Part Of The Problem - Mamdani Defines Socialism

Episode Date: October 6, 2026

Dave Smith brings you the latest in politics! On this episode of Part Of The Problem, Dave and Robbie "the Fire" Bernstein discuss Mamdani's appearance on Theo Von's podcast, his definition o...f socialism, and more.Support Our Sponsors:Brunt Workwear - http://bruntworkwear.com/ Use code PROBLEM for $10 off your first order! Cowboy Colostrum - Get 25% Off Cowboy Colostrum with code DAVE at https://www.cowboycolostrum.com/DAVEThe Wellness Company - Spike Detox your body! Click http://www.twc.health/problem and use code PROBLEM for 10% Off + Free Shipping for USA residents Quince - Get free shipping on your Quince order and 365-day returns athttps://www.quince.com/POTPPart Of The Problem is available for early pre-release at https://partoftheproblem.com as well as an exclusive episode on Thursday!PORCH TOUR DATES HERE:https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/porch-tour-2026-4836968Find Run Your Mouth here:YouTube - http://youtube.com/@RunYourMouthiTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-your-mouth-podcast/id1211469807Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4ka50RAKTxFTxbtyPP8AHmFollow the show on social media:X:http://x.com/ComicDaveSmithhttp://x.com/RobbieTheFireInstagram:http://instagram.com/theproblemdavesmithhttp://instagram.com/robbiethefire#libertarian See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:07 What's up, everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I'm Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire of Bernstein. We were just hanging out together a few mere hours ago in Las Vegas, both jumped on some red-eye flights and got home to get you to get to the studio, to get an episode out for you today. Thank you to everybody who came out in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, man.
Starting point is 00:00:31 This was a really fun weekend. I really enjoyed that, Rob. Beautiful, beautiful mountain watching out there, huh? Yes. Man, that fun run. Always nice to take a right eye. It feels like a freebie for travel. And I'm already back out in like 24 hours. Rehitting the road. I'll be a Texas A&M on Thursday night. That's open to the public if you want to come out. But you know, be cool. It's the young adults for Liberty, YOLA, whatever,
Starting point is 00:00:58 they're putting it on. Oh, nice. Then Friday, big a show of the porch. We're doing, Austin, Texas. I'm running my FBI entrapment scheme, doing stand-up comedy. and then me and Scott Horton are going to mix it up for a live pod. We only do that once a year. This is like the third one that we're doing. It's always good time.
Starting point is 00:01:14 Come out for that. Yes. They're so good too. They're great. It's interesting, man. You guys together are a great dynamic. I really enjoyed both of them. Make sure to check that out.
Starting point is 00:01:24 Yeah, we got into the libertarian theory behind Star Wars. Then we debunk 9-11 being an inside job. And now we're going to be getting into FBI entrapment schemes. And then Saturday doing Shoulderberg. And then you can go to port store.com because there's a whole Midwest. run after that. So a lot of stuff going on. There you go. All right. I got guys, I'm off for a couple weeks.
Starting point is 00:01:44 So go see Rob. Next up is Portland. Is that right? Oh, yeah, Portland. But the main one, not not the one that's riddled with homeless. The beautiful one with the foliage. We'll be up there. That's right. Our next stop is Portland, Maine, the Empire Comedy Club, October 23rd through 25th.
Starting point is 00:02:03 Then November 5th through 7th will be back out in San Diego at the American Comedy Company. So make sure to come out there. Love, love, love that place. Then, of course, the Skangfest in November, well, you're going to that too, right? Yeah, we'll both be there. It's Skankfest. And then what do we got? Oh, and I guess that's it for the year. Well, look at that, dude. We're down. This is like pretty much the end of the year. I can't even believe it. I always, every year I take December off because just my girls both have
Starting point is 00:02:34 birthdays and we're Jewish and Christians. So basically I just I work for 11 months to then empty it all out in December and then start all over again in January. It's a good system. Works for me. But anyway, let's, okay, so let's get into some stuff here, Rob. I wanted to talk about this clip here. We got mayor of New York City, Mom Dani, goes on with the great Theo Vaughn, my dear friend. And they had a conversation.
Starting point is 00:03:06 I have not listened to the entire podcast because it's a, I don't know, bro, I, it's, it's difficult for me to listen to Mom Donnie talk about things. I really do find him painful to listen to. I don't mean that. I find Theo Vaughn is one of, in my humble opinion, one of the most enjoyable people to listen to. He's just like that it's part of the reason why he's so successful. He's just like, he is a conversationalist that just like lowers you in and makes you want to, but Mom Donnie, to me. me is like the opposite of it. So anyway, but I did want to comment on this clip that was, I think, the most viral clip of the thing where he's, he's, I suppose, defining socialism, kind of. We could get it. So I'd like to get into this because it's a, I find it to be a fascinating
Starting point is 00:03:55 discussion or a fascinating topic and I think, you know, also kind of terrifying. But anyway, I guess I just wanted to say before getting into the clip, just that. Just that. I did see that Theo was like taking some shit for hosting Mom Dani. And I did just want to say again, I really disagree with that. I don't think he should. I think it's really good. I think I've always been this way, like really in spirit anti-cancel culture and anti-censorship. Not to suggest that like it would be censorship for Theo not to have him on the podcast exactly.
Starting point is 00:04:31 I'm just always on the side of like more conversations, more of this. I think this is good. Look, if nothing else, because I think like what people's, this is what people get upset. This is what the lefties get upset with Theo about when he had like Trump on. And this is what some of the more right-leaning people get upset with him when he has like Mom Donion, is that Theo's just nice and cool. So he's just cool with everybody. He's just going to have a cool conversation with you.
Starting point is 00:04:55 And no, he's not going to be the guy who like offers intense pushback or grills you on your economic, you know, theory. But what he does in these situations, is he opens people up and he gets answers out of them. And like I'm kind of, I'm grateful that he got this answer out of Mom Donnie because now reasonably, reasonably thinking people like me and you can tear this nonsense to shreds. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show,
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Starting point is 00:06:41 Dot health slash problem and the promo code is problem for 10% off. All right. Let's get back into the show, right? I think it's crazy to, I guess, be so weak-willed or concerned about just hearing people out. It's how, I mean, how much of a sucker are you to comment or how much do you think your fellow Americans are just suckered by words? Hear people out. Let them, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:07:06 There's no reason to be that afraid of people speaking. And in this case, I'm very excited to hear the actual academia behind the way that he defines socialism and his robust plan for how that can work within our country. So I'm excited to actually hear it right from him. Well, we'll get to it. Well, I would just say, you know, I had this over the years with a few different people, but I guess particularly with Nick Fuentes more than anyone else, when I would have him on, you know, people would, you know,
Starting point is 00:07:35 they, you know, be, why are you platforming him or whatever? And it was always, well, like, first of all, I always thought like, well, first of all, I have people on who I want to talk to. I talk to the people who I want to talk to because I think they're interesting conversation. So the first of it's just like a, like, fuck you. Like, I don't know. What are you policing who I talk to?
