The Independents (TV show)

The Independents (2013–2015) was an American television libertarian talk show on Fox Business, broadcast on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  The hosts of the show are Kennedy, FreeThink Media's Kmele Foster, and Reason magazine's Matt Welch.  The show features a roundtable discussion on the news of the day with a special emphasis on the protection of economic and civil liberties.

Quotes from the hosts

During a segment called the Topical Storm (12 March 2014)=

• I'm so sick of this bit of jargon.  For crying out loud, in L. A., where you live, the city council members make a hundred eighty thousand dollars a year, they get pensions of hundreds of thousands, there's ten thousand people in California who make more than a hundred grand a year just on their pensions, and—all this just because, for their job, they take our money so they can tell us what not to do—that's not "public service," that's public theft!
  • 9:33 P.M.

Quotes from the guests

Interviewed by Matt Welch and Kmele Foster (26 February 2014)

• The great thing about libertarianism is [that] it really is the American Dream—it is the ability of everybody to live their life, to build their life, according to what they want so long as you don't hurt anybody else.
  • 9:41

• There have been many [libertarian writers who have inspired me]: Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard—just-just a number of people who have influenced me— Mary Ruwart, Harry Browne who ran for president as a Libertarian a couple times—so there've been a number of people.
  • 9:41 P.M.

• I think libertarianism does appeal to most people because that's how we lead our lives until the state gets involved.  We lead our lives in voluntary interactions with other folks, and we follow what libertarians call the nonaggression axiom which means you're not supposed to initiate force against someone else except, of course, in defense of your own liberty or property.  So that's something that's the Golden Rule, and that's something we can all relate to.
  • 9:44 P.M.

Interviewed by Kennedy, Matt Welch, and Kmele Foster (10 March 2014)

• Having alternative currencies is great, right, because, historically, government's had a monopoly on currency.  …  At the end of the day, why should only politicians—either directly or indirectly—control the currency?  We can reduce transaction cost, provide an alternative, and—look, I don't know whether it'll be Bitcoin or not—but I think the concept of digital currencies is here to stay, and the fact that a politician would write to try to ban them in their infancy is just the wrong way to go about it.  Let the market determine whether there's any value there or not.  …  If people are saying, "Look, we gotta ban Bitcoin because it's somewhat anonymous and anonymous transactions can occur," or "because it's possible for criminals to use it," all of those arguments can be used to say, "Just ban dollars."  …  The government doesn't need to "treat" it [Bitcoin] at all.  …  The government policy should be completely agnostic about what unit of exchange is used.
  • 9:41–9:44 P.M.