WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:07.360 Well, whiskey, come and take my pain moneys all right, 2 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:12.039 oh whiskey. Why think alone when you can drink it 3 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:16.399 all In with Ricochet's three Whiskey Happy Hour, join your bartenders, 4 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:25.879 Steve Hayward, John U and the International Woman of Mystery Lucretia, Where. 5 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.480 The lapped it up and David, ain't you easy on 6 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.160 the should have you got to give me? 7 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:35.119 And let that whiskey flow? Welcome to the three Whiskey 8 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.280 Happy Hour, where the whiskey is always neat, almost as 9 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:40.960 neat as the opinions of the three hosts. Starting with me, 10 00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:44.119 Steve Hayward, your host of this week, along with the 11 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:49.000 ever positive positivist John You and the international woman of 12 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:51.479 Less and Less Mystery every Day, Lucretia. 13 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:54.920 So come on, I say, got lots of mystery left. 14 00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:57.399 And you know what I want you to know that 15 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:02.679 on the version of this podcast last week that I 16 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:05.760 put up on something else X, I think it was 17 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:08.719 I got taken into account because I put the picture 18 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:11.359 of the Sidney Sweeney. You forgot to put up the 19 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:14.439 Sydney Sweeney and me as it merged, oh yeah right, 20 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.680 and you know she did actually have the gun pointed 21 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:21.359 like this and I got in trouble for posting a 22 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:25.519 picture with such horrible gun management. 23 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.879 Yeah, and by the way, you have your your academic 24 00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:31.840 name up on the the the I. 25 00:01:31.879 --> 00:01:36.239 Changed it, not today, mystery, I did before the start. 26 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:40.239 Well it's it's still, says professor, changing it. 27 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.400 Okay, everybody knows who I am. 28 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:47.840 Well, okay. Our opening questions, as usual preempted by Lucretia, 29 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:51.359 is they are? How and what? Which is? How are 30 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:53.719 you doing? And what are you drinking? John? I saw 31 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:56.480 you pour something? What are you drinking? Oh? 32 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:59.719 I was always was always waiting to actually start to 33 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:01.400 show before I poured it. So you can hear me 34 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:05.239 right in the bottom right, although now that's on video, 35 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:08.159 I don't know if this really matters anymore. And then 36 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:11.759 pour it out. So this is a wild turkey rare 37 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:18.919 breed barrel proof rye right with a ungodly high percentage 38 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:19.560 of alcohol. 39 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.120 Oh what does that mean? Very very high? 40 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:27.240 And actually I think I've already gone blind in the 41 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:31.479 service of drinking this and without glasses. 42 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:34.240 Well that since Lucretia and I think you have a 43 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.639 certain blindness to natural law. But that's we'll leave that 44 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:37.960 for Christ's sake. 45 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.039 You too, exactly. I didn't say it. Don't give up. 46 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:45.159 He's trying to. He's trying to compete with Richard Samuelson. 47 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:51.919 One hundred and twelve proof. Okay, that's that's pretty high 48 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:53.280 for a rye. 49 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:56.919 That's about the same as the kill Karen kill Kearny 50 00:02:56.919 --> 00:02:58.520 that I was drinking last week. I'm doing this my 51 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:00.919 lettle like ten this week because it's been busy last 52 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:02.719 couple of days and I've been running around and I 53 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:03.439 didn't want to. 54 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:07.479 About the bottle, but I'm drinking the the orphan barrel 55 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:08.840 and it's one twenty proof. 56 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:13.479 Oh god, worel Yeah, what does that mean? 57 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:20.919 It means that it's a it's a distillery that finds 58 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:27.520 these orphan barrels of Scottish whiskey that and makes it, 59 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:30.759 puts them together. I don't know that anyway. It's like 60 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.479 a very few of them made, and this one's actually 61 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:34.240 just really nice. 62 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.879 So yeah, all right, so we have three or four 63 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:39.240 topics to try and get through. 64 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:43.319 But I'm also sorry, sorry, Steve. I'm also still having 65 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:48.639 my famous grouse chocolate with blitz too. You know how 66 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:49.639 I'm about chocolate. 67 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:52.520 Well, I did see a science magazine, not science, some 68 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:56.039 Scientific magazine this week saying that dark chocolate apparently has 69 00:03:56.120 --> 00:03:58.400 just got amazing health benefits. 