Starting point is 00:07:53 This is too bizarre. But then on top of that, you're like, well, look, even if you think, his ideas are so horrible or something like, what do you want to just pretend he doesn't exist? And the people were still giving me shit when I had him on like the last time or two or the last two times. And you're like, dude, he's humongous. Like, what do you want to pretend? He doesn't exist.
Starting point is 00:08:11 But with Mom Donnie, he's the fucking mayor of the biggest city in America. What do you not talk to him? You know, we're way, you know, like even I wouldn't even agree with squashing ideas, you know, just in spirit. But even if you did believe in that, we're way past the point of, you know, like, no, don't platform him. Anyway, and perhaps that's not just what people were saying. They were saying, oh, he should have pushed back more. But even that, I think different people have different roles and different strengths. All right, let's play, let's play the clip.
Starting point is 00:08:43 What, Rob, what is socialism? Let's find out. Let's all find out together. I want to talk a little bit about socialism, right? Because it's a buzzword, right? Because socialism, will you define socialism for us? Because people say it a lot. and don't know what it is. And sometimes those people are me. I'm so happy to be with those people right now. Socialism to me, it means that you will have whatever you need to live a dignified life and that it is the government's job to.
Starting point is 00:09:21 What world are we in here, Rob? I'm sorry, this is what a serious adult says. A serious adult says that we're talking about a, an economic system and you start to describe it. Here he's going, hey, Theo starts with the most reasonable question ever. Just imagine what could be more of like a layup question. He goes, hey, here's the word that you call yourself. Everyone's using this word.
Starting point is 00:09:46 I don't even think I know what the word means. You tell me. Now, for you to start off by describing, you're describing an economic system and the way you describe it, Rob, the first thing is what? the conclusion of it. Everything's great. That's my economic system. Stuff works out good.
Starting point is 00:10:06 What does that mean? You have all the dignity. You have all the things you need. That's what? Wait, what? You don't just get to say that. You just get to say, oh, the answer is. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:10:17 Well, my economic system is that everything Mom Dani just said, but then a little bit more. That's what I mean by capitalism. I mean everything Mom Dani just said, but more than that. that too. Okay? Did I just win or did I just do nothing? I don't know, Rob, what is this? Yeah, I mean, it's quite literally a pitch of magic pixie dust of, well, my belief is just that everyone born within the United States of America is automatically just owed a dignified life. And dignified life is a very good marketing term because that lets you create whatever that means. Does that mean government's giving you a house?
Starting point is 00:11:00 Does that mean it's giving you food? Is it giving you your health care? It's giving your education. Is there anything that you're actually going to have to contribute in order to get all these goods and services? When it's all being given to you might be a question. Right, but I'm saying it's left for you to define. It's not actually. So you might think, oh, this is a reasonable answer of just core goods and services you need for human survival or be given to you.
Starting point is 00:11:22 And someone else might think that government's supposed to give you more. So you get to now he's not even qualifying what that means. being able to live a free dignified life or how that's possible. How is it possible that anyone born to this country is just guaranteed all goods and services that you would need for human survival? Well, also like, right. I mean, can't any grown-up should be able to, just again, this is not a comment on whether you're a capitalist or a socialist.
Starting point is 00:11:52 You could be on either side of this argument and still just be an adult and grant that for someone to just say my system is everything works out and everyone gets dignity everyone has all the things they need that it's like okay any thoughts on how to achieve that there champ like you've you've added nothing
Starting point is 00:12:12 if you just say I want it my system is everything ends up working out and everyone has dignity and is treated really great and has all the stuff they need all right just to point out how silly this answer is if you're having a debate over what's the best system for human prosperity and so you're on your side, you go,
Starting point is 00:12:29 hey, I like free markets, and here's why I think free markets are better. And then the guy on the other side goes, well, I like this thing called socialism, but then he doesn't define what the system is to get you to the prosperity. If you were arguing for free markets, you would argue, here's why my system leads to more prosperity.
Starting point is 00:12:45 He doesn't actually lay out what the system is, what the definition is, how that's supposed to function, and just jumps to the conclusion. So he's not actually telling you what socialism is. He's just telling you what some fictional end result that he would like and can't actually achieve or give you. Right.
Starting point is 00:13:01 All right. Here, let's keep playing. Deliver on that. Okay. Right. It's a belief that you shouldn't live in a place where all you can do is pick your own leaders. You should also be able to have that power in the rest of your life, right? People talk about it as the extension of democracy.
Starting point is 00:13:22 Okay. The extension of democracy. Okay. Let's just get it. So you should not only have the power. to pick your own leaders. You should have that power be extended to the rest of your life. Well, like, this is, okay, first of all, that, like, just, just to be clear here,
Starting point is 00:13:43 because it's kind of, he's getting into, like, a philosophical conversation. And these are things, these are the type of things that me and you are kind of interested in, Rob, like, that's why, I guess, or at least part of the reason why we do what we do. So it's just as he brings this up, Rob, you know, it isn't. If you think about the choice that we have in terms of our leaders, we all have so much more choice in all the other areas of our life already. You know, like this is, this is like the least most artificial choice that is watered down to one, like, 140 millionth, right? Yes, I essentially got a choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. And I, my voice in that was worth one out of like 150 million or whoever, however many people
Starting point is 00:14:36 voted. So that is a very small range of a choice and a very, very little tiny microscopic, you know, invisible to the naked eye amount of influence over that choice. But like choosing who I marry, who my friends are, who I work with, what grocery store I go to, what business I shop at, like choosing all the other things in my life, I have much. I have much more power and like either 100% control or at least like in a relationship with another person 50 50 kind of control over it. So, you know, already one might point out how full of shit this whole worldview is.
