Uncommon Knowledge
206 episodes - English - Latest episode: 27 days ago - ★★★★★ - 1.8K ratingsFor more than two decades the Hoover Institution has been producing Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, a series hosted by Hoover fellow Peter Robinson as an outlet for political leaders, scholars, journalists, and today’s big thinkers to share their views with the world.
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Episodes
Genocides: A World History featuring Norman Naimark
October 11, 2017 22:53 - 49 minutes - 67.5 MBRecorded on February 14, 2017 Norman Naimark, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and an expert on Eastern Europe and genocides throughout history, brings his considerable expertise to Uncommon Knowledge to discuss the history of genocides from ancient to modern times. Peter Robinson sits down with Naimark to discuss his latest book, Genocide: A World History. Naimark argues that genocides occur throughout history, from biblical to modern times across the world. He considers genocides to...
How to Fail at Almost Everything with Scott Adams
September 15, 2017 02:52 - 43 minutes - 59.7 MBRecorded on July 12, 2017 The Dilbert comic strip artist and political philosopher Scott Adams sits down with Peter Robinson to discuss his book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. He discusses with Peter his theory of “talent stacking,” the idea that rather than being an expert in one particular skill (i.e., Tiger Woods and golf), one can become successful by stacking a variety of complementary nonexpert skills. Adams demonstrates how talent stacking has been beneficial in h...
The Speech That Defined a Presidency
August 23, 2017 02:13 - 50 minutes - 69.4 MBRecorded on July 23, 2017 Thirty years after Ronald Reagan’s famous denouncement of the Berlin Wall, Peter Robinson reflects on writing the Brandenburg Gate speech and why it was so important to include the now memorable words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune, turns the tables on Uncommon Knowledge’s host, Peter Robinson, sitting him down in the interview chair to discuss that famous speech and his journey to becoming Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter. Pe...
Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the West, Dawa, and Islam
August 08, 2017 23:11 - 42 minutes - 58.1 MBRecorded on July 12, 2017 Ayaan Hirsi Ali joins Peter Robinson to discuss her new book, The Challenge of Dawa: Political Islam as Ideology and Movement and How to Contain It, and her views on the challenges facing Western civilization in regards to political Islam. She argues that Islam needs to be separated into two different parts, one part of religion and the other part, political philosophy. She concedes that many aspects of the religious part of Islam are peaceful but argues that the po...
How to Be a Conservative
July 19, 2017 23:20 - 44 minutes - 61.4 MBRecorded on February 27, 2017 In the latest episode from Uncommon Knowledge, Sir Roger Scruton, a formally trained political philosopher, talks about his life and the events he’s witnessed that led him to conservatism. He first embraced conservatism after witnessing the leftist student protests in France in May 1968. During the ensuing riots in Paris, more than three hundred people were injured. Scruton walked away from this event with a change in worldview and a strong leaning toward conser...
Making Congress and America Work Again
June 28, 2017 21:41 - 40 minutes - 55.9 MBRecorded on June 10, 2017 Senator Rob Portman sits down with Hoover Institution fellow Peter Robinson to talk about the threats and problems related to Russia's meddling in democratic elections in the United States and around the world. Portman then discusses the complex process of health care reform, noting that the process has been difficult because health care is a complex issue that needs to be handled correctly. In the conversation about health care reform, Portman says that the number-...
The Budget Crisis in the Land of Lincoln
June 24, 2017 02:39 - 30 minutes - 41.5 MBRecorded on June 10, 2017 The forty-second governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, joins Peter Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge to discuss Illinois’s budget crisis. With the end of the fiscal year deadline (June 30) looming ever closer Governor Rauner and House majority Democrats will have to come to an agreement to get the budget passed and prevent Illinois’s bond rating from being downgraded to junk, causing Illinois to lose investment-grade status. Peter Robinson and Governor Rauner discuss thi...