70 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:02.639 Oh yeah, uh, that's really good for you. 71 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:08.719 Yeah, it has flavonoids and any occidants and I don't 72 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:11.639 know about the famous grouse in the middle, but yeah dark. 73 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:14.800 All right, before we get to our three fourth subject, 74 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.800 we'll try and say something sensible about a brief announcement. 75 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:20.839 The three Whiskey Happy Hour is calling for you a 76 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:24.360 complete and total shutdown of Tucker Carlson until we can 77 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.560 figure out what the hell is going on. I'll just 78 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:29.600 say that for the record, and we don't need to 79 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:31.680 waste any time on that. But it just gets worse 80 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:32.079 and worse. 81 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:35.519 Way why now versus last week or the week before, Well, he. 82 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.680 Just keeps, you know, he's he was in a Doah 83 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.319 cutter this week, and he has a video out here 84 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:45.000 in the last twenty four or thirty six hours spent 85 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:48.240 you asking questions about the killing of Charlie Kirk, and 86 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:53.319 it's all a very veiled and weird Yeah, and I 87 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:57.519 think there's well, you know, I didn't mean to do this. 88 00:04:57.560 --> 00:04:59.399 I mean I was mostly just telling that as a joke. 89 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:02.879 But Tucker said, what that he was he woke up 90 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:05.560 with demons had invaded his bedroom, and I'm starting to 91 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:08.160 think maybe he's right about the. 92 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:10.879 Lucky guy. 93 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:14.199 Well, I don't know. It's uh, it's uh, you know, 94 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:16.759 he needs an exorcism or something. But all right, let's 95 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:20.920 go on a serious business though. So Item one, there 96 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:23.639 was quite an extraordinary moment I think in the Supreme 97 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.959 Court on Monday, in the argument in the wonderfully titled 98 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.360 case Trump versus Slaughter. I mean, I mean, that's. 99 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:34.399 What mc gribbs, Steve, I'm sorry I did. 100 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:39.279 Ribs. Well, we're gonna do that at the end. All right, 101 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:43.040 what about mcgribbs coming from We're coming to that. John, 102 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:45.000 Don't worry. So first of. 103 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:47.319 All, I'm actually excited about what you're going to say. 104 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:49.560 Well, I'm not going to say. I'm not going to 105 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:52.600 say it in this segment. Hey, listeners, you can see 106 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:54.480 how much trouble I have running the show with these 107 00:05:54.519 --> 00:05:58.439 two unruly co hosts I have. Okay, First of all, 108 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:04.920 what happened was is Lucretia's favorite Justice Katanji Brown Jackson 109 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.160 led the mask slip. Can I just say, by the way, 110 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:09.199 I think I shared this with you guys and but 111 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:13.000 not with listeners. The New York Review of Books, the 112 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:16.399 latest issue, in a totally banana's article about wokery that 113 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:19.519 I won't go into, has the following sentence. This is 114 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:24.560 a direct quote Katanji Brown Jackson. Uh, I can't read 115 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:28.920 my writing. Ah, sorry, Katanji Brown Jackson is proving to 116 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.959 be the sharpest justice on the Supreme Court. 117 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:33.839 It's just insane. 118 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.279 It's that insane. Well, I told you the whole article 119 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.959 is bananas. But the reason I bring this up is 120 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:47.040 extraordinary moment. Well, I want to I want to do this. 121 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:49.360 Give me, give me forty five seconds of latitude to 122 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:52.160 set this up properly, because it guilds the point. You know, 123 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:55.360 it happens frequently that I'll read something a leftist says 124 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:59.399 about conservatives. I mean I leftis intellectual or journalists, and 125 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:06.800 it's always always inaccurate, usually distorted, usually incomplete. And it 126 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.399 reminds me of the great comment by the Caltech physicist 127 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.519 Richard Feynman, who was listening to some guy make no 128 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:14.680 sense one time, and he said, well, that's not right, 129 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.720 that's so stupid, it's not even wrong. And so the 130 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.839 point is is that when I read leftist thinkers, you know, 131 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:24.079 serious ones or supposedly serious ones. And right now I'm 132 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.439 writing a very dense article on postmodernist linguistics, mostly to 133 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:32.160 annoy Lucretia. But the point I, yes, you do, I 134 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:35.279 will thank you. The point is is that I always 135 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:37.720 want to make sure I understand them accurately, and that 136 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:41.240 I'm not making up a straw man to knock over right, uh, 137 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.279 and so on progressive ism, Katanji Brown Jackson. So I 138 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:49.279 