The Junto Podcast

E62: Rebranding Communism

Hello America. Edgar Mills tackles the debate over communism, socialism, and democratic socialism. In this episode he argues the three share core goals: state control of the economy and the end of private ownership, traces the history from Marx to modern U.S. politics, summarizes the Communist Manifesto’s ten planks, and points to contemporary policies that echo those pillars. He challenges listeners to look past labels, warns about centralization of power, and invites factual, not emotional, feedback.

E61: The (not so) Hidden Costs of "Equality" - Why Communism Fails

In episode 61, Edgar Mills examines communism and democratic socialism from a classical liberal perspective, comparing central planning to free markets and explaining why these doctrines repeatedly fail. He reviews historical evidence and human costs under regimes like Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, explores why young people are attracted to these ideas, and urges critical thinking, personal responsibility, and voluntary solutions. He provides suggested reading to fully understand the topic: -The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression (Stéphane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Margolin, et al., 1997). Catalogs Communist regimes’ crimes across the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. It estimates ~94–100 million deaths from executions, famines, gulags, and purges, arguing that terror and repression are inherent to the system’s pursuit of a classless society. -The Gulag Archipelago (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1973; abridged editions available)  Based on the author’s own eight years in the Soviet forced-labor camps plus testimonies from over 200 survivors, this work exposes the vast network of prisons, torture, and slave labor that killed millions under Lenin and Stalin.  -The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine (Robert Conquest, 1986) A definitive account of Stalin’s 1932–33 engineered famine in Ukraine (the Holodomor), which killed an estimated 3–7 million through grain seizures and blockades.  -Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–1962 (Frank Dikötter, 2010)  From recently opened Chinese archives, Dikötter reconstructs the Great Leap Forward’s death toll of at least 45 million from starvation, violence, and forced labor. He details cannibalism, mass burials, and cadre brutality, arguing that Mao’s utopian Communist experiment was a man-made catastrophe rooted in the rejection of private property and incentives. -Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (Timothy Snyder, 2010)  A comparative history of the Soviet and Nazi killing fields in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltics (1933–1945). Snyder documents Stalin’s deliberate famines, mass deportations, and executions (alongside Hitler’s crimes), showing how Communist totalitarianism produced millions of deaths through engineered scarcity and political purges.

E60: Separate Soldier from Politics - A Memorial Day Reflection

Host Edgar Mills reflects on Memorial Day, urging listeners to honor and thank individual service members while separating their sacrifice from the political decisions that send them to war. He discusses the dangers of partisan social media, recalls lessons from wars like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and shares recruiting statistics and reasons people join the military. The episode closes with a call to support veterans and local charity efforts, information about upcoming events, and a plea for compassion and thoughtful patriotism.

E59: White Plight - DUI is Still a Problem

Host Edgar Mills examines data showing drunk driving is disproportionately reported among white men and compares roughly 12,000 annual DUI deaths to about 15,000 firearm homicides, arguing DUI is an under-discussed public health crisis. He explores cultural and geographic drivers (social drinking, rural/suburban transport gaps, and soft privilege), calls for consistent application of justice, and urges personal responsibility and contingency planning to prevent needless deaths.

E58: Clash of Values - European and American Importation of Islam?

Host Edgar Mills examines crime and assimilation data from European countries with large Muslim immigrant populations and discusses how similar immigration patterns could affect the United States. The episode explores differences in values, policy responses, potential strains on welfare systems in context of the Cloward-Piven strategy, and practical steps to prevent social and economic disruption as seen in European countries.