Uncovering Who the Nazis Really Were

Tocqueville in Hypermodernity

The View from Israel

Inventing American Constitutionalism

Why We Need to Read

Statecraft Etched in Stone

A Priest of Liberal Nationalism

The Jeffersonian Republic

Libertarian Crossroads?

America's Economic Crossroads

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Liberty Law Talk

Robin Harris

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher’s death one year ago sparked much commentary either critical or adulatory. You were certainly hard-pressed to find balanced commentary on her legacy unless you were reading Theodore Dalrymple’s thoughtful assessment on this site (his latest on Thatcher is here). Now contributing to this site’s ongoing appraisal of Thatcher is Robin Harris, her speechwriter and policy advisor. He comes to Liberty Law Talk to discuss his highly-acclaimed 2013 biography of the Iron Lady entitled Not for Turning: The Life of Margaret Thatcher. Harris worked closely with Prime Minister Thatcher from 1985 until her departure from Number Ten. He left with her and subsequently drafted the two volumes of her autobiography. Harris includes in the book a letter he received in 2005 from Thatcher. She states the following:  Over the years, both during my time as Prime Minister and since, you played an important role in shaping not only my own thinking but that of the Conservative Party. As a key figure in Central Office during the 1980s you knew the struggles we endured in turning our beliefs into policy, often in the face of severe opposition. And because we have spoken about it so often, you also know, better than anyone else, what I wanted our reforms to achieve for the people of Britain.  This discussion recounts both Thatcher’s rise in the Conservative Party as she waged a rebellion against its uninspired leadership and her intellectual development into an adherent to free-market, small government, and low tax policies. Talking with Harris, we begin to understand just why she was the Lady who was ‘not for turning’.

Margaret Thatcher’s death one year ago sparked much commentary either critical or adulatory. You were certainly hard-pressed to find balanced commentary on her legacy unless you were reading <a href="http://www.libertylawsite.org/2013/04/10/what-hath-thatcher-wrought/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Theodore Dalrymple’s thoughtful assessment</a> on this site (<a href="http://www.libertylawsite.org/2014/04/08/did-thatcher-leave-a-legacy-of-freedom/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">his latest on Thatcher is here</a>). Now contributing to this site’s ongoing appraisal of Thatcher is Robin Harris, her speechwriter and policy advisor. He comes to Liberty Law Talk to discuss his highly-acclaimed 2013 biography of the Iron Lady entitled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Not-Turning-Life-Margaret-Thatcher/dp/1250047153" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Not for Turning: The Life of Margaret Thatcher</a>. Harris worked closely with Prime Minister Thatcher from 1985 until her departure from Number Ten. He left with her and subsequently drafted the two volumes of her autobiography. Harris includes in the book a letter he received in 2005 from Thatcher. She states the following: <blockquote> Over the years, both during my time as Prime Minister and since, you played an important role in shaping not only my own thinking but that of the Conservative Party. As a key figure in Central Office during the 1980s you knew the struggles we endured in turning our beliefs into policy, often in the face of severe opposition. And because we have spoken about it so often, you also know, better than anyone else, what I wanted our reforms to achieve for the people of Britain. </blockquote> This discussion recounts both Thatcher’s rise in the Conservative Party as she waged a rebellion against its uninspired leadership and her intellectual development into an adherent to free-market, small government, and low tax policies. Talking with Harris, we begin to understand just why she was the Lady who was ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ-M0KEFm9I" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">not for turning</a>’.

