Defending Ideas

We want referees to enforce the rules, not play for one team. Should the same principle apply to county clerks and elections officials? 

In this episode of Defending Ideas, host Nick Dunn sits down with Kevin Johnson, Executive Director of the Election Reformers Network, and Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie to discuss whether county clerk elections should be nonpartisan. They explore the unique role of election administrators, the political pressures they can face, and whether removing party labels could strengthen public confidence in elections.

Show notes: 
Reform Options for County Clerk Elections 

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

Why does the federal government keep expanding into every corner of our lives? It's not always by passing new laws. Guidance documents, letters, handbooks, and informal directives from federal agencies can cause headaches for states, schools, businesses, and regular people. 

In this episode of Defending Ideas, host Nic Dunn is joined by Kevin Williamson, National Correspondent at The Dispatch and Writer in Residence at Competitive Enterprise Institute, as well as Sutherland Institute constitutional law and religious freedom fellow Bill Duncan, to examine how federal guidance works and why it raises serious concerns about accountability and constitutional authority.

They discuss regulatory “dark matter,” the decline of congressional responsibility, practical examples of federal agencies pressuring states, and how federalism, transparency, and a renewed commitment to separation of powers could help rein in Washington’s influence.

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

The Supreme Court has spoken. And the internet has some...interesting opinions. 

On this episode of Defending Ideas, Utah Valley University's Senior Director of the Center for Constitutional Studies Dr. Matthew Brogdon and Sutherland Institute's Bill Duncan discuss several of the Supreme Court's most talked-about rulings this year. 

They unpack the legal reasoning behind the decisions on birthright citizenship, executive power, the Federal Reserve, and more. Brogdon and Duncan explain why many popular interpretations you see online often fall short, and how we should be thinking about these cases instead.

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

Is artificial intelligence something to fear—or a tool to help us thrive?

In this episode of Defending Ideas, host Nic Dunn talks with Shoshana Weissmann, Digital Director and Policy Advisor at Abundance Institute, about the positive opportunities AI creates for workers, patients, creators, and entrepreneurs.

Weissmann shares how AI has helped her navigate complex medical issues, as well as how she uses it every day to enhance her work. Dunn and Weissmann also discuss the principles that should guide smart AI policy so everyone can benefit from this technology.

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

Conservatism is at a crossroads. Does it stick with Trump-style populism, or embrace the principles of limited, effective government that led to some of the movement's biggest victories?

In this episode of Defending Ideas, Nic Dunn sits down with Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, to discuss the future of conservatism, the enduring principles of the American founding, the rise of populism, and why constitutional structure, federalism, and civic institutions remain essential to preserving liberty.

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

Congress is considering a major anti-poverty reform: giving states more flexibility to redesign welfare and social safety net programs.

In this episode, AEI Senior Fellow Angela Rachidi joins host Nic Dunn to discuss benefit cliffs, the Upward Mobility Act, and whether state-led innovation could help more families achieve self-reliance through things like empowerment accounts.

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

Election integrity is back in the headlines. But beneath the political arguments lies a more important question: what actually builds trust in elections? 

On this episode of Defending Ideas, Nic Dunn is joined by Matthew Weil, Vice President of Governance and Bipartisanship at the Bipartisan Policy Center, along with Sutherland Institute Executive Director Derek Monson.

They discuss California’s ballot counting process, why states should learn from one another, a new survey on voter confidence, and why transparency, evidence, and citizen engagement remain essential to maintaining trust in American elections.

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

Debates over election integrity have dominated American politics for years. But beneath many of those disagreements lies a deeper constitutional question: who should be responsible for administering elections?
 
On this episode of Defending Ideas, Nic Dunn is joined by Ben Ginsberg, Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, election law expert, and former counsel to multiple Republican presidential campaigns, along with Bill Duncan, Sutherland Institute's Constitutional Law Fellow.
 
Their conversation explores the constitutional role of states in election administration, the limits of federal authority, the importance of institutional trust, and why federalism may offer a better framework for addressing election concerns moving forward.


Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

As America marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, an important question remains: what do the nation’s founding principles have to say about the challenges we face today? 

On this episode of Defending Ideas, host Nic Dunn is joined by Jay Lapeyre, co-founder of the Free Society Coalition, and Lawson Bader, president and CEO of DonorsTrust, to discuss the enduring ideas that shaped the American experiment. Their conversation explores individual dignity, natural rights, constitutional self-government, and how a renewed focus on America’s founding principles could help reduce political division and strengthen civic culture for the next 250 years.

Show notes:

• Free Society Coalition: The Philadelphia Declaration

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.

What if one of the biggest solutions to America’s political dysfunction isn’t electing better people, but restoring the principles of federalism?

In this episode of Defending Ideas, Nic Dunn speaks with two Utah representatives, Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost and Rep. Ken Ivory, about the constitutional balance between state and federal power.

They discuss polarization, congressional dysfunction, the role of states as laboratories of democracy, and why shifting more decisions to local communities could improve both governance and civic trust.

Defending Ideas is a weekly podcast produced by Sutherland Institute. On this show, we are committed to renewing the principles of common sense conservatism, making you a better champion of sound ideas. Visit defendingideas.org.