The Importance of Skepticism in Politics

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Sally Kohn: It's very difficult to sell the Berkean view to the American public. Modern politicians don't find it effective saying that, well, someone says it's got a good proposal, but we don't really know its full effects. She says conservatives stumble when they talk about markets as models for policy.Kohn: We are not very good at describing that to the public and explaining it in ways that allow us to figure out how to solve them.

Yuval Levin, author of The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas of Burke and Paine and their influence on the evolution of political philosophy. Levin outlines the differing approaches of the two thinkers to liberty, authority, and how reform and change should take place. Other topics discussed include Hayek's view of tradition, Cartesian rationalism, the moral high ground in politics, and how the "right and left" division of American politics finds its roots in the debates of these thinkers from the 1700s.