ReImagining Liberty

065: "Liberal" Socialism? (w/ Matthew McManus)


Listen Later

Today's episode was recorded a few weeks before the results of the November presidential election, and before an unrelated change I've made to this podcast. So before we jump into my conversation with Matthew McManus, I wanted to take a moment to give some context and talk about ReImagining Liberty going forward.

First, for all of its life, ReImagining Liberty has been a listener supported show, and the way listeners supported it was to become paying members and get early access to new episodes. Starting today, I'm no longer doing that. Every episode of ReImagining Liberty will come out when it's ready, and I've turned off paid memberships. I did this primarily because I had an increasingly difficult time being consistent with the show's release schedule, and I didn't want people paying to get early access to episodes that weren't coming out on time. If you're listening to the show right now, nothing changes for you. You'll continue to get episodes right here--just now at the same time as every else.

That said, if you do want to support ReImagining Liberty, there are three ways you can do it. First, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This helps Apple to show the podcast to more people, and encourages people who find it to subscribe. Second, tell your friends. If you like an episode, forward it along to someone. If you like the show, tell people about it. Third, I have a free newsletter at www.aaronrosspowell.com. Sign up for that to get my new writing. Any or all of those three is a huge help and does a ton for the show.

Okay, now on to today's episode.

The election results very much have liberalism on the defensive. The Trump years are likely to be quite dark, the darkest most of us have seen in our lifetimes. There's a lot liberals can do to fight back, and we'll explore that in future episodes.

One area we need to pay a lot of attention to is why the arguments we make--and by "we" I mean what we might label "market liberals"--fail to persuade everyone they need to persuade.

Today's episode is very much about that. It's about a position that overlaps with a lot of liberal principles, but also rejects a lot of the free market positions I and other market liberals take.

My guest is my friend Matthew McManus, a ReImagining Liberty regular. He's a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Michigan. In his new book, The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism, he argues that not only are socialism and liberalism compatible, but that the future of liberalism depends upon the embrace of certain kinds of socialism.

I'm unsurprisingly skeptical about many aspects of that argument, which is why I wanted to get Matt on the show to discuss it. I think his book sets out clearly a widely beli

If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade


I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Get early access to ReImagining Liberty, listen ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowell


Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

ReImagining LibertyBy Aaron Ross Powell

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

36 ratings


More shows like ReImagining Liberty

View all
The Political Scene | The New Yorker by The New Yorker

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

4,077 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,459 Listeners

War on the Rocks by Ryan Evans

War on the Rocks

1,082 Listeners

The Lawfare Podcast by The Lawfare Institute

The Lawfare Podcast

6,319 Listeners

Pod Save America by Crooked Media

Pod Save America

87,552 Listeners

The Good Fight by Yascha Mounk

The Good Fight

905 Listeners

The Atlantic Interview by The Atlantic

The Atlantic Interview

2,254 Listeners

The Bulwark Podcast by The Bulwark

The Bulwark Podcast

12,688 Listeners

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie by The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

739 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,218 Listeners

Unclear and Present Danger by Jamelle Bouie and John Ganz

Unclear and Present Danger

608 Listeners

The Foreign Affairs Interview by Foreign Affairs Magazine

The Foreign Affairs Interview

468 Listeners

The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell by The Bulwark

The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell

3,531 Listeners

Zooming In at The UnPopulist by The UnPopulist

Zooming In at The UnPopulist

11 Listeners

Neon Liberalism by Liberal Currents

Neon Liberalism

23 Listeners