Eric Brende spent a year living with the Amish, and also time trying to live a similar homesteader life in a small town environment. He decided that that there is no place quite like the city to build a productive household environment that is less dependent on the industrialized, technological economy for day to day life. He joined me to talk about his journey and how to get started with the productive urban household life.Eric Brende's web site: https://thehappyhouseholder.com/Eric Brende/WSJ: How to Beat the High Cost of Working: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-beat-the-high-cost-of-working-1535747253Eric Brende: Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Off-Flipping-Switch-Technology-ebook/dp/B000FC1VAG/

President Nate Fischer and Executive Director Josh Abbotoy join me to talk about American Reformer, a non-profit focused on reinvigorating Protestant Christianity in American life. 

In pro wrestling, the "face" is the hero and the "heel" is the villain. The incentive structures of our society are willing to personally reward people, especially conservatives, who engage in heel behavior in real life. This is because by acting the heel, people serve as a foil to the hero the media wishes to build up. Even Peter Thiel fell prey to this, helping to propel Rigoberta Menchu to the Nobel Peace Prize. While heel behavior can be effective at times, and is a tool everyone should have in their tool chest, we should think long and hard before engaging in these tactics.Heel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heel_(professional_wrestling) Peter Thiel speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibR_ULHYirs

With remote work giving people flexibility on where to live, and people moving because of politics and other social factors, where should we live personally? I will examine different types of communities, and share some thoughts on their pros and cons.

I will look forward at potential trends for 2023, including the theme of the return to normal.

Returning to the theme of deficits in the American leadership and elite classes, I will examine some of the reasons why evangelicals in particular seem not be high impact leaders in our institutions and in society. In particular, I will discuss evangelicalism's weak sense of "calling" and it's low view of the created order.

Doxxing is the internet practice of revealing the identity of an anonymous social media account and/or digging up controversial or offensive social media content in order to get someone fired or worse. It's nearly universally viewed as a shady practice, but is a common technique for cancellation today. In this month's newsletter I provide a primer on doxxing: what it is, who does it, what the consequences are, and how it is perceived. I also provide some practical insights about how to respond to a world where doxxing is common.Subscribe to my newsletter: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/

Change, whether in personal self-improvement or social evolution, is not linear. There are quantum leaps and discontinuities. This can be deeply unsettling and render obsolete previous ways of doing business and operating in the world.

Companies have long used aggressive sales tactics to maximize units sold and prices charged. Customers have long tried to get the best deal. With the rise of digital technology and financial disparities, these conflicts are highly asymmetric to the disadvantage of ordinary consumers. It's similar in competition for many essential goods like housing, where the equation for the average consumer has been re-written to favor those with large amounts of money.WSJ:  If the Price Ended in 99, You Probably Overpaid - https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-the-price-ended-in-99-you-probably-overpaid-11669293972WSJ: The Sinister Logic of Hidden Online Fees - https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sinister-logic-of-hidden-online-fees-11669229205NYT: It’s Public Land. But the Public Can’t Reach It - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/business/hunting-wyoming-elk-mountain-access.htmlSubscribe to my newsletter: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/

Gambling, drugs, loan sharking, and sex used to be the province of the mob and other shady characters. Now they are big business, legally sanctioned by governments which often profit from them, and in which even major institutions and respectable figures profit. This is a perfect microcosm of the decline of American leadership.NYT: Key Findings From The Times’ Investigation of Sports Betting: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/20/business/sports-betting-investigation.htmlThe Observer: Game, set, bankrupt: how an addiction to gambling on tennis lost me £40,000: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/20/gambling-addiction-tennis-bet365-online-betting-hannah-jane-parkinsonLA Times: The reality of legal weed in California: Huge illegal grows, violence, worker exploitation and deaths: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-08/reality-of-legal-weed-in-california-illegal-grows-deathsSubscribe to my newsletter: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/