The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg Vice Week | Interview: Charles Fain Lehman
Sep 4, 2025
Join Charles Fain Lehman, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a writer for The Dispatch, as he dives into the murky waters of drug addiction, legalized gambling, and the implications of unrestricted access to vice for young men. The conversation highlights the rising concerns around sports gambling and its mental health effects, while also addressing the societal risks linked to rampant access to online porn and marijuana. Lehman brilliantly connects these topics to broader themes of urban governance and public policy, making for an enlightening discussion.
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Neoconservative Roots In Domestic Policy
- Neoconservatives began by critiquing domestic social policy failures, not foreign policy.
- Charles argues modern do-gooder policies recycle 1960s narratives despite contradictory empirical evidence.
Cash Transfers Show Limited Behavioral Change
- Randomized cash-transfer trials show little long-term change beyond slightly reduced work.
- This suggests poverty correlates with dysfunction rather than solely causing it.
Low-Hanging Fruit Of Past Social Policy
- Early social programs helped where basic needs, like nutrition, were unmet.
- Today’s poverty-related problems are more complex after low-hanging public-health fruit was picked.