Starting point is 00:15:14 The idea that the political is the realm where you really have a choice and all the other realm isn't and we just need to extend this awesome thing, which is politics, which we all know. This is where the most noble and decent of men are, you see. and so we need to extend this field of politics to everywhere. This is, I mean, you know, it's like, look, dude, I understand that when he says socialism, he goes, no, no, no, I don't mean Stalin, Mao Cey Tong style, everybody dies and it's dystopian nightmare. But you could see where like even in that little philosophical worldview that he gave you, yeah, that's why it turns into a nightmare every time it's tried. Why don't we just make everything democracy? Why don't we just extend the poison that is politics to everything in life?
Starting point is 00:15:58 Oh, why is there this mass starvation? This is what catches my eye about that, is that government being out of all the other realms of your life is what creates more freedom and more choice for you. His pitch is actually, well, I don't think everyone should have the freedom to make all those choices, but I can make life more fair for people if government takes over these industries and better distributes the wealth than the way people are doing it
Starting point is 00:16:26 through their free choices. And so for government to come in and socialize more industries where they don't currently have control, you might argue that there's a better distribution and you and I would point to in history and that you end up just with less and that you end up with starvation
Starting point is 00:16:39 and it's just a pretend pitch for a lunacy that ends up with everyone having less. But you could pretend that... And a worse distribution. Right. You end up with less and a worst distribution, to be clear. But the pitch is that through force and taking away choice, we can have a more equal distribution.
Starting point is 00:16:59 It's not that government coming in to regulate all these other industries or socialize these industries is going to allow for more choices. That's the opposite pitch. Well, it's what's infuriating about it is that, look, dude, it's such a, it's a bold-faced lie. Because essentially, dude, like, if you want to defend government, then that's fine. You can defend government, but at least admit what you're defending. What you're defending is force, objectively. You're for force. That's what government is.
Starting point is 00:17:31 Like, every single your relationship with the government is them telling you what you will do. And if you don't do it, they will use force against you all the way up to literally the, like they will murder you. Like that is the agreement and not, I don't mean that's the implicit agreement. I mean, that's what they will do. Like, if you don't pay your taxes, if you don't, you know, like whatever, you know, if you, if you take it to its logical conclusion, right? Like if I was just a conscientious, you know, abstainer or whatever from government.
Starting point is 00:18:02 So if I, if I don't pay my taxes, if I just refuse to pay the government taxes, they will send me letter after letter, after letter, eventually they will come after me. Eventually they will, you know, whatever, they'll come take my stuff eventually is like the next that, you know, they'll seize my assets or whatever. Now, if they come for my house, let's say, they go, well, we're going to foreclose your house or whatever because you owe all this money of the IRS. And I go, no, you can't have it. This is my house. I got guns in this house, dude.
Starting point is 00:18:28 You cannot have my house. They will send a police force to my house. If I meet that police force and defend myself, like if they come and they are taking this up and I say no, they will try to, they will come and try to take me to jail. If I resist going to jail, they will murder me in front of my children. that's the game. Like, that is what's why we pay the taxes. And by the way, nobody knows this more than the leftists, because Rob, if I were to suggest to them, why don't we make taxes voluntary, they would be the first ones to say, but then
Starting point is 00:19:01 no one will pay them. All of these social, the reason we can't make taxes voluntary is because all of our social programs will fall apart. They know that they need this realm is force. That's what it is. You know, when the government tells you from a speeding, a, uh, uh, uh, violation to every single law. There's a gun behind it. You are forced to do this. Government is the realm of force and then the market is the realm of volunteerism. Now, you could with a noted
Starting point is 00:19:30 caveat in there, which is the private force, which is criminals, right? So there's private criminal. Like you getting mugged is force. You paying your taxes is force. Me going and buying food at the supermarket is not. That's a choice. That's very. voluntary. You're talking about expanding the realm of force and cracking it down on the route. Don't spin that as choice. That's not a choice. Objectively. It's incredible pitch thus far doesn't define the actual economic mechanism when given the opportunity that can create more an equal opportunity for people and then pretends that socialism is the system that allows for more choices and control over your life.
Starting point is 00:20:16 Yeah. All right, guys. Let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Brunt Workwear, unbelievable company. If you are looking for a good pair of work boots, like if you need a good pair of work boots, you have to try these. They're the most comfortable work boots you'll ever own. For years, the deal was always, if you need a pair of boots that are going to stand up to a tough job, they're going to be brutal on your feet. And if you get a comfortable pair, they're not going to stand up to the job. Brunt solved that problem. And they made the ultimate, most durable work boot, but it's literally, I mean, I can't, I, they sent me a pair of them. It feels like a
Starting point is 00:20:53 pair, it feels like a worn in pair of sneakers the first time you put them on. And this is crazy. Brunt, they let you actually wear the boots to work before deciding if you want to keep them. You can return them. They let you test drive them like it's a car, just which I don't think any boot has ever done before. I believe they're making history here. I double check me on that. Check with Guinness, but I think this is the first time in history. And it's just because they're actually that comfortable. They really are great. So if you need a good pair of work boots, do yourself a favor and try these ones out. Your feet will thank you for it. You can actually wear these boots to work, beat them up. And as I said, they are letting you test dry them. You can
Starting point is 00:21:28 put these boots on, beat them up, put in real hours. And if they're not right for you, you can send them back. That's how confident Brunt is that you're going to love them. So for a limited time, our listeners also get an extra $10 off at Brunt when you use the promo code problem at checkout. Just go to bruntworkware.com. That's bruntworkware.com and use the promo code problem for $10 off and you're good to go. All right. Let's get back into the show. Yeah. All right. Let's bring it back like a few seconds, Natalie, and then let's let's keep playing so we can, because we are really not letting him speak, but I'm sorry, all this stuff is just too absurd. That power in the rest of your life, right? People talk about it as the extension of democracy from the ballot box to the rest of your
Starting point is 00:22:12 life. What do people mean by the rest of your life? They mean your workplace, your home, things like that. So when people say dig-in-law's, I'm sorry. I want to be very clear. All right. Two things. You know, by the way, I've never heard a socialist say, you're home. I've heard them say this about the workplace before. I've never heard them say, extend democracy to the home. Like, did my kids get a vote? Like, who's who's? When do we hold the elections in my house over who takes the trash out? What is he talking about? No, like, I genuinely had no idea what he's talking about. with extending democracy to the home. This is very, you realize, like, the current system we have is that marriages are consensual
Starting point is 00:22:50 arrangements. Are you trying to change? What are you trying to change this to? I'm sorry, Rob, go ahead. Okay, two things. First is, this man needs to socialize his tie because he has too much tie and other people don't have enough tie. So practice what your peach and don't have a dick blocking tie.
