Conservative Minds

Episode 78: Vaclav Havel - The Power of the Powerless

Episode 77: Roger Scruton - How to Be a Conservative

Scruton argues that conservatism starts from a sentiment that good things are easily destroyed but not easily created. We have collectively inherited good things that we must strive to keep. Further, democray needs boundaries to flourish. A shared identity - territory, culture, language - is a prerequisite for the politics of compromise.

Episode 76: Frank Meyer & Russell Kirk - What is Conservatism?

Special Guest - Josh Lewis, host of Saving Elephants Podcast: https://www.savingelephantsblog.com/podcast This volume edited by Frank Meyer offers a collection of essays from conservative luminaries, including Russell Kirk, F.A. Hayek, and William F. Buckley, Jr. Josh joins us to discuss the current and future state of conservatism.

Episode 75: Herbert Marcuse - One-Dimensional Man

Reading the Left from a conservative perspective series Marcuse argues that technology creates new forms of social control. Consumer culture creates false needs that distract from reality and rob the masses of free choice. Science and rationality are tools of the oppressor. Liberation necessarily appears to come from without and from above

Episode 74: Carl Schmitt - Concept of the Political

Schmitt argues that political actions and motives are rooted in friend-enemy relationships. The end of politics is to counter and oppose the enemy. All political concepts have a concrete opposition in mind. When party antagonisms within a state become the primary enemy grouping, conflict or civil war become a real possibility.

Episode 73: Adam Smith - Wealth of Nations

Smith argues that a nation's wealth stems from the goods and services it produces, rather than the amount of money it collects. Specialization increases wealth through a dramatic increase in productivity. A market economic system is the most efficient method for setting prices and creating wealth. Money is a medium for exchange and has no inherent value of its own. International trade makes both nations in a transaction better off. Eamon Butler, Condensed Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith Instit...

Episode 72: Frederick Jackson Turner - Significance of the Frontier in American History

Turner argues that the frontier area of free land and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American democracy. Up to the late 1800s, American social development had been continually beginning over again on the frontier. This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities furnish the forces dominating American character. He says the true point of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the Great ...

Episode 71: Robert Welch - Blue Book of the John Birch Society

Robert Welch founded the Johh Birch Society in the late 1950s as a bulwark against communist advancement in America. We dive into the history and beliefs of the "Birchers." We also read The Paranoid Style in American Politics by Richard Hofstadter. We use these readings as a jumping off point to discuss conspiracy theories on the Right and Left.

Episode 70: Tim Carney - Alienated America

Carney examines how counties voted in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. Among Trump's core supporters, Carney finds a story of working-class struggle. In places that shunned Trump, Carney finds thriving community and civil society. He argues that achieving the American Dream requires strong local institutions, community, and religous participation, even more than better jobs and economic opportunity.

Episode 69: Season 4 Recap

We reflect on the books we read during Season 4. Topics include the culture war in America, the future of the Republican and Democratic Parties, and the common threads between Marxism and the Social Justice movement.

Episode 68: Helen Pluckrose & James Lindsay - Cynical Theories

Pluckrose and Lindsay describe the ideological underpinnings of the Social Justice movement. This new ideology long incubated in the academe but has now broken into the mainstream. They explain new terms like cis-gender, hetero-normative, non-binary, and systemic racism. Cynical Theories is a guide to the language and customs of the new Social Justice activism.

Episode 67: 2020 Election Special

Election 2020 crashes through Conservative Minds! Every other podcast has something to say, we may as well give our two cents. We used a few articles to guide our discussion: Ron Brownstein, "Democrats' 2024 Problem is Already Clear" (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/joe-biden-win-presidency-2020-coalition/617081/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share) Noah Rothman, "The Problem with a 'Working-Class GOP'" (https://www.commentarymagazine.com/noah-rothman...

Episode 66: David Goodhart - The Road to Somewhere

Special Guest - Avi Woolf, writer and Twitter influencer, joins our discussion. Goodhart sees Britain divided between two principal political groups: the educated and geographically mobile 'Anywheres', and the working class with strong attachments to local places and people that he calls 'Somewheres'. We find many parallels with the cultural divide in the United States.

