The Federalist was written more than two centuries ago with a particular purpose: persuading Americans to back the Constitution. Yet far from being a period piece, it initiated nothing less than a revolution in political thought — one that fundamentally redefined how we understand popular government. Grasping this point could help today’s Americans make better sense of our society’s contemporary challenges.

Guest Steven Smith joins us to discuss how the authors of The Federalist defined the republic we know today, but also their silence on important matters of moral education and statesmanship.

Steven Smith is the Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science at Yale University. His scholarship has focused particularly on the problem of the ancients and moderns, the relation of religion and politics, and theories of representative government. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes.

This podcast discusses themes from Steven’s essay in the Winter 2023 issue of National Affairs, “Learning from Publius.”

For more on this topic, see Steven’s essay in the journal Liberties, “What is a Statesman.”

This spring, in the case of Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court will decide whether and when state judges can step in to draw congressional district maps. The case takes up the so-called “independent state legislature” theory. At issue is nothing less than the traditional model of American redistricting, in which the people’s representatives, not partisan activists and courts, craft district maps.

Guest Andrew Taylor joins us to discuss ISL theory as a “final, even desperate, salvo” to save legislative redistricting.

Andrew Taylor is professor of political science at North Carolina State University, and he was an expert witness for the legislative defendants in NC League of Conservation Voters v. Hall and in Harper v. Hall. The issues in those state redistricting disputes are now before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Moore v. Harper.

This podcast discusses themes from Andrew’s essay in the Winter 2023 issue of National Affairs, “The Future of Redistricting.”

Neither free-speech absolutism nor censorship will solve the problems that surround political speech today. Instead, we need a renewed commitment to the citizen’s task of finding common ground, even and especially between factions that seem irreconcilable. We need to relearn how to rule and be ruled in turn.

Guests Jenna and Ben Storey join us to discuss how political speech can overcome social division and advance the common good.

Jenna and Ben Storey are both senior fellows in Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and concurrently are research professors at Furman University, where they ran the Tocqueville Program. At AEI they focus on political philosophy, civil society, and higher education. The Storeys wrote a book together, titled Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment, and are working on a new one about liberal education and civic life.

This podcast discusses themes from the Storeys’ essay in the Fall 2022 issue of National Affairs, “Political Speech in Divided Times.”

Pressuring families to keep both parents in the workforce while their children are young may be beneficial for GDP, but it often harms families. Both policymakers and employers should recognize that many families want one parent to stay home with the kids in their early years, and should find ways to make that possible.

Guest Ivana Greco joins us to discuss policy reforms that would encourage and aid families with a breadwinner and a homemaker.

Ivana Greco practiced as an attorney specializing in qualified retirement-plan advising and health-care litigation until last year. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she became a stay-at-home mother.

This podcast discusses themes from Ivana’s essay in the Fall 2022 issue of National Affairs, “Reframing Family Policy.”  

The question of the proper role of government once unified the right, but now it divides it. Some conservatives are increasingly open to an assertive role for the state, particularly in supporting family formation. But what rules and standards should define that role? The principle of subsidiarity can be of enormous help in tackling this question and in shaping conservative family policy. Guest Andy Smarick joins us to define subsidiarity and discuss how it might inform policymakers.

Andy Smarick is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where his work focuses on education, civil society, and the principles of American conservatism.

This podcast discusses themes from Andy’s essay in the Summer 2022 issue of National Affairs, “Subsidiarity and Family Policy.”  

What does it mean to be a conservative in a time of profound upheaval, when it is no longer clear what can or even should be conserved? Few Americans have more to teach us on that front than John Jay — a man who modeled throughout his remarkable life and work the vocation of a conservative in a time of disruption.

Guest Brad Littlejohn joins us to discuss Jay, the founding father whose brand of “conservative, nationalist statesmanship” provides lessons for how to remain calm amid the political storms of today.

Brad Littlejohn is a fellow in the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Evangelicals in Civic Life Program and is founder and president of the Davenant Institute. He previously worked as a senior fellow of the Edmund Burke Foundation as lead author on a multi-year project entitled “Foundations of Liberty: Rediscovering the Anglo-American Conservative Tradition.” 

This podcast discusses themes from Brad’s essay in the Summer 2022 issue of National Affairs, “A Conservative Revolutionary.”

The information revolution has produced the most dramatic economic and social transformations since industrialization. Like that preceding revolution, it has yielded some great benefits but has also generated some unanticipated and unacceptable harms that are particularly acute among one of our nation’s most vulnerable populations: our children. To grapple with this issue successfully, policymakers will need to understand that the questions involved require us to think beyond individual freedom and economic dynamism, and to take seriously the well-being of the rising generation.

Guest Chris Griswold joins us to discuss the historical parallels between child labor in the 19th century and kids’ use of social media today, and to suggest steps that policymakers can take to protect them from its harms.

Chris Griswold is the policy director at American Compass, a conservative organization whose mission is to restore an economic consensus that emphasizes the importance of family, community, and industry to the nation’s liberty and prosperity.

This podcast discusses themes from Chris’s essay in the Spring 2022 issue of National Affairs, “Protecting Children from Social Media.”

Constitutionalist court watchers, judges, and scholars are now engaged in an intense debate over how to apply originalism and textualism in practice. The work of late legal scholar Alexander Bickel points toward a tradition-based originalism that could offer a path through that debate. His approach calls on our shared national memory to help us achieve what the conservative judicial critique sought in the first place. Guest Will Haun joins us to outline this view of originalism and its relevance to current legal disputes before the Supreme Court, including the contentious abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Will Haun is senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and a non-resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

This podcast discusses themes from Will’s essay in the Spring 2022 issue of National Affairs, “Tradition-based Originalism and the Supreme Court.”

The populist turn of the American right has created a policy affinity between nationalist conservatives and mainstream progressives. Both seem to agree that an emphasis on dynamism has undermined our economy’s ability to prioritize workers, families, and communities. But in fact, the trouble facing America’s heartland is more likely the result of a lack of dynamism than an excess of it. Guest Ryan Streeter joins us to make the case for dynamism in American culture and economic policy, and offer some paths to pursue it.

Ryan Streeter is the director of domestic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

This podcast discusses themes from Ryan’s essay in the Winter 2022 issue of National Affairs, “Dynamism as a Public Philosophy.”   

How to balance state and national power was perhaps the single most important and challenging question confronting the early republic. The way the framers took up that question, and the approach they landed on for addressing it, can help us appreciate just how unlikely the emergence of the United States as we now know it really was. Guest Allen Guelzo joins us to discuss the framers’ approach to federalism and how it can still help us maximize liberty and use power responsibly today.

Allen Guelzo is the senior research scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, as well as director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship at the university’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.  

This podcast discusses themes from Dr. Guelzo’s essay in the Winter 2022 issue of National Affairs, “Federalism and the Founders.”