My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

Bruce Carlson

Since 2006, this podcast has been using history to elevate today's political debates. "The perfect antidote to bloviating talking heads, My History is thoughtful, nuanced, and highly engaging." -Columbia Journalism Review

  • 55 minutes 17 seconds
    FRIENDLY SKIES - The Story of Airline Deregulation

    A Democratic President and a liberal Senator push a free-market reform in the late 1970s that affects us all today. We look at the story of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Among the topics - legroom politics, cold fried chicken, consumer rights, cargo politics, Carter's legislative ability or lack of it, champagne denial, mistreated pets, and the deregulator now wearing a robe at SCOTUS.

    Sponsored by:

    The University of Aberdeen:

    https://on.abdn.ac.uk/online-history-courses/

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    11 December 2025, 8:55 am
  • 14 minutes 7 seconds
    EXTRAS from the Airline Deregulation Story

    Stories of baseball, banking and love. More from our episode on airline deregulation. What was left on the legal pad and didn't make it into the episode.  

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    10 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 50 minutes 21 seconds
    MORE ABOUT THE KEN BURNS AMERICAN REVOLUTION DOCUMENTARY AND BEN FRANKLIN

    Deeper dive on Ken Burns documentary and Franklin and Iroquois Confederacy debate. Plus: Iran Iraq war and midterms.

    Sponsored by:

    The University of Aberdeen:

    https://on.abdn.ac.uk/online-history-courses/



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    7 December 2025, 3:03 pm
  • 20 minutes 30 seconds
    KEN BURNS AMERICAN REVOLUTION DOCUMENTARY - A FEW THOUGHTS

    No I don't think the Iroquois Confederacy influenced th Revolution much. (Nor do I think Burns says this). And I take a little issue with American Revolution as a Civil War theory. (If it was merely that, it would have been quickly settled).

    Sponsored by:

    The University of Aberdeen:

    https://on.abdn.ac.uk/online-history-courses/

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    30 November 2025, 5:00 am
  • 24 minutes 7 seconds
    The Forgotten Forage War of 1777: Realities of the Revolution

    Did New Jersey Save the Revolutionary Cause? Maybe. Amid a sea of troubles, irregular units fight off the British and make their stay in New Jersey less than hospitable. A bit about George Washington's offensive campaign to be sure that the new nation would not be garrisoned. And it happened in New Jersey (we should be clear with a large contingent of soldiers from all across the Eastern Seaboard).  



    Sponsored by:

    The University of Aberdeen:

    https://on.abdn.ac.uk/online-history-courses/

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    29 November 2025, 4:22 pm
  • 41 minutes 8 seconds
    I WAS BORN IN 1869: GENERATIONS IN POLITICS

    What was it like to be born in 1869? A generation defined by a technology that shook off the yoke of their parent's Civil War and took on the world, and took over the country by the turn of the century. This cast, which was previously recorded. It is as he reveals, Bruce's own favorite cast that he recorded in the show's 12-year history.  Music from Lee Rosevere and KieLoKaz

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    26 November 2025, 5:00 pm
  • 32 minutes 45 seconds
    DEATH BY LIGHTNING: My Opinion of the Netflix Series, and Other Thoughts

    Well, the 1880's finally has some visual media coverage. That's the good news.

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    17 November 2025, 12:58 pm
  • 6 minutes 11 seconds
    JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

    "The real cause of the damage was the dam failure" We took on this topic a few years ago. With anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina not that far, one might find some comparable items in these two events of history.

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    16 November 2025, 8:00 am
  • 31 minutes 23 seconds
    1913

    Recorded in 2013, about a time now more than a century and 12 years ago.

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    15 November 2025, 5:00 pm
  • 54 minutes 56 seconds
    THE ZINGER THAT SAVED AMERICA: WEBSTER'S REPLY TO HAYNE

    The Union threatened by legislative fiat, a Senator rose to reply to another. For Daniel Webster, it was a real comeback, What we might call a "zinger" today.

    "Not Liberty First and Union Afterwards! ...but Liberty and Union now and Forever One and Inseparable,"

    Though since it was a 19th century zinger, it took 4 hours to deliver the line. Still it would become some of the most famous oratory in Senate history.

    When South Carolina's Senator Robert Hayne spoke in the Senate in 1830 to criticize Massachusetts and its Senator Daniel Webster, his comments were governmental but his intentions were personal. Haynes was an ally of John Calhoun, and he sought to reduce that Senator's reputation and the New England influence in federal government with a stunning interpretation of how the Constitution should work. A state could interpret any law the way it wished, he argued. .

    And although several friends told him not to, Haynes aimed his remarks purposefully at the Senate's best Speaker.

    Then Webster replied, He defended the patriotism of his home state, attacked the logical points Hayne and made about a state's right to veto a federal law, and called for the Union to be cherished. Although he and Andrew Jackson were not allies, Daniel Webster's speech set the stage for the Jackson administration's position in the upcoming South Carolina tariff nullification crisis.

    His speech, and the resulting consensus of agreement in Congress with his side, also set standards for federal and state roles in government, and that still has lots of relevance today.

    We are part of Airwave Media Podcast Network

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    10 November 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 26 minutes
    1990'S EPHEMERA

    Push in the drawer of your CD-ROM and enjoy random stories of politics and culture from the 1990's. that did not get much notice since.


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    3 November 2025, 5:00 am
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