Civil Liberties/Free Speech Episodes

How can business owners stand up and fight back against the government rules and restrictions that they're enforcing?

Eric Brakey (Young Americans for Liberty) takes the affirmative. Marc Clair (Lions of Liberty) takes the negative.

"We don't need governments involved in this uprising... We need people."

The COVID lockdowns have been one of the most divisive aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many libertarians (like yours truly) raising the alarm to the threat of unintended consequences in blindly following the government's approved list of experts.But did I go to far? Did libertarians scare away potential liberty-curious folks by our strong stance against the government lockdowns? Economist and friend of the show Max Gulker returns to the program and gives his take while also challenging my stance that "if you're explaining, you're losing".

How can we help public sector workers exercise their First Amendment rights without fear of coercion from unions?Americans for Fair Treatment CEO David Osborne returns to the program to show how AFFT's mission has become increasingly important in recent years and solves that very problem.

We all accept that the government doesn't tell us certain information. Now, government will say it's due to "national security" or some other reason, but what about the government using the media apparatus to actively misinform the public?Donnie Gebert is a former government insider who outlines the extent that government goes to misinform the public, and how a "Direct Republic" could help solve a lot of our problems.

Bill is a public sector employee. He is represented by a public sector union. Bill wanted some more information about his union and their contracts, but Bill was told "Don't worry about that."If you're Bill in this situation, what would you do?The first step should be giving a call to the team at the Fairness Center. Today, Nathan McGrath (President & General Counsel) of the Fairness Center joins the program to outline how the Fairness Center can help public sector employees like Bill when facing against the public sector unions.

Free speech is one of the fundamental cornerstones in American society. However, in recent years, we've watched as free speech rights have been focused on and attacked by those saying speech can be dangerous. But do they have a point? After all, can't hate speech lead to hateful actions?Joining the program is Frederick M. Lawrence, 10th Secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Distinguished Lecturer at the Georgetown Law Center, and former President of Brandeis University, Dean of the George Washington University Law School, and Visiting Professor and Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law.An accomplished scholar, teacher and attorney, Lawrence is one of the nation’s leading experts on civil rights, free expression and bias crimes, and joins the program outline why free speech is so important.

The death penalty... The ultimate punishment handed down by the government for the most abhorrent of offenders. It's an absolutely necessary form of punishment for the worst of the worst.... right?That has been a hot topic in conservative circles, and Hannah Cox argues that conservatives should in fact be concerned about the death penalty, and joins the program representing Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty to outline exactly why it is the government inefficiencies that conservatives recognize in other sectors of the government exist in it's carrying out of the death penalty.

As we discussed on Friday with Jack Hunter, Donald Trump proved that there was an untapped market within the GOP that a persona like he could take advantage of - populism.However, that populism isn't exclusive to the GOP, as the ascendance of "democratic socialists" like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has show the Democratic Party just as malleable to the changing political winds. Nick Gillespie from Reason returns to the program to outline the implications of said democratic populism, but also to the causes that have gotten the Democratic Party to this point in the first place.

The world would be a much better place if people stopped trying to censor each other and instead were free to speak. That's not only the view of yours truly at The Brian Nichols Show, but is also the sentiment of our brand new sponsor, "Run Your Mouth Coffee"!. RYM Coffee is delicious, roasted to order coffee that provides you the fuel needed to stand up to censorship and to proudly Run Your Mouth, and today, John joins the program to explain what preceded starting this new venture, and the value of being able to RUN YOUR MOUTH!

How to we fix our broken electoral system? Our "pick one" system is clearly broken, especially when considering that we only have two viable choices (and what exciting choices they are, eh?). So, how can we fix our broken voting system and subsequently bring more voices to the table? Kyle Bailey (Campaign Manager for The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting) and Aaron Hamlin (Executive Director of the Center for Election Science) join/return to the program to have virtual roundtable discussion to try and determine which system would yield the best results by looking at past successes!

2020 has show just how unprepared government is in terms of being able to address immediate problems and concerns on a public policy perspective. And with that, those groups that have been traditionally marginalized are learning first-hand how important it is to take one's own personal autonomy into their own hands. Today's guess is Ermiya Fanaeian from SLC Pink Pistols, who joins the program to make the case as to why "armed queers don't get bashed", and how despite our other political differences (Ermiya is more left when it comes to economics), the importance of defending the ultimate minority - the individual - is paramount.

A proposed section of the public health law in New York would allow Gov. Andrew Cuomo to detain ANY person he believes poses a danger to public health, meaning all it would take is a single order from the governor, then *poof*, quarantine camp. So... how close is this to reality? Assembly Mark Walczyk returns to the program to give his inside scoop into where this proposal came from and the likelihood of it reaching the Governor's desk.