Older/Wiser with Linda Chavez

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From JD Vance to two-thirds of the Supreme Court, Catholicism is a real force among American conservatives, and the religion is attracting new recruits on the right. Journalist Nate Weisberg watched his friend from college convert, joining a burgeoning group of new, young Catholics working in right-wing politics. Linda chats with Nate about his New York Magazine piece, “The Young Catholic Elite Poised to Take Over MAGA,” and asks why an old faith is newly influential.

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Where is America’s only living former Republican president, George W. Bush? Where are the titans of industry from companies like Amazon? The Supreme Court justices, lawyers at Paul, Weiss and other top firms, and politicians on Capitol Hill? The media leaders at outlets like The Washington Post? In America’s moment of democratic crisis, prominent figures who could have stood up to MAGA demagoguery bent the knee or simply disappeared. Linda’s latest guest has a new book out investigating where all of these would-be guardians ran off to. Jacob Weisberg is the author of Profiles in Cowardice and former editor-in-chief of The Slate Group. Tune in to find out why so many are sitting things out.

Donald Trump is 80. Joe Biden left office at 82. Americans are living longer than ever before—concentrating political power and resources among an aging demographic.

Yale Professor Samuel Moyn is the author of the new book Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth—and What to Do About It. He has some ideas for dealing with our disproportionately senior ruling class, and there’s no better place to discuss those ideas than on a podcast literally called Older/Wiser.

So, can the boomers be stopped? Host Linda Chavez (a baby boomer herself) and Professor Moyn debate proposals from weighting votes based on age to upper age limits for office—and the question of how to transfer wealth to the next generation.

If you’re a premium subscriber to The Next Move, you are among the first to hear this episode of the Older/Wiser podcast—24 hours before the rest of the world gets to tune in. Early access to this podcast is just one of the ways we’re saying “thank you” for your support. Premium subscribers also receive automatic entry into exciting raffles and contests and invitations to Zoom calls with Garry Kasparov and other pro-democracy leaders.

If you’re not yet a premium subscriber and you’d like to get access to these perks and support our work, there’s never been a better time to join our community. Your support drives the work of the Renew Democracy Initiative, including bringing political dissidents to meet students, business leaders, and elected officials, as well as providing humanitarian assistance to frontline communities in Ukraine. Click here for an update on our on-the-ground work in Ukraine.

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Russia is facing battlefield setbacks in Ukraine—but Moscow may not need victory there to beat the democratic West. Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn argues in his new book, How Russia Won, that Vladimir Putin is already accomplishing his broader goals by subverting the United States from within. He makes that case to Older/Wiser’s Linda Chavez on today’s podcast.

If you’re a premium subscriber to The Next Move, you are among the first to hear this episode of the Older/Wiser podcast—24 hours before the rest of the world gets to tune in. Early access to this podcast is just one of the ways we’re saying “thank you” for your support. Premium subscribers also receive automatic entry into exciting raffles and contests and invitations to Zoom calls with Garry Kasparov and other pro-democracy leaders.

If you’re not yet a premium subscriber and you’d like to get access to these perks and support our work, there’s never been a better time to join our community. Your support drives the work of the Renew Democracy Initiative, including bringing political dissidents to meet students, business leaders, and elected officials, as well as providing humanitarian assistance to frontline communities in Ukraine. Click here for an update on our on-the-ground work in Ukraine.

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Does the West still have something to offer the world? Dalibor Roháč has an answer: economic growth—and it’s the subject of his new book, Unshackled: How Economic Growth Can Defeat the World’s Dictators. As national debt, border closures, and creeping cronyism sap the dynamism of Western democracies, Dalibor and Linda discuss how to renew the institutions that keep democratic capitalism innovative. A dynamic, open society, he says, is the West’s best answer to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea alike.

If you’re a premium subscriber to The Next Move, you are among the first to hear this episode of the Older/Wiser podcast—24 hours before the rest of the world gets to tune in. Early access to this podcast is just one of the ways we’re saying “thank you” for your support. Premium subscribers also receive automatic entry into exciting raffles and contests and invitations to Zoom calls with Garry Kasparov and other pro-democracy leaders.

