Podcasts about saving elephants

What if the real division in America isn't between Republicans and Democrats, Red States vs Blue States, or liberals and conservatives but between the American people and a small group of the political elite whose function is to divide the rest of us?  Tony Woodlief joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to discuss how we may not be as divided as we think and how federalism holds the solution to many of the policy battles of the moment.   About Tony Woodlief Excerpts from Tony's bio in the State Policy Network and on his author page:   Tony Woodlief is State Policy Network's Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow for SPN's Center for Practical Federalism. He helps oversee SPN operations, supports SPN's president in her guidance of the leadership team, and helps ensure the organization's projects and programs measure success, evolve as SPN grows, and maintain alignment with our vision and mission.   Tony previously served as president of the Bill of Rights Institute, and before that the Market-Based Management Institute. He has also served as president of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. An alumnus of the University of North Carolina, he has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan, and an MFA from Wichita State University. Tony has appeared in media outlets including Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, National Review, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal.   Tony Woodlief is also an author. His short fiction has appeared in Image, Reckon Review, Ruminate, Dappled Things, and elsewhere. His story “Name” received a Pushcart Honorable Mention in 2010, and was included in Image Journal's 25th anniversary anthology. Tony's spiritual memoir, Somewhere More Holy, was listed among Image's top ten works of 2010. His most recent book is the novel We Shall Not All Sleep.   Tony is also the author of I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance. In writing I, Citizen, Tony conducted extensive research on American public opinion to find out what Americans believe and uncover the source of their political animosities. Through his research, Tony discovered that America is more united than divided, despite what the pundits tell us, and traced the source of our perceived animosity to a small minority of dedicated partisans within the political establishment of Washington, DC. I, Citizen tells the story of how these partisans have created the myth of a divided America and how they've concentrated power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and partisan elites, and offers practical solutions for how we can reclaim our right to self-governance by focusing on solutions and commonalities closer to home.  

In this era of information overload it's easy to join the ranks of the too online, filtering our every thought through the latest thing Trump tweeted or how the resistance is reacting. And it's just as easy to check out entirely and pretend like the news doesn't matter or, if it does, it'll have to be someone else's problem for now. Are there healthier ways to approach the news? How can we maintain sanity in a seemingly endless supply of hot takes and outrage-of-the-moments?   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by Avi Woolf, JB Shreve, and Blake Fischer as they discuss how to consume the news responsibly.   About the Panelists   Avi Woolf is a writer, editor, translator, and podcaster whose work has been published in Arc Digital, Commentary, National Review, The Bulwark, and The Dispatch.  He was chief editor of the online Medium publication Conservative Pathways, and he—in his words—"hopes to help forge a path for a conservatism which is relevant for the 21st century while not abandoning the best of past wisdom.”  Avi hosts his own podcast entitled Avi's Conversational Corner, a podcast on culture, history, and politics in a broad perspective.  You can find Avi on Twitter @AviWoolf   JB Shreve hosts two podcasts and blogs. JB Shreve & Faithful Considerations includes devotionals and bible studies, while JB Shreve & the End of History looks at our generation's current events, history, and socio-political issues.  JB has written two books: How the World Ends: Understanding the Growing Chaos published in 2019 and his latest book Politically Incorrect: Real Faith in an Era of Unreal Politics.   Blake Fischer is a political junkie, so you don't necessarily have to be. A lifelong conservative, Blake covers conservative policies, current politics, and the historical context of today's events. With a unique blend of media critique and a focus on the big issues that often go unaddressed, Blake offers insightful solutions to pressing problems without the fear-mongering or populist outrage used in mainstream political media.  Blake lives in Oklahoma and is the creator of The Homeless Conservative.   Listener Mail Josh responds to listener mail from two fellow podcasters both asking whether it's time to ditch the GOP for good.   Dennis Sanders is host of the Church and Main podcast, exploring where religion intersects with 21st-century public life with a focus on the story of Mainline Protestantism.  Calvin Moore's podcast is brand new and follows the historical accounts of the many people who ran for president and came up short.  

