Pluralist Points with Ben Klutsey

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Jeffrey Rosen, the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, about the Founders’ understanding of the pursuit of happiness and how it relates to virtue. They discuss the notion of bounded liberty, the importance of deep reading, literature that contains ancient wisdom and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. 

Recorded March 5th, 2025

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Jeff on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Kurt Weyland, the Mike Hogg Professor in Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, about the rise of populism. They discuss what factors contribute to populism, how worried we should be about its rise, why populism leads to authoritarianism, and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. 

Recorded February 11th, 2025

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Kurt Gray, a psychology and neuroscience professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, about our moral understanding and how we react to perceived threats. They discuss why a “protection” narrative is better than a “destruction” one, the pros and cons of moral outrage, why stories matter more than facts in political disagreements, and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. 

Recorded January 9, 2025

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Kurt on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Shira Hoffer, the founder and executive director of the Institute for Multipartisan Education, about her work as a mediator and the importance of curious disagreement. They discuss self-censorship among college students, how to develop good conflict resolution skills, the Hotline for Israel/Palestine and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. 

Recorded November 11th, 2024.

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with author, activist and musician Daryl Davis, who is known for his work confronting racism through dialogue. They discuss Davis’ first encounter with a member of the Ku Klux Klan, his determination to discover the “why” behind racism, his meeting and eventual friendship with klan leader Roger Kelly and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded September 25th, 2024.

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Follow Daryl Davis on X

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Corey Brettschneider, a professor of political science at Brown University, about his new book, “The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought To Defend It.” They discuss the early presidential models of Washington and Adams, what categorizes a “recovery” president after a period of crisis, Frederick Douglass as a founder of American democracy, how we haven’t yet recovered from Nixon and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded August 28th, 2024

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Follow Corey on X

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Musa al-Gharbi, an assistant professor of journalism, communication and sociology at Stony Brook University, about his forthcoming book, “We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite.” They discuss the evolution of terms like “woke” and “politically correct,” how social justice beliefs can be both sincere and self-interested, why elites don’t always realize they’re elite and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded September 12th, 2024

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Follow Musa on X

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Ilana Redstone, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, about her new book, “The Certainty Trap: Why We Need To Question Ourselves More—and How We Can Judge Others Less.” They discuss why we ascribe ill intent to others, shortcomings of the term “critical thinking,” the role of education in escaping the certainty trap and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded August 23rd, 2024

Other ways to connect

• Follow Discourse Magazine on X

• Follow Ben on X

• Follow Ben on LinkedIn

• Follow Ilana Redstone on X

• Read more by Discourse Magazine.

• Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this re-release of an installment of a series on liberalism, Benjamin Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, talks with Joshua Cherniss, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University, about challenges to liberalism in the mid-20th century, the current liberal predicament, the thinkers who exemplify a spirit of tempered liberalism, the balancing act of activism vs. detachment and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Originally published January 27th, 2023

Other ways to connect:

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Yuval Levin, editor-in-chief of National Affairs magazine and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, about the Constitution as a unity document, the relationship between liberalism and republicanism, the benefits of congressional inefficiency, the problems with primaries and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded July 10th, 2024

Other ways to connect

Follow Discourse Magazine on X

Follow Ben on X

Follow Ben on LinkedIn

Read more by Discourse Magazine.

Learn more about the Mercatus Center.

Music Copyright Code: QSHX8CE2OGOJIZGV