Starting point is 00:23:06 It's fucking weird, okay? It is a long tie. The second thing is, if you can look past his, nice smile and the if you can get past the snake charm of I just want to help everybody who on who in this country goes this democracy thing is working out so well I need to replicate that structure in the other parts of my life the same way that I'm able to vote and every four years I vote a person into office and sometimes they get into office and then they do the exact things that they said they were going to do who I'm just saying who in this country that voted for Biden was happy
Starting point is 00:23:42 once Biden was in office. How many the people who voted him for Trump right now are happy about Trump? We have a system of who can lie to you the best. And then we were suckers for it. They don't do any of the things that they said. And now that's what you want to democratize the process of every other. Like who looks at this structure and goes, hey, this thing's working out so great. We need to get rid of private industries and replace it with what we have with the government. It's the dumbest thing in the world. They also, I mean, look, dude, the idea of, yes, as you said, and you really nail it like because first of all let me just repeat I've never I've heard a million democratic socialist say extend democracy into the workplace I have never once heard
Starting point is 00:24:20 them say into your home and I have no idea what could possibly be meant by extending democracy into like are me and are me and my wife to have like union reps or proxy vote it's like I just don't understand this is like too bizarre but let's take on the workplace one I think he might have just made this up up and has no idea what that even means about the home. I think he just thought that sounded nice, because this is like how much of an airhead you're dealing with. But let's go into the workplace one for a second, because this is their big thing here. It's like this is how they say, like extend to my, right. First, as you know, Rob, people might go like, what about the system of politics makes people go?
Starting point is 00:25:01 This is just such a wonderful system. We need to bring this. Like you watch literally the DSA, essentially what they're arguing is that the DSA meetings are how all companies should be run. Like, who is this fundamentally childish? Who actually thinks big, great companies can be run like that? Why do you think no big great companies are run like that right now? I mean, look, there are a few, right? There are a few, like, worker co-ops out there. By the way, they've done interesting studies on them where they all turn into oligarchies.
Starting point is 00:25:38 It's all, it's never really like the decisions are being made by the, workers, it always ends up, you know, creating some type of hierarchy. But look, this is the great Gene Epstein point that he makes, right? Rob. Just two quick points here. This is the Gene Epstein point and then another, a very important blind spot that socialists have. Number one, the Gene Epstein argument against socialism really goes as the following, and it calls them out on their bullshit here. He goes, look, man, if you really believe in this democratizing the workplace stuff, like essentially you believe that the companies shouldn't be structured as like there's an owner and a boss and then there's all these employees where this is what richard wolf would say well that's no different than a slave and a master it's like okay i mean the major difference is that you choose to be there i know social is just they they love to blur this line about consent by the way we'll talk a little bit more about that today rub like they love to blur this line about like oh but no there is a difference between a job that you you choose to work at and being a slave. You know, you and Rob, you can leave. Natalie can leave.
Starting point is 00:26:45 If you guys want to, you can leave. You're not forced to be here. Slaves were not allowed to leave. And that is literally the part that we objected to. Like, that is literally the entire issue with the thing was the force. Like, nobody would have had a moral issue with Europeans going over to Africa and offering wages to Africans if they wanted to come over and pick cotton and you would get room and board for this. And the ones who wanted to come, come over and the ones who didn't want to didn't have to. That wouldn't be slavery. Now would it?
Starting point is 00:27:16 That wouldn't be a moral abomination. What makes it a moral abomination is that you went over there and took the people by force and forced them to do that and wouldn't let them leave. Okay. Anyway, within the voluntary world, we're not forcing people, right? if you want to democratize the workplace, you don't want there to be the employer and the employees, you want it to be the workers all own this together and we all make decisions on this together. All right.
Starting point is 00:27:42 Well, the numbers are something like the bottom, I think Gene said, the bottom 50% of the workers control one third of American consumption. You guys can simply decide to only buy from worker-owned business. If the workers of America wanted to decide to only consume from worker-owned companies, they could do it. It's right in front of you. You can have your socialist extension into the workforce with, but you just can't do it by force under conditions right now.
Starting point is 00:28:23 But you can do it voluntarily. You just got to actually do the work. You got to actually convince people to start worker co-op companies and put sweat equity in and put equity in and do all of this stuff. You've got to do it. But you can do it if you want to. Yeah, the problem is, but you don't actually want to do it,
Starting point is 00:28:39 and you know it'll fail. So you want to just use the power of the state to force all of the rest of us into it because you know you don't want to do it on your own. Sorry, go ahead. Because you'll walk into a coffee shop and you'll try and order a coffee and then the worker's going to go,
Starting point is 00:28:53 point of privilege. He's not supposed to order before that person's supposed to order. And someone else is going to go point of privilege and go, no, this person's supposed to be the one to order. first and then you'll never actually get your coffee and be like, all right, where's an owner to tell these people to go back to work? Yep, yep. It's, well, that's right. They don't want to actually do it. They don't, they know that it's not actually going to outcompete the other models.
Starting point is 00:29:15 And there's a reason for that. And now here's the other thing I would point out that is an absolute blind spot to socialist because they, and this is why I really do find this. I'm sorry. and I know that and I'm sure because we've been so you know we've been so in opposition to the genocide in Gaza and the war in Ukraine, excuse me, the war in Ukraine, well, we are against that, but also the war in Iran and, you know, Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Syria and stuff like that. And so we get, you know, more anti-war leftists have listened to the show over the last few years. But I'm sorry, guys. I'm not going to not tell you what I think. think is right. And this is what is so infantile about the whole thing, is that you approach economics, which is a science that demands to be treated with goddamn respect. And nobody except the Austrians even does anything like that. But like you guys talk about it.
Starting point is 00:30:14 Like it's like, I don't know. Well, what about what's nice? Wouldn't it be nice? Like if more people had this and more people had that and where that. But you know, dude, there's laws of this shit. It's like trying to do physics that way. This makes no sense. Not that economics is physics. It's very different, but it's more like logic. But something like logic. You know, you got to follow the rules and follow where the logical train leads you.
Starting point is 00:30:38 So look, here's one thing when you actually read about economics and like the sciencey part of it. Here's the thing that socialists just don't account for it all. Okay? Capital investment. Capital investment. The leftists who want to argue socialism with me. Google it. Familiarize yourself with the concept.
Starting point is 00:31:00 This is how businesses get started. Okay? Businesses get started like this. Let's say someone like me. I've been working for the last few years and I've made some money. I'm going to take a big chunk of that and start a business. Let's say, you know, just to make numbers easy. I'm going to take a million dollars.