James Burnham was one of the most significant intellectual influences on the conservative movement of the twentieth century.  As an anti-Communist hardliner, his views on dealing with the Soviet menace head on ultimately shaped US foreign policy in the Reagan administration.  And his work at William F. Buckley's National Review gave the fledgling magazine its foreign policy heft.   Throughout his long public career, there emerged two James Burnhams: one who provided the early scaffolding to neoconservative ideas and the other who inspired paleoconservatives.  Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by history professor David Byrne to discuss his latest book James Burnham: An Intellectual Biography.   About David Byrne David Byrne is an adjunct professor of history at California Baptist University and Santa Monica College.  He contributes to the blogs The American Thinker and Crisis: A Voice for the Faithful Catholic Laity.  His previous book Ronald Reagan: An Intellectual Biography analyzes the ideas that informed Reagan's political philosophy and policies, establishing a rationale for the former president's motives, and discusses how thinkers such as Plato and Adam Smith influenced him.   Have you heard?  Saving Elephants has joined Substack! Having trouble keeping up with all that Saving Elephants is producing these days?  Join the substack to receive monthly newsletters to your inbox with the latest podcast episodes, YouTube clips and interviews, blog posts, recommended readings, and even the occasional banjo solo (no joke).  

Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.comWith the Republican Party shifting in new directions, what does it truly mean to be a conservative today? In this episode of Faithful Politics, hosts Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram sit down with returning guest Josh Lewis, host of the Saving Elephants podcast, to discuss the state of conservatism in an ever-evolving political landscape. From Trump's influence on the GOP to the core principles of conservative ideology, they explore whether the modern Republican Party still aligns with its historical roots. They also tackle pressing topics such as government efficiency, political trade-offs, and the philosophical differences between conservative and progressive worldviews. Whether you lean right, left, or somewhere in between, this conversation is sure to challenge your perspective on what it means to be conservative in America today.Guest Bio:Josh Lewis is the host of the Saving Elephants  podcast, a show dedicated to exploring the principles of conservatism in today's political climate. A self-described "Trump-skeptical Republican," Josh offers in-depth analysis on the ideological shifts within the GOP and the broader conservative movement. Outside of podcasting, he works as an auditor for the state of Oklahoma, bringing an informed perspective on government waste, fraud, and efficiency.Resources & Links:Saving Elephants Podcast: savingelephantsblog.comFollow Josh Lewis on X (Twitter): @svngelephants Support the showPlease Help Support the showhttps://donorbox.org/faithful-politics-podcastTo learn more about the show, contact our hosts, or recommend future guests, click on the links below: Website: https://www.faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/ Faithful Host: Josh@faithfulpoliticspodcast.com Political Host: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.com Twitter: @FaithfulPolitik Instagram: faithful_politics Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast LinkedIn: faithfulpolitics Subscribe to our Substack: https://faithfulpolitics.substack.com/ Join our next event on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/faithful-politics-podcast-107664696981

The Right has long had a thing or two to say about the importance of the family and its role in national stability and prosperity.  But there are sharp divisions regarding what political implications can be drawn from this idea, and what policies should be pursued to protect and strengthen families.   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis welcomes economist Clara Piano to the show to talk about the government's role in pro-natal and pro-family policies, the ideal population size, the challenges of under/over-population, ethical consumerism, and what some of today's Right have in common with family policy practiced by the Soviet Union.   About Clara Piano From clarapiano.com   Clara Piano is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi. Her primary areas of research are family economics, law and economics, and public choice. Sher is also a Senior Fellow in the Family Program at Cardus, a Law & Economics Fellows Advisor for the International Center for Law & Economics, and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Markets & Morality. 

Is civil discourse even possible across the political divide when that divide seems so insurmountable? How do we maintain or even strengthen relationships when we don't see politics the same? The latest Saving Elephants roundtable brings together panelists who all have experience in communicating across the divide: Eric Kohn (former Acton Institute podcast host), Corey Nathan (Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other), Will Wright and Josh Burtram (Faithful Politics Podcast), Elizabeth Doll (Braver Angels), and Calvin Moore (Leading Questions Podcast).

