America's at a Crossroads: Will You Choose Liberty or State Control? | Dr. Samuel Gregg & Kate Wand

What has happened to America? How did we get here?

The 2008 financial crisis. Cronyism. Globalism vs. Economic nationalism. The rust belt. The rise of China. Lockdowns. The culture wars. The 1619 project. Critical Race Theory. Radical woke ideologies permeating our institutions and our schools. America first. Left vs right. The Age of Chaos.

America feels lost. How can we find our common ground again?

full video: https://youtu.be/Z4JTYXIyCsQ

Samuel Gregg is Distinguished Fellow in Political Economy and Senior Research Faculty at the American Institute for Economic Research and author of the Next American Economy: Nation, State and Markets in an Uncertain World. He argues that the perennial debates about America’s identity go all the way back to the founding, and that the key to repairing what seems broken lies in the ideas of the Constitution. He believes that there’s still hope for the people of the United States and the American experiment, but first we need to recognize that America is at an economic crossroads. Will you choose liberty or state control?

0:00 - introduction: what has happened to America?

2:31 - America is at an economic crossroads

6:12 - identity politics & the moral argument for free markets

9:13 - a commercial republic

11:02 - collectivism, individualism, and general welfare

14:48 - what do people mean by capitalism?

18:18 - the rise of China

25:02 - from Tocqueville’s visit, to asking government to solve our problems today

29:40 - the moral case for moving back towards the vision of a Commercial Republic

33:28 - the crisis of masculinity & “toxic masculinity”

35:40 - soft nihilism

37:20 - what do you say to the economic nationalists?

40:09 - the culture wars

40:40 - ESG, stakeholder capitalism, DEI

43:46 - political combat (left vs right)

45:06 - consistency in your values

46:04 - mild authoritarianism among some influential conservatives

47:44 - what about the Davos crowd?

48:59 - the WEF and Corporatism

52:31 - not every corporatist is a fascist, but every fascist is a corporatist

53:58 - what can people do?

55:30 - school boards taking back education

59:25 - rigid stances

1:00:14 - America’s founding principles

1:01:25 - the American identity

1:04:15 - ordered liberty

1:06:42 - different views on freedom in liberty movement

1:08:39 - how much should government be involved in all this?

1:09:13 - a natural moral code

1:10:57 - is moving towards a market economy with ordered liberty possible?

1:11:56 - reasons for hope

1:14:00 - outro: you can read Samuel Gregg’s book

intro music: Sufjan Stevens "America"

You can follow Sam on Twitter @DrSamuelGregg

You can read his work here: https://www.aier.org/people/samuel-gregg/

& here: https://www.amazon.com/Next-American-Economy-Markets-Uncertain/dp/164177276X/

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