The Natural Order Podcast examines our world using the lenses of: political philosophy, economics, history, and the nature of humanity. Hosts and independent media personalities, Adam Haman and Brian O'Leary, collaborate weekly using these "lenses" as a way to interpret today's world.
Haman is a 30-year veteran of the professional poker world and is now in leadership at the Libertarian Party of Nevada.
O'Leary operates briandoleary.com and hosts The Brian D. O'Leary Show which brings the listener "Serious Content Amidst an Unserious Culture."
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On this episode, Brian O’Leary and Adam Haman take on all things electoral. They start with the tricky issue of universal mail-in balloting. Then they proceed to talk some smack about the wretched state of our opaque election systems. And finally, they take the gloves off and take a poke at untrammeled democracy itself. Good stuff!
On this episode Brian O’Leary and Adam Haman take on frat boys! No, no… that’s not right. They analyze the history of fraternal organizations in society. What are/were they? What happened to them? And are they making a comeback?
We’ll give you a hint: It rhymes with “The Other Mint”.
What is the proper size and scope of government?
The smaller is the size and scope of government, the larger is the size and scope of private institutions.
That’s just math.
Alexis de Toqueville (1805 – 1859)
This French aristocrat and liberal politician loved America and wrote about it often:
“Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. In democratic countries knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all others.”
“The more government takes the place of associations, the more will individuals lose the idea of forming associations and need the government to come to their help. That is a vicious circle of cause and effect.”
“Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannize but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of time and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”
Private associations are often mocked in popular culture. Despite the mockery, private associations are vital to a healthy and vibrant society. This guy gets it:
The ‘necrotizing’ of the American Mind – a commentary on the corporate media
Season 1 · Episode 10
Friday, June 16, 2023 • Duration 31:40
Natural Order Podcast: Ep. 10
The ‘necrotizing’ of the American Mind – a commentary on the corporate media
On this episode Brian O’Leary and Adam Haman roll up their sleeves and take on the Deep State! What are we to make of how America’s “top cops” are handling the Biden Crime Family’s influence peddling schemes? And what is the media doing?
Carlin warned us: It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it! Who watches the watchmen? What the news is, depends on who reports it!
Ever was it thus. Here’s the New York Post laying out the story thus far:
Ex-CIA Chief Spills on How He Got Spies to Write False Hunter Biden Laptop Letter to “Help Biden”
And from the Wayback Machine, here’s how Politico handled this story in 2020.
On this episode Adam Haman goes solo and talks about how “what we think” literally impacts “what we see”. To make his case, Adam comes with a pile of examples and receipts. This is a fun one! Buckle up!
Blue or white dresses, Yanni v. Laurel, red spades, and a little “Orange Man bad!”
Be aware of what you think, it alters what you perceive!
Is it blue with black trim? Or is it yellow with white trim?
Do you remember that “what color is this dress?” controversy that swept across the Internet in 2015? It originated in Scotland from a family argument about a possible choice for a wedding dress. A picture was sent: See this nice blue dress? A reply came back: What blue/black dress? That’s white/gold!
It went viral. First on Facebook, then everywhere. What color did you see? Why do others disagree? Screen settings? Differences in retina cells? Or is it something deeper?
Is it an auditory hallucination? Or is it just how our brains “work”?
Here’s another thing that went viral online. Remember “Yanni” v. “Laurel”? People all across the world would click PLAY and all hear the same sound, the same set of auditory vibrations.
But some people heard, clear as day, “Laurel”. Others heard “Yanni”. Hilarious arguments ensued. An even better one is the “brainstorm” v. “green needle” example. Try it out for yourself. Play the sound on a loop. You’ll experience it in real time.
Proof that your mental paradigm determines what you “see”: Our opinions, our “mindset” impact what we see and hear… and think. A great little book about the brain:
Zoning vs. HOAs. Which is better? For whom? And why?
Season 1 · Episode 8
Thursday, May 25, 2023 • Duration 21:34
Zoning vs. HOAs. Which is better? For whom? And why?
Hey, remember that “social contract” idea? What if we actually signed such things?
Agreements are better than politics.