The Vanishing American Adult
June 13, 2017 01:24 - 38 minutes - 52.4 MBRecorded on June 2, 2017 Senator Benjamin Sasse joins Peter Robinson to discuss his book The Vanishing American Adult and the growing crisis in America of prolonged adolescence. Senator Sasse argues that children are growing up, entering adolescence, and becoming stuck in the transitional stage to adulthood as they fail to become financially independent from their parents. He argues that because this generation of children is growing up during a time of relative peace and prosperity, it has ...
Area 45: The Art of Presidential Wordsmithery Featuring Peter Robinson
June 07, 2017 02:10 - 55 minutes - 76.3 MBToday, we’re introducing Area 45, a new political podcast from the team behind Uncommon Knowledge, The Classicist, and the Libertarian. Host Bill Whalen interviews Uncommon Knowledge’s host, Peter Robinson about presidential communication in this age of shock tweets and nonstop news cycles. Presidents are defined by rhetorical moments: Reagan and Kennedy at the Berlin Wall; George W. Bush rallying the nation after the 9/11 attacks. And Donald Trump? So far his presidency hasn’t been one of m...
Sowing the Seeds of Growth
May 25, 2017 02:56 - 38 minutes - 52.6 MBRecorded on May 11, 2017 John Michael “Mick” Mulvaney, director of the Office of Budget and Management, sits down with Peter Robinson to discuss the complex process of budget reform by having to blend President Trump's budget proposal with the realities of dealing with Congress. Mulvaney explains the need for bipartisanship in budget negotiations within the Senate to get the budget passed, which means getting at least eight Democrats to vote for the proposed budget (to get to the magic numbe...
Drug Decriminalization
May 18, 2017 01:05 - 26 minutes - 36.4 MBReleased May 18, 1996 In the 1996 first ever episode of Uncommon Knowledge, Peter Robinson discusses the origins of Uncommon Knowledge before invited guests former US attorney general Edwin Meese III and former San Jose police chief Joseph McNamara. They have a spirited debate about the war on drugs and the best way to handle the drug problem in the United States. According to Peter Robinson, “Ed Meese wants to win the war on drugs; Joe McNamara wants to end it.” Twenty-one years later, we l...
Carly Fiorina on the Future of the United States
May 11, 2017 19:31 - 40 minutes - 55 MBRecorded on March 16, 2017 Although many people have heard of Carly Fiorina, former presidential candidate and first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, few have had the chance to sit down and speak with her. In this special live taping of Uncommon Knowledge, at the National Review Institute’s Idea Summit, with guest host Michael Franc, director of Hoover’s Washington, DC, Programs, Fiorina discusses the 2016 presidential election, her personal path to conservatism,...
How JetBlue Does It
April 25, 2017 00:05 - 40 minutes - 56.1 MBRecorded on February 14, 2017 CEO Robin Hayes and Hoover Institution board member Joel Peterson talk to Peter Robinson about how JetBlue has remained successful, despite all the regulations, competition, and pitfalls of running an airline. Peterson and Hayes argue that consolidation and the limited number of airlines in the United States have allowed for sustainable operating margins. JetBlue continues to have double-digit operating margins and great customer loyalty by focusing on safety, c...
The Challenges of Reforming Health Care in a Partisan Era
April 11, 2017 22:35 - 50 minutes - 69.5 MBRecorded on March 22, 2017 In a lively debate Avik Roy and John Podhoretz discuss health care coverage and whether the American Health Care Act (AHCA), created to replace Obamacare/Affordable Care Act (ACA), will solve our health care problems. They both agree that if we could begin again we would never design a health care system like ours, but, since we cannot start over, how can we make things better. They debate whether universal health care coverage is a good idea, how to provide health...
The Historical Benefits of Trade
March 28, 2017 01:33 - 34 minutes - 46.8 MBRecorded on December 2, 2016 Professor Douglas Irwin defends the benefits of free trade and explains why protectionism, high tariffs, and currency wars could cause economic problems. Irwin explains the misconceptions around trade surpluses and deficits and the historical consequences and benefits of trade. He talks about an absolute versus comparative advantage with trade and why and how a trade deficit with China still benefits the United States. Irwin refers to Adam Smith’s view of trade i...