Robin Harris Discusses the Rise, Fall, and Legacy of Margaret Thatcher

Roger Scruton

Editor’s Note: This podcast was originally posted on October 13, 2014. This conversation with Roger Scruton engages his defense of the conservative disposition. Scruton’s just-released book, How to be a Conservative, might be said to take on the challenge Friedrich Hayek issued in his famous essay “Why I Am Not a Conservative.” There, you will recall, Hayek argued that conservatism does not offer a program, or any substantive content that would affirm a free society. It is always in prudential retreat. This conversation explores Scruton’s Burkean-informed notion that tradition and habit aren’t blind guides, but are teachers and modes of social knowledge by which the perennial problem of social coordination is solved. Here begins the basis of Scruton’s elemental defense of the free society and how common law, tradition, associations, religion, and the boring nation-state are integral to its existence. We begin with the law that governs the contractual relationships of people, a law not shaped by the legislature, but by social and economic interactions. We can say, Scruton observes, that this law is the people’s common law, one that guarantees their property and associations. Centralization is impatient with this private ordering and attempts to upend it with efficient legislation. While European elites look to the transnational governance of the European Union as the condition of peace and prosperity, Scruton puts before us the nation-state and its borders as the first order of democracy and political accountability. Scruton notes that limited government is about being relational in a particular spot, ring-fenced by borders, and that allows a common life to develop and evolve. Rulers and ruled can hold one another accountable because the terms of government have emerged from the people of this defined group with their particular history, myths, and shared commitments. Such forms of social, moral, and political capital are eroded, Scruton argues, by a boundless and unaccountable European Union, for whom the principle of subsidiarity is, paradoxically, only the powers that Brussels decides to let member states retain rather than a bottom up conception of government and order. In this regard, we also discuss the “to hell with us” mentality that is multiculturalism. Scruton notes that it’s cold comfort that major leaders are belatedly coming to terms with its wreckage. Multiculturalism’s existence in the government education system, laws limiting speech, and the soft tyranny of political correctness have ensured its ability to redefine life in his native United Kingdom and throughout much of Europe. Finally, this conversation explores Scruton’s argument that a free market depends not only on an Austrian understanding of the need for local knowledge but on traditions that encircle goods, practices, relationships, excepting these from the market itself. In short, Scruton argues, an enduring free market will have the sense to recognize its limitations. There really can’t be markets in everything. I look forward to your thoughts on this podcast.

<blockquote>Editor’s Note: This podcast was originally posted on October 13, 2014.</blockquote> This conversation with Roger Scruton engages his defense of the conservative disposition. Scruton’s just-released book, <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/how-to-be-a-conservative-9781472903778/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How to be a Conservative</a>, might be said to take on the challenge Friedrich Hayek issued in his famous essay “Why I Am Not a Conservative.” There, you will recall, Hayek argued that conservatism does not offer a program, or any substantive content that would affirm a free society. It is always in prudential retreat. This conversation explores Scruton’s Burkean-informed notion that tradition and habit aren’t blind guides, but are teachers and modes of social knowledge by which the perennial problem of social coordination is solved. Here begins the basis of Scruton’s elemental defense of the free society and how common law, tradition, associations, religion, and the boring nation-state are integral to its existence. We begin with the law that governs the contractual relationships of people, a law not shaped by the legislature, but by social and economic interactions. We can say, Scruton observes, that this law is the people’s common law, one that guarantees their property and associations. Centralization is impatient with this private ordering and attempts to upend it with efficient legislation. While European elites look to the transnational governance of the European Union as the condition of peace and prosperity, Scruton puts before us the nation-state and its borders as the first order of democracy and political accountability. Scruton notes that limited government is about being relational in a particular spot, ring-fenced by borders, and that allows a common life to develop and evolve. Rulers and ruled can hold one another accountable because the terms of government have emerged from the people of this defined group with their particular history, myths, and shared commitments. Such forms of social, moral, and political capital are eroded, Scruton argues, by a boundless and unaccountable European Union, for whom the principle of subsidiarity is, paradoxically, only the powers that Brussels decides to let member states retain rather than a bottom up conception of government and order. In this regard, we also discuss the “to hell with us” mentality that is multiculturalism. Scruton notes that it’s cold comfort that major leaders are belatedly coming to terms with its wreckage. Multiculturalism’s existence in the government education system, laws limiting speech, and the soft tyranny of political correctness have ensured its ability to redefine life in his native United Kingdom and throughout much of Europe. Finally, this conversation explores Scruton’s argument that a free market depends not only on an Austrian understanding of the need for local knowledge but on traditions that encircle goods, practices, relationships, excepting these from the market itself. In short, Scruton argues, an enduring free market will have the sense to recognize its limitations. There really can’t be markets in everything. I look forward to your thoughts on this podcast.

How to be a Conservative

Mark Helprin

Award-winning novelist Mark Helprin is also one of the most significant voices writing on American foreign policy. Liberty Law Talk interviews Mr. Helprin about the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and what they mean for France, the European Union, and the United States.

Award-winning novelist <a href="http://markhelprin.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mark Helprin</a> is also one of the most significant voices writing on American foreign policy. Liberty Law Talk interviews Mr. Helprin about the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and what they mean for France, the European Union, and the United States.