Which system would you rather put your trust in?
On the one hand, you can check out the neighborhood you are interested in buying into and see what condition the HOA is maintaining the community in. If you like what you see (and the house), you read the CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions) and you decide if you want to abide by those rules – knowing that your neighbors are similarly bound.
On the other hand. You can check out the neighborhood you are interested in and check out the way it is zoned (almost nobody does this). Then, you can hope and pray that, like Darth Vader, the local politicians don’t decide to “further alter the deal” for whatever crony political motivations they might have.
One way sounds a lot more like a civilized society than the other, right?
“Lovely Rita” Social Contract Living out in the woods — You still have problems Del Boca Vista We’ll grow on you like the “Slime Mold”
National Divorce... Has it come to this? Should it?
Season 1 · Episode 7
Thursday, May 18, 2023 • Duration 31:28
National Divorce?
Today, we address the growing conversation regarding “National Divorce” in America.
What holds the US together? What is tearing it apart? What is the “natural order” of human political relations? Would a “divorce” help move us in that direction? Or away from it?
Feel depressed about the state of our Union? Or its very existence? Please take our word for it and read Michael Malice’s The White Pill: A Tale of Good and Evil.
You will be shocked at how brutal and murderous people can be towards one another when the vehicle by which they wield power is politics. And you will be elated at how quickly things can improve, even in the worst of situations.
How about we all try a little ? Put not your trust in false idols – like democracy Note: All of the books mentioned are linked to our budding . Bob Murphy’s pamphlet is linked directly to his own website.
Get your filthy government off my beautiful society!
Season 1 · Episode 6
Thursday, May 11, 2023 • Duration 29:45
Society & Government
The fellows talk about society and government…
What do these terms mean? Are they synonyms?
Does one beget the other? Can one exist without the other?
Adam was mumbling something about “The means determine the ends.” or something. What was he talking about? We don’t know, but here are a few quotes he might have been attempting to summon:
“The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.”
– Ursula K. Le Guin
“You think the end justifies the means, however vile. I tell you: the end is the means by which you achieve it. Today’s step is tomorrow’s life. Great ends cannot be attained by base means. You’ve proved that in all your social upheavals. The meanness and inhumanity of the means make you mean and inhuman and make the end unattainable.
“Governance” is perfectly natural. “Government?” Not so much. Hmmmm.. “sheathing” or “parasite?” Think humans don’t need hierarchies? Think they’re “bad”? Hate theory? Love fiction? Want a glimpse of what a libertarian society could be like? Wielding the ring of power makes you ugly! Bitcoin
Equity? Equality? Is this entire framework a tragic bait and switch?
Season 1 · Episode 5
Thursday, May 4, 2023 • Duration 28:40
Equity & Equality ...
The guys take on the thorny issue of equity (whatever that means) versus equality. Is it equality of opportunity?
Are such concepts even possible?
They decide all of it is rotten—inside and out.
What, then, is the right way to look at the issue?
Is this whole framework of “equity” and “equality” a tragic bait and switch?
How about liberty?
What the Founders thought about “equality”:
The original American concept of “equality” comes to us via our English forefathers and was expressed by the fine people who founded this nation as something like “equality before the law”.
Unlike us moderns, the Founders weren’t insane. Therefore, they didn’t try to convince themselves that all people are actually equal. That’s obviously untrue.
We all have different characteristics, aptitudes, interests, and are different from one another among a zillion other dimensions.
The founders believed that every citizen should be equal before the law while human relations should be governed by free people engaged in free association.
Our founders had a few tragic blind spots about who counts as “citizens,” but their notions regarding equality before the law and freedom of association, they had absolutely right.
We’ve gotten a bit confused since then.
These days, those on the far-left in politics are demanding “equity,” by which they mean “equality of outcome.”
But we started down this slippery slope long before “equity”. More resources mentioned:
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
Having problems with getting that podcast off the ground?
Trouble coming up with an idea on what to talk/write about?
Have no clue what equipment or services to use?
We may be able to help you.
“It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”
“As for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot go together. You can’t have it both ways. Socialism is a new form of slavery.”
“Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
Remember The Flintstone’s and the “Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes”? And their “Grand Poobah”?.
And then there was Happy Days and Mr. Cunningham’s “Leopard Lodge #462”.
Mutual aid societies used to proliferate all across the country, often oriented around a specific type of vocation or avocation, or just a specific locality. They have been crowded out by government, but they’re making a comeback.
Americans form private institutions for all manner of reasons, social, charitable, to do good locally – very similar to the kinds of things churches would do, but not necessarily bound to any specific religion.
Humans love to connect this way and we still do. The connectivity made possible by the Internet helps in this endeavor. The lockdowns enacted under COVID helped motivate a whole bunch of mutual aid type societies to form.
The destruction wrought by the government (hat tip to the ACA) to health care has prompted the formation of cost-sharing associations related to health care. Many oriented around religion, but not all.
“A fraternal analogue existed for virtually every major service of the modern welfare state including orphanages, hospitals, job exchanges, homes for the elderly, and scholarship programs.
But societies also gave benefits that were much less quantifiable. By joining a lodge, an initiate adopted, at least implicitly, a set of survival values.”
“Societies dedicated themselves to the advancement of mutualism, self-reliance, business training, thrift, leadership skills, self-government, self-control, and good moral character. These values, which can fit under the rubric of social capital, reflected a kind of fraternal consensus that cut across such seemingly intractable divisions as race, sex, and income.”
“It is worth noting that the women who belonged to these societies, regarded themselves as members of fraternal rather than sororal societies. For them, fraternity, much like liberty and equality, was the common heritage of both men and women.”
– David Beito, Senior Associate Fellow at the Heritage Institute, author of, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967 (2000)
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
Step 1: Contribute – Members make a low monthly contribution to be part of CrowdHealth.
Step 2: Go to the Doctor – You go to the doctor, ask for the cash price, and pay the bill.
** For emergency events, let us know before you pay your bill. We can facilitate negotiation on your behalf for emergency bills before you pay them.
Step 3: Submit Your Bills – Submitting bills is super simple. Just snap a photo, upload to the mobile app, and hit Submit!
Step 4: CrowdFund – CrowdHealth facilitates Member funding requests, so bills are crowdfunded smoothly and quickly.
Can I see any doctor?
CrowdHealth does not limit your access to care through stifling doctor networks. As a Member, you can keep seeing your favorite doc, or talk to your Care Advocate if you need help finding a new high-quality provider.
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
Having problems with getting that podcast off the ground?
Trouble coming up with an idea on what to talk/write about?
Have no clue what equipment or services to use?
We may be able to help you.
Focus on one set of letters and here one thing. Focus on the other and hear something completely different. Priming alters perception. What you think impacts what you perceive.
In 1949 some scholars named Bruner and Postman did a fascinating study. The subjects were told they were being tested to measure their visual acuity using pictures of playing cards flashed on a screen for fractions of a second to see how quickly the subjects could correctly identify the card.
But as you heard on the episode, the study actually revealed something much more interesting. Our expectations alters our perceptions. We see what we are primed to see. When the weird cards were flashed, the subjects wouldn’t seem puzzled, they wouldn’t balk, they would simply report seeing… something they didn’t see.
Cognitive dissonance demands it! Do you remember hearing Donald Trump calling white nationalists “fine people”? Sorry, but you didn’t. It was a hoax.
Remember when he suggested that we should “drink bleach” to treat COVID? Nope. That didn’t happen either. Trump was referencing a product being tested by Aytu Bioscience at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA.
Again, we humans see what we are primed to see – what we want to see. Did Trump really praise white supremacists and suggest guzzling Clorox, or did you see a red six of spades and imagine it was really black?
A very concise but powerful book that describes what our brains are up to is On Intelligence (link) by Jeff Hawkins, the inventor of the PalmPilot and Treo smart phone, among other things.
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
Having problems with getting that podcast off the ground?
Trouble coming up with an idea on what to talk/write about?
Have no clue what equipment or services to use?
We may be able to help you.
BO’L: In my experience living in Portland, Oregon, the proverbial “Rita” was not so lovely. The Beatles, however, have a lovely song about the lovely Rita.
