Chris Polk is a Christ follower, podcast host, father, husband and entrepreneur. He owns a trucking company in West Virginia called Blue Ribbon Logistics. He can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and his podcast. Jacob Daniel is a Christian and friend of the show. He is an Austrian Economist and member of the Mises Caucus. He can be found online on Facebook, YouTube, his podcast, and website.

We discuss answers to the questions: What are rights? Where do they come from? Who has rights? Are there rights being claimed that we do not truly have? Is it really a right if we have to violate someone else’s rights to get it? Who is taking our rights away? How do we overcome tyranny and reclaim our rights? 

Timestamps & Starting points:

1:10 Chris’s journey from staunch republican to anarchist

• 2008 financial crisis

  • 1999 NYT article predicting it based on Clinton’s policies

  • Realized it was caused by the government

  • Everyone changed what they valued under Obama

    • No one in government actually has values; they just pretend to get ahead

  • Heard Ron Paul & Tom Woods interviews

  • Made choice not to worship founding fathers & Constitution

  • Went to his friend’s church where they preached about Jesus & anarchism

  • Today, refusing to be swayed by fear and shame

4:55 Dave Ramsey

• Craig’s journey to financial security

• “Dave Ramsey is the gateway drug to liberty.”

  • He causes people to ask questions and think for themselves

• Too bad he’s still a statist

7:41 Jacob’s progression to anarchism

• 2016 Bernie supporter 

• Voted for Hilary under vegan peer pressure  

• Ben Shapiro-esque  

• Libertarian anarchy

10:01 Shameful old Facebook posts

• “If I saw some of the things I said back then now on someone else’s wall, I would be on them in a heartbeat – like a cheetah in the wild.” -Jacob

• Craig actually started writing a spicy comment on one of his own memory posts

12:06 Larkin Rose quote

• “The truth is, one who seeks to achieve freedom by petitioning those in power to give it to him has already failed. Regardless of the response, to beg for the blessing of authority is to accept that the choice is the master’s alone to make, which means that the person already, by definition, is a slave.”

12:29 What are Rights?

• Chris: 

  • “Something that cannot be taken away from me without there being some sort of harm… simply being able to engage in those rights does not bring harm to anyone else.”

• Jacob: 

  • “Something you’re entitled to.”

  • Positive Rights: 

    • Something society “owes” you

    • Cause you to use force against someone to get them

  • Negative Rights: 

    • Needs we have that can be met without aggressing against someone else

20:35 The right to free healthcare

• “How’s the worker gonna get paid if you want every damn thing for free?” -Chris

• The person paying the bill has the authority

  • Why would we want to give the government power over our medical care?

    • People will fight for women to have the choice of abortion without government regulation, but forget to apply that right to other health concerns

• Doctors are no longer trained to treat whole humans; they’re just parts changers

• They must follow the authority’s guidance, even when it makes no sense

  • If they don’t, they’ll be cancelled

  • But those in authority are not even healthcare professionals

    • They just have money

• Why are big corporations and big tobacco bad, but big pharma is ok?

• Citizens of Canada come to US for emergency treatment because getting it there takes too long

  • But we still don’t exactly have a free market

    • Only big pharma is benefitting

    • There’s a lot of red tape

    • Regulations keep needs from being met

30:52 Environmental emissions regulation example

• LA outlawed most trucks being used

• Big companies bought compliant trucks and leased to smaller companies

  • How else could freight be moved?

• And then the Marxists swooped in and said the corporations were evil for their high lease rates

  • Demanded unionization of truckers

  • But it wasn’t the corporations’ fault

    • It was the government’s

• The laws were not really created to save the environment or lower illness

  • They were to help politicians get elected by making them look friendly to unions

• “The more power we give to the state to try to give us these things that we want, that we think we are entitled to, we're giving the state more and more license and power to go and do things that nobody wants to talk about.” - Jacob

40:16 Where do our tights come from?

• Most Americans, regardless of their religion, believe it’s from the state

• “Every man, woman and child on this planet has the same, uh, individual natural rights that you do.” - Chris

  • When people think their rights come from the Constitution, the idea that humans from outside the States have rights is shocking

• Non-Aggression Principle

  • Found in 10 Commandments & Jesus’ 2nd greatest

    • Love other people

  • Imago Dei

    • If people are made in the image of God, then aggressing against them is like aggressing against Him

    • You’re not loving God when you don’t love people

46:51 How to stop tyranny

• People are so quick to follow the rules

  • “These are not rules. These are the actions of tyrants.” -Craig

  • “I am not waiting for the state in any way to do anything for me. My customers are my heroes. My customers are my thin blue line-- my customers and my associates and our drivers. And that's where my prosperity comes from.” -Chris 

• “There is no state solution. There is no political solution left for this. The only solution is for you to stand up.” - Chris

  • “Take me to jail if you have to. But y'all only got so much jail capacity, so you can't get us all.” -Chris

  • You don’t need everyone’s approval

    • You only need enough people to keep you in business

  • If everyone opposes the bully, he has no power

    • We outnumber the government by so many

    • If we all say no and just keep doing what we want, what can they even do?

  • “The Bible doesn’t say, ‘Go get the state to love your neighbor.’” -Jacob

55:25 “The revolution will not be televised”

• The people standing up against the government are not in the news

• Ian Smith 

• Idiocracy -- made in 2006

58:40 Closing thoughts

• You cannot serve two masters… We all know who offered [Jesus] the kingdoms of the world. Satan did. So, you’re going to serve the kingdoms of the world. Are you going to serve the Kingdom of God? -Jacob

• If we want to actually help people, stop sitting around waiting for the state to do it; go do it yourself. -Jacob

• The state isn’t going to take those resources and do what you want them to do with them. They’re going to squander them. They’re going to take that power you gave them and hurt people. -Jacob