In 1976 historian George H. Nash wrote The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, a celebrated historical accounting that established much of the narrative for how we think about the development of modern conservatism even today.  George Nash joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to discuss the various strands of thought that emerged after the Second World War that eventually evolved into a political movement on the Right.  Along the way, Dr. Nash shares his insights on the colorful individuals who shaped the debate, how they fought one another, and how an eventual loose consensus was brought forth.  Finally, he offers some thoughts on what a lifetime of studying the history of conservatism can teach aspiring conservatives today.   About George H. Nash   George H. Nash is the epitome of a gentleman and a scholar.  A graduate from Amherst College who received his Ph.D. in History from Harvard University, Dr. Nash is an authority on the histories of American conservatism and the life of President Herbert Hoover.  Dr. Nash is an independent scholar, historian, and lecturer.  He speaks and writes frequently about the history and present direction of American conservatism, the life of Herbert Hoover, the legacy of Ronald Reagan, the education of the Founding Fathers, and other subjects.  His writings have appeared in the American Spectator, Claremont Review of Books, Intercollegiate Review, Modern Age, National Review, New York Times Book Review, Policy Review, University Bookman, Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.  He has lectured at the Library of Congress; the National Archives; the Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson presidential libraries; the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum; the Hoover Institution; the Heritage Foundation; the McConnell Center; and at various universities and conferences in the United States and Europe.  Several of his lectures have been featured on C-SPAN.  He has also been interviewed by C-SPAN, National Public Radio, numerous radio stations, and the print media.  Dr. Nash lives in Massachusetts.   Listener Mail   At the end of the episode, Josh responds to a listener's question about a comment he made in the episode that dropped on Election Day 2020.  Josh had expressed his views at that time that neither major party candidate represented an existential threat to the United States and the listener askes, given what we now know about the election aftermath, accusations of widespread election fraud, the incursion on January 6, and the subsequent white washing of the Republican party, would Josh now view Trump as an existential threat to the country?  

At the end of 2024, Ryan Rogers joined the show to share his experiences with fanatical wokism as a graduate student.  He later had Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis on his new podcast, Reality Therapy, for a wide ranging discussion on conservatism, the challenges of the modern conservative movement, what conservatism offers that other political ideologies do not, and much more.  This episode is a re-podcast of that original conversation.   About Ryan Rogers Ryan Rogers is a graduate student in clinical mental health counseling. He has a bachelors degree in psychology and a work history in addiction treatment.  His latest book, The Woke Mind, is the sixth book in his series on social justice fanaticism.  

Comedian, author, and political satirist Andrew Heaton joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to explore where our political tribalism comes from, why it's gotten out of hand, and what to do about it.   About Andrew Heaton From mightyheaton.com   Andrew Heaton is a comedian, author, and political satirist. He's the host of “The Political Orphanage” comedy and news podcast, and scifi deep dive podcast “Alienating the Audience.” He's a frequent Reason TV contributor and hosted the popular webseries “Mostly Weekly.” He's performed standup comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as a finalist in the China International Standup Competition, and throughout the United States and Europe. A former congressional staffer, he's the best-selling author of “Laughter is Better Than Communism,” as well as two funny novels. He once opened for William Shatner, who said he's “very funny.” So there.   As a UCB-trained sketch writer and improviser Andrew Heaton comprises half of the comedy duo Lost History, which has performed improvised historical reenactments at the Del Close Marathon and Austin's Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. He's a founding member of the popular New York indie improv team Lumberon, and an alumni of the sketch troupes 17:38 and First Runner Up.   As a political comedian Andrew Heaton has entertained numerous think tanks and advocacy groups, student associations, and sinister political action committees. He's a regular at Electoral Dysfunction at the People's Improv Theater in New York, and the Totally Dishonest Media Show at Stand Up New York. He hosted the award-winning series EconPop, a comedy show which explained economics through popular culture.   Andrew Heaton is the author of the best-selling work of political satire Laughter is Better Than Communism, and two funny paranormal novels: Frank Got Abducted (about aliens) and Happier as Werewolves (a tender coming of age novel involving werewolves).  His latest book is Tribalism is Dumb, detailed below.   About Tribalism is Dumb   Tribalism has made politics so awful I was forced to write a book about it. Well, fine. Fine.   This book explores the evolutionary roots of loving our team and hating the enemy team, and why groupish caveman instincts linger in our minds today. It answers: If tribalism is hardwired into us, what changed in the last twenty years? How did partisanship get so loud, toxic, and obnoxious, and ruin last Thanksgiving? Finally, it says what we can do about it as individuals navigating relationships, and as society as a whole.   "Tribalism is Dumb" will make you less flummoxed by partisanship, political loudmouths, and dogmatic pundits. It will make you taller, slimmer, and more attractive to everyone you could legally hit on. And it will make you better equipped to navigate tribalism in the wild.  

