Dave Rubin and the Return of Classical Liberalism

If you’ve not yet tuned in to The Rubin Report, the time to do so is now.

Dave Rubin, the host of the show, interviews authors, activists, journalists, comedians, actors, and professors, and he digs deep into the issues at hand. Topics range from political correctness, to freedom of speech, to foreign policy, religion, atheism, and Objectivism. Whatever is under discussion in any given show, one common thread ties everything together: an appreciation for the importance of ideas and an understanding of the freedom required to talk about and act on them. In other words, the common thread is the fundamental ideals of classical liberalism.

The Rubin Report is essentially a forum dedicated to applying reason to the big questions of the day. No subject is off limits. None is spared the light of logic. And no one is permitted contradictions, such as claiming that the illiberal left is liberal or progressive or anything of the sort. Rubin, who identifies himself as a classical liberal, aptly calls the illiberal left the “regressive left” and regularly shows why that phrase captures the nature of the beast.

Understanding the importance of ideas, and advocating an active-minded approach to discussing them, Rubin is willing to put anything on the table for examination; he’s willing to challenge his own preconceptions as well as those of others; and he discusses ideas civilly, without engaging in smears, straw men, ad hominem attacks, arguments from intimidation, or other illiberal tactics.

This is how intellectual progress is made. This is what the world desperately needs today. This is what the return of classical liberalism looks like.

Recent guests on The Rubin Report include Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi, Douglas Murray, Sarah Haider, Larry Elder, Gad Saad, Ben Shapiro, Steven Crowder, Yaron Brook, and Mark Pellegrino. I’ll post Rubin’s interview with Pellegrino below, as it is profoundly good. But be sure to check out The Rubin Report’s website and YouTube channel, and subscribe to the podcast.

To the extent that the intellectual climate changes for the better, it does so by means of active-minded intellectuals such as Dave Rubin. Tune in to his excellent show. Support his work. And spread the word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhZDEiwll8A

Related:

• Political “Left” and “Right” Properly Defined
• Why I’m a Free-Market Liberal
• Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice
• Libertarianism vs. Radical Capitalism
• Auberon Herbert: Advocate of Reason, Individual Rights, and Limited Government

About Craig Biddle

Craig is cofounder and editor of The Objective Standard, cofounder and director of education at Objective Standard Institute, and executive director of Prometheus Foundation. He is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It; Rational Egoism: The Morality for Human Flourishing; and the forthcoming Moral Truths Your Parents, Preachers, and Teachers Don’t Want You to Know. He is currently working on his fourth book, “Thinking in Principles.”

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