worry about you know, we clare monsters talk about the 139 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.519 progressive era, progressive thought and Woodrow Wilson and all those guys, 140 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:56.399 and once sometimes say I wonder if they really believe 141 00:07:56.920 --> 00:07:59.240 what we say they thought, and what the meaning of 142 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:02.879 their principles are. And so Keatanji Brown Jackson. In the 143 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:05.759 middle of the argument, let's fly by the way for 144 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:07.879 listeners who haven't followed this. This is the case about 145 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:12.240 whether Trump should have the authority as president to fire 146 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:15.920 appointees to all the independent agencies and so forth, of 147 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:18.600 which we now have a million of them. Right, So 148 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:21.600 what you say here, here's what she said. Some issues, 149 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:25.199 quoting Justice Jackson. Some issues, some matters, some areas should 150 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.920 be handled in this way by nonpartisan experts that Congress 151 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.920 is saying have the expertise that matters with respects to 152 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.600 aspects of the economy and transportation. So having presidents come 153 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.399 in and fire all the scientists and the doctors and 154 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:42.919 the economists and the PhDs and replacing them with loyalists 155 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.840 and people who don't know anything is actually not in 156 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:48.840 the best interest of the United States. These issues she 157 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:54.159 thought should not be within presidential control. So right, Okay, 158 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:57.919 So the point is she wasn't making a legal argument 159 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:00.759 point number one. That's a very important point. But she 160 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:05.000 just confirmed everything we have been saying for decades now 161 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:09.320 about progressives thinking we should be governed by experts, sealed 162 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:13.399 off from the consent of the governed or from political accountability. 163 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:16.399 Because her last sentence, I skipped a bunch, is we 164 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:19.799 don't want the president controlling She said, well who should 165 00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:20.279 control them? 166 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:23.200 Then PhDs and the elite. 167 00:09:23.399 --> 00:09:26.039 Right, Yeah, your comment, Lucretia, you go first on this. 168 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:30.799 I'm actually gonna say that you saw a lot of 169 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:36.200 backlash on that comment, probably because she said it said 170 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:38.840 the part out loud that we're not really supposed to say, 171 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:42.879 we're all supposed to believe that, But because it sounds 172 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:46.159 so incredibly stupid when somebody says the whole thing out 173 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:48.679 loud like she did, in part because of what we 174 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:53.720 suffered through with COVID right not to mention all, you know, 175 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.919 the fact that we're thirty eight trillion dollars in debt 176 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:58.679 because all of these experts and elites have figured out 177 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:01.080 that we're gonna cure POW and we're gonna do all 178 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:03.080 these things that none of them have been able to 179 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:08.240 do with their elite expertise and their fancy Ivy League degrees. 180 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:11.480 The point of the matter is it is, in fact 181 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:17.440 a very frank statement of what progressives believe. And I 182 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:19.480 will go one step further and just throw this out 183 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:25.519 there for John who has such a great respect for 184 00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:28.600 what he thinks is the moral philosophy of things like 185 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:33.200 separation of powers. The reason that separation of powers needs 186 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:37.360 a natural law foundation is exactly what Katangie has to 187 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:41.200 say about it, which is, if either you turn to 188 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:44.759 a fundamental view of human nature that says, you know what, 189 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:47.519 it doesn't matter how smart they are, it does you 190 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:50.960 knowed to be Isaac Newton. Doesn't matter how many degrees 191 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:55.639 they are, they are still capable of being rotten, horrible tyrants. 192 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.840 And the separation of powers is there not because separation 193 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:04.200 of powers in and of itself is something good, good 194 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:08.519 that stands on its own. It's because the understanding of 195 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:11.919 human nature tells us human beings can't be trusted with power, 196 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.279 and that doesn't change just because somebody has a stupid 197 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.720 ass PhD. And in fact, it makes it worse. 198 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:21.440 Well, before I call you, John, let me sort of 199 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:26.399 add this modification, not modification, but additional thought, which is 200 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:30.279 again to try and understand them as they understood themselves 201 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:32.360 one hundred years ago when they brought out these theories. 