Guests: Jonathan Gregg & Daniel J. Flynn 

Host Scot Bertram talks with Jonathan Gregg, assistant professor of education at Hillsdale College, about efforts to improve national math standards in education and his co-authored essay, “The Alarming Decay of Mathematical Competency in the U.S.” And Daniel J. Flynn, senior editor at the American Spectator and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, discusses the legacy of conservative luminary Frank S. Meyer and Flynn’s new book, The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer.

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Guests: Sam Knecht & Allison Ellis

Host Scot Bertram talks with Sam Knecht, professor emeritus of art at Hillsdale College, about how American art reflects the American character and the new Hillsdale College online course American Paintings. And Allison Ellis, founder of Mount Titano Media, discusses the power of rhetoric and her new edited collection of important American speeches, FINDING OUR WORDS: Words That Made America.

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Guests: Joseph Postell, Todd Starnes, & Korey D. Maas

Host Scot Bertram talks with Joseph Postell, associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College, about the conservative counter-revolution against the bureaucratic state as detailed in his book Bureaucracy in America: The Administrative State’s Challenge to Constitutional Government. Todd Starnes, commentator, author, and radio host, discusses his new book Star-Spangled Blessings: Devotions for Patriots. And Korey D. Maas, chairman and associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, gives a survey of the life and work of English reformer and martyr Robert Barnes.

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Guests: Alex Marlow & Eric Hutchinson

Host Scot Bertram talks with Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief of Breitbart News, about the weaponization of America’s legal system against Donald Trump and Marlow’s new book Breaking the Law. And Eric Hutchinson, associate professor of classics and chairman of the Collegiate Scholars Program at Hillsdale College, gives an introduction to the Roman poet Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid.

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Guests: Victor Davis Hanson & Oren Cass

First, we hear excerpts from Victor Davis Hanson’s address on the subject of living an honorable and virtuous life, given at Hillsdale College's 2025 commencement ceremonies. Hanson is the Wayne and Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History at Hillsdale College and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. And host Scot Bertram talks with Oren Cass, chief economist at American Compass, about the reappraisal of free market ideas on the American right and the new American Compass essay collection The New Conservatives: Restoring America's Commitment to Family, Community, and Industry.

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Guests: Charles N. Steele, Daniel Gullotta, & Benedict Whalen

Host Scot Bertram talks with Charles N. Steele, director of the Center for Commerce and Freedom and associate professor of economics at Hillsdale College, about the economic fallout of proposed Universal Basic Income (UBI) policies. Daniel Gullotta, assistant professor at The Ohio State University’s Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society, discusses his recent essay on the growing number of young people committing themselves to Christianity. And Benedict Whalen, associate professor of English at Hillsdale College, concludes a short series on the life and work of American writer Mark Twain with a discussion of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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Guests: Richard Samuelson & Erik J. Larson

Host Scot Bertram talks with Richard Samuelson, associate professor of government at Hillsdale College’s Washington, D.C. campus, about his recent essay on James Madison and the importance of republican principles. And Erik J. Larson, author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do, gives a brief history of the development of artificial intelligence and explains the limitations of this misunderstood technology.

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Guests: Salena Zito & Christopher Matsos

Host Scot Bertram talks with Salena Zito, political reporter for the Washington Examiner, about the political ramifications of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump and her new book, Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland. And Christopher Matsos, chairman and associate professor of theatre at Hillsdale College, tells us why theatre should play a role in a liberal arts education and what we can learn by studying theatre through the centuries.

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Guests: Matthew Spalding & Robert R. Riley

We revisit two previously aired interviews for this special Independence Day episode. Host Scot Bertram talks with Matthew Spalding, vice president of Washington Operations and dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale in D.C., about Thomas Jefferson's influence on the Declaration of Independence. And Robert R. Reilly, director of the Westminster Institute, gives a defense of the intellectual foundations of the American Founding as laid out in his book America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding.

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Guests: Bradley Watson & Michael Walsh 

Host Scot Bertram talks with Bradley Watson, associate professor of government at the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale in D.C., about progressive jurisprudence and the growing crisis of constitutionalism. And Michael Walsh, journalist and screenwriter, discusses the nature of warfare and his new book A Rage to Conquer: Twelve Battles That Changed the Course of Western History.

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