Podcast Episode 231: Tulsi Gabbard and the Imperialists

Tulsi Gabbard has taken a beating from the establishment. The mainstream media has resorted to “fake news” and she is at odds with her Party on foreign policy. This is typical and unfortunately stupid. But what can we expect from the modern imperialists. I discuss Gabbard in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

Podcast Episode 229: Are Tariffs a Sign of Piety?

John Howling at Chronicles wrote a piece recently extolling the virtues of tariffs. He claims it is a matter of “piety” to favor protective measures because it helps “family, folk, and fatherland.” This makes tariffs policy an economic vs. moral argument. I dive into this dichotomy in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

Podcast Episode 228: Can the General Government Use Force to “Guarantee” a Republican Government?

A couple of listeners sent two very good questions over the last week. The first asked if the “guarantee clause” in the Constitution authorizes the general government to use force in the event that a State alters its government from a republican form. The second wondered if the founding generation had differing views on the power of the general government in relation to slavery in …more

Podcast Episode 226: Should we love the founding generation?

A listener sent me a long email with three very good questions about the founding generation. Rather than respond in written form to one person, I thought it would be beneficial to respond in a way that everyone could enjoy. If one student has a question, chances are several have the same questions. This was a fun episode, so keep those questions coming.

Podcast Episode 225: “Conservative Democracy?”

Yoram Hazony argues in a piece for First Things that the solution to our political problems is the adoption of what he calls “conservative democracy.” This is a thought provoking piece, but one that falls apart in its core insistence on “nationalism.” We don’t need “conservative democracy.” We need a return to federalism. I discuss in detail in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

Podcast Episode 224: The Constitution and Executive Power

A leftist professor wants to limit executive power. This should not be news in the Age of Trump. Every leftist wants to do that, but this leftist might be slightly different. Professor Julia Azari wrote a piece for Vox arguing that the Constitution doesn’t do enough to limit executive power and suggests amending it to do so. This is interesting. I suggested the same thing …more

Podcast Episode 223: Rethinking Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is under attack. Who didn’t see this coming? There are, however, people who try to defend the man, but they do so very poorly. One such case is a recent opinion piece in the Richmond Dispatch that gave an offhanded nod of approval to a bunch of Hofstra students who want to take down a Jefferson statue on their campus. How stupid but …more

Podcast Episode 222: Fake News Fakes Its Knowledge About the “Civil War”

Facebook is now “Fact Checking” posts. This is bad news for a variety of reasons, but maybe most embarrassingly because they are using a former CNN reporter to do the fact checking. What could go wrong with that, particularly when they are “fact checking” the civil war [sic]. I hit this issue head on in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.