ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Self-Evident: The Road to 1776 — Episode 10i
A Prosecutor Would Give Up Every Institution but One
Dr. Thomas Laehn taught constitutional law and political philosophy to undergraduates before he ever charged anyone with a crime. He is now the County Attorney for Greene County, Iowa, the first Libertarian ever elected to partisan office in that state, and a candidate for the United States Senate seat Joni Ernst is leaving open. He is also, by his own description paradoxically, a proponent of jury nullification.
Laehn defends Locke’s state of nature not as history but as a model, built the way a scientist builds one, and he gives Sir Robert Filmer his due along the way. Asked who decides, before force decides it, when a government exceeds the power its people could have handed it, he answers: the amendment process, the ballot, and twelve people in a jury box. He says he would surrender every other institution of government before he surrendered the jury.
Then the argument comes home. Iowa’s Utilities Commission vested a private company with the power of eminent domain along the route of a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline, and families along that route have refused to sell. Laehn walks through Kelo v. City of New London, the 2005 decision that read public use to mean public purpose, and the bill he drafted to stop the taking in Iowa, which passed both chambers with added language and was vetoed by the governor.
The question underneath all of it: did this leave Americans more free, or more governed?
Recorded August 17, 2026.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00:00 — Introduction: The Execution of Algernon Sidney
0:00:46 — Welcome to Week 10: The Martyr and the Philosopher
0:02:22 — Setting the Stage: Introducing Dr. Thomas Laehn
0:03:37 — Interview Begins: Dr. Laehn’s Background and Campaign
0:06:03 — From Political Philosophy Professor to Rural Prosecutor
0:10:54 — Perspectives on an Article V Convention
0:13:11 — Dr. Laehn’s Forthcoming Book on Western Constitutionalism
0:14:26 — John Locke, Human Dignity, and the State of Nature
0:22:28 — Rebutting the Historical Criticisms of Locke
0:26:22 — Modern Property Rights: The Iowa Carbon Pipeline Controversy
0:34:18 — Eminent Domain, Kelo v. New London, and the Supreme Court
0:40:50 — When Government Overreaches: The Right to Revolution
0:44:21 — The Power of the Jury and Jury Nullification
0:47:56 — Challenging the Duopoly: Running for U.S. Senate as a Libertarian
0:53:30 — The Case for Congressional Term Limits
0:58:16 — Where to Follow Dr. Laehn’s Campaign
0:59:20 — Post-Interview Analysis: Locke’s Models and Filmer’s Reality
1:00:48 — The Verdict: More Free or More Governed?
1:03:20 — The Umpire of the Constitution and the Jury Box
1:05:53 — Next Week’s Preview: The Glorious Revolution of 1688
📚 Companion article — “The Martyr and the Philosopher”: https://www.consequentialactions.com/post/the-martyr-and-the-philosopher-algernon-sidney-and-john-locke
🗳️ Dr. Laehn’s campaign:
https://laehn4iowa.org