Starting point is 00:31:18 I'm going to open a comedy club. This is a business I know. So, okay. opening a comedy club in New York City. That's my business. Rob, in order for me to do this, I got to put, I mean, I know Rogan put millions of dollars into that club when he first bought it. So like if I was going to do this, I probably have to put millions of dollars into it. I got to hire a bunch of people. I'm going to have to pour a ton of work into this over the next year and put all of my capital investment into this. Okay. If I don't own the company, I'm not going to do that.
Starting point is 00:31:50 why would I invest my capital into this for then all the workers to just own what you're just essentially you've completely disincentivized everyone from investing into anything and when people invest into something what they're doing is they're taking the the what they've made from the they're they're taking essentially consumption that they deferred right I could with that with that million dollars that I opened this comedy club with, I could have just gone out on a yacht and had a bottle of whiskey and, you know what I mean, just consumed. But instead, I put off that consumption. I chose not to just enjoy my money. I put it into this business because the bet is that the business will make me more money and I will get more future consumption by deferring my
Starting point is 00:32:42 present consumption. This is what's known as time preference. These things are important terms if you want to understand economics. Here's the thing. If there's no incentive for a businessman to invest his money because he can't get a return on the money because all the workers own the company and they get to decide where all the money goes, then he'll just consume it presently. He won't defer the consumption for the future and create the business that creates all those jobs to fucking begin with.
Starting point is 00:33:20 And just to extend off of that, there was an essay I read years ago by George Reisman. Great writer. And the reason why the system benefits you so much is that when somebody creates a business and then there's profits, what that means is that they gave somebody something of value and they anticipated a market need. And you know what's really great about giving resources to that people is it gives them the next opportunity to anticipate what might the market. need and then to provide it to them. So like, for example, if I, you know, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:33:52 I anticipated six months ago that diesel prices were going to go up and I created a diesel refinery within the country and I stockpiled a bunch of diesel and now I could bring the diesel prices back on because I'm sitting on a supply of it. I might make a ton of profit, but guess what? I anticipated that the market was going to need something. And who do you think you want to have the capital to make that next prediction? The guy who's actually good at it. That's the reward of fulfilling that process of anticipating people's needs and creating value is that you accumulate capital and then you can go do it again. It's the exact opposite of the way that government and force operates,
Starting point is 00:34:27 where they basically take away the resources from the people who are good at anticipating needs and stockpiling capital. Like capitalism, it's a beautiful system of where people make the right bets of anticipating people's needs and creating value. They make more money and they can do more of that. And so everybody benefits. Yep, that's right. That's right.
Starting point is 00:34:47 And it's exactly right. And it's like, I don't know, guys, this is why socialism fails every time. I mean, listen, man, we spend all this time attacking it theoretically because empirically, there's nothing left to even say. You couldn't, dude, if you were, like, you couldn't, it almost proves that the idea of, like, empiricism leading to consensus. is impossible. I mean, like, if you were, if we didn't have these examples, Rob, like, let's just say we didn't have these examples. And you were like, man, it would be so helpful. If we just could like, I don't know, let's say we could like split Germany and half and have half of it be socialist and half of it be capitalist. You know what I mean, Rob? Like people who are
Starting point is 00:35:37 like genetically indistinguishable and have the same culture and language and religion and traditions, like geography, everything. Like if we, I mean, man, man, dude, if we could run a line, let's say, through Korea and have the north half try socialism and the bottom half. And then, like, let's say it was so conclusive that like the people who were genetically and culturally and linguistically and traditionally indistinguishable from each other, one side of them were starving to death and the other side was skyscrapers. Imagine we had that experiment.
Starting point is 00:36:11 That would just be the end of the conversation now, wouldn't it? But nope. But these reasons, these theoretical points that Rob's talking about, how capitalism really does allow resources to be allocated where they're needed and incentivizes people to move them around like that. You know that boring stuff like that? That's why you're not starving to death. That's why you're living the life you're living instead.
Starting point is 00:36:38 Here, let's keep playing. Mom, Donnie. When people say dignity, I want to be very clear, we're talking about the things. things that allow you to take a breath, housing, child care, right, public transit. No one should be priced out of these things. These are non-negotiables. You need these to live. And what I think is so confusing is there's parts of life in our country that line up with this belief, right? Public education. We believe that everyone should be able to go K through 12 for free. And they do. libraries. We believe that everybody should be able to read a book.
Starting point is 00:37:17 Here, let's pause it for a second. For free. And look, man, I'll say I'm sure there's, there's going to be a lot of appeal in his pitch of like, yo, none of these things should be unaffordable. And certainly I understand that, you know, nobody is on team. These prices should be really unaffordable. It's just kind of frustrating for a couple of guys who are just on the team of people who even know, what a price is what's a price mom donnie that would literally be my next question to him what's the price what is a price yeah it's a market signal of information is what a price is why our prices so high what has led to that you know if you're not even like in a you're not even like in a
Starting point is 00:38:03 you're not even gonna make a take on that and you're just going that my belief is that they shouldn't be like okay well that's sorry fairly unimpressive to me and if he wants to say, oh, and people see where it lines up in other areas. Like, we have, we have public schools. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Public schools, truly the crown jewel of our society, really something to brag about. You know, it's like, dude, man, you know, if there's one thing the government does in this country, it guarantees, man, that those, those kids in the south side of Chicago who are growing up with bullets whizzing by them every day, the kids who need, you know, we're not worried about the kids. whose parents can afford a good education, but the ones who can afford a good education,
Starting point is 00:38:50 we know that they're getting the absolute best. They come out, those kids are coming out, reading Shakespeare and writing poems and stuff, and just, you know, like, oh, I'm sorry, they can't read at a third grade level. I'm sorry, I was looking at the wrong data. They're failing our children miserably. The one example you can look to is fucking that. And what? Libraries?
Starting point is 00:39:14 What is this other thing? the thing that's been completely usurped by the internet, by the market that has provided that has provided that library plus 100,000 billion trillion libraries on top of it for free for every child in America. Oh, that's right. The market's delivering that without a government program necessary. But homeless people can't shit on the internet, Dave. They actually can, Rob, and I will show you some websites.