The May 2023 issue of Chronicles has a nice article by Douglas Wilson that destroys the idea of a “social contract.”
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
Having problems with getting that podcast off the ground?
Trouble coming up with an idea on what to talk/write about?
Have no clue what equipment or services to use?
We may be able to help you.
Common Sense
By reading Bob Murphy’s brilliant little paper outlining the very real possibility of a Texas secession. Why and how it could come about, and what it would “look” like.
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
At O’Leary and Company, our purpose is to guide the entrepreneur on his or her journey…
Brian O’Leary has navigated the minefields of self-employment for over two decades and says he’s ultimately done that, “so you don’t have to.”
Our current focus is on independent media production and to help others get out their own message.
Regarding his own entrepreneurial path, O’Leary says, “I’ve never really failed, but I sure have had a lot of opportunities for personal growth. My goal here is to help entrepreneurs so their growing pains don’t hurt as bad as mine did.”
“There are times when the end justifies the means. But when you build an argument based on a whole series of such times, you may find that you’ve constructed an entire philosophy of evil.”
With or without a statist government, humans naturally form hierarchies and rules for their various groupings and institutions. So long as there is more than one person in a society, humans will have governance.
But does that mean we need an actual government? Are monopolistic territorial overlords something we just can’t escape if we want to have a society?
We went from chieftains and strongmen to kings and emperors to prime ministers and presidents. Are we done “evolving” our structure of governance?
Is this bloated democratic republic thing the best we can do?
We say humans have more evolving to do, vis-a-vis political structures.
Brian says, “Government is a sheathing over what is going on in society.”
Adam says, “Sheathing? More like “parasite.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. Hierarchies are intrinsic to our evolution. They are inescapable. They are hard-wired into our essence. Here’s a short video that underscores the point.
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
Having problems with getting that podcast off the ground?
Trouble coming up with an idea on what to talk/write about?
Have no clue what equipment or services to use?
We may be able to help you.
If they sell you on that goal, here comes the kicker: To achieve “equity” these people want a whole lot of political power—and you will not like how they use it.
They want to tax and redistribute. They want to alter hiring and firing relationships. They want to regulate all manners of interaction in society.
The theft and bossiness and destructive interventions can never end because the goal of “equity” cannot be achieved.
It is a complete red herring…a total power grab.
If they successfully hypnotize you into accepting the goal, they hope you will then give them the total power necessary to try to achieve it.
The arrogance, hubris, and destructive power in this vision is worthy of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, or Kim.
Let’s not fall for it. If you want to get a sense of what such a path leads to (and if actual history doesn’t move you) check out Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
Too long? No problem. We’ve got you covered. All you really need is to read this magnificent passage in which some poor wretch describes the downfall of the 20th Century Motor Company.
Please believe me. Read it. You won’t regret it!
We fell for a poisonous concept the moment they convinced us that government power—force, in other words—should be used to achieve “equality of opportunity” among the citizenry.
While not as obviously destructive as the “equity” agenda, even this “equality of opportunity” goal is a poison pill. How is the government to ensure every person has the same opportunity?
A kid with rich parents who are smart and care about him will obviously have more opportunities than a kid from a broken home and mired in poverty. How can that problem be erased?
Even if you levied taxes like a bulldozer, how are you going to “equalize opportunity” when so many other critically important variables apply?
It can’t, obviously. And no government program can do anything about that except tax, redistribute (while keeping a nice chunk to feather its own nest) and boss people around.
The more force the government uses to “solve” the problem, the more destruction it causes in society. It steals. It punishes. It rewards. It bosses people around. It prohibits some associations. It mandates others.
Government power applied in this area is completely antithetical to liberty.
Let’s give up on this poisonous red herring, shall we?
(Though your humble co-host mentions Mrs. O’Leary’s Chicago barn, he is not known to be a relation of the woman who owned a cow that was purported to have burned down the Windy City.)
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
Having problems with getting that podcast off the ground?
Trouble coming up with an idea on what to talk/write about?
Have no clue what equipment or services to use?
We may be able to help you.
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