Senator Tom Cotton, Immigration Reform, and the RAISE Act
February 28, 2017 03:29 - 41 minutes - 56.6 MBSenator Tom Cotton of Arkansas joins Peter Robinson to discuss the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, an immigration reformation bill he is cosponsoring. He notes that American workers have been getting a raw deal since the immigration laws were changed in 1965. The American workers’ wages have not gone up but income inequality has. Senator Cotton thinks this is largely due to flooding the labor market with millions of low-skilled, low-wage workers. In rethinki...
Understanding Donald Trump
January 09, 2017 23:36 - 40 minutes - 56.1 MBRobert Costa, an American journalist who writes for the Washington Post, joins Peter Robinson to discuss his insights into president-elect Donald Trump after covering him for the past several years. Costa discusses Trump's mentality on running for president in 2011 compared with 2013, when he made a more serious effort. Costa explains how Trump, an Ivy League billionaire, is able to connect with blue-collar voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan based on his experience on The Appren...
The Promise of Party in a Polarized Age
December 02, 2016 23:36 - 31 minutes - 43.2 MBProfessor Russell Muirhead argues that to do anything in politics you need a party but just because a party currently rules does not mean it will be successful and continue to rule. He posits that parties need to remember and nurture achievements that they were responsible for creating in the past, so the party can protect and extend those achievements into the future and thus continue to rule. The ultimate goal in elections is to create a constitutional majority and keep that majority for m...
Donald Trump and Conservative Intellectuals
December 01, 2016 03:04 - 41 minutes - 57.3 MBMatthew Continetti and Andrew Ferguson discuss Donald Trump’s nomination and what it means for conservatives in America. They argue that they are encouraged by whom Trump is nominating to different cabinet positions and the Supreme Court but that Trump’s unpredictability and lack of core values are a concern. They discuss the role the media will play with the Trump administration and their relationship with the president-elect.
Kellyanne Conway discusses the presidential election of 2016
December 01, 2016 02:26 - 53 minutes - 73.4 MBKellyanne Conway discusses her life working on a New Jersey blueberry farm as an adolescent in the summers and being brought up by her mother, grandmother, and two unmarried aunts. She reflects on how she became conservative through the values her family placed in her and the inspiring reelection campaign of Ronald Reagan in 1984. Brought in by Donald Trump in August, Conway talks about how she told Trump that he was losing but there was a pathway to victory, which she helped the campaign re...
J.D. Vance On His New Book Hillbilly Elegy
November 15, 2016 02:40 - 43 minutes - 59.7 MBRecorded on October 27, 2016 J.D. Vance chronicles his life and the history and issues of hillbillies in America. Vance, a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, writes about growing up in a poor Rust Belt town and how his family never fully escapes the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma in their lives. Vance paints a broad, passionate, and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans.
Kori Schake on Civil-Military Relations
November 11, 2016 00:23 - 42 minutes - 59 MBRecorded on September 21, 2016 Although Americans have great respect for the military, most civilians have lost touch with it. This means that US citizens are not attuned to what the military needs because so few American volunteer to serve; this lack of understanding reduces not only battlefield effectiveness but the military's role in American life. Schake talks about the effect of high levels of public support for the military combined with low levels of trust in elected political leaders...
America’s Will to Lead
October 21, 2016 01:10 - 32 minutes - 44.6 MBFormer prime minister of Denmark, Anders Rasmussen, on America's indispensable role as the global leader.
