Conservative Minds

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.

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

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.

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 Institute 2011: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56eddde762cd9413e151ac92/t/56fbaba840261dc6fac3ceb6/1459334065124/Condensed_Wealth_of_Nations_ASI.pdf

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 West.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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"

Noah Rothman, "The Problem with a 'Working-Class GOP'"

Los Angeles Times, Editorial, "We Turned Over Our Letters Page to Trump Readers"