Violent Populism
Mark Thornton examines the rise of political violence in America, drawing on Robert Pape’s Our Own Worst Enemies and its warning that political violence has become increasingly normalized on both the left and right. Mark argues that the deeper cause is not simply “fractured legitimacy,” but the long breakdown of America’s original limited-government consensus, accelerated by Progressive Era ideology, war, federal expansion, and monetary intervention.
He then points to the Federal Reserve as the proximate cause of today’s social and economic strain, arguing that monetary inflation drives higher prices, suppresses real wages, benefits asset holders, and fuels political resentment. The remedy, Mark says, begins with a return toward sound money and the older American consensus of limited government.
On Side B, the episode features recent interviews with Darrell Thomas of VRIC Media and Elijah Johnson of Liberty and Finance, covering distrust in government, gold and silver, the bond bear market, inflation, government market manipulation, AI malinvestment, the wealth gap, dollar hegemony, and the road toward hyperinflation.
Additional Resources
Our Own Worst Enemies: America and the Age of Violent Populism by Robert A. Pape: https://www.amazon.com/Our-Own-Worst-Enemies-Populism/dp/1620979586
“Right-Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement” by Murray N. Rothbard (Rothbard Rockwell Report, January 1992): https://rothbard.it/articles/right-wing-populism.pdf
“Why Our Populist Moment Keeps Failing” by Connor O’Keeffe: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-our-populist-moment-keeps-failing
“Populism Is Not an Ideology” by Joseph T. Salerno: https://mises.org/mises-wire/populism-not-ideology
“When Political Violence Becomes a Signal” by Jimmy Alfonso Licon: https://mises.org/mises-wire/when-political-violence-becomes-signal
“The Populist Case for the Gold Standard” by Kristoffer Hansen (The Journal of Libertarian Studies, May 2021): https://mises.org/journal-libertarian-studies/populist-case-gold-standard
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