The Paris Massacre and the European Future: A Conversation with Mark Helprin

Ilya Somin

Ilya Somin discusses at Liberty Law Talk his book The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London &amp; the Limits of Eminent Domain. The book provides in part a fascinating account of the plight of the New London homeowners who challenged their city’s attempt to seize through eminent domain their homes for use in private development. In addition, Somin gives us a serious study of the eminent domain power, and he discusses why we need to reclaim a more restricted understanding of its legitimate use as opposed to the private to private takings blessed by the Court in Kelo and in many other cases stretching over several decades.

Ilya Somin discusses at Liberty Law Talk his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Grasping-Hand-London-Eminent/dp/022625660X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London &amp; the Limits of Eminent Domain</a>. The book provides in part a fascinating account of the plight of the New London homeowners who challenged their city’s attempt to seize through eminent domain their homes for use in private development. In addition, Somin gives us a serious study of the eminent domain power, and he discusses why we need to reclaim a more restricted understanding of its legitimate use as opposed to the private to private takings blessed by the Court in Kelo and in many other cases stretching over several decades.

The Takings Power: A Conversation with Ilya Somin

This edition of Liberty Law Talk features a discussion with George Mason Law School Professor David Bernstein on his recently released book, Lawless: The Obama Administration’s Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

This edition of Liberty Law Talk features a discussion with George Mason Law School Professor David Bernstein on his recently released book, <a href="http://www.libertylawsite.org/2015/11/05/unconstitutional-at-any-speed-assessing-the-legacy-of-obama/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lawless: The Obama Administration’s Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law</a>.

Executive Power in the Age of Obama

Hadley Arkes

In this podcast, I discuss with Hadley Arkes the fundamental touchstones of our written Constitution that he contends are discovered through reason and logic in a process that goes beyond the text. In his most recent book, Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law, Arkes argues “the task of judgment,  in our constitutional law, persistently moves us away from the text, or from a gross description of the act, and it moves us to the commonsense understanding of the principles that guide these judgments: the principles that help us in making those distinctions between the things that are justified or unjustified.” My discussion with Arkes unpacks this provocative argument.  Other Related Links at Law and Liberty:  Michael Ramsey reviews Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths.   Arkes’ response.   An older lecture from Hadley Arkes on the Justices who resisted the New Deal’s jurisprudence.

In this podcast, I discuss with Hadley Arkes the fundamental touchstones of our written Constitution that he contends are discovered through reason and logic in a process that goes beyond the text. In his most recent book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-Illusions-Anchoring-Truths-Touchstone/dp/0521732085/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341235771&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law</a>, Arkes argues “the task of judgment,  in our constitutional law, persistently moves us away from the text, or from a gross description of the act, and it moves us to the commonsense understanding of the principles that guide these judgments: the principles that help us in making those distinctions between the things that are justified or unjustified.” My discussion with Arkes unpacks this provocative argument.  Other Related Links at Law and Liberty: <ul> <li>Michael Ramsey <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/07/02/hadley-arkes-on-right-reason-and-constitutional-law/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reviews</a> Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Arkes’ <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/02/01/response-to-michael-ramsey-in-his-review-of-constitutional-illusions-anchoring-truths/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">response</a>.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>An <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/01/22/the-four-horsemen-of-the-supreme-court-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">older lecture</a> from Hadley Arkes on the Justices who resisted the New Deal’s jurisprudence.</li></ul>

Hadley Arkes on Right Reason and Constitutional Law

Michael Rappaport

The many schools of originalism all face the same questions: does it merely perpetuate the dead hand of the past? What about the exclusion of women and blacks at the Founding? What does one do with the mountains of non-originalist precedent? This next podcast with our own Mike Rappaport, prompted by his new book that he co-authored with co-blogger John McGinnis entitled Originalism and the Good Constitution, focuses on the rise of originalism as an intrepretative methodology for Constitutional Law and attempts to answer these and other questions with a new framework called original methods originalism. Our discussion thus focuses on the central claim of original methods which is that the enactment of the Constitution and the approval of its subsequent amendments were achieved under supermajority requirements. So we have an enduring Constitution because it has been built to satisfy more than mere majorities. As such, we discuss this important rationale for why its original meaning should be preserved.

The many schools of originalism all face the same questions: does it merely perpetuate the dead hand of the past? What about the exclusion of women and blacks at the Founding? What does one do with the mountains of non-originalist precedent? This next podcast with our own Mike Rappaport, prompted by his new book that he co-authored with co-blogger John McGinnis entitled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Originalism-Good-Constitution-John-McGinnis/dp/0674725077/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1404141462&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Originalism and the Good Constitution</a>, focuses on the rise of originalism as an intrepretative methodology for Constitutional Law and attempts to answer these and other questions with a new framework called original methods originalism. Our discussion thus focuses on the central claim of original methods which is that the enactment of the Constitution and the approval of its subsequent amendments were achieved under supermajority requirements. So we have an enduring Constitution because it has been built to satisfy more than mere majorities. As such, we discuss this important rationale for why its original meaning should be preserved.

