Conservative Conversations with ISI

In this episode:

• Dr. Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and author of To Provide and Maintain a Navy, joins the podcast to talk about the need for America to revitalize the US Navy and defend the “free seas”
• a deep dive into America’s foreign policy, especially the challenges posed by our three biggest adversaries: China, Russia, and Iran
• advice for students consider a life of service in the US armed forces

Texts Mentioned:

• To Provide and Maintain a Navy by Jerry Hendrix
• The Free Sea by Hugo Grotius
• “The Age of American Naval Dominance Is Over” by Jerry Hendrix
• “Farewell Address” by George Washington

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In this episode:

• Sam Hammond, senior economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, joins the podcast to talk about artificial intelligence and its transformative aspects on modern society
• what AI offers human society to advance our economy and our society, and the potential dangers of AI run amok
• how AI and super-intelligent machines that match or exceed human cognition will mean for human nature and what it means to be a human being

Texts Mentioned:

• “Attention is All You Need” by Ashish Vaswani
• Science, Scientism, and Society webinar
• Jon Askonas Conservative Conversations episode
• “Common Sense on AI” by Sam Hammond and Jon Askonas
• “AI and Leviathan: Part I” by Sam Hammond
• “AI and Leviathan: Part II” by Sam Hammond
• “AI and Leviathan: Part III” by Sam Hammond
• Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
• Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri
• fai.org
• “Second Best” substack by Sam Hammond

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In this episode:

• Rodge Reschini, ISI’s editor of The Cornell Review, joins the podcast to talk about the state of the conservative movement at Cornell
• a student perspective on “academic freedom”
• how to leverage alumni support as a check on the worst impulses of American universities

Texts Mentioned:

• “Trigger Warnings Are Bad, Voluntary or Not” by Rodge Reschini
• “Should College Come With Trigger Warnings? At Cornell, It’s a ‘Hard No’”
• Collegiate Network Fellowships and Internships
• The Cornell Review

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In this episode:

• Alexandra Hudson joins the podcast to talk about her new book, The Soul of Civility
• how Burke and Locke come together with the “vertical” and “horizontal” social compacts that capture the social and political relations of society
• the difference between politeness and civility, and the limits of politeness in our personal and political life

Texts Mentioned:

• The Soul of Civility by Alexandra Hudson
• A People’s Tragedy by Orlando Figes
• The Maxims of Ptahhotep
• Federalist 51 by James Madison
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Beyond Order: Twelve More Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
• On The Beautiful and the Sublime by Edmund Burke
• Civic Renaissance

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In this episode:

•  A special Q&A between Johnny and Tucker following Tucker’s keynote address at ISI’s annual Gala for Western Civilization at our new Linda Bean Center on campus in Wilmington, DE
• Tucker reflects on a career in journalism and the role of individuals in a democracy. Join us as they discuss the future of America and what ISI is doing for students across the country. 

Texts Mentioned:

• The Long Slide by Tucker Carlson

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In this episode:

• Jesse Merriam, professor of constitutional studies at Patrick Henry College, joins the podcast to talk about how we got our antiracist Constitution
• how Brown v. Board’s jurisprudence unleashed a diversity regime that has usurped the written Constitution and the principles of a free society
• what we can expect for the future of affirmative action in light of the recent Supreme Court decisions challenging affirmative action

Texts Mentioned:

• How We Got our Antiracist Constitution by Jesse Merriam
• Brown v. Board of Education
• We The PeopleThree Volume Trilogy by Bruce Ackerman
• Government by Judiciary by Raoul Berger
• The Warren Revolutionby L. Brent Bozell, Jr.
• “Originalism and the Desegregation Decisions” by Michael McConnell
• “The Originalist Case for Brown v. Board of Education” by Michael McConnell
• “The Original Intent—As Perceived by Michael McConnell” by Raoul Berger
• Thomas Jefferson to Henri Gregoire, February 25, 1809
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• “The Affirmative Action Regime” by Jesse Merriam
• Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard
• Grutter v. Bollinger

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In this episode:

• Catherine Pakaluk joins the podcast to discuss her forthcoming book, Hannah’s Children, about women having large families amongst a culture of childlessness
• the limits of economic and family policy in reversing the falling birthrates, and what really drives our demographic decline
• Marlo and Catherine talk about the various joys and challenges that come with motherhood, both of one child and of many children

Texts Mentioned:

• Hannah’s Children: The Stories of Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth by Catherine Pakaluk
• The Birth Dearth by Ben Wattenberg
• “Jordan Peterson Interviews Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy”
• Coming Apart by Charles Murray
• Get Married by Brad Wilcox
• The Two Parent Privilege by Melissa Kearney

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In this episode:

• Zena Hitz joins the podcast to talk about the enduring value and necessity of a liberal arts education
• how class and economic considerations describe the shifts towards “practical” studies and coursework to the neglect of “the fundamental questions”
• the connection between ascetic practice and proper reasoning, and how education requires retreat from the present things

Texts Mentioned:

• Lost in Thought by Zena Hitz
• catherineproject.org
• Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
• Sophist by Plato
• Phaedrus by Plato
• Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
• City of God by Augustine
• Republic by Plato
• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
• Confessions by Augustine
• Genesis

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In this episode:

• Tom Shakely, Chief Engagement Officer for Americans United for Life, joins the podcast to discuss the case for making birth free and charting a pro-family agenda
• why Lincoln’s insights on shaping public opinion about slavery should analogously inform the pro-life movement’s thinking about protecting the unborn
• how the logic of abortion could lead to a dystopian regime that promotes euthanasia as a right and a good

Texts Mentioned:

• “Make Birth Free” by Elizabeth Bruenig
• “Make Birth Free” white paper by Catherine Glenn Foster and Kristen Day
• “Why Voting on Life is Absurd” episode of “The Based Catholic”
• Get Married by Brad Wilcox
• “Conservative Conversations” episode with Brad Wilcox
• The American Way by Allan C. Carlson
• “The Forgotten History of America ‘Making Birth Free’” by Allan C. Carlson
• “A Constitutional Vision: Lincoln Proposal” by Catherine Glenn Foster
• Death, Dying, and Euthanasia by Dennis J. Horan and David Mall
• aul.org
• x.com/aul

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In this episode:

• Michael Anton joins the podcast to discuss his book, The Stakes, about the state of the country in 2020 and what could be lost and gained
• How the progressive ideology that rules California’s politics has turned the state into a nightmare, from education and cost-of-living to immigration and crime
• Where we could be headed in America’s short-term political future with the coming 2024 election, or even the long-term prospects near the end of the Republic

Texts Mentioned:

• The Stakes: America at the Point of No Return by Michael Anton
• “The Flight 93 Election” by Michael Anton
• Rigged by Mollie Hemingway
• The Dying Citizen by Victor Davis Hansen
• https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/
• Regime Change by Patrick Deneen
• “Modernity and Its Discontents” by Michael Anton
• The Narrow Passage by Glenn Ellmers
• Machiavelli’s Effectual Truth by Harvey C. Mansfield
• Florentine Histories by Niccolo Machiavelli

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