Bradley Lectures Podcast

By American Enterprise Institute

What's Bradley Lectures Podcast about?

Great lectures from the past applied to pressing issues of the present, hosted by Jackson Wolford at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Bradley Lectures Podcast episodes:

07.12.2021
The Story of Ain't: America and Its Language
Things change, norms shift, and even the language we use alters with time. But despite being commonplace, change isn't always easy. This month we'll listen to David Skinner -- editor of Humanities magazine and formerly of The Weekly Standard...
05.10.2021
Preserving Our Natural Capital
For decades, our appreciation for natural beauty has been tempered by an awareness of its impermanence. Our environment, its species, and the very climate in which we live all exist under conditions of duress. In this month’s lecture, we will...
04.12.2021
European questions, American answers
The European Union has lost a major member. Several EU countries are facing COVID crises. The German-backed European vaccine rollout has been widely derided as a disaster. Trust in the European Union and German leadership are in question. ...
03.08.2021
The Limits of Realpolitik
A new administration. A renewed American bombing campaign in Syria. An apparently reconsidered relationship with Saudi Arabia. After four years of comparative international quietude, is the United States reasserting its position as a forceful manager of world affairs? ...
02.08.2021
Can We Predict the Future?
From the 2016 election through the present pandemic, the world has seemed anything but predictable over the last four years. In a world of Congressional chaos and a seething stock market, we might not be blamed for asking: "Can we...
01.11.2021
The Iron Curtain of "Alternative Facts:" Ideology and History in Soviet Russia
How does a great lie become believed? How can a small, passionate minority dictate reality for a whole nation? When does history become subordinate to fiction? This month, we will hear Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum address these questions through...
12.14.2020
God and the Astronomers
In November and December, many of us slip into a familiar rhythm of renewed focus on our friends, our families, and the things we have faith in. As this particular year draws to a close with several COVID-19 vaccines potentially...
11.09.2020
Political Order, Electoral Chaos - ft. Francis Fukuyama
Elections come and go, but the more fundamental basis of state society--political order--endures. Or does it? In the aftermath of the 2020 election, please join the Bradley Lecture Podcast for a conversation with Dr. Fukuyama on his 2012 lecture,...
10.12.2020
Capitalism and Its Failures
Is capitalism working? How is it supposed to work? And what do we do if it fails? In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis these questions were more relevant than ever. Now, in the midst of economic turmoil and uncertainty...
09.14.2020
Liberal Democracy and Radical Reform
Judge Stephen F. Williams (1936 – 2020) was not only a storied fixture of the United States Court of Appeals’ D.C. Circuit, but a prolific author with wide-ranging expertise. In this episode of the Bradley Lectures Podcast, AEI Senior Fellow Karlyn Bowman and Resident Scholar...
04.28.2020
Saving Jonah from the Will
Should we impose term limits on members of Congress? Should we drastically expand the size of the House of Representatives? Are Republicans republicans and Democrats democrats? Jonah Goldberg joins the show to discuss George Will’s Bradley Lecture, how Dr. Will humbled Young...
02.17.2020
The evolution of the Bobo
The late 20th century brought into existence a new species of moneyed elite. This highly educated nouveau riche combined traditional bourgeois ethic with bohemian tastes to form a new species that David Brooks called the “Bobo.” What became of the Bobos,...
02.03.2020
So you want to build an institution
From Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France to Yuval Levin’s new book, A Time to Build, conservatives have long been fascinated by the relationship between the American individual, state, and mediating institutions. Building properly-functioning institutions of all kinds...
01.20.2020
What’s the matter with Hollywood?
Decades prior to today’s political arguments about “coastal elites” misunderstanding “flyover country,” film critic, author, and talk show host Michael Medved made a cultural argument. Medved contended that the cloistered cultures of Hollywood were unresponsive to market demands, and chose...
01.07.2020
Some reflections on Gertrude Himmelfarb
Prolific historian, author, and social critic Gertrude Himmelfarb (1922–2019) leaves behind a legacy of scholarship transcending time and place. Her insights into the past, such as her studies of Victorian England, help fashion a worldview for the present, one emphasizing...
12.17.2019
Work, progress, and administration
“In my business,” explained one immigrant entrepreneur in the mid-1930s, “I am the best economist.” So went the argument against centralized power acting for what it believed to be the common good. Knowledge is too diffuse for a command economy...
12.03.2019
A last gasp for the First Freedom (ft. Ramesh Ponnuru)
The first Amendment to the Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” 200 years after its ratification, the Supreme Court determined that a nonsectarian prayer at a public...
11.13.2019
Democracy with Chinese characteristics