The Ascent of Originalism: A Conversation with Michael Rappaport

Kurt Lash

Kurt Lash comes to Liberty Law Talk to discuss his newest book, The Fourteenth Amendment: The Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship. If you think the Slaughter-House Cases of 1873 gutted the Privileges or Immunities Clause of constitutional meaning and set us on our present course of strangely incorporating the Bill of Rights through the Due Process Clause, then you need to listen to this conversation. Lash argues that the original public meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause is definite once you understand the context of the debate in the 39th Congress. Rather than emerging from the Comity Clause of Article IV, Section II, Clause 1, Lash argues that John Bingham and Jacob Howard, the two representatives who led congressional approval of the 14th Amendment, adjusted to criticism and pinned the Privileges or Immunities Clause on embodying the first 8 amendments and other enumerated rights of the Constitution. Nothing more was intended. In this way, these amendments were now barriers to state action. Rather than being a somewhat mysterious clause containing a seemingly limitless number of fundamental rights, Lash argues that the meaning of Privileges or Immunities is clear. As a result, incorporation of the first 8 amendments of the Bill of Rights, for the sake of political morality, correct history, and constitutional meaning, should happen through the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Kurt Lash comes to Liberty Law Talk to discuss his newest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fourteenth-Amendment-Privileges-Immunities-Citizenship/dp/1107023262" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Fourteenth Amendment: The Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship</a>. If you think the Slaughter-House Cases of 1873 gutted the Privileges or Immunities Clause of constitutional meaning and set us on our present course of strangely incorporating the Bill of Rights through the Due Process Clause, then you need to listen to this conversation. Lash argues that the original public meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause is definite once you understand the context of the debate in the 39th Congress. Rather than emerging from the Comity Clause of Article IV, Section II, Clause 1, Lash argues that John Bingham and Jacob Howard, the two representatives who led congressional approval of the 14th Amendment, adjusted to criticism and pinned the Privileges or Immunities Clause on embodying the first 8 amendments and other enumerated rights of the Constitution. Nothing more was intended. In this way, these amendments were now barriers to state action. Rather than being a somewhat mysterious clause containing a seemingly limitless number of fundamental rights, Lash argues that the meaning of Privileges or Immunities is clear. As a result, incorporation of the first 8 amendments of the Bill of Rights, for the sake of political morality, correct history, and constitutional meaning, should happen through the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Getting Right with the Fourteenth Amendment: A Conversation with Kurt Lash

Nicholas Eberstadt

Nicholas Eberstadt comes to Liberty Law Talk this month to discuss his significant new book, A Nation of Takers: America’s Entitlement Epidemic. Our conversation focuses on the staggering data of our transfer payment state and how it is inevitably strangling the federal government’s operations (by 2010 entitlement spending counted for almost 2/3 of federal spending). We also discuss how we arrived at dependency, the consequences for limited government if it isn’t rectified, and some possible ways of redress. Eberstadt’s book is a sobering account of our fiscal situation and should be read carefully by all. Related items: David Armor reviews A Nation of Takers.

Nicholas Eberstadt comes to Liberty Law Talk this month to discuss his significant new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nation-Takers-Americas-Entitlement-Epidemic/dp/1599474352/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1357133573&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Nation of Takers: America’s Entitlement Epidemic</a>. Our conversation focuses on the staggering data of our transfer payment state and how it is inevitably strangling the federal government’s operations (by 2010 entitlement spending counted for almost 2/3 of federal spending). We also discuss how we arrived at dependency, the consequences for limited government if it isn’t rectified, and some possible ways of redress. Eberstadt’s book is a sobering account of our fiscal situation and should be read carefully by all. Related items: David Armor <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2013/01/02/are-we-a-nation-of-takers/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reviews</a> A Nation of Takers.

A Nation of Takers: A Discussion with Nicholas Eberstadt

Philip Hamburger

Editor’s Note: This podcast was originally published on August 15, 2018. Every book that Columbia law professor Philip Hamburger writes changes discourse on a subject. The author of Separation of Church and State, Law and Judicial Duty, and the award-winning and Supreme Court cited Is Administrative Law Unlawful? now turns his inquisitive mind to the liberal mind. He joins us to discuss his latest book Liberal Suppression.