With the 2024 elections in rearview both parties are trying to grapple with what lessons they should learn.  Who better to offer unsolicited advice than Josh Lewis and Blake Fischer, the respective hosts of the Saving Elephants and The Homeless Conservative podcasts?  As two Trump-skeptical conservatives on the outside looking in, sure both parties are eager to hear their thoughts on how both parties should proceed in the elections ahead.   In this episode, Josh and Blake take a deep dive into what went wrong and what went right for the Republicans in 2024 and what might help them secure their newfound majorities for elections to come.   But wait, there's more!  This episode is the first in a two-part series.  In part 2 Blake puts Josh on the hot seat to ask what lessons the Democratic party should take from their 2024 losses.  But you won't find that conversation on the Saving Elephants podcast.  Instead, it appears as a special cross-over episode on Blake's The Homeless Conservative, which you can listen to here.   About Blake Fischer and the Homeless Conservative   Blake Fischer is a political junkie, so you don't necessarily have to be. A lifelong conservative, Blake covers conservative policies, current politics, and the historical context of today's events. With a unique blend of media critique and a focus on the big issues that often go unaddressed, Blake offers insightful solutions to pressing problems without the fear-mongering or populist outrage used in mainstream political media.   Blake says, “I know a lot of people who would consider themselves more conservative than liberal, but don't like Trump and feel like there's nowhere for them in the Republican party. Welcome to the club! But if that's you, I'd encourage you to not check out completely because we need reasonable citizens in this country to pay attention and vote accordingly if we want to change the direction of government and politics.”   Blake lives in Oklahoma and is the creator of The Homeless Conservative.  

As 2024 comes to a close podcasters everywhere will be doing one of those hackneyed and insufferable “a look back at the year's major events” shows. Not to be outdone, Saving Elephants will be getting in on the action as well with another livestream roundtable to bloviate and pontificate about the numerous twists and turns of our most recent trip around the sun.  Of course, unlike all those other shows, you never know when the panelists will get into an argument about whether Burke, Strauss, Hayek, or Scruton would have had the more insightful outlook were they alive today.

“I do not believe,” wrote F. A. Hayek in his book The Fatal Conceit, “that the widely held conception of ‘social justice' either describes a possible state of affairs or is even meaningful.”  Hayek would complain “social” was a sort of “weasel word” that carried a lot of unexamined prescriptions.  To call something “social justice” is to advocate for something without bothering to fully explore what that something might even be.   What are the philosophical underpinnings of social justice?  What does it practically mean, and how could it practically apply.  And what ought we to do when the goals of “social justice” conflict with actual justice?   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by Ryan Rogers who shares his story of experiencing the social justice movement in graduate school and his efforts to fully understand it origins, merits, and faults.   About Ryan Rogers Ryan Rogers is a graduate student in clinical mental health counseling. He has a bachelors degree in psychology and a work history in addiction treatment.  His latest book, The Woke Mind, will be available in early 2025.  It is the sixth book in his series on social justice fanaticism.  