202 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:38.159 Maybe it was plausible to think sincerely that you know, 203 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.120 the revolution and science and social science made it possible 204 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:44.960 for greater human control over human affairs. And so one 205 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:46.960 of my favorite statements from you know, more than a 206 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.159 hundred years ago now was John Burgess, who was a 207 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:52.240 very famous political science one of Woodrow Wilson's teachers and 208 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:55.480 later colleague, and he wrote a passage I don't have handy, 209 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:57.320 but I'm going to put it up on our substack, 210 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.000 and he said, you know, we need to have these experts. 211 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:03.399 It's because it'll be so much better than hack politicians 212 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:07.279 and appointees, and they will be no more ideological in 213 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:11.960 their functions than judges are today after the war, court 214 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.360 Revolution and all the rest of that. You just laugh 215 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.840 at this, not to mention the utter failure of expertise. 216 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:21.159 I mean, how could Jackson say something that stupid after 217 00:12:21.159 --> 00:12:25.559 we've been through COVID, climate change, all the things I believe, 218 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.320 I know they do, But it's yeah, okay, anyway, John, 219 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.480 give us your two or five or ten cents. 220 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:34.000 Yeah. So I don't want to be a defender of 221 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:38.720 Tangi Brown Jackson. I will say that. Spending all my 222 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:43.600 time with progressives as I do at Berkeley, they I 223 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.879 don't think anybody there would think what she said was 224 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:50.799 remotely controversial. It's not on the left you're saying, yeah, no, yeah, 225 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:52.639 I mean they say things like this all the time. 226 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:56.759 It's more I think that conservatives are surprised to hear 227 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:58.960 liberals say this, But they say it all the times 228 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:03.360 in all the journals, the workshops, the classes. So it's 229 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:06.120 not the surprising to me that they say that. When 230 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:09.960 I argue with people about the Trump administration and try 231 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.559 to explain what he's doing, and they say things like, 232 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:16.360 but he would let people who aren't experts make scientific decisions. 233 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:18.919 I mean, this is a great outrage to them. So 234 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:21.919 that's one second point though, which Linda raised, which I 235 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:27.480 think really interesting topic, is whether I'm trying to understand 236 00:13:27.480 --> 00:13:33.639 it properly. So are you saying that natural law requires 237 00:13:34.039 --> 00:13:36.000 that we have a separation of powers? 238 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:36.559 See? 239 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.960 To me, it's just an instrument. I mean, Lucretia was teasing, 240 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:42.279 but it's true. I do believe this, that the separation 241 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:45.240 of powers is an instrument, and you know, we should 242 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:47.240 have it depending on whether it works or not, you know, 243 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:50.600 whether it's successful or effective. It's not clear to me 244 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.279 that it would work in other countries. It's not clear 245 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:56.120 to me necessarily it's the only form of government that 246 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:00.399 would work in the United States. You know, a lot 247 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.720 of other countries have parliamentary democracy, which has no separation 248 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:06.720 of powers at all the time that we accept. But 249 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:09.759 it seems to be British government seems to work pretty well. 250 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:10.159 I don't. 251 00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:12.200 I think their folks are not their government. It's not 252 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:14.480 their only as their government. I think it's the people 253 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:18.879 have bad policy preferences, so that I want it to 254 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:21.879 be clear whether that's clear. You think that government must 255 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:22.399 have it. 256 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.840 You have it backwards. You have it exactly backwards. John. 257 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:28.840 As a matter of fact, they do agree with you 258 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:35.240 that it's not necessarily separation of powers which allows a 259 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:39.799 government or prevents a government from becoming tyrannical. You know, 260 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:43.639 that's Madison's view. The when all the powers of government 261 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:47.159 are joined the same hands, set of hands, it's the 262 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:51.000 very definitieve definition of tyranny. And you know, when I 263 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:54.679 explain that to students, the idea is very simple. I 264 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:56.960 usually use this as an example. John, You'll like it. 265 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.000 I will say I'm the tyrant in this class because 266 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:02.360 I am the legislator, I made the syllabus. 267 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:05.639 I am well, you know, we have three branches here 268 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:07.799 on the podcast, but you're the tyrant here too. 269 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.080 System didn't work here on the podcast. 