Editor’s Note: This podcast was originally published on August 15, 2018. Every book that Columbia law professor Philip Hamburger writes changes discourse on a subject. The author of Separation of Church and State, Law and Judicial Duty, and the award-winning and Supreme Court cited <a href="http://www.libertylawsite.org/2014/07/14/the-unlawful-administrative-state-a-conversation-with-philip-hamburger/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Is Administrative Law Unlawful? </a>now turns his inquisitive mind to the liberal mind. He joins us to discuss his latest book <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/L/bo27554268.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Liberal Suppression</a>.

Liberalism as Armed Doctrine: A Conversation with Philip Hamburger

Walter McDougall

Editor’s note: This was originally posted on December 17, 2016. What is American civil religion? And has it been distorted to the extent that it has undermined our nation’s foreign policy? The eminent historian and scholar Walter McDougall, author of the new book, The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy, joins this edition of Liberty Law Talk to discuss these questions.

Editor’s note: This was originally posted on December 17, 2016. What is American civil religion? And has it been distorted to the extent that it has undermined our nation’s foreign policy? The eminent historian and scholar Walter McDougall, author of the new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-U-S-Foreign-Policy-America%C2%92s/dp/0300211457" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy</a>, joins this edition of Liberty Law Talk to discuss these questions.

American Heresies and the Betrayal of the National Interest: A Conversation with Walter McDougall

Helen Dale, Brexit commentator extraordinaire, discusses what’s left and what remains of Britain’s attempt to evict the European Union.

Helen Dale, <a href="https://www.lawliberty.org/author/helen-dale/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brexit commentator extraordinaire</a>, discusses what’s left and what remains of Britain’s attempt to evict the European Union.

Brexit Shenanigans and the Old English Constitution

Charles Kesler

The next edition of Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with Charles Kesler on his new book, I am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism.  Professor Kesler’s book argues that the intellectual world of modern liberalism is built on philosophical contradictions about the nature of liberty and the requirements of law and government to protect it. A more basic flaw is its continuing inability to limit itself when it comes to state power and welfare entitlements. This “never enough” mentality translates into the overwhelming and barely governable size of the modern democratic state. Our current President, Barack Obama, embodies these contradictions and tendencies and, as such, richly illustrates modern liberalism’s contemporary understanding of law and power. Additional Law and Liberty links:  The Relentless Dilemmas of Progressivism What Can the Law Hope For in the Age of Progressivism? Liberty and Community After Progressivism The Images of Progressive Citizenship Understanding the Progressive Constitution Reforming the Administrative State with Roscoe Pound

The next edition of <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/liberty-law-talk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Liberty Law Talk</a> is a conversation with Charles Kesler on his new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Am-Change-Barack-Crisis-Liberalism/dp/006207296X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1347287914&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">I am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism</a>.  Professor Kesler’s book argues that the intellectual world of modern liberalism is built on philosophical contradictions about the nature of liberty and the requirements of law and government to protect it. A more basic flaw is its continuing inability to limit itself when it comes to state power and welfare entitlements. This “never enough” mentality translates into the overwhelming and barely governable size of the modern democratic state. Our current President, Barack Obama, embodies these contradictions and tendencies and, as such, richly illustrates modern liberalism’s contemporary understanding of law and power. Additional Law and Liberty links: <ul> <li><a href="http://libertylawsite.org/book-review/the-relentless-dilemmas-of-progressivism/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Relentless Dilemmas of Progressivism</a></li> <li><a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/08/02/what-can-the-law-hope-for-in-the-age-of-ideology/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What Can the Law Hope For in the Age of Progressivism?</a></li> <li><a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/07/16/liberty-and-community-after-progressivism/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Liberty and Community After Progressivism</a></li> <li><a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/08/09/the-images-of-progressive-citizenship/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Images of Progressive Citizenship</a></li> <li><a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/02/01/understanding-the-progressive-constitution/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Understanding the Progressive Constitution</a></li> <li><a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/05/23/reforming-the-administrative-state-with-roscoe-pound/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reforming the Administrative State with Roscoe Pound</a></li></ul>

