Tag: Podcast

Young Americans are refusing the join the military. In fact, for several years in a row, the military has fallen short of its recruitment goals. The question is why. Newsweek provided some answers, and surprisingly, were generally spot on. But they missed the larger picture. We take it for granted that the United States needs a standing army over nearly 1 million men and women. …more

I’ve often been asked a variation of the same question: “If you had to choose one American history book to recommend, what would it be?” The answer is simple: David Hackett Fischer’s Albion’s Seed. I don’t make this suggestion lightly. There are other fascinating and important works to consider, but Fischer presents a compelling tale of early American culture that cannot be ignored. Culture matters, …more

Back in 2009, the comedian Tim Hawkins created a funny little tune titled “The Government Can“. It went viral for a time–as good as it could get in 2009–but the point was simple. The government can do anything it wants. Why? Because the Supreme Court said so, that’s why. Don’t you know history, McClanahan? You see, the Supreme Court has been expanding the powers of …more

I like reading Jonathan Turley. He is about as honest as a lawyer can get, no offense to any lawyers on my list. I know a few better than Turley. He’s sometimes wrong, but so is everyone else, even yours truly at times. That said, that sometimes happened in a recent column he wrote for Fox News. Turley thinks the greatest threat to America is …more

American foreign policy is a disaster. It has been since the 1860s. Most people forget that the American empire was not created in the last thirty years. It began as an extension of the moral self-righteousness of the Republican crusade against the South during the War. Democracy and American liberty needed to be extended across the globe. So did the dollar, but that didn’t have …more

Jamelle Bouie is almost always wrong. But he is the best opinion columnist at The New York Times. Why? Because he at least does some research before he scribbles for the newspaper, and his essays are generally thought provoking. Take for example a recent column that suggested the Founders make a critical mistake. I agree, but not for the reasons Bouie suggests. The Founders make …more

According to recent polling, about 20 percent of Americans support secession. It is higher in some areas like Texas and the South, but even among Democrats, support for secession has increased in the last several years. The establishment can’t figure out why. The Washington Post recently published a piece trying to figure it out. They backed into the answer, but were still confused as to …more

In case you missed it, last week New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an executive order making it illegal for citizens to carry firearms in public–both open and concealed carry–for 30 days in Albuquerque and the surrounding county. She called it a response to a “public health” emergency. The “Constitutional conservatives” went nuts. How dare she violate the 2nd Amendment! In fact, a resident …more

About a week ago, a listener sent me an article from National Review that encouraged its readers to declare their independence from Thomas Jefferson. He was outraged and wanted my thoughts. I could just call it stupid, but the article provides a teachable moment for Americans interested in anything that resembles the American tradition. We could call these people conservatives or paleo-libertarians. The traditional term …more

The Federalist Papers are the most overrated series of essays in American history. That’s not a hot take. It’s a fact. They hold more weight because of the stature of the authors: Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. But that doesn’t make them any more important or useful than other commentaries on the Constitution written at the same time. In fact, they persuaded very few people and …more