Episode 65: Kevin Vallier - Trust in a Polarized Age

Special Guest - Kevin Vallier joins us to discuss his book Trust in a Polarized Age Vallier argues that there is a close relationship between partisan divergence and trust. He explains the interaction between societal and political trust. He believes falling trust and increasing partisan divergence are mutually reinforcing Visit Kevin's website (https://www.kevinvallier.com/) Read his blog (https://www.kevinvallier.com/reconciled/)

Episode 64: Nicholas Lemann - The Republican Identity Crisis After Trump

In a recent New Yorker article, journalist Nicholas Lemann explores the future of the Republican Party after Trump. We discuss the scenarios he puts forth and offer some of our own guesses.

Episode 63: Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels - Communist Manifesto

Reading the Left from a conservative perspective series Marx and Engels see the world as a story of class struggle. Oppressor and oppressed facing off in constant opposition. During the industrial revolution, the authors identify the bourgeoisie as the oppressor who exploits the proletariat. The authors declare communism the solution, including the abolition of private property and the centralization of industry and finance.

Episode 62: Rachel Bovard & Jim DeMint - Conservative: Knowing What to Keep

Special Guest - Rachel Bovard joins us to discuss her book Conservative: Knowing What to Keep She describes with her coauthor, former Senator Jim DeMint, how to apply long-standing conservative principles to our contemporary era. Rachel has operated in the vanguard of the conservative movement for the past decade. We discuss the state of conservatism, how it might be evolving, and how the Republican Party may need to adapt.

Episode 61: Kyle Sammin - Kamala Harris Nod Tells Blue-Collar Workers Democrats Are Done With Them

Contrary to conventional expectations, political parties do not remain static. In his recent Federalist article, Kyle explored what the choice of Kamala Harris means for the future Democratic coalition. He wrote another article about Trump's growing Hispanic support. We discuss what the Democratic and Republican parties might look like in the coming years.

Episode 60: Charles Cooke - Conservatarian Manifesto

Cooke describes his political philosophy that combines elements of conservatism and libertarianism. We also discuss the differences between these two temperaments. What do libertarians believe? Why does it seem like libertarians used to be Republican but have now shifted into the Democratic coalition?

Episode 59: Ross Douthat - Decadent Society

Douthat argues that Western civilization finds itself on a treadmill. The speed of growth and innovation has slowed. Fresh discoveries and new worlds seem out of reach. And we find ourselves aging, comfortable and stuck, cut off from the past and no longer optimistic about the future.

Episode 58: Frank Meyer - Conservative Mainstream

Meyer pioneered the the idea of combining the traditionalist and libertarian strains of conservatism into one unified theory that later became known as "fusionism." For Meyer, a conservative is someone who believes in objective morality, an elevated individual, limited government, and the Constitution of the United States as originally conceived.

Episode 57: Jean Jacques Rousseau - Social Contract

Reading the Left from a conservative perspective series Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. That's how Rousseau begins his famous treatise on government. When the people take charge, the general will is always rightful and the decisions will always be good. Rousseau calls for enforcing equality and establishing a censorship tribunal.

Episode 56: Saul Alinsky - Rules for Radicals

Reading the Left from a conservative perspective series Saul Alinsky starts from where the world is, as it is, and not as he would like it to be. Rules for Radicals is a how-to manual for young radicals committed to the fight and revolution. He says the present generation wants a meaning, a chance to strive for some sort of order. This book offers direction on how to get there.

Episode 55: R.R. Reno - Return of the Strong Gods

Special Guest - Gerald Russello, editor of University Bookman at the Russell Kirk Center, joins our discussion. Reno believes American elites forged a general theory of society following WWII to prevent another rise of totalitarianism. This "postwar consensus" involved a weakening of the "Strong Gods" - the objects of men's love and devotion. He believes this loss is driving populism in the West.

Episode 54: Neil Postman - Amusing Ourselves to Death

Postman argues that public discourse in America has dissolved into the art of show business. In early American history, the written word reigned supreme, and our politics and culture were better for it. He provides fascinating insights into how the media medium structures our understanding and perceptions.

Episode 53: Alastair MacIntyre - After Virtue

Why do we have such a difficult time agreeing about moral principles? MacIntyre believes that what we now understand as morality is merely the fragmented remnants of a formely fuller and more substantive comprehension of morality. What remains are only the language and appearances of morality. He argues that our only way out is a return to Aristotelian virtue ethics. Disclaimer: We experienced some technical difficulties in the recording of this episode. Please excuse the sound quality.

