16
Nov
2019
Bob Murphy Show Twin Spin
In ep 76 I interview Justin Clark on the “Baltic Strategy” for Texas nationhood, and in ep 77 I interview Rob Bradley on his contributions to energy economics, getting his PhD under Rothbard, and why Enron was the first postmodern corporation. Here’s the video too for Rob:
Hey Bob,
Heres a topic recommendation for a similar podcast: your 5 least favorite Rothbard/Mises positions. I say this as a pretty firm ancap who agrees with them most of the time, sometimes profoundly so.
But you’re a very fair person when critiquing and so id love to hear you talk about areas where you most strongly disagree with either.
Would make a great show! You have become my favourite podcast.
Interesting, I’ll think about something like that…
Pretty disappointed in the Texas Republic guy. I agree with your intro comments that secession is probably our best option here, but the notion that it’s going to be accomplished via some sort of legal loophole relating to the annexation treaty (with pro-secession intervention by the united nations???) is absurd, to say the least. This guy sounded only about a half step removed from the sovereign citizens who claim that they don’t have to pay speeding tickets because the flag displayed in the courthouse has an inappropriate amount of fringe on it.
The battle for secession will be won by convincing people that it is good and proper and just and will lead to superior outcomes. Not by saying “ACTHUYALLY TEXAS WAS NEVER EVEN REALLY A STATE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!”
I thought that some of his points were interesting but it seems pretty clear to me that the actual state government of Texas has way more legitimacy and authority than his Texas Republic. Even if all his arguments are true and the original Republic of Texas government was illegitimately replaced by the Texas state government, why would a bunch of guys setting up a play government that resembles the original Texas Republic have any claim to inherit the rights and property of the real original Texas Republic?
The thing that struck me about it is that this is a real organization that has been operating for a long time now. It supports the notion that every idea, no matter how impractical, has a demographic.
If one of those crazy guys managed to win the election to position of Texas Land Commissioner then they would have continuity back to the original Republic of Texas. As far as I’ve been able to figure out, that’s the one remaining position completely unbroken from the original government (and it’s a democratically elected position, so it holds as much legitimacy as it ever did to start with).
There was apparently a Texas referendum to approve the annexation treaty, so it would take a similar modern referendum to end that treaty, and then restart the Republic.
Washington has already approved of the process of having such a referendum in places like Kosovo. The UN has also accepted it.
I believe that Justin Clark claimed in the episode that he was the Texas Land Commissioner, didn’t he? I think he was saying that he holds that role within the Republic of Texas group and not the official Texas state government version of that role. So from the point of view of the Texas state government and the U.S. government and most people in Texas, Justin doesn’t have any real authority, even though he and the Republic of Texas claim that he is the rightful Land Commissioner of Texas.
That would have been another good question: How many people actually vote in and engage with the Republic of Texas. I imagine it’s a pretty small minority but I could be wrong. I think it would be really interesting if they were able to hold a referendum that would cancel the annexation treaty and transfer control of Texas from the state government to the Republic of Texas but I think it would be really hard for them to win that referendum and even if they did, the legal process of implementing the referendum would make Brexit look smooth and simple by comparison.
Great interview with Rob Bradley! I’m curious, do you know if Bethany McLean or Peter Elkind ever interviewed him in preparation for Smartest Guys in the Room? If not, they should have.
Btw, Rob invited me to join him at the River Oaks Theater for the preview of the documentary to SGITR in 2005. There was a Q&A following the film, with McLean and Elkin available for questions. After Rob stood up and asked his question, the moderator commented, “he’s the smartest guy in the room.”
heh that’s funny