owns this scarce resource” is a great approach.
Wow, during the Q&A both Jeffrey Tucker and Stephan Kinsella state their agreement with Stefan Molyneux that spanking children is aggression!