Podcasts

Having woken up to the Alexei Navalny news, Jonah spends this Ruminant thinking through what the Russian opposition leader’s death might portend. From tzars and (real) settler colonialism to useful idiots a-la Tucker Carlson, the good listener should expect a very Russian episode. Пожалуйста. A more patient listener will also hear Jonah revisiting his conversation with the Lewis brothers, due to somewhat popular demand.

Show Notes:

-The Lewis brothers on The Remnant

-Kevin Kosar on The Remnant

-Bernie Sanders on Soviet chandeliers

-Dan McLaughlin: “Tucker Carlson’s Lowest Moment“

-Kevin D. Williamson: “The Full Duranty“

-WSJ: “China’s Shipyards Are Ready for a Protracted War. America’s Aren’t”

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Once again, Jonah has abandoned his Remnant duties to spend the week nibbling on sponge cake while watching the sun bake. Fortunately, Chris Stirewalt, America’s favorite simple country pundit, is on hand to take control of the program. He’s joined by Ruy Teixiera, author of Where Have All the Democrats Gone? and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss what the wretched state of our parties could mean for the 2024 election. The GOP has spent the last decade having an extended nervous breakdown, so why haven’t the Democrats used this opportunity to become the dominant party? For that matter, why can’t Democratic candidates get a grip on working class voters? And why can’t all politicians just be normal?

Show Notes:

– Ruy’s AEI webpage

– Ruy’s Substack, The Liberal Patriot

– Ruy’s latest book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?

– Ruy’s The Emerging Democratic Majority

Is there really such a thing as left and right? Scholars Hyrum and Verlan Lewis don’t think so. In their book, The Myth of Left and Right, the brothers argue that this generalization is undermining sophisticated political discourse. And on today’s episode of The Remnant, they join Jonah to explain why, when two tribes go to war, a point really is all you can score. Do terms like conservative and liberal really have any use? Why are we having an election between two wretched candidates? How do industrialized democracies around the world think about the political spectrum? And will Jonah ever get sick of talking about Liberal Fascism?

Show Notes:

– Hyrum’s blog

– Verlan on the myth of ideological polarization

– Hyrum and Verlan’s book, The Myth of Left and Right

Tired and sunburnt, Jonah chimes in from somewhere in the Virgin Islands to share his thoughts (ramblings?) on the little he knows from the news of the past week. But stay tuned for a crossover of his appearance on Kevin Williamson’s podcast, How The World Works.

If you’ve never been a resident of the Washington egghead-osphere, you’re probably not familiar with the 20th-century political scientist Edward Banfield. But Kevin Kosar—a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and noted KISS fanatic—thinks that you should be. In 1951, Banfield published Government Project, an account of the U.S. government’s attempt to remake the lives of some of its citizens by establishing a cooperative farm in Arizona during the Great Depression. The project didn’t go so well, and Kevin believes it holds vital lessons about the limits of government planning that Americans across the political spectrum would be wise to recall today. Tune in for neocon nerdery, but stick around for some more contemporary wonkery on what’s gone wrong with Congress.

Show Notes:

– Kevin’s page at AEI

– Kevin’s podcast, Understanding Congress

– Edward Banfield’s Government Project, reissued with a new introduction by Kevin

– Kevin on Banfield’s The Unheavenly City

– Banfield’s The Moral Basis of a Backward Society

– Kevin and Phil Wallach: “The Case for a Congressional Regulation Office”

What’s the meaning of life? 42? Pizza? The Remnant? David Bahnsen may or may not have the answer, but he’s at least certain of what makes life satisfying: honest, productive work. In his new book, Full-Time, he explores how work can allow us to find purpose and fulfillment. But is all work equally meaningful? Is the market best placed to determine its value? And does David have a higher net worth than Scrooge McDuck?

Show Notes:

– David’s webpage

– David’s new book, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life

– David: “The Problem with a ‘Work–Life Balance’”