Starting point is 00:39:40 You can get everything you need. Rob, you are so wrong about that, dude. Um, there's, but I mean, so it's right. It's just, oh, okay, everyone should have the stuff they need. Everyone should have dignity that, you know, I got to say, seeing as how there is nothing at all concrete or tangible about what he's saying, we're all, this is all an abstract theory. And it's not good abstract theory. It's just people should have stuff and stuff shouldn't be so expensive. They should have dignity. You know, maybe I'll hold off on that for the end. You know what? let me finish him. I'll hold off on this thought for the end about dignity. All right,
Starting point is 00:40:20 let's keep playing. And they do. But when it comes to early childhood education, right, before kindergarten, we're comfortable with people paying $20,000 a year to afford it. Because that's what the cost is, the average cost in New York City. In New York City right now. That's a good deal. Yeah. They did a study that found that for a family of three to afford child care, they had to make $330,000 a year. To live in the city and afford child care. in the city and afford childcare. A family of three. So that means only one child.
Starting point is 00:40:51 Pause it for a second. Oh, there's an unfair question to ask. And I say this as a father. I say this is somebody who for many, many, many, many years was dead broke. I mean, really, really broke for a long period of time. Is this a fucked up question to ask? I don't think it is. And by the way, as you know, I'm always on team children.
Starting point is 00:41:17 Like, I'm, kids are the most vulnerable members. are the most vulnerable members of our society and the most precious. And why are you having three kids if you can't take care of them? You're telling me the government already gives K through 12 is what he's saying. But the big thing is why don't we, why doesn't the state have your kids before five? Because the assumption is that the parents take care of them for the first five years. Dude, what are we talking about? Like, look, I understand it's a tough economy.
Starting point is 00:41:49 I understand that sometimes people have to work. I understand child care is expensive. But broadly speaking, like, nobody forced you to have three kids. Why are you having three kids when you can't take care of them? And you can't afford for someone to take care of them. Also, the idea of- Oh, sorry, a family of three, meaning two parents and one kid. Okay, fine.
Starting point is 00:42:09 Don't have one kid if you can't take care of them. But yeah, okay, you're right. You're right, Natalie. Family of three would not mean three kids. That is my mistake. Good correction. But still, why are you having, like, why? I don't understand here.
Starting point is 00:42:20 I'm sorry. There is something, there is something truly twisted and sick that the expectation is that the state ought to be raising our kids. And listen, again, I'm not trying to like, it's not that I don't empathize with the economic conditions that people are under. The government, we do a whole show about how the government has screwed everybody over, you know? But like also, let's get real. no, you're not like poorer than my great grandparents or my great, great, great grandparents or all of people for all of human history. And people found a way to have kids and raise them. Like, it is very, it is doable.
Starting point is 00:43:01 It is absolutely doable. And I don't think that the message should be like, no, let's have the state raise our babies. Also, you know, I'd love to have a beachfront mansion. But guess what? I can't afford it. You know what else I'd love? I'd love to be able to afford a one bedroom apartment and then a place that I could do my podcast out of a studio in New York City. And guess what? I can't afford that either. So you know where I live in Connecticut? Cry me a fucking river. If you want to live in the richest zip codes on earth and you feel like it's owed to you
Starting point is 00:43:32 by somebody else to make that a reality. You know, any zip codes? You don't need zip codes I can't live in because they become valuable real estate at that with 40% of the country. But there's There's a lot of the country I can afford to live. I mean, you're choosing to live in New York City. New York City has become beachfront property. It is the most expensive place to live, or one of them. Yeah. Well, I would also say a separate point, which, of course, you know, just, again, this is a very,
Starting point is 00:44:02 very immature aspect of all the socialist stuff, is that they talk always. It's so dishonest. They talk as if there's no cost associated with their, what they want to do. You know, like it's an unbelievable little magic trick that they get to do where he goes, look, people already know they can send their kids to school for free.
Starting point is 00:44:25 And they do. No, they don't. People do not send their kids to public school for free. It is, it costs $20,000 per student per year in New York City, above $20,000. I forget what the exact number is at right now. But that same cost that he said about daycare,
Starting point is 00:44:43 that cost is there. It's just to the taxpayer. It's just to the taxpayer of New York City. None of this stuff is giving anything to you. This is the taxpayer being burdened with all of this. It's got to be paid for somehow. That, of course, just never even comes up. It's never, it's almost, again, they speak. And I don't understand how any socialist can almost, like, argue with this. They speak as if there's no downside to the government just doing more of this stuff. There's no cost to it. Like, look, dude, we already do K through 12. Obviously, we should do more. more than that, right? Yeah, that's true. We should do more than that. More and more and more and more.
Starting point is 00:45:18 Like, is there any limiting principle here? Or is it just you're a bad guy if you don't want more of this free stuff? Because why not? Why not more than what Mom Donnie's saying? Why not, you know, why not free daycare plus give them $1,000? I mean, plus give him $10,000, $100,000, $100 million. Like, what is the limiting principle here? More and more and more and more and more government services. It doesn't seem like you just, I'm going to throw it out there. Like, yeah, we should do more. All right, guys, let's take a moment to thank our sponsor for today's show, which is
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Starting point is 00:47:17 All right. Let's keep playing. Good deal. Yeah. They did a study that found that for a family of three to afford child care, they had to make $330,000 a year. To live in the city and afford child care? A family of three?
Starting point is 00:47:36 Three. So that means only one child? One child. Okay. And to me, that's kind of even what used to be enough money 10 years ago is not enough money. What happened? The struggles of affordability, they apply to a lot more people.
Starting point is 00:47:50 Dave, what happened? I don't know, we didn't do a rain dance or something, and the money gods have been unhappy with us, and so prices are out of control. Rob, it's just completely left out of the equation. Dude, it's the same thing. They have a whole goddamn conversation about student loan debt. forgiveness and never bring up why prices went up. Why is college so expensive? They're not even interested in the question. Hey, Rob, you know, we had the biggest experiment
Starting point is 00:48:25 in money printing in human history, and now everything's unaffordable. Well, gee, well, golly gee, let's just sit here and ruminate over that, Rob, and see what we could really, let's just crack our heads together until the two of us can find a causal relationship between printing trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars and injecting it into the economy and the prices of everything going up. I guess you'd have to understand what prices are, but then it would be really obvious. It'd be really, really obvious. Stated differently, there's a cost and consequence of the government just giving people free stuff.
