Two podcast interviews I did recently are now available on Youtube. The first is an interview on nationalism that is part of Gerry Bourdeau’s new Argue with Me podcast series. It concerns the critique of nationalism outlined in my recent article in National Affairs, “The Case Against Nationalism” (co-authored with Cato Institute scholar Alex Nowrasteh):
We discuss what nationalism is, why it’s terrible (including some ways it’s similar to socialism), and potential alternatives to it.
The Argue With Me series is relatively new. But Bourdeau has already published interviews with several prominent (mostly libertarian or libertarian-leaning) economists and political theorists, including David Friedman and Chris Freiman. Check it out.
The second podcast concerns the legal and moral dimensions of the current situation at the southern border of the United States. It is part of Michael Liebowitz’s Rational Egoist podcast series.
We’ll cover a variety of issues, including whether illegal immigration qualifies as an “invasion” (the subject of a recent major court decision issued only after this was filmed), the conflict between Texas and the federal government, and how to address the border situation. according to libertarian (and liberal, more generally) principles.
Along the way, we also discuss a couple of truly terrible legal topics that have attracted considerable attention on Twitter/X (for example, claims that private citizens who host migrants are somehow violating the Third Amendment) . The useful lesson here is that just because someone is a Twitter “influencer” with a large following, doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about. This is true for the right-wing “influencers” we discuss on the podcast, but it’s also true for many left-wing ones.
In this article I have outlined in more detail my opinion on what to do with the situation at the borders United States today article (written in collaboration with David Bier). See also this post on why the supposed “migrant crisis” is actually caused primarily by immigration restrictions and regulations that prohibit most asylum seekers from working legally (exclusionary zoning is also a significant factor in some cities ).