RealClear Radio Hour: Legacies of Empire & A New Magna Carta

The modern regulatory state, created to reign in so-called “robber barons,” has come to be ruled by autonomous agencies acting like “barons in monarchies.” This week on RealClear Radio Hour, I’m joined by two guests who challenge this model and remember, celebrate, and defend our patrimony of free enterprise.

My first guest is Fred Smith, founder and past president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Director of the Center for Advancing Capitalism. Fred takes a historical look at the persisting tension between free marketers and progressives. He celebrates the oft-vilified leaders of America’s Industrial Revolution—from James J. Hill to John D. Rockefeller—for ushering in the Age of Enterprise.

In the second half of the show, John Cochrane, senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, discusses his recent paper, The Rule of Law in the Regulatory State. John shines a light on how the unchecked power of regulatory agencies threatens not just economic growth and dynamism but political freedom as well.

You can hear from both of our guests this week by listening to the full show as-aired on iTunes, or you can check out the individual podcasts hosted on YouTube and SoundCloud. Make sure to check back next week for another episode of RealClear Radio Hour.

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