“The biggest takeaway from the 2024 election,” writes Justin Longo of the Independence Center, is that “independents have officially broken the duopoly and now share the title of America's largest political group with Republicans.”  But what is an independent, exactly?  What do they want and how are they different from those who proudly affiliate with the Republican or Democratic parties?  And what might this portend for the future of American politics?   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by pollster Brett Loyd to make sense of the rise of the independents in the electorate.   About Brett Loyd   President and CEO of The Bullfinch Group, Brett Loyd is a leading researcher and campaign strategist, being one of the few political operatives to accurately forecast the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections.   With his methods unswayed by external influences, Brett has built a reputation as a trusted and insightful partner to presidential, senatorial, congressional, and gubernatorial candidates; national political committees; and corporate and issue campaigns. His unbiased and data-first approach has delivered research, insights, analysis, and recommendations that have led to wins from the highest levels of U.S. campaign politics to local policy initiatives, and among his trade association, NGO, and Fortune 500 clients' efforts.   This extensive experience also allows Brett to serve as a reputable advisor to DC's embassy and foreign relations community, advising international government relations firms as well as ambassadors and their diplomatic staff in Washington and abroad.   Brett Loyd began his career in statistics and political science after graduating from Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. Following his start in state politics, Brett moved to Washington, DC in 2007 where he and his wife still reside with their dog Falkor and goldfish Doug.   About The Independence Center   The Independence Center is an organization dedicated to building a movement of independent-thinkers with Leaders who support centrist common sense compromise. The Independent Center's mission is advocate for the millions of Americans who believe we share common ground and to promote and support candidates who share those values through research and outreach.   Have you heard?  Saving Elephants is now on YouTube!   Saving Elephants now has YouTube channel, featuring full-length episodes, exclusive shorts, and even live events! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@savingelephants  

Sure, the major news networks had all the "experts", but how many of them opined on what Buckley, Burke, or Kirk would think of the election results? Listen to Saving Elephants' livestream on election night as results come in from another stellar panel of cross-partisan contributors: Josh Lewis, Eric Kohn, Justin Stapley, Calvin Moore, Kent Straith, Mike Taylor, John Giokaris, Elizabeth Doll, and Steve Phelps.

Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis flies this election day episode solo to offer his thoughts on how your vote is more likely to impact yourself than it is the races, having grace for those who choose to vote differently than we do, and why conservatives should take courage in a profoundly discouraging time.   Special Election Night Livestream   You're already staying up late to watch the election results.  Why not watch them with another august cross-partisan panel brought to you by Saving Elephants?  Join us, beginning 9PM CST, as we analyze the results in real time.  Sure, the national networks have professional pundits, but how likely are any of them to seriously discuss what Burke, Kirk, or Buckley would think about our political developments?   Here's the link for YouTube and another for Facebook where we'll be livestreaming.

Saving Elephants meticulously avoids many cringeworthy tropes in today's “conservative” media and opts instead for deeper conversations on the conservative worldview and what it can offer Millennials.  As such, there is much low-hanging-fruit among the fruitier parts of the Left that isn't as vigorously explored as it is in the aforementioned “conservative” media.  But that doesn't mean these topics are off limits—just that they're to be approached with conviction and clarity.   Josh Lewis welcomes Kimberly Ross back to the podcast for a wide-ranging discussion on what it means to be a woman, the place of feminism in conservatism, how both the Left and Right get the differences in the sexes wrong, and whether Andrew Tate is the “conservative's” answer to Che Guevara.   About Kimberly Ross Kimberly Ross is a freelance conservative writer. Her work regularly appears in The Washington Examiner, both online and the print magazine, and The Mirror magazine, a monthly publication from Aid to the Church in Need.  She is a freelance columnist at The Freemen News-Letter and co-host of The Right Thoughts podcast.  Her archive of published work can be found at RedState, Arc Digital, The Bulwark, Rare, and USA Today.    As a mother of two and self-described "first wave feminist", she is most passionate about the rights of children, women, and the issue of abortion. She considers herself an independent conservative (not to be confused with conservative independent) and is beholden to no politician.    Kimberly has a B.A. in history with graduate work in political science. You can follow Kimberly on Twitter @SouthernKeeks  

In a world where both political parties are moving away from free market oriented policy solutions, a robust defense of our international allies, and traditional social norms, where does the conservative go from here? Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by special returning guests Cal Davenport, Erik Kohn, and Justin Stapley for a roundtable discussion on what the future holds for the conservative movement. This episode first dropped as a livestream on the new Saving Elephants YouTube channel., featuring full-length episodes, exclusive shorts, and even live events! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@savingelephants

The stakes were high in the first debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Did anyone, other than the American people, emerge the loser? Were any pets harmed during the debate? Did some semblance of substance somehow slip through? Saving Elephants presents another livestream cross-partisan panel to debate the debate, featuring: Elizabeth Doll Mike Taylor Cal Davenport John Giokaris

