Mark Mitchell, author of Plutocratic Socialism: The Future of Private Property and the Fate of the Middle Class and President of Front Porch Republic, joins the podcast. Mitchell and Murdock discuss the origins of FPR and the importance of widely-held productive private property in an era when the super rich and socialists have formed an odd partnership.
Host: John Murdock
Guest: Mark Mitchell
Highlights
1:30 Mark Mitchell, happy at home chopping wood
5:00 FPR, the early days
9:00 How not to change the world
12:00 The messy remainder of reality
13:00 From Richard Weaver to “You’ll Own Nothing and You’ll be Happy”
19:30 Gnostic temptations v. the Incarnation
23:00 The odd couple: plutocracy and socialism
31:30 The not so odd couple: productive property and democratic citizenship
36:00 The myth of maximal emancipation
39:00 Tocqueville’s aristocratic fears
45:00 Prospects for property in a time of chronic crisis
52:45 Friendly pushback on COVID and climate (with a cameo by Roger Scruton)
60:00 If they are for it, we’re against it
64:00 Loving our neighbor to counter a nationalized focus
Resources
Mitchell’s bio at FPR
An excerpt from Plutocratic Socialism
Wendell Kimbrough helps us find our way home
