Ep. 5223 – Ted Carpenter on Liberty and the Coronavirus – 3/27/2020

Ted Carpenter discusses the possible ramifications of the coronavirus on both the economy and our personal liberties. He first reminds us that this is not a question of sacrificing economic productivity for the sake of saving lives, as some would have us believe—shutting down huge sectors of the economy itself threatens human lives through increased risk to the most vulnerable, ruined careers, and increased deaths related to stress and despair. Carpenter also worries that it will be difficult to roll back the increased powers that the federal government is deploying, supposedly to combat the spread of the virus, like tracking our cell phones and enforcing shelter in place orders. In both these cases, the cure could be worse than the proverbial disease.

Ted Galen Carpenter is a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Carpenter has written 10 books including America’s Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan and most recently NATO: Dangerous Dinosaur. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative Magazine and the National Interest.

Check out the interview page here: https://libertarianinstitute.org/scotthortonshow/3-27-20-ted-carpenter-on-liberty-and-the-coronavirus/

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