The Crisis of Modern Liberalism: A Conversation with Charles Kesler

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Comes now the great Daniel J. Mahoney, author of penetrating intellectual biographies of Bertrand de Jouvenel, Raymond Aron, and Charles de Gaulle, among other books, to discuss his latest work, The Other Solzhenitsyn. Mahoney, coeditor of The Solzhenitsyn Reader, offers in this discussion a tremendous introduction to the Russian dissident writer’s oeuvre and a rebuttal to his many critics. We might say that some Western writers who, from their position of faux outrage, frequently critique their governments, societies, and cultures have Solzhenitsyn envy, earnestly wishing their work had even a fraction of the impact of the Russian anticommunist’s corpus of writings. Not that they admire Solzhenitsyn’s political or moral philosophy, or his belief that freedom is ultimately born of spiritual commitment. They only yearn to have it said that their words put a “sliver in the throat of power.” Such was the praise given Solzhenitsyn in 1962 after the publication of One Day in the Live of Ivan Denisovich.  (more…)

Comes now the great Daniel J. Mahoney, author of penetrating intellectual biographies of Bertrand de Jouvenel, Raymond Aron, and Charles de Gaulle, among other books, to discuss his latest work, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Other-Solzhenitsyn-Telling-Misunderstood/dp/1587316137" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Other Solzhenitsyn</a>. Mahoney, coeditor of <a href="http://isibooks.org/the-solzhenitsyn-reader.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Solzhenitsyn Reader</a>, offers in this discussion a tremendous introduction to the Russian dissident writer’s oeuvre and a rebuttal to his many critics. We might say that some Western writers who, from their position of faux outrage, frequently critique their governments, societies, and cultures have Solzhenitsyn envy, earnestly wishing their work had even a fraction of the impact of the Russian anticommunist’s corpus of writings. Not that they admire Solzhenitsyn’s political or moral philosophy, or his belief that freedom is ultimately born of spiritual commitment. They only yearn to have it said that their words put a “sliver in the throat of power.” Such was the praise given Solzhenitsyn in 1962 after the publication of One Day in the Live of Ivan Denisovich. <a href="https://lawliberty.org/podcast/telling-the-truth-about-aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/#more-9746" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">(more…)</a>

Telling the Truth about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

During the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked to define the particular political philosophy that best captured her political ideals. She answered by asserting that she was not a liberal but a progressive. The hope of the progressive is best understood, Clinton observed, by looking back to its roots in the early twentieth century. While the term “liberal” is typically associated with a belief in larger government and more programs to assuage inequalities, Clinton argued that progressivism best contains and expresses the philosophical premises of the belief in government’s firm, superintending role in modern civil society. Given this interesting statement and the current debates over federalism and the powers of the commerce clause, Liberty Law Talk thought it would be profitable to explore the intellectual roots of progressivism in a conversation with noted expert, Ronald Pestritto.

During the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked to define the particular political philosophy that best captured her political ideals. She <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2oOoCdFblc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">answered by asserting</a> that she was not a liberal but a progressive. The hope of the progressive is best understood, Clinton observed, by looking back to its roots in the early twentieth century. While the term “liberal” is typically associated with a belief in larger government and more programs to assuage inequalities, Clinton argued that progressivism best contains and expresses the philosophical premises of the belief in government’s firm, superintending role in modern civil society. Given this interesting statement and the current debates over federalism and the powers of the commerce clause, Liberty Law Talk thought it would be profitable to explore the intellectual roots of progressivism in a conversation with noted expert, Ronald Pestritto.

Understanding the Progressive Constitution

Eric Voegelin

Charles Embry

Eric Voegelin sought to reawaken Western consciousness to the experiences of social, political, and religious order that are the very substance of civilization. Charles Embry, editor of a new Voegelin anthology, joins Liberty Law Talk to discuss his incredible scholarly quest.

Eric Voegelin sought to reawaken Western consciousness to the experiences of social, political, and religious order that are the very substance of civilization. Charles Embry, editor of a <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=JgA1DwAAQBAJ&amp;source=productsearch&amp;utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&amp;utm_medium=SEM&amp;utm_campaign=PLA&amp;pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwv73VBRCdARIsAOnG8u0CKEvlr_jCJ4pKTVD2wICoLQqoaIoCNllnkI9rOvlumH99L8DybjoaAvu7EALw_wcB&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&amp;dclid=COGxnIGr-NkCFUhJDAodnN0NGQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">new Voegelin anthology</a>, joins Liberty Law Talk to discuss his incredible scholarly quest.