The great fusionist project of ordered liberty advocated by Frank Meyer, William F. Buckley, and M. Stanton Evans is defended and affirmed today by a group calling themselves Freedom Conservatives, or FreeCons.  And as most groups of conservatives are wont to do, they have drafted a Statement of Principles outlining what they hope to affirm.  Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is a proud signatory on this statement and welcomes in this episode one of the two originators of the Statement, Avik Roy, for a wide-ranging discussion on fusionism, how FreeCons may compare and contrast with NatCons, the need for conservatism to grapple with issues of equality, and much more.   About Avik Roy Excerpts from https://bipartisanpolicy.org/person/avik-roy/   Avik Roy is the President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP.org), a non-partisan, non-profit think tank that conducts original research on expanding opportunity to those who least have it.  Roy's work has been praised widely on both the right and the left. National Review has called him one of the nation's “sharpest policy minds,” while the New York Times' Paul Krugman described him as man of “personal and moral courage.”   Roy has advised three presidential candidates on policy, including Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney.  Roy also serves as the Opinion Editor at Forbes, where he writes on politics and policy, and manages The Apothecary, the influential Forbes blog on health care policy and entitlement reform.  [He] is the author of How Medicaid Fails the Poor, published by Encounter Books in 2013, and Transcending Obamacare: A Patient-Centered Plan for Near-Universal Coverage and Permanent Fiscal Solvency, a second edition of which was published in 2016 by FREOPP.  He serves on the advisory board of the National Institute for Health Care Management, is a Senior Advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center, and co-chaired the Fixing Veterans Health Care Policy Taskforce.   Roy's writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlantic, National Review, The Weekly Standard, and National Affairs, among other publications.  He is a frequent guest on television news programs, including appearances on Fox News, Fox Business, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, CBS, PBS, and HBO.   From 2011 to 2016, Roy served as a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, where he conducted research on the Affordable Care Act, entitlement reform, universal coverage, international health systems, and FDA policy.  Previously, he served as an analyst and portfolio manager at Bain Capital, J.P. Morgan, and other firms.   Roy was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied molecular biology, and the Yale University School of Medicine.  You can follow Roy on Twitter @Avik  