270 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:15.519 But my point is, you know that. And so I'll 271 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:19.759 say something like, and I'm the executive, I execute the class, 272 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:21.519 and then I'm the judge. I'm the one that gives 273 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.279 a grade. And if what if, say, for instance, the 274 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:31.080 day before the finals due, I've finished grading everything up 275 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:32.600 to that point, and I say, God, you guys are 276 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:34.759 just a bunch of stupid idiots who didn't do any 277 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:37.960 of your homework, who didn't study, who didn't do the readings, 278 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.480 didn't pay attention to class. And you know what, if 279 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.360 you want to pass this class, I want a fifty 280 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:47.159 page paper tomorrow instead of the final or you will 281 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:53.039 fail now. And you could see they're like, but the 282 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:55.519 point of the matter is, you know that's not gonna happen. 283 00:15:55.559 --> 00:15:58.360 The Dean's gonna step in and something I said, but 284 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:00.519 what if there's no dean, Because I'll ask them what 285 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:02.480 would you do in that case. Some of them will 286 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:05.679 turn it in, some of them will not turn it 287 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:07.240 in and take the out. Some of them will go 288 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:10.799 to the dean, and I'll say, but you know, remember government, 289 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:14.600 there's no dean, there's no senior administrator that you go 290 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:17.360 to when you say the government's wrong. If all of 291 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:19.039 the powers of government are in the same hands, and 292 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:21.559 then I'll usually do something like you know the case 293 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:26.000 in priest Lake, the Sacket's case, and explain, yeah, that's 294 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.000 exactly what happened to these people. That's the whole point 295 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.720 of it. Here's the point, though, John, you said that, 296 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:36.440 how did you put it? Separation of powers demands natural 297 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:39.840 law or something along. No, the point of the matter 298 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.279 is understand human nature. And if you set up a 299 00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:47.320 government with sufficient powers, as Madison said, to control the 300 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:52.320 government the governed, you have to oblige it to control itself. 301 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:57.480 In our system of government, without an aristocracy, without a monarchy, 302 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:00.759 without some sort of other kind of balance of powers, 303 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:03.639 separation of powers and checks and balances. Is what does that? 304 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:09.119 And it is a follow through from understanding human nature. 305 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:14.799 It is not nature. Human nature demands it. It's it 306 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:16.359 however you put it. 307 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:20.759 And so is so it's because it's a it's effective. 308 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:26.200 It's not sort of a priori effective and whatever. I 309 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:29.000 think your view is that there should be a limited government, 310 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:33.119 and so it's effective because it produces limited government, and 311 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:34.400 you want to have limited government. 312 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:35.799 But why why limited government? 313 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:40.720 So that's the question to me, it's a question of effectiveness. 314 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.880 So you can say because limited government it is because 315 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:48.759 limited government could be good or it could be bad. 316 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:50.240 It depends on the society. 317 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:51.759 Well like. 318 00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:58.000 Sorry finished Johnhead, Well, so was you know one problem 319 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:00.400 with you know, they say with Latin American kind trees 320 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.759 is that the governments were too weak there initially, and 321 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:07.920 so then they collapse into a kind of dictatorship autocracy. 322 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.200 Because the government's too limited. It can't do the things 323 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.559 that are are the articles of confederation are too limited. 324 00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:15.640 So it can't be the case that limited government by 325 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:18.640 itself is right. I didn't say the answer has to 326 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:21.839 be a certain kind of government for each country, and I. 327 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.720 Said, was a government strong enough to control the governed, 328 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:28.599 and next place oblige it to control itself. And that's 329 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:33.480 where Why do you care about that? Because of natural 330 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:37.960 rights needing protection? Why do you care about that? Why 331 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:41.119 do they need protection? Because human nature needs to be 332 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:45.359 understood in a certain way. It's human beings are capable 333 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:49.119 of good, they're capable of virtue, but it's unreliable. So 334 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:52.599 what do you do about that unreliability? You need something. 