Episode 53: Alasdair MacIntyre - After Virtue

Why do we have such a difficult time agreeing about moral principles? MacIntyre believes that what we now understand as morality is merely the fragmented remnants of a formely fuller and more substantive comprehension of morality. What remains are only the language and appearances of morality. He argues that our only way out is a return to Aristotelian virtue ethics. Disclaimer: We experienced some technical difficulties in the recording of this episode. Please excuse the sound quality.

Episode 52: Season 3 Recap and Coronavirus Special

COVID-19 comes to Conservative Minds! We reflect on the epidemic with reference to our books from Season 3. What did we learn that could inform the present situation?

Episode 51: Whittaker Chambers - Witness

Autobiography of former Soviet agent, Whittaker Chambers. He shares his story, along with his reflections on communism and his life as a communist operative. According to Chambers, a man becomes a communist because he is driven to despair by the crisis of history.

Episode 50: Yuval Levin - A Time To Build

Special Guest - Yuval Levin joins us to discuss his new book A Time To Build. He describes how America is living through a social crisis of polarized politics and raging culture war. As the remedy, he proposes that we renew the ties that bind Americans to one another. We must build and rebuild by committing ourselves to the institutions around us.

Episode 49: Plato - The Crito

Plato's dialogue pits Socrates against a wealthy friend willing to help him escape his death sentence. Socrates refuses, because he believes it would not be just. When should we as citizens ignore an unjust law? According to Socrates, we owe an obligation to the polis (society) that transcends individual justice.

Episode 48: Grover Norquist - Leave Us Alone

Grover Norquist, and his Americans for Tax Reform, developed the no-new-taxes pledge that has become an institution for conservative candidates in American politics. He divides the world into two sides arrayed against one another in political influence: the Leave Us Alone Coalition, whose only ask of government is to leave them alone; and the Takings Coalition, who view the proper role of government as taking money, power, and property from one group and giving it to someone else.

Episode 47: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Gulag Archipelago

The Gulag Archipelago is an account of the brutal arrests, imprisonment, and often murder of tens of millions of innocent Soviet citizens by their own government beginning under Vladimir Lenin in 1918 through the reign of Joseph Stalin to 1956. Solzhenitsyn saw his task as documenting for the Soviet people the full scope of what happened. He relies on his own experience in the Gulag from 1945 to 1953, along with experiences related to him by other survivors. It is a harrowing warning about th...

Episode 46: Gertrude Himmelfarb - One Nation, Two Cultures

One Nation, Two Cultures presents Himmelfarb's autopsy of American cultural decline. She describes how Victorian values prevailed in America up until the middle of the 20th century. But, as society became more affluent, morality and culture were liberalized and democratized. A loose system of morality emerged and became available to everyone.

Episode 45: Max Weber - Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Writing early in the 20th century, Weber sees how rational capitalism had developed in the West but not so much in other civilizations around the world. His project is to find out why. He finds a connection between modern economic life and ascetic Protestantism, which held that economic achievement was evidence of God's favor. Disclaimer: This episode has some sound quality issues. Our apologies, if you experience difficulty listening.

Episode 44: Colin Dueck - Hard Line

What constitutes a conservative foreign policy? From Senator Bob Taft's isolationism to President George W. Bush's idealistic adventurism, Republicans have differed substantially in their approaches over the years. Dueck walks us through the history of modern conservative and Republican foreign policy. Despite real differences, he finds a common thread running through the decades that he labels 'hard line.'

Episode 43: Rod Dreher - Benedict Option

Dreher has some hard truths for Christian conservatives: the culture war is over, and values-voters have lost. The light of Christianity is flickering out all over the West. He says, if Christians want to survive, they must return to the roots of faith in thought and practice. He calls on Christian conservatives to withdraw from politics and build thriving communities apart from the world where Christian truth can be lived.

Episode 42: Jonathan Haidt - Righteous Mind

Haidt's project is to understand why conservatives and liberals disagree about morality. Using groundbreaking social science research, he identifies a series of moral foundations that can explain why people seem to experience different moral intuitions. He argues that conservatives have at least five moral foundations, while liberals only have two. As a result, Haidt says, "Republicans understand moral psychology and Democrats don't."

