Welcome to Conservative Minds – a podcast dedicated to examining conservative intellectual history to determine the core values of American conservatism. What does it mean to call yourself a conservative? What did it mean in prior times and how did we get where we are today? We explore these questions and more by turning to conservative political thinkers from the past and present. Each episode we select readings and conduct a discussion to share with you our investigation.
We've been away a while, but we're back and working on new episodes. In the meantime, here are our thoughts from last summer about the Dobbs decision when it was first handed down.
While most discussions of liberty center on government power, the subject of Mill's essay is the nature and limits of society's power over the individual. Society exercises control over the individual through prevailing opinion. Mill also argues that individuals should be allowed to participate in any activity they choose, so long as it does not harm others.
Goldberg explains that fascism is an offshoot of socialism and, rather than being conservative, is just another variety of far-left thought.
Haidt writes about social media and the downfall of normal society.
Mearsheimer argues that liberal hegemony — the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended — is doomed to fail. It would be better, he says, for America to practice restraint in the foreign policy sphere based on a sound understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers. We also discuss Ukraine and both agree that American solidiers do not belong in the conflict.
Strain questions Trump's trade and immigration policies. We disagree on whether he's right.
We discussed two articles about the nature of trust and expertise, and where the "experts" have failed us in recent years.
We explore Kimberle Crenshaw's law review article from 1989, one of the foundational documents of critical race theory.
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