Jeffrey Tucker, founder of the Brownstone Institute and Austrian economics advocate, joins Shawn to dissect the COVID-19 response's devastating impact on institutional trust and explore paths to personal sovereignty. This conversation unveils how the pandemic revealed the “total state” pervading all aspects of society, why libertarian institutions failed during the crisis, and how Austrian economics principles point toward reclaiming individual freedom through timeless values and critical thinking.

Guest Background

Jeffrey Tucker is the founder and president of the Brownstone Institute, established in 2021 as a response to COVID-19 policies. He's authored numerous books, including his latest, Spirits of America: On the Semiquincentennial, inspired by Eric Sloan's The Spirit of '76. A prolific writer with 1,000+ articles, Tucker has been a leading voice against pandemic restrictions and institutional overreach. His work spans economics, technology, and individual liberty, with a focus on practical philosophy for modern life.

Highlights

• Tucker's 2005 warnings about pandemic planning and his isolation as a lone voice against lockdowns
• How China scripted the global lockdown response and Western institutions' compliance
• Austrian economics explains how negative interest rates created the bloated managerial class
• The “total state” revelation: regulatory capture extending throughout corporations, media, and academia
• Brownstone Institute's mission to “outwit their experts” with intellectual accountability
• Personal sovereignty through reclaiming time, finding joy in routine, and mastering your domain

Quotes to Remember

• “I was outraged when I saw what was happening. I had been writing about pandemic planning issues since about 2005 because I saw that there was a sector within government that imagined that the way to deal with infectious disease was by nationalizing everything.”
• “We experienced negative interest rates for two decades. And you know from Austrian production theory that under those conditions, what you get is a wildly blown up, overblown capital goods sector that's living off leverage.”
• “We need to reclaim our freedom by first reclaiming our time and the use of our time, the use of our personal space, and reclaiming our brains from those people who have stolen them from us.”

Resources & Links

• Spirits of America by Jeffrey Tucker: https://www.amazon.com/Spirits-America-Semiquincentennial-Jeffrey-Tucker/dp/1630693014/
• Brownstone Institute: https://brownstone.org/
• The Great Barrington Declaration: https://gbdeclaration.org/
• Jeffrey Tucker's articles at Epoch Times: https://www.theepochtimes.com/author-jeffrey-tucker
• Austrian Economics Center: https://www.austriancenter.com/
• Jeffrey Tucker on Twitter/X: @jeffreyatucker

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Music in this episode by More Ghost Than Man.