Episode 41: Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince

For Machiavelli, the end of politics is the maximization of power. A prince achieves greatness through calculation and maneuver. The wise prince knows how to use and constrain human nature to manipulate his subjects.

Episode 40: Harry Jaffa - Crisis of the House Divided

Crisis of the House Divided is Jaffa's exploration of Abraham Lincoln's political thought. Lincoln believed that the rights enunciated in the Declaration of Independence were understood by its authors to apply to all men - African Americans included. According to Lincoln, the Declaration not only implies what are the goals to be sought with the consent of the governed in a free society; it also states a theory of political obligation.

Episode 39: Samuel Huntington - Clash of Civilizations

Huntington argues that culture and cultural idenities will shape the post-Cold War world. The most important distinctions among peoples are not ideological, political, or economic. They are cultural. The dominant division is between the West and "the rest." The dangerous clashes of the future are likely to arise from the interaction of Western arrogance, Islamic intolerance, and Sinic (i.e., Chinese) assertiveness.

Episode 38: Oren Cass - Once and Future Worker

Cass argues that work matters. Trade, efficiency gains, and immigration have led to growth in GDP, but he says we gave up something. The labor market can no longer allow families and communities to support themselves. And, without stable families and communities, economic opportunity vanishes. The alternative is to place the renewal of work and family at the center of public policy.

Episode 37: Patrick Deneen - Why Liberalism Failed

According to Deneen, liberalism has failed because it was true to itself. The Left and Right cooperate in the expansion of both statism and individualism. The liberal state both creates the individual and secures the free market through the increasingly massive and all-encompassing Leviathan. Both the free market and individual liberty have a solvent effect on traditional relationships and the social fabric.

Episode 36: Ludwig von Mises - Liberalism

Von Mises argues that the created wealth of our time can be traced back to classical liberal/capitalist institutions. Even writing in 1927, he noted how the standard of living had risen far above that which just a few generations ago was possible only to the rich and privileged. He evaluates the collectivist ideologies of the Right and Left and finds them inferior to private ownership of property and a free market.

Episode 35: Yoram Hazony - Virtue of Nationalism

Hazony argues that, for centuries, Western nations have been characterized by a struggle between two antithetical visions of world order: nationalism and imperialism. Nationalism, for him, involves nations that are able to chart their own independent course by cultivating their own traditions and pursuing their own interests without interference. In contrast, imperialism involves peoples united under a single regime of law and maintained by a single supranational authority. He argues that nat...

Episode 34: Season 2 Recap

This episode we take stock of what we learned about conservative thought from our Season 2 books.

Episode 33: Randy Barnett - Restoring the Lost Constitution

Barnett believes that American citizens of today have not truly consented to be governed. As a result, the Constitution must provide sufficient procedural assurances to protect rights. Indeed, the protection of rights is the only function that justifies restricting personal freedom. He also argues that erroneous Supreme Court precedent has granted plenary power to Congress to regulate in contradiction to the plain reading of the Constitution. The upshot is a weakened state and local governing...

Episode 32: Michael Oakeshott - Rationalism in Politics

For Michael Oakeshott, conservatism is not a creed or a doctrine but a disposition of contentment. A conservative prefers the familiar to the unknown and the tried to the untried. It is a propensity to use and enjoy what is available, rather than to wish for something other than what you have. Oakeshott posits a minimalist role for government that allows people to live their lives as they see fit.

Episode 31: Alexander Hamilton & James Madison - Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers are 85 letters written under the pen name “Publius”. Publius was the joint creation of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Originally intended as an attempt to influence the people of New York to ratify the new Constitution, the Federalist Papers came to be the best contemporary explanation of that document by men who had an outsized role in drafting it. These essays explain the ideas behind the Constitution and the reasoning that led to the choices made in ...

Episode 31: Alexander Hamilton & James Madison - The Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers are 85 letters written under the pen name “Publius”. Publius was the joint creation of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Originally intended as an attempt to influence the people of New York to ratify the new Constitution, the Federalist Papers came to be the best contemporary explanation of that document by men who had an outsized role in drafting it. These essays explain the ideas behind the Constitution and the reasoning that led to the choices made in ...