More Than Politics

Friends, it has been a long time. It has been a long time since we've published an episode of More Than Politics. There is an explanation, and we have much catching up to do, but for now we wanted to break in with some thoughts as we try to digest last Friday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Here we go.

Host: Julie Varner Walsh

Follow Julie on Instagram and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

In this week’s episode (the second of a two-part conversation) Julie Walsh talks with David Hancharik, an electrical engineer who has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 36 years. David and Julie discuss the controversy regarding free speech and “Big Tech” – the technology companies that make our internet and social media usage possible. 

In the wake of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, social media companies suspended accounts (President Trump’s most notable among them) and hosting companies took websites offline. To many, these actions felt like attacks on Americans’ freedom of speech. 

But were they? It’s not such a simple question. Do private companies infringe on individuals’ freedom of speech when they don’t permit them to use the companies’ platforms? In a world where most political speech has moved online, have those platforms come to be our newest, and most important, public square? And which is more important: companies’ rights to their private property or individuals’ rights to use that property for public speech?

David and Julie spoke at such length on these questions (and more) that we split the conversation into two episodes. This episode covers: the Fairness Doctrine; the differences between bias, accuracy, and fairness; the question of whether office-holders should always be allowed access to social media platforms; how social media companies cooperate with the government when it comes to threats to public officials; the unintended consequences that might result from efforts to restrict social media companies’ ability to censor content on their sites; and the importance of considering matters of conscience when it comes to those who work in “Big Tech.”

David Hancharik is an electrical engineer who has worked in the telecommunications field for over 36 years. A majority of his experience has been in the areas of satellite communications for consumer and national security applications. While David’s primary responsibilities have been in the analysis and design of these systems, he is also involved in business development and exposed to commercial and national security industry customer communities. 

David has taught scriptural studies throughout his adult life and has been a Catholic Catechist for the past ten years. He is keenly aware of the moral benefits and evils that are made possible by the telecommunications industry, as well as how conscience considerations are applied within it.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

In this week’s episode Julie Walsh talks with David Hancharik, an electrical engineer who has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 36 years. David and Julie discuss the controversy regarding free speech and “Big Tech” – the technology companies that make our internet and social media usage possible. 

In the wake of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, social media companies suspended accounts (President Trump’s most notable among them) and hosting companies took websites offline. To many, these actions felt like attacks on Americans’ freedom of speech. 

But were they? It’s not such a simple question. Do private companies infringe on individuals’ freedom of speech when they don’t permit them to use the companies’ platforms? In a world where most political speech has moved online, have those platforms come to be our newest, and most important, public square? And which is more important: companies’ rights to their private property or individuals’ rights to use that property for public speech?

David and Julie spoke at such length on these questions (and more) that we’re splitting the conversation into two episodes. This first episode covers: the often-discussed (but perhaps seldom understood) “Section 230” of the Communications Decency Act; how the right to free speech interacts with the right to private property; the concept of the public square; what “Big Tech” currently protects its users from; the enormity of the current moment; and the fact that “Big Tech” is made up of real, individual people, each with their own consciences.

David Hancharik is an electrical engineer who has worked in the telecommunications field for over 36 years. A majority of his experience has been in the areas of satellite communications for consumer and national security applications. While David’s primary responsibilities have been in the analysis and design of these systems, he is also involved in business development and exposed to commercial and national security industry customer communities. 

David has taught scriptural studies throughout his adult life and has been a Catholic Catechist for the past ten years. He is keenly aware of the moral benefits and evils that are made possible by the telecommunications industry, as well as how conscience considerations are applied within it.

You can find the text of “Section 230” here.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

In this episode Julie Varner Walsh talks with historian Dede Miller for the second part in a series on Reconstruction. Reconstruction was the period immediately following the Civil War, in which the Confederate south was brought back into the fold and millions of formerly enslaved people began to make their way in a new America.

While Reconstruction is perhaps less well-known to most Americans than slavery, Jim Crow, or the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, its impact has nevertheless continued to be felt in our politics and society – especially when it comes to racial inequality.

In this second part of the series, Julie and Dede discuss the topic of criminal justice. They talk about the legacy that Reconstruction-era “black codes” and policies of imprisonment and forced labor have left in American society, right down to the modern day.


Dede Miller is a wife, a mother of two, a historian, and a former teacher. She holds an M.A. in History and specializes in 18th and 19th century trans-Atlantic slavery and slave revolutions, African-American history, and black political identity.

Dede is a black woman and convert to Catholicism who has a deep love for her community and her faith. She is a founding member and President of Catholics United for Black Lives and is deeply invested in using the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to address the racial divide in America.


To learn more about Dede, follow her on Instagram @dedes.journey. To learn more about Catholics United for Black Lives, check out their website at www.cubl.org and follow them on Facebook and Instagram at @cublorg.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

Julie Walsh and Dr. Michael Towle discuss this moment of transition from one presidential administration to the next: the end of the Trump administration, including the Capitol insurrection and the president’s second impeachment – and the beginning of the Biden administration, including where our parties, our politics, and our country might be heading next.

