ReImagining Liberty

I wanted to try to do a hopeful episode. The world look pretty grim right now, and many of us feel discouraged. The unlawful and authoritarian actions of the Trump administration keep coming at a relentless pace, and it can be difficult to see any reasons for optimism. It can also be lonely. Someone mentioned to me recently that, in times as dark as these, we need friends, but we also need comrades. We need people who share a common purpose in defending liberalism and who are working, alongside us, to fight back against those who threaten it.Which is why I'm so happy today to welcome my friend—and, in the sense above, comrade—Carolyn Fiddler to the show. She’s Director of Communications at the Democratic Attorneys General Association, and an expert in state politics. We talk about what attorneys general are doing to challenge the worst of Trump's policies, and how they've already found some success. And we look ahead to future challenges and the tactics the legal system offers to protect liberal institutions from the forces of the populist right.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The right-wing ideologies we see most active in the world right now aren't intellectual by any stretch of the imagination. But there is a rich tradition of conservative political and social philosophy and, as liberals, it's important to understand what its objections to liberalism look like.ReImagining Liberty stalwart Matthew McManus, a lecturer in political science at the University of Michigan, wrote an article for Liberal Currents not too long ago about the philosopher Roger Scruton's criticism of liberalism from a conservative perspective. Scruton's work is perfect—because of its erudition, accessibility, and exemplariness—for understanding the philosophical conservative perspective.Today Matt and I use Scruton's ideas as a way to interrogate the conservative intellectual tradition and to argue that conservative philosophy aims less at a society organized around truth than it does a society where certainty rarely faces challenge.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How we navigate the new political environment the voters thrust upon on, and the new regime that seeks to tear up the very foundations of our liberal society, is a matter of ethics. And ethics is bigger than just political questions. It's about how you live, what you aspire to, and what makes for an admirable life, both inside and outside of politics.My guest today has written an important book about just that. Seth Zuihō Segall is a clinical psychologist who served for nearly three decades as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and is a former Director of Psychology at Waterbury Hospital and a former President of the New England Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. He is also a Zen Buddhist priest, and if you're a regular listener to ReImagining Liberty, you'll know how much I think Buddhist philosophy contains insights of great value in understanding our current moment.Segall's newest book is The House We Live In, which explores the crises imperiling American democracy and argues that progress depends on our arriving at a new consensus on what it means to be a good person and lead a good life and re-imagines an ethics suitable for our time.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this discussion, Tom Palmer, Executive Vice President for International Programs at Atlas Network and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, argues that markets do more than generate wealth—they can also enhance our moral character. He challenges common criticisms that markets foster selfishness, instead showcasing how they promote cooperation and ethical interactions. Drawing on personal stories from Guatemala, he illustrates the positive dynamics of market exchanges, revealing the camaraderie and mutual benefits that arise when individuals collaborate.

The information environment in which Americans form and discuss their political views has gotten weird. Walter Cronkite is gone. The editorial pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal have lost influence to podcasters, social media influencers, and internet conspiracy theorists. Trump's rise, and return to power, was in large part fueled by figures on the far-right who knew how to take advantage of this changed environment in a way liberals haven't yet figured out.This means that, if liberalism is to have a political future, liberals need to understand how media today looks nothing like media twenty years ago. And there's no one better at explaining how weird things have become, how they got that way, and how we can navigate through it than Renée DiResta. She's an Associate Research Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown. Prior to that, she was the technical research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory. And she's the author of the indispensable book Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last fall, I had the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Delhi, India, to give a talk to young Indian liberals. The topic was the connection between Buddhist philosophy and liberalism. If you’re a regular reader of my work, or listen to my podcast, you’ll know this connection has been central to my work for some time. I believe that Buddhist ideas give us important tools for understanding not just why we ought to be liberals, but why liberalism is the best political system for make the world better.This bonus episode of ReImagining Liberty is the audio of that talk. You can also read a transcript of it if you prefer.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Elrod, President & CEO of the Pulaski Institution and a columnist at Arc Digital, dives into the intriguing concept of status anxiety and its connection to Trump's rise. He discusses how many Americans feel their status has declined and see Trump as a remedy. The conversation explores the role of attention in politics, the generational shifts in perceptions of status, and the challenges of fostering civil discourse in our online age. Elrod emphasizes the importance of community engagement in overcoming the impact of status-driven narratives.

In this conversation, Aaron Ross Powell and Anthony L. Fisher (Senior Editor at MSNBC Daily) discuss the political landscape following Trump's second inauguration, focusing on the rapid changes in governance, the Democratic response, and the fractured media environment. They explore the implications of these dynamics on public opinion and the importance of engaging in new media spaces, particularly podcasts, to effectively communicate liberal values and counteract authoritarian tendencies.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've talked a lot about gender on this show, in the context of transgender rights, the way declining relative status drives men to the political right, and the broader role gender plays in the political environment. The results of the presidential election in November proved just how central gender is to story of rising illiberalism, with men shifting right while women shifted left.To discuss how we should read this shift, and dig into what's causing it, I've brought back Samantha Hancox-Li, who I last had on the show in September to talk about the distinction between progressivism and liberalism. Samantha's a writer, game designer, and associate editor at Liberal Currents, where she recently published an excellent essays called "The Crisis of Gender Relations."If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty, I encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this first episode to be recorded after the results of the presidential election, I've brought on my friend and former colleague ⁠Walter Olson⁠. Walter is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a staunch defender of democracy and liberal institutions, and an expert in the processes and law of American elections.We talk about why the election went the way it went, avenues for electoral reform, and what lessons liberals should take from the results, given that we now need to commit ourselves, over the next four years, to a rigorous defense of liberalism.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty, I encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠.Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty and want to listen to episodes free of ads and sponsorships, become a supporter. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/upgrade I also encourage you to check out my companion newsletter, where I write about the kinds of ideas we discuss on this show. You can find it on my website at ⁠⁠www.aaronrosspowell.com⁠⁠. Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.Listen to ReImagining Liberty ad-free, and get access to our listener Discord community, by joining my Patreon. Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AaronRossPowellProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.