I see a lot of left-libertarian types hating on Tom Woods at times, probably because he’s not PC enough about something or other. But any serious opponent of the MIC is a friend of mine, regardless of what else they believe.  The MIC and related entities are really the only thing that matters within the context of US politics. The rest of it is more or less just competition between tribes, sects, and interest groups. As Robert Scheer once said, “We don’t just have a military-industrial complex. We are a military-industrial complex.” When Scheer said that, he added that, as a leftist, he would be happy to take our chances with the states, localities, and private sector in order to be rid of the MIC.

For this reason, I generally offer qualified support all radicals, with the exception of literal Nazis, hardline Communists, and Salafi Islamists. There are very few of any of these in the US. Even guys like Caleb Maupin and Jason Unruhe (pro-trans rights, open borders “Marxists”) are not “real” Commmunists. Guys like Jared Taylor and Richard Spencer are 1920s era progressives, not Nazis. And Louis Farrakhan is a Black Muslim counterpart to the religious right, not the equivalent of ISIS or Al-Qaeda.

By Tom Woods

Before I tell you the story, let me be clear: I’ve insisted to my kids that they are not required to agree with me or be clones of me.

But I think hanging around with me a lot does have an effect.

(You may have heard me tell this story before, but since when does a proud Dad tell a story only once?)

Someone from Lockheed Martin was set to come to Regina’s school. (In case you’re wondering: Regina, who’s 17 now but was 13 then, goes to a different school these days. And it’s her sisters who have used the Ron Paul Curriculum.) Students were told they could ask what they liked.

So the night before, she and I crafted this question, which she was at pains to emphasize she was asking respectfully:

“Should Americans be concerned that a lot of people from Lockheed Martin wind up in government, where they advocate military spending and foreign policy that appear to benefit Lockheed Martin?”

He was not prepared for that, I don’t think.

He replied that he didn’t know anyone from the company who had gone into government, and that they didn’t always get what they wanted anyway. He then transitioned into a warning about the importance of bring militarily prepared against our potential adversaries.

Now trust me: Regina is not any kind of provocateur. But she’s also a skeptic of the establishment, including institutions like the military-industrial complex, and she thought she couldn’t just sit there through questions like, “How fast do your planes go?”

This is the same Regina who, at age 7, responded to her friend’s observation that “penny candy” seemed silly because a penny hardly buys anything, with: “Yeah, thanks to the Fed.”

People sometimes make what they think are friendly jokes when they hear I have five kids, and they say (right in front of them!) how difficult that must be and what a handful I have.

To the contrary, they have enriched my life beyond all measure, and I am prouder of them than I am of anything else.

And I love that they have independent minds. They’re inquisitive. They’re not cowed by phony authority.

This is precisely why I created Liberty Classroom: for all those good folks out there who just don’t believe the propaganda their teachers taught them.

History and evidence are entirely on our side. We should be mopping the floor with the state-lovers out there.

If you believe you’ve been a victim of educational malpractice, you are entitled (until Cyber Monday ends at midnight) to a vastly discounted treatment via our Master membership — though the clock is ticking.