The State of the 2016 Presidential Election, the Role of the Media, and Obama’s Legacy
October 08, 2016 01:47 - 40 minutes - 56.3 MBFred Barnes and Stephen Hayes discuss the media's role in the 2016 presidential election and how the media’s role have changed and become much more biased in this election. They discuss what history will say about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and how history has treated past US presidents. In addition, Barnes and Hayes discuss Obama’s legacy including Obamacare, the Iran nuclear deal, Guantanamo, and the lack of economic growth. Part of Obama’s legacy includes the rise of Trump and Clint...
Victor Davis Hanson on grand strategy, immigration, and the 2016 presidential election
September 23, 2016 03:27 - 40 minutes - 56.3 MBRecorded on September 22, 2016 Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson discusses Russia, China, and the danger of American withdrawal from the world stage. In addition, Hanson talks about immigration and assimilation in the United States throughout time. Hanson notes that, when immigrants assimilate and embrace the United States, then immigration works and strengthens us, but that when immigrants seek to separate themselves and reject US values and culture, then immigration becomes det...
What's wrong with the American economy?
September 09, 2016 04:05 - 43 minutes - 59.6 MBThe American economy’s biggest problem is growth. To achieve growth, Hoover Institution fellow John Cochrane argues, America needs to simplify the tax code and deregulate the economy. He discusses how government agencies must conduct serious, transparent, and retrospective cost-benefit analyses, get rid of special interests, and remove disincentives if they want businesses to flourish. Cochrane notes that the US economy needs more innovation, deep tax reform, and better regulations to unleas...
Wealth, Poverty, and Politics
September 09, 2016 02:45 - 42 minutes - 57.9 MBHoover Institution fellow Thomas Sowell discusses inequality and how it is part of the human condition. Sowell notes that political and ideological struggles have led to a dangerous confusion about income inequality in America. We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture. What is important is not inequality but human capital; once human capital is unleashed it creates an eno...
Is the Constitution Out of Date?
August 15, 2016 22:48 - 45 minutes - 62 MBHoover Institution fellows Terry Moe and Peter Robinson have a lively discussion on whether the Constitution is outdated and thus incapable of dealing with societal and structural problems facing government today. For example, immigration has been broken for decades, yet Congress has been incapable of passing new laws to keep up with the reality of the needs in the twenty-first century. So we have an immigration policy that does not make sense and laws that are not being enforced. To solve t...
A Conversation with Stanford President John Hennessy
July 14, 2016 22:09 - 46 minutes - 63.6 MBJohn Hennessy discusses his tenure as president of Stanford University and how he helped make it into an elite school: encouraging technological innovation on campus, working on ideas that push humankind forward and maintain academic excellence, and having one of the best athletic programs in the country. Hennessy notes that one key to Stanford’s success is building quality infrastructure around interdisciplinary themes in a cross-disciplinary space, making it possible to fire up smart peopl...
James Buckley discusses his life and values on Uncommon Knowledge
July 14, 2016 03:23 - 25 minutes - 34.9 MBJames Buckley discusses his life and upbringing as well as the genesis of Firing Line and the success of his brother Bill. James describes Bill as a fresh spirit who wanted to meet all types of people and listen to different viewpoints. Bill loved a good debate. James notes that his parents were literate and that education and speaking well were important. They trained their children to work hard, be genteel, and listen to the other side. James notes that we make progress in society, such as...
The Texas Plan with Governor Greg Abbott
May 03, 2016 03:04 - 42 minutes - 57.8 MBEach branch of the federal government has strayed from its original purpose and no candidate for president will be able to fix the underlying issues that plague it. Governor Abbott makes his case for proposing a Convention of States to make amendments to restore constitutional order.
A Plan to Defeat ISIS
March 26, 2016 02:02 - 36 minutes - 50.7 MBGeneral Jack Keane briefly describes the history and rise of ISIS and its aim in the Middle East. Keane then discusses the concrete steps America should take to defeat ISIS, including partnerships with Sunni tribes and a more comprehensive air war.