Starting point is 00:49:05 The exact example that you're talking about of how was it that 10 years ago, this was a whole lot of money, and now it's not. it's because government did the exact program that you're looking for more of, which is it gave people a lot of free stuff. And then it turns out there's a consequence of that called inflation. And then the savings that you have and the money that you're earning if you're on a fixed income suddenly doesn't get you as much. In other words, you think these dollars don't buy much now, Mom, Donnie? Just wait. Implement all these programs you want to say. Let's say, have the United States of America implement all these programs and you'll be wishing for the
Starting point is 00:49:38 strong dollar that we had today. It's called the consequence of your Lolloland pitch of, oh, government can just give you all the things that you're looking for, and they can get it to you more efficiently than the free market. And it is, I don't know what to say, man. I mean, I know, I guess I swam in these libertarian circles for so long that like, you know, these terms almost get like outdated or whatever. But this is what it is just like, it's not even like socialism exactly. It's just statism, you know?
Starting point is 00:50:10 It's just a worship and irrational. worship of the government, essentially like a religion. We'll kind of get into that maybe in the closing of this. But here, let's play a little bit more. I wouldn't even call this socialism. It's a Lala Land talk. Yes. It's just, hey, magical one.
Starting point is 00:50:26 I can just give you what you need. No, that's why I say it's just the religion of stateism. Just the, yes, just the magic. Because he's not even saying, like socialism means, it means state ownership of the means of production. That's what it's always meant. But he's not advocating that. So instead he's just like government doing a lot more stuff and just like more stuff and some other stuff over here.
Starting point is 00:50:47 That's what socialism means. The government doing stuff and giving you stuff, you know, just getting stuff for free. That's socialism. So, okay. Here, let's keep playing. They apply to a lot more people than people typically think. And to me, as a socialist, what I'm fighting for is that nobody is priced out of dignity. and there's there's just a comfort right now with living in a country where the market gets to
Starting point is 00:51:17 determine everything not just luxury but dignity too we say oh I'm sorry you don't have enough money to afford a home so all right I guess kind of what I wanted to get into about look when you just think about this and this why I say it's kind of like you know this not even a religion maybe because I do believe in God. So maybe more like a cult with like some fake deity of some sort. But, you know, as Stefan Mullen, you used to say back in the day, right? This is what he said in one of my favorite videos of his where he said, governments.
Starting point is 00:51:58 Like if we're really going to think about this in philosophical terms and we're trying to have some type of like, you know, conversation, like in the realm of epistemology or something or I don't know. governments, this is what Malin you'd say, governments, much like ghosts and goblins, do not exist. There's no such thing. Like, government, the state, is a social construct. It's not a real tangible, objective thing in the sense that, like, this desk or this microphone is. You can't really, like, I mean, there's buildings and there's senators, but, like, the senator is just a guy. We call him senator.
Starting point is 00:52:37 It's a construct that we came up with, you know? It's like there are things that are, I like to say this, Rob, there are things that are social constructs, you know? And then for some reason, the left just picked one thing that isn't and decided that it is. Like, gender is not a social construct. Sex is not a social construct. That is actually like a biological construct. But government, the state is something we just met. There really is no such thing as the government.
Starting point is 00:53:05 What there are are men with guns and then men who give those men orders. Like, objectively, that's what actually exists. What the government is, in reality, is a group of people who maintain a legal monopoly on the initiation of force. That's what a government is. They're the only group in a given area who's allowed to initiate force. everybody else is within some levels allowed to defend themselves. Not completely, depending on what area you're in, but you might be able to, but you can't, you can't levy attacks against your neighbor.
Starting point is 00:53:49 You'd go to jail for that. That would be considered theft. You can't start a war. That would be considered murder. You can't do, you know, if you, if you just got in your car and put a siren on and went and pulled somebody over, you'll be arrested for kidnapping or, you know, legally holding someone or whatever. So this is, now all Mom Dani is doing here throughout this entire thing is saying that
Starting point is 00:54:12 that realm ought to be expanded. That's it. That's the whole thing. And somehow he's going to try to convince you that that is you getting free stuff and dignity. I'm sorry, man. This is, it's almost like, you know, like, there'll be like in movies, the metaphor of selling your soul to Satan.
Starting point is 00:54:42 It's just always been like a thing that humans really relate to. It's, you know, there's all types of movies where that's like the plot, essentially, the, um, the Thoustian bargain, the deal that you have to make. And the devil will always sell you this deal as this is going to be so great, but it all, of course, is ultimately awful and you get your wish, but that becomes your nightmare. It just reminds me of that so much the idea that he would sell you that this vision is dignity. I mean, don't get me wrong, Rob. I understand the argument that when the government has destroyed your currency,
Starting point is 00:55:20 and now you can't even afford a home, that that robs you of dignity. I get that. And I could even understand someone saying, in that environment, I argue that the government gives you a free home or something. And we could have an argument about that. But that would not give you your. dignity back. Look, this is part of the thing that's that's really infuriating and infantilizing about the way socialist talk. And when we were saying, Rob, they leave out the taxpayer entirely.
Starting point is 00:55:46 They leave out the person who's providing this service entirely. They leave out the cost of it entirely. That figure, it's almost the way, I say this is somebody who's raised little kids and has, they're older now, but has had babies and toddlers for the last year. The work that I have to do to make the food appear for my three-year-old is just not even thought about. You know what I mean? All that's thought about is like, do we have blueberries? Do we have blueberries? Because I want blueberries. It's like, okay, yeah, yeah. And that's just and that's the correct attitude for a three-year-old to have. You're not supposed to worry about all the work that has to go on to provide this. But that's not the correct attitude for an adult to have. And if we understand
Starting point is 00:56:29 that governments don't exist, there's, there's, the, the, the, There's nothing else but people here, man. There's not some other species that's above us that does the providing for us. There's not a parent. Once you're an adult, that's it. You've graduated to the top level. Adult human being. You're as adult as anyone else who's in charge here.
Starting point is 00:56:51 Why the hell should there be dignity in somebody else providing me a home? Somebody has to provide it. That home was built. Work went into making it. why would me getting it when another person were like Rob dignity at least I don't know dude my conception of dignity as a man is that I bought my own house now I understand the government shouldn't destroy the currency so you can't do that but to pitch the idea of like getting on the government dole as dignity because
Starting point is 00:57:24 now you have stuff I'm sorry that is not that is not a healthy sense of dignity A healthy sense of dignity for any, and my God, man, you should be moving toward this by the time you're 15 years old. A healthy sense of dignity is being independent and self-sufficient, not requiring the, now don't get me wrong. There will be people in life who need welfare, whether from the state or from other. Don't get me wrong. There's a widow out there who's an old lady who needs hip surgery or something. I'm not saying there aren't people who need help, but that's different than a pitch about dignity. But pitch about dignity for the entire population is that able-bodied people ought to be productive and not need to be dependent on others, right?
