Liberty Law Talk

This next edition of Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with Dr. Gary Gregg, author of Securing Democracy: Why We Have an Electoral College, on the foundations of the Electoral College, its connection with the Founders’ concept of deliberative democracy and the formation of reasonable majorities, and the federalism and separation of powers purposes it serves in our presidential system. Additional Law and Liberty Resources: Derek Muller reviews Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College.

Author Michael Federici explores Alexander Hamilton's political philosophy, emphasizing his constitutionalism, political economy, and foreign policy. The podcast reflects on Hamilton's unique views on the federal government, monarchy, loyalists' rights, slavery, and religion. It also delves into Hamilton's upbringing, his economic and political contributions, and his perspectives on executive power and the judiciary. The discussion highlights the importance of re-evaluating Hamilton's constitutionalism and political thinking in the present day.

This next edition of Liberty Law Talk is a discussion with Adam White, a lawyer in Washington with Boyden Gray & Associates, about the increasing policy significance of independent agencies. White discusses how these agencies have assumed increasing power for implementing policy items that are politically unpalatable but are favored by key segments of a president’s political coalition. Analyzed by White in this podcast are the NLRB-Boeing episode, the derailing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear  repository project, and the avalanche of independent agency power delegated by the Dodd-Frank Act.  

In this podcast, I discuss with Hadley Arkes the fundamental touchstones of our written Constitution that he contends are discovered through reason and logic in a process that goes beyond the text. In his most recent book, Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law, Arkes argues “the task of judgment,  in our constitutional law, persistently moves us away from the text, or from a gross description of the act, and it moves us to the commonsense understanding of the principles that guide these judgments: the principles that help us in making those distinctions between the things that are justified or unjustified.” My discussion with Arkes unpacks this provocative argument.  Other Related Links at Law and Liberty: Michael Ramsey reviews Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths. Arkes’ response. An older lecture from Hadley Arkes on the Justices who resisted the New Deal’s jurisprudence.

Greg Weiner discusses James Madison's commitment to republicanism, majority rule, and the importance of balancing it with the mechanism of time. Madison's views on reason, will, and passion in politics are explored, as well as his concerns about nullification and technological innovation. The chapter also examines Madison's contrasting views with Woodrow Wilson on the role of the presidency. James Madison's understanding of the Bill of Rights, its relationship to majority rule and the federal judiciary is analyzed.

This edition of Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with Samuel Gregg, Research Director of the Acton Institute, on his latest book, Wilhelm Röpke’s Political Economy. Röpke’s name is not frequently mentioned in the parade of great free market economists of the twentieth century. This is unfortunate, for those who know Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises may not be aware of this German economist who was as fluent in history, philosophy, and classical languages as he was in economics. One of the leading postwar German thinkers whose ideas guided Germany’s free market economic revival, Röpke approached business cycle theory, international trade, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and other issues from a Scottish Enlightenment perspective of emerging orders within the touchstones provided by classical-Christian European civilization. This podcast is certain to challenge many preconceptions of the German economist and generate your interest in his life’s work.

The next Liberty Law Talk podcast is a conversation with historian Richard Gamble of Hillsdale College on his challenging new book, In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and Unmaking of an American Myth. Gamble provides a definitive intellectual history of this metaphor, now etched, albeit in symbolic new form, in America’s national self-definition by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Gamble observes that before the imperatives of the Cold War and the need for powerfully stated arguments for American political purpose, the metaphor “City on a Hill” existed in the Gospel of Matthew’s Sermon on a Mount and as a sermon written by the Puritan leader, John Winthrop, in 1630 while on-board the ship Arbella that was bound for the Massachusetts colony. The key question posed by Gamble is what succeeding generations of Puritans and, in turn, Americans did with both the  content of Winthrop’s sermon “A Model of Christian Charity,” and its metaphor.

A conversation with Tocqueville scholar Daniel Mahoney on combating egalitarianism and soft-despotism in America. Tocqueville's view on Puritan settlement, democratic governance, and tyranny of the majority. Exploration of Tocqueville's perspective on American democracy, fear of democratic despotism, and the incompatibility of mild despotism with freedom.

The next edition of Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with Charles Kesler on his new book, I am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism.  Professor Kesler’s book argues that the intellectual world of modern liberalism is built on philosophical contradictions about the nature of liberty and the requirements of law and government to protect it. A more basic flaw is its continuing inability to limit itself when it comes to state power and welfare entitlements. This “never enough” mentality translates into the overwhelming and barely governable size of the modern democratic state. Our current President, Barack Obama, embodies these contradictions and tendencies and, as such, richly illustrates modern liberalism’s contemporary understanding of law and power. Additional Law and Liberty links: The Relentless Dilemmas of Progressivism What Can the Law Hope For in the Age of Progressivism? Liberty and Community After Progressivism The Images of Progressive Citizenship Understanding the Progressive Constitution Reforming the Administrative State with Roscoe Pound

This episode of Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with George Mason School of Law Professor Todd Zywicki about the blatant violations of the federal bankruptcy code and the breach of the rule of law by the Chrysler bailout. Professor Zywicki stresses that the Chrysler bailout abandoned the bankruptcy code’s clear and known rules regarding creditor interests that derive from the code’s 19th century origins. This allowed for the sinister use of the public trough by special interests that benefited from the bailouts. Moreover, Professor Zywicki highlights the fallout in corporate bond markets from the subversion of the legitimated process for corporate bankruptcy worked by the Obama administration. In short, borrowing costs and bond yields for companies similarly situated to Chrysler or General Motors have increased as investors fear being given short shrift to special interests that might receive favorable treatment by the federal government if such a company experiences distress or potential bankruptcy.