In this fifth episode of Season Two of More Than Politics, host Julie Varner Walsh turns to the problems we face when it comes to today’s politics. She describes how she sees these problems as coming from our human tendency to idolize, to become unhealthily attached to things. 

And in particular, in this episode Julie discusses our tendency to idolize people – both groups and individuals. Julie believes that this idol has lead us into a culture war, and that we vastly underestimate the role this culture war has come to play in our lives.

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In the first three episodes of this season, host Julie Varner Walsh has described some ideas that she sees as timeless – applicable to all humans, whenever and wherever they live.

In this episode and those that follow, she begins to orient us to our moment, to our place – to the problems we face, the solutions we need, and the ideas that might help us move forward. She explores how she sees her ideas of the human physics and the spiritual physics playing out in our moment, and how we might use the ideas to guide us.

Here, she begins with some thoughts on time, and change, and our idea of the possible.

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In this episode, host Julie Varner Walsh explores her idea of the “spiritual physics” – a concept through which she tries to make sense of the mess in the world – especially in politics, and in the way politics has come to affect our relationships with one another.

She believes there is a truth to human relationship that is both deeper than and counter to our basic human inclinations, and that this truth applies to both small-scale human relationships (like family, friendship, and community) and large-scale relationships (like politics, society, and international affairs). 

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In Season Two of More Than Politics, host Julie Varner Walsh aims to lay a groundwork for how we, as individuals, might consider the political issues and dynamics of our day. And she aims to go as wide and deep as she is able: into history, into faith, into how humans relate to one another, into complicated messes and simple truths.

Here in this second episode of Season Two, she’ll begin with the most personal, essential elements of her view on the world: her faith, and how she understands reality itself. 

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Welcome to Season Two of More Than Politics – to this new beginning. In the first episode of the season, host Julie Varner Walsh reintroduces herself, lays out what she hopes to accomplish in this season, and challenges listeners to consider how they might work to improve their communities, their country, and even politics itself.

Follow Julie on Instagram and Substack, and subscribe both there and here to support the podcast.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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