Good Profit Part II
March 19, 2016 02:59 - 42 minutes - 57.7 MBIn Part II of our interview with Charles Koch, he covers politics and the role of corporations in our society. Koch, making the case to end corporate welfare, tells us what he admires about Bernie Sanders and why he is less sanguine about President George W. Bush. He also believes technology can be used to promote free market ideals over democratic socialism, especially for the younger generation.
Good Profit Part I
March 19, 2016 02:50 - 27 minutes - 37.5 MBCharles Koch discusses his journey, from engaging in manual labor as a youth to attending MIT and working as a consultant. Having learned the principles of classical liberalism through his education and work, he now applies those principles to building and managing Koch Industries. He attributes much of his success to creating value for others and operating with integrity.
Restoring the Constitution
February 23, 2016 02:02 - 41 minutes - 56.9 MBFrom members of Congress more concerned about reelection than debating the real problems to a president espousing post-constitutional ideas, Americans need a renewed understanding of the Constitution. Senator Sasse discusses the issues plaguing Congress and how the current president ignores the Constitution when it suits him. However serious the challenges that America is facing, Senator Sasse believes it is not too late to restore the Constitution and thus Congress.
Karl Rove on the election of 1896
February 22, 2016 23:44 - 45 minutes - 63.1 MBKarl Rove discusses the amazing life and election of William McKinley. From his time as a soldier in the Civil War to his campaign in 1896, Karl Rove makes the case that McKinley was not only an effective campaigner for president but also someone who brought the nation together during a divisive time.
European Disunion
January 26, 2016 01:51 - 47 minutes - 65 MBRecorded on January 25, 2016 Hoover Institution fellow Michael McFaul and John O'Sullivan discuss the many problems Europe is facing including an aggressive Russia, Brexit, NATO and the asylum crisis in Germany. McFaul and O'Sullivan give their analysis of these problems and what it means for the future of Europe.
A Conversation with Former Secretary of State George Shultz
January 26, 2016 01:05 - 34 minutes - 48 MBSecretary Shultz talks about his time in the Reagan White House, from negotiations with Andrey Gromyko to the meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev in Reykjavik. It’s a fascinating recount of the Reagan years through Shultz’s eyes, ending with what he believes are important characteristics for any future president and leader to have.
The Secretary of State, the Instructor, and the Piano
December 16, 2015 02:32 - 40 minutes - 55.9 MBRecorded on July 9, 2015 The piano has been an important part of life for Condoleezza Rice and George Barth, her teacher. Although not as popular in today's culture, for them classical music is challenging but worth the effort to understand the piano's importance and beauty. As secretary of state, Rice would play the piano as a way of remembering where she came from and a way to refocus. In short, she said playing the piano made her a better secretary of state.
Niall Ferguson on Kissinger the Idealist
October 08, 2015 03:54 - 41 minutes - 56.5 MBRecorded on October 7, 2015 - Niall Ferguson discusses the first half of Henry Kissinger's life, beginning with his being a young boy in Germany to becoming an intellectual celebrity at Harvard and finally an adviser to both Nelson Rockefeller and John Kennedy, leading Kissinger to becoming a national security adviser to Richard Nixon in 1968.
Stalin in Power
October 07, 2015 03:17 - 30 minutes - 41.6 MBRecorded on July 29, 2015 - As part 2 begins, Lenin is dead and Stalin is trying to consolidate power. Although various people were vying for the position, Stalin had already effectively taken over Lenin’s job. Lenin’s last will and testament says bad things about all his successors, with Trotsky coming out the best, yet does nothing to dislodge Stalin from power. Stalin continues, through hard work and cunning, to gather power but also because people believed that he stood for the principle...
Stalin’s Rise to Power
October 07, 2015 03:13 - 33 minutes - 45.8 MBRecorded on July 29, 2015 - Part 1: Stalin was born in a small town in Georgia in which he was educated to become a priest. After succeeding in school and becoming a devout follower of the faith, Stalin left the priesthood and became a communist revolutionary. World War I and the revolutions of 1917 set the stage for Stalin and the Communists to take power in Russia.