In 2019, everyone from seven-time NBA All-Star James Harden to the writers of South Park has something to say about China. The narrative is fairly simple: China is an economic behemoth, full of billions of consumers ready to support American...
10.14.2019
Speech codes, bureaucracy, and the ‘shadow university’
College campuses play a central role in shaping the thinking of future leaders and current public intellectuals. But starting in the 1990’s, campuses took a strange tack, engaging in more banning than shaping. Speech codes developed by shadowy bureaucracies restricted...
09.24.2019
Stork realities (ft. Lyman Stone)
Are we doomed? Probably. But the reason for that doom depends on whom you ask. If you ask a candidate at a recent Democratic town hall event on climate change, we might be doomed because our planet cannot sustain current...
09.23.2019
Stork Realities (ft. Lyman Stone) - Bradley Lectures Podcast
Are we doomed? Probably. But the reason for that doom depends on whom you ask. If you ask a candidate at a recent Democratic town hall event on climate change, we might be doomed because our planet cannot sustain current...
09.09.2019
Back to America’s political future (ft. Karlyn Bowman)
“Predictions are hard,” goes the proverb, “especially about the future.” But as the 2020 election season ramps up and Democrats compete for the opportunity to take the White House, it seems as though everyone will try anyway. Some predictions are...
08.12.2019
The post-humanist counterculture
The counterculture that developed in the 1960s rocked post–World War II America and changed the course of the 21st century. Its art, protest culture, and worldview, moreover, led AEI Scholar Irving Kristol to identify the counterculture as “adversary to secular...
08.03.2019
The measure of man
“So much depends on our theory of human nature,” said psychologist Steven Pinker. “We use our conceptions of human nature to manage our relationships, to control our own behavior, and guide our policies in law and government.” But what is...
07.15.2019
Making men normal
Leave it to a legal scholar to ask: Is a stigma a tax? If so, can government act legitimately to remove that stigma? To legal scholar Cass Sunstein, the answer is yes. Certain social norms, Sunstein explains, such as wearing a...
07.02.2019
We are all Jeffersonians. We are all anti-Jeffersonians.
To some, Thomas Jefferson’s declaration that “all men are created equal” is the height of American greatness. To others, given Jefferson’s ownership of slaves, it represents the height of hypocrisy. Where you fall probably depends upon how you interpret the...
06.17.2019
What it means to be free
This Juneteenth — the day celebrating the end of slavery in the United States — take a moment to think about what it means to be free. Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson provocatively argues that without the notion of slavery the concept...
06.03.2019
What is American education? Feat. Frederick Hess
What are schools for? To prepare students for participation in an economy? To cultivate virtue? Or just to make sure that no child is left behind? Economist Sam Peltzman argued in 1993 that American public schools were failing by at least...
05.20.2019
You can’t say that! Censorship in public discourse (feat. Sam Abrams)
“QUIT. Go teach somewhere else, you racist… (Maybe Charlottesville?)” After publishing an op-ed in the New York Times calling for greater viewpoint diversity on college campuses, Sam Abrams found a sign saying just that on his office door at Sarah Lawrence...
05.06.2019
The Old New Israel
Is Israel a Jewish state? Or just a state of Jews? In this Bradley Lecture, Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony examines the growing discomfort on the part of many Israelis with Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. Using examples such as...
04.22.2019
How did we get here? The roots of American primacy
We take for granted that America is the world’s preeminent superpower, with hegemony abroad and prosperity at home. But how did we get here? And what does it mean for the US to use its superpower status to be a...
04.08.2019
Is civil society eroding or evolving?
What is social capital? And whatever it is, are Americans losing it? In his 1998 lecture, “Bowling with Tocqueville”, Everett Carl Ladd explained that he did not think so: His data and analysis led him to optimism about the state of...
02.18.2019
Banter #349: Rick Berger on Trump’s emergency declaration - AEI Podcast Channel
It finally happened: On Friday, February 15, President Trump announced an emergency at the southern border, allowing him to divert funds from other projects to enhance border security. How will this affect the military? What will this look like in...
02.16.2019
Bradley Lecture Series Podcast: Abraham Lincoln at 200 with Walter Berns
In this episode of the Bradley Lecture Series Podcast, released for President’s Day 2019, Walter Berns discusses the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. The ideas contained in this lecture were the fruits of life-long study and reflection, and Professor...
02.14.2019
Banter #348: Incoming AEI President Robert Doar on poverty, think tanks, and the future of AEI - AEI Podcast Channel
This week on Banter, AEI Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies Robert Doar joined the show to discuss his career, poverty alleviation, and the role of think tanks in the United States. Robert was recently selected by the AEI Board of...
02.14.2019