335 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:56.000 You first need a government powerful enough to control the 336 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:58.920 government so that they don't take away each other's rights. 337 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.319 And then you need a government ways to limit the government, 338 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:05.440 not just because we like limited government for its own sake, 339 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:09.240 but because we want individual freedom and autonomy to the 340 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:13.160 greatest extent possible. We don't want a tyrannical government. And 341 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:17.920 a government can be tyrannical if it's not protecting the 342 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:23.440 rights of citizens. I would argue that that fat p O. S. Pritzker, 343 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:28.960 governor in Chicago or Illinois, is as a tyrant. He 344 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.359 is an absolute tyrant. 345 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:34.880 Well he's sorry, Go ahead, yeah, go ahead, Steve, make 346 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:40.279 a joke about well, he's a waddling argument for separation 347 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:41.240 of lipids. 348 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:44.680 At least Olympics Olympics. 349 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:49.039 But let me make that, Let me make let me 350 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:51.400 make four quick observations to press us along to a 351 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:54.599 related matter that'll sharpeness, I hope. So first of all, John, 352 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:58.039 you know, Andrew Roberts and some other British friends of ours, 353 00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:00.839 they actually make an interesting case. It's hard to understand 354 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.440 that they kind of do have a separation of powers 355 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.720 in British parliamentary government. It's I was skipping for today though, 356 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:09.160 because I'm it's very hard to make out. But second 357 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:13.680 point is, you know, separation of powers was new really 358 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:17.400 with Montesque. He's the first theorist who really right. 359 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:19.680 There was no empirical proof that it would work at 360 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:20.640 the time they told it. 361 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:22.640 But you know, I think it was John Adams, who 362 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.200 wrote what a four volume treatise on constitutionalism, who said 363 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:32.039 Montesque was the one great innovation of democratic theorizing, republican 364 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:33.119 theorizing of that era. 365 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:34.079 Uh. 366 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:37.480 And that's remember Montesque is the most frequently cited person 367 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.519 in the Federal's papers, not lock. Lock's is not mentioned 368 00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:44.079 at all. And remember that point three. Woodrow Wilson what 369 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:47.559 he hated most about the old the Old Constitution was 370 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:50.920 separation of powers. Right, he said, you know, we need 371 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.000 a Darwinian constitution that gives us a living constitution. Right. 372 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.279 But then then jump all the way forward to today. 373 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:01.680 The subtext, and I think Catangie Brown Jackson's point makes 374 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:05.880 us very clear the subtext is and again hear you say, oh, 375 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:08.839 aren't you you know, setting up a straw man. But 376 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:11.839 I thought this actually ever since Tom Bethill started writing 377 00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:14.119 about this forty years ago in the American Spectator really 378 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:17.039 interesting journalists who I got to know pretty well, is 379 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:20.279 that for the that sort of expert class in the 380 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:26.160 bureaucracy and their allies at academia, elections are a nuisance, right, 381 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:28.119 I mean, you know you want to ignore elections, right, 382 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:28.680 and then they're. 383 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:30.720 At and Wilson basically says that too. 384 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.599 Yeah, and this is why the Trump challenge is an 385 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:36.000 existential threat to them in all the right ways. I mean, 386 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.720 I'm for this existential threat right. But that brings me 387 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:41.160 an item number two, which is a related question for 388 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:42.079 you John to say. 389 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:44.799 Wait, this is item two out of four. Well, he 390 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:46.200 said he's going to be quick. 391 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:47.279 To be here for a year. 392 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:50.440 Of course, not We're not going to make it at 393 00:21:50.519 --> 00:21:52.480 number four. I mean I will see what number three. 394 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:56.920 So somewhere along the line this week, and I've been 395 00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.440 busy running around, I didn't grasp a hold of it. 396 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.319 That doesn't matter because someone said, well, boy, this is 397 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:05.799 really if the Court decides as we think it will, 398 00:22:05.799 --> 00:22:09.759 to overturn humphrees and grant prompt the power to dismiss 399 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:14.839 appointees from the independent agencies and elsewhere and the commissions 400 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.960 and so forth, this is really going to supercharge the 401 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:21.720