Was Abraham Lincoln a racist?  Were his efforts at emancipation the mere cold calculations of a politician whose sole aim was to win the Civil War, or do they point to some deeper ideals of America's first principles?  Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is Lincoln historian Dr. Allen C. Guelzo for a wide-ranging conversation on how Lincoln's efforts at ending slavery and saving the union may provide the clearest example of prudent American statesmanship in practice.   About Dr. Allen C. Guelzo Excerpts from the James Madison Program   Dr. Allen C. Guelzo is a New York Times best-seller author, American historian and commentator on public issues.  He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, National Affairs, First Things, U.S. News & World Report, The Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, National Review, the Daily Beast, and the Claremont Review of Books, and has been featured on NPR's “Weekend Edition Sunday” and “On Point,” The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2008), Meet the Press: Press Pass with David Gregory, The Civil War: The Untold Story (Great Divide Pictures, 2014), Race to the White House: Lincoln vs. Douglas (CNN, 2016), Legends and Lies: The Civil War (Fox, 2018), Reconstruction (PBS, 2019) and Brian Lamb's “Booknotes.”  In 2010, he was nominated for a Grammy Award along with David Straithern and Richard Dreyfuss for their production of the entirety of The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (BBC Audio).  In 2018, he was a winner of the Bradley Prize, along with Jason Riley of The Wall Street Journal and Charles Kesler of the Claremont Institute.   He is Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Research Scholar and Director of the James Madison Program Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship.  Previously, he was Senior Research Scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, and the Director of Civil War Era Studies and the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College.  During 2010-11 and again in 2017-18, he served as the WL. Garwood Visiting Professor in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.  He holds the MA and PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania.   Among his many award-winning publications, he is the author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, which won both the Lincoln Prize and the Abraham Lincoln Institute Prize in 2000; Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (Simon & Schuster, 2004) which also won the Lincoln Prize and the Abraham Lincoln Institute Prize, for 2005; Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America (Simon & Schuster, 2008), on the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858; a volume of essays, Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas (Southern Illinois University Press, 2009) which won a Certificate of Merit from the Illinois State Historical Association in 2010; and Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction (in the Oxford University Press ‘Very Short Introductions' series.  In 2012, he published Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction with Oxford University Press, and in 2013 Alfred Knopf published his book on the battle of Gettysburg (for the 150thanniversary of the battle), Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, which spent eight weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. Gettysburg: The Last Invasion won the Lincoln Prize for 2014, the inaugural Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History, the Fletcher Pratt Award of the New York City Round Table, and the Richard Harwell Award of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table.  His most recent publications are Redeeming the Great Emancipator (Harvard University Press, 2016) which originated as the 2012 Nathan Huggins Lectures at Harvard University, and Reconstruction: A Concise History (Oxford University Press, 2018).   He is one of Power Line's 100 “Top Professors” in America.  In 2009, he delivered the Commonwealth Fund Lecture at University College, London, on “Lincoln, Cobden and Bright: The Braid of Liberalism in the 19th-Century's Transatlantic World.”  He has been awarded the Lincoln Medal of the Union League Club of New York City, the Lincoln Award of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, and the Lincoln Award of the Union League of Philadelphia, in addition to the James Q. Wilson Award for Distinguished Scholarship on the Nature of a Free Society.  In 2018, he was named a Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute.  He has been a Fellow of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University, and currently serves as a Trustee of the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History.   Together with Patrick Allitt and Gary W. Gallagher, he team-taught The Teaching Company's American History series, and as well as courses on Abraham Lincoln (Mr. Lincoln, 2005) on American intellectual history (The American Mind, 2006), the American Revolution (2007), and the Founders (America's Founding Fathers, 2017).  From 2006 to 2013, he served as a member of the National Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities.   Dr. Guelzo's latest book, Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment, which is discussed in this episode is available wherever books are sold.   He lives in Paoli and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Debra.  They have three children and five grandchildren.  His website is allenguelzo.com   Saving Elephants is coming to YouTube! We're thrilled to announce that Saving Elephants will be launching a YouTube channel in August with full-length episodes, exclusive shorts, and even live events!  Further details coming soon...  

In an age of rampant informalities, shoddy attire, and the kind of milieu that makes People of Walmart a possibility, conservatives stand athwart history yelling STOP!  Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is the impeccably dressed Samuel Goldman to explore how conservatism informs the world of fashion, why legendary figures on the Right from Russell Kirk to Albert J Nock to Willmoore Kendall wore such questionably lavish accessories, the connective tissues between intellectual conservatism and 90s era punk rock, and much more.   About Samuel Goldman Samuel Goldman is an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is also executive director of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and director of the Politics & Values Program.   Samuel is the Editor of FUSION, an online journal inspired by the belief that Western civilization is defined by intertwined threads of freedom and tradition, innovation and order, rights and duties.  In addition to academic work, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.   His most recent book, After Nationalism: Being American in a Divided Age was published by University of Pennsylvania Press in spring 2021.  His first book God's Country: Christian Zionism in America was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2018.  Samuel received his Ph.D. from Harvard and taught at Harvard and Princeton before coming to GW.  You can follow Samuel on Twitter @SWGoldman   For those interested in learning more about men's fashion, Samuel recommends the following resources:   Blogs   Put This On   Die, Workwear   Necktie Salvage   Books   Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion   True Style: The History and Principles of Classic Menswear   The Casual Style Guide   Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion   Hollywood and the Ivy Look   Saving Elephants is coming to YouTube! We're thrilled to announce that Saving Elephants will be launching a YouTube channel in August with full-length episodes, exclusive shorts, and even live events!  Further details coming soon...  

