Voices of Freedom

College should be a place where young people wrestle with big ideas and discover who they are. Yet for many conservative women, campus can feel so isolating that they just decide to keep their views to themselves before they even arrive.

In the fall of 2004, a University of Virginia student returned from an internship in Washington, DC, looking for a place where college women could talk about public policy, including conservative ideas. When she asked the campus Women's Center to co-sponsor a group for conservative women, she was essentially laughed at and told, "not here." So she started a book club. Within a year, women on other campuses wanted chapters of their own. Today, the Network of enlightened Women is on more than 40 college campuses, with professional and alumnae chapters that carry its mission beyond graduation: to educate, equip, and empower women to be principled leaders for a free society.

That student is our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom. Karin Lips is the Founder and President of NeW. A graduate of the University of Virginia and its School of Law, she practiced law at Wiley Rein and was a Resident Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. She is the author of You're Not Alone: The Conservative Woman's Guide to College and editor of She's Conservative: Stories of Trials and Triumphs on America's College Campuses.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• How a rejected request at UVA sparked a book club that grew into a national network

• What NeW's mission to educate, equip, and empower looks like in practice

• How conservative women on campus are finding their voice

• What Karin is seeing in higher education today — and what university leaders should do differently

• What gives Karin hope about the next generation of young women

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is a moment to reflect not only on the founding of the United States, but on the much longer story that made the founding possible. The American experiment did not begin in 1776. Rather, the Founders drew on ideas about law, liberty, faith, and human dignity that reach back centuries, if not millennia.

Our guests on this episode of Voices of Freedom have spent their careers tracing that story. James Hankins and Allen Guelzo met as boys, and they have been talking about the Western tradition ever since. Those conversations — and their decades of scholarly work spanning the full arc of the Western experience — have now produced The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, a two-volume history published by Encounter Books that runs more than two thousand pages, with hundreds of maps, works of art, and primary sources set alongside the narrative.

James Hankins wrote Volume I, which begins with the ancient Greeks and continues through Rome, Christendom, and the Renaissance. He is Professor of Humanities at the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, taught at Harvard for forty years, and is the founding editor of the I Tatti Renaissance Library and the author of the prize-winning Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy. Jim is a 2026 Bradley Prize recipient.

Allen Guelzo wrote Volume II, which picks up in 1500 and follows the West through the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the age of revolutions, and into our own century. Also a Professor of Humanities at the Hamilton School, he is one of the country's leading historians of Lincoln and the Civil War, a three-time winner of the Lincoln Prize, and the author of Gettysburg: The Last Invasion and Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment. Allen is a 2018 Bradley Prize recipient.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• How a boyhood friendship grew into a two-volume history of the Western tradition

• Where the golden thread first emerges in the ancient world, how it carries forward through the Renaissance and into the modern age — and where it came closest to breaking

• America's place in the arc of Western civilization as the country marks 250 years

• The character a free society requires, and whether it can still be taught

• What gives Jim and Allen hope that the Western inheritance will be carried forward by the next generation of students and readers

An Interview with Adam Josefczyk, Co-founder and President, Forge Leadership Network

Many young conservatives have genuine conviction and real potential — but without personal formation, a trusted network, and professional mentoring, they never find their footing in the public arena. Forge Leadership Network was created to change that.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Adam Josefczyk, co-founder and President of Forge Leadership Network. Since founding Forge in 2014, Adam has built a pathway for emerging Christian conservative leaders through formation, friendship, and preparation for influence in politics, culture, and business. Through its Leadership Summit, Mentorship Academy, and a growing national network of Forge Fellows, Forge is turning a sense of calling into enduring impact in the public arena. Before Forge, Adam worked in public policy in Ohio and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Dayton.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• What Adam observed working in Ohio policy and politics — and the gap it revealed for young conservatives entering the public arena

• Why formation, friendship, and preparation must work together, and how the Forge Summit, Academy, and Network deliver all three

• How Forge measures success — and why placement in roles of real responsibility is the right standard