Eric Voegelin Studies: A Conversation with Charles Embry

David Bernstein

In the next Liberty Law Talk I discuss with David Bernstein of the George Mason University School of Law his excellent work of constitutional history Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights Against Progressive Reform. The Lochner decision, of course, is a progressive teaching moment in the American legal academy. Virtually any constitutional law course will teach the case as an exercise in laissez-faire fundamentalism that refused to permit sensible labor regulations on behalf of industrial laborers. Fortunately, students are told, it is a constitutional moment that has been superceded by New Deal jurisprudence that upholds virtually any regulation of economic activity. Professor Bernstein provides in this book a layered analysis of the legal, political, and labor history behind the Lochner decision, rendering it vastly more complicated than the regnant progressive narrative of the case. Of course, as Bernstein states in his conclusion, “alert readers will have noticed that I have titled this book Rehabilitating Lochner—as in improving Lochner’s reputation—not Defending Lochner or Restoring Lochner.” Indeed, and in the course of the podcast Bernstein and I discuss the right of contractual liberty that the majority in the Lochner decision located in the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the lineage of this right, and how it has factored heavily, if not imperceptibly, in subsequent decisions ranging from Pierce v. Society of Sisters to Griswold v. Connecticut. Law and Liberty has previously taken stock of Bernstein’s book with reviews and analysis from  Keith Whittington, George Thomas, and Ted McAllister.

In the next <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/liberty-law-talk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Liberty Law Talk</a> I discuss with David Bernstein of the George Mason University School of Law his excellent work of constitutional history <a href="http://http://www.amazon.com/Rehabilitating-Lochner-Defending-Individual-Progressive/dp/0226043533/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1337549881&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights Against Progressive Reform</a>. The Lochner decision, of course, is a progressive teaching moment in the American legal academy. Virtually any constitutional law course will teach the case as an exercise in laissez-faire fundamentalism that refused to permit sensible labor regulations on behalf of industrial laborers. Fortunately, students are told, it is a constitutional moment that has been superceded by New Deal jurisprudence that upholds virtually any regulation of economic activity. Professor Bernstein provides in this book a layered analysis of the legal, political, and labor history behind the Lochner decision, rendering it vastly more complicated than the regnant progressive narrative of the case. Of course, as Bernstein states in his conclusion, “alert readers will have noticed that I have titled this book Rehabilitating Lochner—as in improving Lochner’s reputation—not Defending Lochner or Restoring Lochner.” Indeed, and in the course of the podcast Bernstein and I discuss the right of contractual liberty that the majority in the Lochner decision located in the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the lineage of this right, and how it has factored heavily, if not imperceptibly, in subsequent decisions ranging from Pierce v. Society of Sisters to Griswold v. Connecticut. Law and Liberty has previously taken stock of Bernstein’s book with reviews and analysis from  <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/03/01/keith-whittington-the-troublesome-case-of-lochner/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Keith Whittington</a>, <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/03/01/rehabilitating-lochner-a-law-and-liberty-symposium/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">George Thomas</a>, and <a href="http://libertylawsite.org/2012/03/01/ted-mcallister-dont-print-the-legend/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ted McAllister</a>.

Rehabilitating Lochner: A Conversation with David Bernstein

Amity Shlaes comes to Liberty Law Talk to discuss her new biography, Coolidge, that explores and analyzes the triumph of Calvin Coolidge. Much like the title of Shlaes’ previous bestseller, The Forgotten Man, Coolidge recovers for the reader a president that our country seems to have forgotten. For many, Coolidge had to be left behind. The successes of his fiscal and regulatory policies and the judgments these policies make on America’s New Deal and postwar open-ended spending and regulating tendencies are hard to reconcile. There is also the sober rectitude that Coolidge insisted should guide our lives in a modern commercial republic. The deep pre-commitments of a free society require diligent work, an effort that Coolidge profoundly, even spiritually understood, quite well. Unfortunately, it seems, we have kept at a distance the vital truths that Coolidge lived and governed by. Coolidge’s life speaks to us in other ways. For the thirtieth president’s life was not an inevitable rise to prominence. It was marked by tragedy in the early deaths of his mother and sister, and also the death of his 16-year old son, Calvin, Jr. in the White House. As Shlaes observes, however, these personal losses did not equal defeat. His life was not “Yes, but.” It is a story of “But yes.” The achievements of Coolidge’s presidential tenure are staggering. “Under Coolidge the federal debt fell . Under Coolidge, the top income tax rate came down by half, to 25 percent. Under Coolidge, the federal budget was always in surplus. Under Coolidge, unemployment was 5 percent or even 3 percent.” As Shlaes details even further, “When in 1929 the thirtieth president climbed onto a train at Union Station to head back home to Massachusetts after his sixty-seven months in office, the federal government was smaller than when he had become president in 1923.”  Why, you may ask, do we not know more of this man, this American leader? Answering that question is Shlaes’ Coolidge. Listen to this podcast with the author. Then, buy the book.

