Is There a Viral Cycle That We Can't Escape?

In a vicious cycle, institutions must form trustworthy people to lead them. How do we get out of the cycle? By demanding from ourselves a certain kind of responsibility in the institutions that we are part of., he says. "We trust people when we believe they're doing what's demanded of them," Obama adds.

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Why has there been a rise in antisemitic tropes, speech, and acts in recent years? Why have cultural moments of change in the West often led to the emergence of violence against Jewish people? And how might the Jewish American experience shed light on how all of us can live in tumultuous times?

On this episode, Yuval Levin and Russell Moore respond to these complex questions. Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. As the founder of National Affairs, a senior editor at The New Atlantis, a contributing editor at National Review, and a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times, Levin is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the modern conservative movement.

Levin shares some of his experiences as a Jewish American. He reflects on the fact that modern America is the safest place to be a Jewish person in the history of the religion while also noting that “even in America … Jews seem to stand in for the outsider” in the cultural imagination. They talk about the attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue, the remarks of Kanye West, and the way America interacted with religious minorities after the September 11th attacks. And they discuss the influence of technology, the effect of hyperconnectedness, and what it might look like to raise children to have moral commitments.

Tune in for a nuanced, thoughtful discussion that covers religion, government, and what it means to be part of American life.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

American Enterprise Institute
The Immigrant Advantage by Claudia Kolker
“The Red-Pill Pusher” by Damon Linker
“Federalist No. 10” by James Madison
“Opiates of the Masses? Deaths of Despair and the Decline of American Religion” by Tyler Giles, Daniel M. Hungerman & Tamar Oostrom
“Deconstructed: The Implosion of Progressive Organizing”
Hadassah