• The relationship between faith and political engagement, and the principles that guide how Forge navigates that tension

• What gives Adam hope about the next generation, where Forge is headed, and what it can offer young people who want to make a difference

At a time when faith is increasingly viewed as something to be kept out of public life, one of America's most compelling Jewish scholars and public intellectuals is making the opposite case — that religious liberty is not merely tolerated in America but is essential to its founding character and constitutional order.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York — the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States — and Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. A Senior Fellow at Tikvah and a scholar who has lectured at the Vatican and at Christian institutions across America and Europe, Rabbi Soloveichik brings both rigorous scholarship and the natural authority of a congregational rabbi to the most urgent questions about faith, freedom, and the American experiment. His most recent book, Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship, explores the qualities of moral courage and virtue that great leaders have drawn from faith across centuries.

Rabbi Soloveichik is also a 2026 Bradley Prize winner.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• Rabbi Soloveichik's path from a distinguished rabbinic family to Princeton, the synagogue, and the public square

• What America's oldest Jewish congregation reveals about the relationship between faith and the American Founding

• The resurgence of antisemitism in the West and what it tells us about the fragility of freedom

• The case for religious liberty as essential — not incidental — to America's constitutional order

• What it means to receive a Bradley Prize

From the classroom to the halls of Congress, to international banking, and the public square, few Americans have made a more sustained and consequential case for economic freedom than our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom.

Senator Phil Gramm taught economics at Texas A&M University for twelve years before serving in the United States Congress for more than two decades — first as a Representative from Texas, then as United States Senator. His legislative record includes the Gramm-Latta Budget, which reduced federal spending and paved the way for the Reagan tax cut; the Gramm-Rudman Act, which placed the first binding constraints on federal spending; and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which modernized the nation's banking, insurance, and securities laws. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of The Myth of American Inequality and The Triumph of Economic Freedom. Senator Gramm is a 2026 Bradley Prize winner.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• Senator Gramm's path from the classroom to Congress

• The legislative legacy of the Gramm-Latta Budget, Gramm-Rudman Act, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

• Whether Congress can recover a commitment to fiscal discipline

• How the country arrived at today's polarization over free enterprise and markets

• The case for economic freedom and what's at stake for the next generation

One of the keys to a healthy American democracy is an informed citizenry. Yet the decline of local news has left millions of Americans without reliable coverage of the institutions, policies, and elected officials that shape their daily lives. Statehouse reporting in particular has withered — leaving citizens in the dark about the decisions being made in their state capitals.

Our guest today has dedicated his career to changing that. He leads one of the most ambitious efforts in the country to fill the local news void with high-quality, government accountability journalism that puts taxpayers first.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Chris Krug, Publisher of The Center Square, a nonprofit news organization launched in 2019 to provide statehouse and statewide coverage across the United States. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in the media industry — from sports journalist to major market editor and publisher — Chris has built The Center Square into one of the country's most expansive sources of state and local government reporting.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• Chris's path from sports journalism to leading one of the country's most ambitious local news organizations

• What it means for communities and democracy when local news disappears

• How The Center Square's taxpayer-first sensibility shapes its coverage

• Earning reader trust and what keeping that trust means to The Center Square

• How The Center Square navigates the pressures of AI, social media, and the struggles of legacy news organizations

• What gives Chris optimism about the future of local journalism

For decades, small investors and entrepreneurs who run afoul of the Securities and Exchange Commission have faced a stark reality: challenge a powerful federal agency with seemingly unlimited resources or settle. The result is a staggering 98% settlement rate that has led to ruined businesses, lost opportunities, and forever changed lives.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is doing something about it.