Wealth, Poverty, and Politics
September 19, 2015 01:03 - 43 minutes - 59.1 MBHoover Institution fellow Thomas Sowell discusses poverty around the world and in the United States. Poverty in America, he says, compared to the rest of the world, is not severe. Many poor people in poverty in the United States have one or two cars, central heating, and cell phones. The real problem for the poor is the destruction of the family, which Sowell argues dramatically increased once welfare policies were introduced in the 1960s.
The Constitution
September 05, 2015 02:41 - 39 minutes - 54.2 MBJohn Yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general for President George Bush and now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and Hugh Hewitt, former Reagan administration official and now a talk radio host, discuss the Constitution and current events in America. Topics range from Obamacare to the Middle East, the future of the United States, and how the Constitution applies to today’s problems.
Charles Hill and General James Mattis on the Iran Deal, Democracy, and Freedom
July 30, 2015 01:51 - 39 minutes - 54.1 MBRecorded on July 16, 2015 - Hoover fellows Charles Hill and James Mattis discuss the Iran deal and the state of the world on Uncommon Knowledge with Hoover fellow Peter Robinson. In their view the United States has handed over its leading role to Iran and provided a dowry along with it. Iran will become the leading power in the region as the United States pulls back; as the sanctions are lifted Iran will start making a lot of money. No matter what Congress does at this point, the sanctions a...
Senator John Hoeven lights up the conversation on energy
June 06, 2015 03:05 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MBSenator John Hoeven discusses the Keystone pipeline, energy policy, the Middle East, and politics, noting that our country moves forward with investments that make our energy secure and environmentally sound. Horizontal drilling and fracking, for example, reduce the environmental impact of producing oil and gas, thus lowering greenhouse gas emissions. We can be energy secure by producing more energy; to do that we need the right mix of pipelines, rails, roads, and technology to move energy a...
Arkansas Senator Thomas Cotton on events in Iraq, negotiations with Iran, and life in the US Senate
April 03, 2015 20:00 - 39 minutes - 53.8 MBIn this episode of Uncommon Knowledge, Peter sits down with Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, to examine the many issues facing the nation today. Cotton graduated from Harvard Law School in 2001 and then served with the US Army in Iraq. In 2013 Cotton was elected to the House of Representatives; he was sworn in as a member of the US Senate in January 2015. (Playing time: 39:12)
Uncommon Knowledge with Jim Hake, General Jim Mattis, and Spirit of America
March 13, 2015 20:00 - 21 minutes - 29.3 MBIn this episode, the host of Uncommon Knowledge speaks with Jim Hake, founder of Spirit of America, a nonprofit organization created to save lives and support the missions of US soldiers abroad. Hake’s goal was to go beyond what the government could do, with the motive of seeing America succeed. Begun in 2003, the idea gained enormous support, including from General Jim Mattis, commander of some of the first missions in Iraq. Today, Spirit of America is working around the world, sending our ...
Uncommon Knowledge with General Jim Mattis
March 06, 2015 20:00 - 40 minutes - 56.1 MBIn this episode, Uncommon Knowledge is honored to have retired four-star General James Mattis. General Mattis retired from the Marine Corps as a full general in 2013, where he served as the eleventh commander of the United States Central Command. He also served as the commander for NATO supreme allied transformation, and as commander of the United States Joint Forces Command. Mattis is now an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow fellow at the Hoover Institution. (Playing time: 40:56)
Uncommon Knowledge with Dartmouth professors Jennifer Lind and William Wohlforth
February 26, 2015 20:00 - 41 minutes - 57.4 MBIn this episode of Uncommon Knowledge Dartmouth professors of government Jennifer Lind and William Wohlforth join Peter for an in-depth conversation about foreign policy and national security strategies in an ever-changing environment. Jennifer Lind is an associate professor of government; her most recent book is Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics. William Wohlforth is the Daniel Webster Professor of Government; his most recent book is World Out of Balance: International Relat...