If you’re not yet a premium subscriber and you’d like to get access to these perks and support our work, there’s never been a better time to join our community. Your support drives the work of the Renew Democracy Initiative, including bringing political dissidents to meet students, business leaders, and elected officials, as well as providing humanitarian assistance to frontline communities in Ukraine. Click here for an update on our on-the-ground work in Ukraine.

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What would it take to restore faith in American democracy? Linda’s latest guest, Jennifer Dresden, has one answer: proportional representation. Jennifer is a policy strategist at Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to safeguard our institutions through litigation, advocacy, and research. She previously served as the associate director of Georgetown’s Democracy and Governance Program. Linda and Jennifer dig into how proportional representation works and why advocates say it might be better than our current system—and whether it’s realistic.

If you’re a premium subscriber to The Next Move, you are among the first to hear this episode of the Older/Wiser podcast—24 hours before the rest of the world gets to tune in. Early access to this podcast is just one of the ways we’re saying “thank you” for your support. Premium subscribers also receive automatic entry into exciting raffles and contests and invitations to Zoom calls with Garry Kasparov and other pro-democracy leaders.

If you’re not yet a premium subscriber and you’d like to get access to these perks and support our work, there’s never been a better time to join our community. Your support drives the work of the Renew Democracy Initiative, including bringing political dissidents to meet students, business leaders, and elected officials, as well as providing humanitarian assistance to frontline communities in Ukraine. Click here for an update on our on-the-ground work in Ukraine.

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Nathan Law became Hong Kong’s youngest-ever elected lawmaker at 23—then watched his city’s promised freedoms rapidly collapse as China tightened its grip. Jailed, disqualified from office, and forced to flee before the 2020 National Security Law took effect, Law now lives in exile in the UK while Beijing harasses his family back home. In this episode of Older/Wiser, Linda and Nathan discuss Hong Kong’s broken “one country, two systems” promise, the human cost of standing up to an authoritarian regime, transnational repression on foreign soil, and why Nathan still continues his advocacy even from thousands of miles away.

If you’re a premium subscriber to The Next Move, you are among the first to hear this episode of the Older/Wiser podcast—24 hours before the rest of the world gets to tune in. Early access to this podcast is just one of the ways we’re saying “thank you” for your support. Premium subscribers also receive automatic entry into exciting raffles and contests and invitations to Zoom calls with Garry Kasparov and other pro-democracy leaders.

If you’re not yet a premium subscriber and you’d like to get access to these perks and support our work, there’s never been a better time to join our community. Your support drives the work of the Renew Democracy Initiative, including bringing political dissidents to meet students, business leaders, and elected officials, as well as providing humanitarian assistance to frontline communities in Ukraine. Click here for an update on our on-the-ground work in Ukraine.

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Is liberalism dead? Linda’s latest guest doesn’t think so. Shikha Dalmia is the president of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism and founder of The UnPopulist. She and Linda discuss Shikha’s political trajectory as an Indian-American immigrant and her organization’s recent event, LibCon—the Liberalism in the 21st Century Conference. Linda and Shikha unpack the trend of executive overreach, and discuss how to safeguard liberal values by reinforcing our institutions against authoritarian overreach.

If you’re a premium subscriber to The Next Move, you are among the first to hear this episode of the Older/Wiser podcast—24 hours before the rest of the world gets to tune in. Early access to this podcast is just one of the ways we’re saying “thank you” for your support. Premium subscribers also receive automatic entry into exciting raffles and contests and invitations to Zoom calls with Garry Kasparov and other pro-democracy leaders.

If you’re not yet a premium subscriber and you’d like to get access to these perks and support our work, there’s never been a better time to join our community. Your support drives the work of the Renew Democracy Initiative, including bringing political dissidents to meet students, business leaders, and elected officials, as well as providing humanitarian assistance to frontline communities in Ukraine. Click here for an update on our on-the-ground work in Ukraine.

To commemorate America’s 250th, Linda speaks with Robert P. George, the McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Linda and Robert discuss the legacy of the Declaration of Independence, its radical principles, and how it operates as an ancient faith uniting a country comprised of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Linda speaks with Noah Bopp, founder and head of the School for Ethics and Global Leadership, about educating a younger generation that is navigating politics without the landmarks older Americans once took for granted. Linda and Noah discuss why so few young people believe democracy is working for them, how phones and social media are eroding attention and community, and what it will take — inside and outside of the classroom — to raise leaders who are both ethically grounded and internationally aware.