Ep. 128: Red flags in Xi’s China — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel
Will Made in China 2025 succeed in making China the world’s leading producer of high value technology? Is China really a threat to the world’s industrialized economies? On this episode, George Magnus discusses four “red flags” that may complicate China’s...
02.11.2019
Banter #347: The Iranian Revolution past and present — A conversation with Michael Rubin - AEI Podcast Channel
This week on Banter, AEI resident scholar Michael Rubin joined the show to discuss the revolution’s legacy and what it means for Iran, the Middle East, and the United States today. We also discuss the legacy of the Shah, the...
02.07.2019
Banter #346: Roger Noriega on the ongoing crisis in Venezuela - AEI Podcast Channel
This week on Banter, AEI visiting fellow Roger Noriega joined the show to discuss the past, present, and future of Venezuela. We cover Venezuela’s history since Hugo Chavez first took power, the ongoing power struggle between Nicolás Maduro and Juan...
02.06.2019
Ep. 127: Tim Wu on ‘The Curse of Bigness’ — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel
Have we entered a new Gilded Age? Are Facebook, Google, and Apple today’s Standard Oil, Northern Securities Company, and US Steel? On this episode, professor Tim Wu discusses the history and legacy of antitrust law in America, as well as...
01.31.2019
Ep. 126: What does Medicare for All really mean? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel
Is Sen. Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare for All’ proposal really Medicare for all? And what are the real costs associated with single-payer health care? On this episode, AEI’s Benedic Ippolito discusses the oft ignored implications of the health care plans popular...
01.31.2019
Banter #345: Nicholas Eberstadt on China’s demographic outlook - AEI Podcast Channel
This week on Banter, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy Nicholas Eberstadt joins the show to discuss his new report, “China’s demographic outlook to 2040 and its implications: An overview.” In this episode Dr. Eberstadt discusses how the structure of...
01.30.2019
Bradley Lecture Series Podcast: Defining deviancy up with Charles Krauthammer
In this episode of the Bradley Lecture Series Podcast, Charles Krauthammer discusses “Defining Deviancy Up.” This lecture was originally delivered at AEI in 1993. Dr. Krauthammer worried that Americans were beginning to define typical, healthy behaviors as deviant, changing everything from...
01.24.2019
The Report Card with Nat Malkus: What lessons can we learn from other countries’ higher education system? (with Jason Delisle and Alex Usher) - AEI Podcast Channel
Germany has free college. Australia has low default rates. Why can’t America just follow their example? When proposing higher education reform, politicians often point to other countries as guides to what America should do. But what can we really learn...
01.24.2019
Ep. 125: What can we learn from the great economists? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel
Should we worry about the size of the trade deficit? How do we bring back American manufacturing? Why aren’t wages growing more quickly? On this episode, economics professor and BBC presenter Linda Yueh discusses how 12 of the world’s greatest...
01.17.2019
Ep. 124: What is Modern Monetary Theory? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said it “absolutely” should be part of our conversation about the economy. During the presidential campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ chief economist was an adherent. But what the heck is Modern Monetary Theory? On this episode, economist...
01.17.2019
Banter #344: Ken Pollack on ‘Armies of Sand’ - AEI Podcast Channel
AEI Banter #344: Ken Pollack on ‘Armies of Sand’ This week on Banter, AEI Resident Scholar Ken Pollack joins the show to discuss his new book “Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness.” Banter #344: Ken Pollack...
01.11.2019
Ep. 123: Could China have been stopped? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel
AEI Ep. 123: Could China have been stopped? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis Zack Cooper joins the podcast to discuss the ongoing trade war and how the US might counter China’s rising influence. Ep. 123: Could China have been stopped? — Political Economy...
01.10.2019
The Report Card with Nat Malkus: Managing screen time for children (and parents?) with Jenny Radesky and Erika Christakis - AEI Podcast Channel
As technology proliferates, worries about children spending too much time in front of screens have become common. In this episode of “The Report Card with Nat Malkus,” on the AEI Education Podcast, Jenny Radesky and Erika Christakis join host Nat Malkus...
01.10.2019
Banter #343: Isabel Sawhill on ‘The Forgotten Americans’ - AEI Podcast Channel
AEI Banter #343: Isabel Sawhill on ‘The Forgotten Americans’ This week on Banter, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Isabel Sawhill joins the show to discuss her new book “The Forgotten Americans: An Economic Agenda for a Divided Nation.” Banter #343: Isabel Sawhill on...
12.28.2018
The Report Card with Nat Malkus | 2018 education year in review with Alyson Klein, Laura Meckler, and Erik Robelen - AEI Podcast Channel
From teacher strikes to school safety, 2018 was an eventful year in education. In the last episode of the year, Laura Meckler, Alyson Klein, and Erik Robelen reflect with host Nat Malkus on the top education stories of 2018 and...