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Starting point is 01:00:03 That's 25% off when you use the promo code Dave at cowboy colostrum.com slash Dave. All right, let's get back into the show. Well, as a man with no dignity, I'll take all the free shit, but that's not, that's called having no dignity. you want to give me a free mansion i'll enjoy a free mansion you want to give me a nice lambo to go with it i'll enjoy that lambo too but yes you are right that that's not called dignity it is also just you know i mean i do believe you know i do believe in treating people with dignity and i do believe that like i understand the argument that like degrading people economically degrades their their dignity I guess it's just like getting into a conversation about dignity with all of these things
Starting point is 01:00:52 where you're like, yeah, no, totally. The government should give us more stuff because of dignity. Anyway, we're 40 trillion in debt. Any thoughts? Any thoughts on that? I mean, dude, it is like we're approaching a real debt crisis that's going to be coming that you know whether we can make it another 20 years or not it's going to be coming you know rob when you look at those projections we're out we're it's going to be like they're saying we're going to be like
Starting point is 01:01:24 you know 70 trillion in debt and paying like three trillion a year on the interest to the national debt in not that long what's that going to look like what's going to look like the system falling apart um but as it's as it's going down you know the democratic socialist come in here to say this now i'm I'm sorry, and perhaps I am a bit burdened by the fact that I really took an interest in economics over the last 20 years, and I've read a lot about it. But to come along, man, after this giant experiment in big government and money printing, the biggest experiment in spending and money printing, and then at the end, you come in and you just see all of the devastation that the people like us have been warning about
Starting point is 01:02:11 for all these years. And for the socialists to just come in and just be like, government should give you more stuff so everyone has dignity. And I'm supposed to be, I'm like supposed to be impressed by this. This guy's supposed to be like the charismatic new leader in our country. I just feel bad for like, just how intellectually shallow this all is.
Starting point is 01:02:33 Well, you know, I guess he's a pretty good snake charmer with that nice, whispery, smooth, buttery voice. Just letting you know it could all magically be free and you can have your dignity. Let me hear. I got one, there's one more point I wanted to make. Or perhaps I would even throw this out as like a,
Starting point is 01:02:50 a real question for leftists. Because this is one that I've, for years, Rob, just never gotten, I've never heard anything even approaching a response to this from a leftist. So this is a real challenge that I'm going to lay down to them. And by the way, this was only supposed to be, I wanted to do half the episode on this and then half the episode on the, on this Cornell thing, which is blowing up. So maybe we'll do that tomorrow. But we'll end on this. And even Rob, right, this, to me, I always thought this was like a devastating point that should almost convert a leftist to being a libertarian, like just hearing this.
Starting point is 01:03:38 okay but i will throw this out as as genuinely a good faith question like i want to hear the answer that leftist socialist type think about this okay a lot of times when we have these these conversations you know um the socialist will say hey what we have right now is capitalism you know and that's why we want socialism and then the libertarian types will point out that like what we have right now isn't really capitalism and like we're arguing for laissez-faire and they're arguing for our government but generally what we agree on is that our government is owned by interests that are not the people you know what i mean like that generally what we agree on is that small special interests not the general interest own our government and this is why all the leftists will say
Starting point is 01:04:35 What's the first thing we need to do? Get money out of politics because money is poisoning politics right now. So like, again, like if I were to push a leftist, they can't say, they're not going to say, no, Dave, currently government spending is at next to zero, right? Like they can't say that, but they can say that the capitalist class owns our government, right? Okay. So let's concede then that big business. owns government right now. Why is government so big? Like it up, this is the question for leftists,
Starting point is 01:05:18 but I want you to really focus on what the question here is. Every single leftist says, like if I go, what would happen if we deregulated the economy and slashed government spending? Look, obviously, Rob, all you have to do is look at the number. How much does the government spend this year? It's going to well over $7 trillion. That's more than any government's ever spent in human history, except the United States over the last few years. And it's a little bit more than that. But the only thing that's even close is our government.
Starting point is 01:05:46 Biggest government in world history, objectively. The federal registry, you can look at it. It'll stack all the way up to the ceilings. There's an enormous amount of regulation of the market. Every leftist will tell you that, like in theory, if we were to cut all of that regulation and cut all of the taxes and cut all of the government spending, that that would be the best thing going for big business. So why aren't they doing that?
Starting point is 01:06:16 Like if big business owns the government, why aren't we seeing them drastically cut spending? Drastically cut regulations, drastically cut taxes. Why aren't they moving toward the laissez-faire thing that you seem to think would be their best friend? what they seem to want. Why is it that when, when, listen, I'm not saying they're doing the same government policies that you would want them to do. But my point is, why is it that when big business owns the government, we get big government? Give me an answer to that question, leftist.
Starting point is 01:06:56 Why wasn't every, why wasn't every billionaire in the country back in Ron Paul? if he was the best thing they could have had going because there's only one answer. There's only one answer that you can come to from this. And this is why leftists don't have a response to it. Because the answer is that big business loves big government because that's who benefits from it. Honestly, Rodman, we could just wrap up on this.
Starting point is 01:07:24 Don't you feel that that's like a fair kind of devastating question for them? Like, what is the left-wing worldview answer to that? I don't think they have one. I'd love to hear it. Well, I'm sure they're not going to give that much consideration. Probably not. We'll find out. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.
Starting point is 01:07:44 All right. Thank you guys so much. I will just sneak this in at the end. That's the thing that always just shocks me about kind of the leftists is that they're always so concerned about corporations and they don't realize that government's the tool that the corporations are using. And without the government tool there, the only way that they make money is by actually giving you something of value that you then voluntarily purchase from them.
Starting point is 01:08:07 I'm sorry. Yeah, they have a complete blind spot for the government and they worship the state. I don't know what else to say you people. It's like a cartoon. You sit here talking all day about worker exploitation. You support the IRS. Get your life together. What's wrong with you?
Starting point is 01:08:23 Oh, I'm really worried. Are you really worried about this boss making an offer to a worker? Okay. How about the goons with guns will go back 20 years and ruin it? his fucking life for the crime of working, for the crime of being a productive citizen. You guys are a bunch of fascists. You're not socialist. You don't even have the balls to be revolutionary, seize the means of production. So you just want a big giant fascist state. All right. That's our show for today. Catch you guys next time. Peace.

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