Amity Shlaes comes to Liberty Law Talk to discuss her new biography, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Coolidge-Amity-Shlaes/dp/0061967556/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1362935531&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Coolidge</a>, that explores and analyzes the triumph of Calvin Coolidge. Much like the title of Shlaes’ previous bestseller, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Man-History-Great-Depression/dp/0060936428/ref=la_B000APJK7E_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1362935967&amp;sr=1-2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Forgotten Man</a>, Coolidge recovers for the reader a president that our country seems to have forgotten. For many, Coolidge had to be left behind. The successes of his fiscal and regulatory policies and the judgments these policies make on America’s New Deal and postwar open-ended spending and regulating tendencies are hard to reconcile. There is also the sober rectitude that Coolidge insisted should guide our lives in a modern commercial republic. The deep pre-commitments of a free society require diligent work, an effort that Coolidge profoundly, even spiritually understood, quite well. Unfortunately, it seems, we have kept at a distance the vital truths that Coolidge lived and governed by. Coolidge’s life speaks to us in other ways. For the thirtieth president’s life was not an inevitable rise to prominence. It was marked by tragedy in the early deaths of his mother and sister, and also the death of his 16-year old son, Calvin, Jr. in the White House. As Shlaes observes, however, these personal losses did not equal defeat. His life was not “Yes, but.” It is a story of “But yes.” The achievements of Coolidge’s presidential tenure are staggering. “Under Coolidge the federal debt fell . Under Coolidge, the top income tax rate came down by half, to 25 percent. Under Coolidge, the federal budget was always in surplus. Under Coolidge, unemployment was 5 percent or even 3 percent.” As Shlaes details even further, “When in 1929 the thirtieth president climbed onto a train at Union Station to head back home to Massachusetts after his sixty-seven months in office, the federal government was smaller than when he had become president in 1923.”  Why, you may ask, do we not know more of this man, this American leader? Answering that question is Shlaes’ Coolidge. Listen to this podcast with the author. Then, buy the book.

Coolidge!

The next Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with Randy Simmons on his recently revised and updated book, Beyond Politics: The Roots of Government Failure. Serious policy analysis frequently begins with the unspoken assumption that government must fill the gaps in the marketplace. Markets are vastly imperfect and require for their proper functioning the precise, i.e., perfecting, commands of the regulatory state. Not content with this narrative’s iron-clad belief that government rules and regulations live and move in rational operation, having their being serving the commonweal 24/7, Simmons provides a comprehensive way to think about the giant suck of political reality. The truth, Simmons tells us, is that markets are rarely corrected by government diktat (what would that mean, anyway?), but are frequently distorted, minimized, if not corrupted by the machinations of public law. Listen and learn from Randy Simmons.

The next Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with Randy Simmons on his recently revised and updated book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Politics-Roots-Government-Failure/dp/1598130420/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1360522810&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Politics: The Roots of Government Failure</a>. Serious policy analysis frequently begins with the unspoken assumption that government must fill the gaps in the marketplace. Markets are vastly imperfect and require for their proper functioning the precise, i.e., perfecting, commands of the regulatory state. Not content with this narrative’s iron-clad belief that government rules and regulations live and move in rational operation, having their being serving the commonweal 24/7, Simmons provides a comprehensive way to think about the giant suck of political reality. The truth, Simmons tells us, is that markets are rarely corrected by government diktat (what would that mean, anyway?), but are frequently distorted, minimized, if not corrupted by the machinations of public law. Listen and learn from Randy Simmons.

Beyond Politics: How to Think about Government Failure

Eric Kaufmann discusses his new book Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities.

Eric Kaufmann discusses his new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Whiteshift-Populism-Immigration-Future-Majorities/dp/024131710X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities</a>.

Managing Whiteshift

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Best Episodes: Personal Stories & Great Interviews

The best podcast episodes on non-current politics. Covering topics such as universal basic income, democracy, poverty & justice and more. For anyone interested in learning more about politics that affect that world, not just now, but in the longer term. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!