Sneer all you want at the ideas of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, but unless we engage her ideas....she will win. Look no further than Jeremy Corbyn in the UK as an example of how this happens. Tom Westgarth of Young Voices joins the podcast all the way from Spain to discuss this tricky balance when confronting avowed democratic socialists.

What sort of power should the government have in ending the life of its people? For a long time, the consensus has been in favor of allowing the death penalty across 50 states. Recently, Republican state legislatures across the country are moving against capital punishment, but why? Patrick Hauf joins the podcast to discuss his latest writing over at GlennBeck.com. 

Follow Patrick Hauf on Twitter @PatrickHauf

Follow Young Voices on Twitter @YVADV

Reparations has long been suggested as a form of repayment to African Americans for the crime of slavery. Many suggest we have not reconciled with it in full, as a country. 2020 Democrats are talking about it now more than ever, why is that? 

Jerrod Laber & Christian Watson joined the podcast to discuss the merits, pitfalls and politics of reparations.

Are we headed toward a post-truth era in politics where any lie or slander can be backed up by falsified video evidence? Maybe. Ryan Khurana and Linsday Marchello of Young Voices join the podcast to discuss 'deep fake' technology and the threats it could pose to civil society. Is this technology inherently dangerous or are our institutions such as the news media just not ready to do the hard work of gatekeeping?

Matthew Larosiere joins Underscored today to weigh in on political forgiveness. What is it? How should forgiveness work in politics? This past week VA Governor Ralph Northam (D) endured a nasty scandal involving the wearing of blackface in his 20's. Democrats have united around calling for him to resign. 

Larosiere wrote It’s Time to Rediscover Political Forgiveness and is concerned about the politics of personal destruction we live under today. He offers

Does a city on a hill need walls? Michael Shindler thinks it might. The issue of sovereignty, borders and the role of the nation-state is a fault line in libertarian circles today. As the world becomes smaller through globalization and international forms of governance, border politics captures the angst of the times and a young nation like the U.S.

Follow Michael Shindler on Twitter @MichaelShindler

Read his latest in The American Conservative

Live at LibertyCon 2019, Democratic candidate for president in 2020 Andrew Yang joins Underscored. Stephen Kent and Ryan Khurana of Young Voices ask some key questions about his platform supporting a Universal Basic Income for all American's over 18. $1000 a month direct to your bank account? It's hard to hate such an idea. Yang rebuffs the idea that this is 21st-century socialism, reflects on the coming crisis of unemployment by automation and much more.

Welcome back to Underscored and a whole new year! Hey 2019. Today on the show Daniel DiMartino of Young Voices joins from Spain to discuss his latest in RealClearPolicy about infrastructure and America's roads. Who will fund them if the federal government coffers keep running on empty and gas taxes fail to fix that? Daniel says the states need to take back the reins on infrastructure spending.

This week on Underscored we follow up an episode on criminal justice reform with the exciting passage of the First Step Act by the US Senate. Ashley Keimach and Christian Barnard join the show to discuss the bill and criminal justice more broadly.

Why is 2018 a punchline but 2017 is not? Matt Larosiere and Kayla Stetzel of Young Voices join the podcast to discuss some absurd stories from 2018. We touch on Tesla, Elon Musk, A Florida Man, Trump, Kevin Hart and much more. 

Larosiere stays on for an extra segment to get into gun policy and the Trump administrations move to ban bump stocks.