Dr. Michael Towle is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Mount Saint Mary’s University, where he has taught since 1991. He received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Towle teaches introductory and advanced courses in American politics, including Parties and Elections, The American Presidency, Congressional Politics, and the Supreme Court and Constitutional Law.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

In this episode Julie Varner Walsh talks with historian Dede Miller for the first part in a series on Reconstruction. Reconstruction was the period immediately following the Civil War, in which the Confederate south was brought back into the fold and millions of formerly enslaved people began to make their way in a new America.

While Reconstruction is perhaps less well-known to most Americans than slavery, Jim Crow, or the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, its impact has nevertheless continued to be felt in our politics and society – especially when it comes to racial inequality.

In this first part of the series, Julie and Dede discuss the topic of voting. They talk about black Americans’ political engagement in the years following the Civil War, the mounting violence that resulted in black disenfranchisement, and the vestiges of disenfranchisement that we continue to see today.

And lastly, in an addendum to the originally-recorded conversation, Dede explains the Wilmington coup of 1898, which, as the only known coup in the history of the United States, has attracted much attention in the wake of the January 6th attack on the US. Capitol.

Dede Miller is a wife, a mother of two, a historian, and a former teacher. She holds an M.A. in History and specializes in 18th and 19th century trans-Atlantic slavery and slave revolutions, African-American history, and black political identity.

Dede is a black woman and convert to Catholicism who has a deep love for her community and her faith. She is a founding member and President of Catholics United for Black Lives and is deeply invested in using the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to address the racial divide in America.

To learn more about Dede, follow her on Instagram at @dedes.journey. To learn more about Catholics United for Black Lives, check out their website at www.cubl.org and follow them on Facebook and Instagram at @cublorg. 

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

Julie Varner Walsh goes solo for this episode, reflecting on the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, as well as the 2020 election and its aftermath.

***

A onetime federal government employee, onetime lobbyist, and longtime student of politics, Julie Varner Walsh’s life has always centered around politics and her Catholic faith. And that has made for some strange combinations. Raised Republican, she worked mostly with Democrats when she was a lobbyist for the Catholic Church on poverty, immigration, and health care matters. Today she finds herself politically homeless, but not politically aimless. Walsh has found purpose in encouraging people to look beyond labels, to focus more on the moral implications of politics than the partisan horse race.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

In this episode Julie Varner Walks talks with singer/songwriter Kevin Heider. Kevin, who lives with his wife and four children in Dayton, Ohio, writes hymns, drinking songs, and everything in between. He has recently released an EP called Make An Honest Stand. 

A collection of six beautiful songs, Make An Honest Stand is perfect for this moment of political discord and cultural upheaval.

With lyrics that wrestle with our nation’s history and with the concepts of freedom, patriotism, and justice – and which deal, too, with anger, cynicism, and the pitfalls of social media – Make An Honest Stand offers a powerful, yet loving, criticism of our country, our politics, and our own, flawed selves.

Julie views these songs as protest songs of a sort – they are protests, perhaps, against antipathy. Honest and peaceful, challenging and probing, Make An Honest Stand is an invitation to reckoning. Or as Kevin calls it in their conversation, “An examination of our collective conscience.”

Their conversation is long – a full two hours. But it is all of a piece, and Julie couldn’t in good conscience split it into two episodes. It deserves to remain whole. So maybe it can keep you company here in the next week as you prepare your kitchen, your home, your family for Thanksgiving. 

Maybe it, and the songs Julie and Kevin discuss in it, can give you something to think about as we approach this national holiday. Maybe it can help you to consider our place in the history of this country, what parts of it we should be thankful for, and what parts we should work to correct.

To learn more about Kevin and his music, please visit his website, check out his podcast, and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

In this episode Julie Varner Walks talks with Meg Hunter-Kilmer on a topic that is more explicitly Catholic than others she’s covered – but which will also have something to offer listeners of different faiths, or no faith at all: stories of saints who lived in politically troubled times.

Given the divisiveness of the 2020 presidential election and how existentially threatening both sides seem to consider it, it’s good to take a longer view. The sad fact is, people have long lived under unjust political systems – systems that are as bad as, if not worse than, our current fears. In this conversation Julie and Meg consider the stories of people who lived through such times, who faced them with courage and conviction, who took them as opportunities to grow in faith, to work toward justice, to do God’s will, and to draw others closer to Him.

In a conversation that was far funnier than Julie expected and which spanned four continents and several centuries, Meg speaks to us about what these holy men and women have to teach us about living through turmoil, about facing oppression, about resisting unjust systems, about speaking truth to power.

Meg Hunter-Kilmer considers herself a “hobo missionary.” After two theology degrees from Notre Dame and five years as a high school religion teacher, Meg quit her job in 2012 to live out of her car and preach the Gospel to anyone who would listen. 50 states and 25 countries later, this seems to have a been a less ridiculous decision than she initially thought. Meg blogs at Pierced Hands and Aleteia and is a prolific poster on Instagram and Facebook – especially about the saints.

To learn more about Meg, please visit her blog, check out her upcoming book, and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.thesewallsblog.com/morethanpolitics to learn more about this podcast.

Theme music is by purple-planet.com

In this brief, bonus episode (which should have been posted a bit before the election -- c'est la vie), Julie Varner Walsh revisits a blog post she wrote in 2014. 

Adapting it a bit for the moment, Julie posts it to encourage any remaining reluctant voters to get on out there, even if it feels like your vote can't make a difference.

This bonus episode pairs well with last week's regular episode. So if you liked that one, you should like this one too.