What's Bradley Lectures Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Bradley Lectures Podcast episodes:

The Story of Ain't: America and Its Language

Preserving Our Natural Capital

European questions, American answers

The Limits of Realpolitik

Can We Predict the Future?

The Iron Curtain of "Alternative Facts:" Ideology and History in Soviet Russia

God and the Astronomers

Political Order, Electoral Chaos - ft. Francis Fukuyama

Capitalism and Its Failures

Liberal Democracy and Radical Reform

Saving Jonah from the Will

The evolution of the Bobo

So you want to build an institution

What’s the matter with Hollywood?

Some reflections on Gertrude Himmelfarb

Work, progress, and administration

A last gasp for the First Freedom (ft. Ramesh Ponnuru)

Democracy with Chinese characteristics

Speech codes, bureaucracy, and the ‘shadow university’

Stork realities (ft. Lyman Stone)

Stork Realities (ft. Lyman Stone) - Bradley Lectures Podcast

Back to America’s political future (ft. Karlyn Bowman)

The post-humanist counterculture

The measure of man

Making men normal

We are all Jeffersonians. We are all anti-Jeffersonians.

What it means to be free

What is American education? Feat. Frederick Hess

You can’t say that! Censorship in public discourse (feat. Sam Abrams)

The Old New Israel

How did we get here? The roots of American primacy

Is civil society eroding or evolving?

Banter #349: Rick Berger on Trump’s emergency declaration - AEI Podcast Channel

Bradley Lecture Series Podcast: Abraham Lincoln at 200 with Walter Berns

Banter #348: Incoming AEI President Robert Doar on poverty, think tanks, and the future of AEI - AEI Podcast Channel

Ep. 128: Red flags in Xi’s China — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel

Banter #347: The Iranian Revolution past and present — A conversation with Michael Rubin - AEI Podcast Channel

Banter #346: Roger Noriega on the ongoing crisis in Venezuela - AEI Podcast Channel

Ep. 127: Tim Wu on ‘The Curse of Bigness’ — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel

Ep. 126: What does Medicare for All really mean? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel

Banter #345: Nicholas Eberstadt on China’s demographic outlook - AEI Podcast Channel

Bradley Lecture Series Podcast: Defining deviancy up with Charles Krauthammer

The Report Card with Nat Malkus: What lessons can we learn from other countries’ higher education system? (with Jason Delisle and Alex Usher) - AEI Podcast Channel

Ep. 125: What can we learn from the great economists? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel

Ep. 124: What is Modern Monetary Theory? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel

Banter #344: Ken Pollack on ‘Armies of Sand’ - AEI Podcast Channel

Ep. 123: Could China have been stopped? — Political Economy with James Pethokoukis - AEI Podcast Channel

The Report Card with Nat Malkus: Managing screen time for children (and parents?) with Jenny Radesky and Erika Christakis - AEI Podcast Channel

Banter #343: Isabel Sawhill on ‘The Forgotten Americans’ - AEI Podcast Channel

The Report Card with Nat Malkus | 2018 education year in review with Alyson Klein, Laura Meckler, and Erik Robelen - AEI Podcast Channel