The United States of Warlords with Murray Sabrin

Oct 3, 20242 min read

Today, The Two Mikes welcomed back and spoke with the renowned economist and Libertarian, Murray Sabrin. He also is closely connected to the splendid Mises Institute, whose “Annual Summit” will be held in Hilton Head, North Carolina, on 10-12 October 2024. Not surprisingly, Professor Sabrin said the U.S. government is behaving and spending as if there is no one at the wheel. He said in less than a single term the Biden administration has added $11 billion to the national debt, and shows no sign of slowing that pace during the last month of its term. While it is true that the November, 2024, election is yet another case of Republicans-vs-Democrats, Mr. Sabrin argued that underlying that situation is a much more important contest, one that pits liberty against the horrors of tyrannical statist authoritarianism. On this score, we discussed Climate Tsar John Kerry’s recent call for an end to the First Amendment, because free speech is making it “too hard to govern.” In reality, what Kerry came close to saying is that the “truth” so easily available in the alternative and social media makes it harder for governments to oppress their populations so as to pave the way for something worse than a 1984 tyranny.We also briefly discussed the use of “Executive Orders” by the President (any president) and the Congressional delegation of its sole responsibility for declaring war to the president through the bills like “Authorization of the Use of Military Force”. The latter makes the president an uncontrollable warlord rather than the republic’s chief magistrate. There clearly is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes either executive orders or a delegation by the Congress of its war powers to the president. The last point, of course, means that none of the wars America has fought since 1945 – big or small – have been constitutional. They all have been products of the will of a Warlord, and not that of the legitimate constitutional process.