Nick Morgan is Founder and President of the Investor Choice Advocates Network, or ICAN, a nonprofit public interest law firm that provides free legal representation to small investors and entrepreneurs facing SEC overreach. Before founding ICAN, Nick spent seven years as senior trial counsel at the SEC, followed by 18 years in private practice defending clients against securities enforcement actions. His insider's perspective revealed how heavily the deck is stacked against ordinary Americans trying to pursue economic opportunity — and drove him to act.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• How the SEC's structure and incentives undermine fairness for small investors and entrepreneurs
• ICAN's mission and the clients it serves
• Building legal precedent through strategic litigation and regulatory reform advocacy
• The proper balance between investor protection and economic freedom
• What gives Nick hope that the balance of power between individual Americans and the SEC can shift

The ability to preserve liberty depends on visionary leaders who not only understand America's founding principles, but who are also prepared to put them into practice. Yet there are few opportunities for emerging leaders to form deep connections between these timeless ideas and today's challenges.

For more than two decades, the Leadership Program of the Rockies has been meeting that need by educating and training emerging leaders in America's founding principles and equipping them with the skills to influence public policy and culture.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Shari Williams, President of the Leadership Program of the Rockies. Since founding LPR in 2003, she has built it into one of the country's premier leadership development programs, training more than 2,500 alumni who have gone on to serve as elected officials, judges, business and community leaders, and influential voices across Colorado and beyond. With more than 40 years of experience in public policy, political campaigns, and leadership development, Shari has dedicated her career to building what she calls an "Army for Freedom."

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• What drew Shari to focus on leadership development and why LPR focuses on culture and the way communities think about freedom
• Why LPR's mission is more important now than ever
• The transformation participants experience and stories of alumni impact
• The vision for LPR's Great Lakes expansion
• What gives Shari hope about preserving American principles for future generations

What makes a society truly prosperous? Is it GDP growth and stock market returns, or is there something more — something rooted in strong families, vibrant communities, and institutions that help people flourish?

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom has spent her career exploring these deeper questions about economic freedom and human flourishing. Catherine Pakaluk is an economist whose research challenges us to think beyond conventional metrics and consider how families, faith communities, and schools work together to create meaningful prosperity.

As both a Harvard-trained scholar and a mother of eight, Catherine brings a unique perspective to debates about family, economic opportunity, and the future of American society. She is an Associate Professor of Social Research and Economic Thought at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America, where her research focuses on the economics of education and religion, family studies and demography, and Catholic social thought. Catherine's work examines the institutions and relationships that enable people to thrive, from faith communities to schools to families themselves. Her most recent book, Hannah's Children, examines women defying demographic trends by choosing large families, offering surprising insights about how people weigh what truly matters.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• Catherine's path to economics and her focus on education, religion, family studies, and Catholic social thought
• The relationship between religious institutions and economic liberty
• How families function as economic and social institutions that create opportunity
• Research on school choice, educational outcomes, and teaching the next generation
• Catherine's most recent book, Hannah's Children, and insights about women who defy demographic trends
• What gives Catherine hope for American families and civil society

At a time when constitutional rights face continuing pressures---from campus censorship to race-based government policies---one organization has spent the last 35 years winning legal battles that set lasting precedents for individual liberty.

The Center for Individual Rights was founded in 1989 to defend constitutional principles through strategic litigation. Its first major Supreme Court victory, Rosenberger v. University of Virginia in 1995, established that public universities cannot discriminate based on religious viewpoint---a principle that continues to influence cases to this day. CIR also secured landmark victories challenging race-based admissions policies in the University of Michigan cases.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Todd Gaziano, who became CIR's president in 2023. Before joining CIR, he led legal centers at both the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Heritage Foundation, served as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and as chief counsel to a House subcommittee. He discusses CIR's strategic approach to defending equal protection, religious liberty, free speech, and competitive federalism---and explains why these constitutional battles matter for every American.

Topics Discussed on this Episode:

• Todd's path to the Center for Individual Rights and the most urgent threats to constitutional rights today
• The 30-year legacy of Rosenberger v. University of Virginia and its impact on campus free speech
• CIR's current cases challenging race-based policies in Portland schools and within federal programs
• Religious liberty and competitive federalism: why these areas matter
• Concerns and hopes for the future of constitutional rights in America