In an age where what passes for the archetype conservative are the likes of Candace Owens, Bill Mitchell, Sean Hannity, Matt Gaetz, Tomi Lahren, and Donald Trump, it can be discouraging for those of us who take pride in the rich legacy and colorful history of thinkers on the Right to be associated with such grifters, demagogues, and charlatans.   Trying to define conservatism is challenging and trying to compile a list of individuals who best exemplify conservatism is problematic.  Yet this is becoming increasingly important in a world where “conservatism” is quickly being coopted by reactionary nationalist populists who have little to nothing in common with the namesake.   In this episode Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis offers his list of conservative thinkers well worthy of your time and attention.    Disclaimer This list is imperfect and incomplete.  If I were to revisit the list next year or possibly even next week, I'm sure there are plenty of names I'd believe should supplant the names here.  Some of these individuals may even be uncomfortable with the label “conservative”, though they all share aspects of the broader conservative worldview.  The names below are not listed in order of preference or importance, but they are all insightful and noteworthy.   The fifty individuals discussed in this episode are noted below.  If you'd like to learn more about each one you can check out the original blog post of Fifty Conservative Thinkers for a brief bio and links.   Josh's (Incomplete) List of Fifty Conservative Thinkers Worth Your Time Edmund Burke Milton Friedman Wilhelm Röpke David Bahnsen F.A. Hayek John Adams Frederick Douglass Thomas Sowell James Madison Barry Goldwater Ronald Reagan Bradley J. Birzer Russell Kirk Matthew Continetti David French Gertrude Himmelfarb George Nash Stephen J. Tonsor Roger Scruton Jacques Ellul Whittaker Chambers Michael Oakeshott Eric Voegelin Timothy Carney C.S. Lewis G.K. Chesterton Jonah Goldberg Wendell Berry T.S. Eliot Ross Douthat Mary Eberstadt M. Stanton Evans Irving Kristol George Will William F. Buckley Kristen Soltis Anderson Robert Nisbet Carly Fiorina Arthur Brooks Marian Tupy Charles Marohn Patrick Deneen Harry Jaffa Walter Williams Frank S. Meyer Alexis de Tocqueville Lord Acton Leo Stauss Willmoore Kendall Yuval Levin

Josh Lewis is a CPA who lives in Tulsa and works for the Oklahoma State Auditor's Office. A former candidate for City Auditor with over a decade of experience in auditing governments, Josh has a unique and practical perspective as an outside observer of politics put into practice. For more, please visit his site: Saving Elephants.Please rate us on Apple and Spotify and subscribe for free at mikeyopp.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikeyopp.substack.com/subscribe

In February of 2004 the late Charles Krauthammer delivered the keynote address at AEI's Annual Dinner.  It was a year into the Iraqi war and several years into the War on Terror.  Krauthammer's address—entitled Democratic Realism—lauded much of the Bush administration's approach to the war, but offered some stern warnings on how the war and rebuilding efforts might go awry.  His warnings proved to be profoundly prescient as the following years led to the disillusionment of what broadly (and wrongly) became known as NeoCon foreign policy.   What had the Right missed in Krauthammer's warnings?  What foreign policy approaches has the United States historically taken, and are any of them still relevant?  How might conservatism shed light on the most appropriate foreign policy we could pursue?  Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is returning guest Michael Lucchese to think through the lessons learned in American foreign policy.   About Michael Lucchese Michael Lucchese is the founder and CEO of Pipe Creek Consulting, a communications firm based in Washington, D.C., and a visiting scholar at the Liberty Fund.  Previously, he was a communications aide to U.S. Senator Ben Sasse.   He received a BA in American Studies at Hillsdale College and was a Hudson Institute Political Studies fellow and an alumnus of the Röpke-Wojtyła Fellowship at Catholic University of America's Busch School of Business. Michael is an Associate Editor at Law & Liberty and a contributing editor to Providence.  His writings have also appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Examiner and National Review, Engelsberg Ideas, and Public Discourse. Michael Lucchese is from Chicago, Illinois.   Michael was a previous guest on Saving Elephants in episode 143 – The Conservative Mind at 70 with Michael Lucchese  

Empowering Women & Saving Elephants in Thailand: My week with Daughters Rising and Chai Lai Orchid in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I had the joy of spending a week volunteering with Daughters Rising, a non-profit based in Thailand focused on empowering at-risk girls to prevent human trafficking. In this episode I talk all about the mission of Daughters Rising, it's social business partner, Chai Lai Orchid, and introduce a few of my friends there. I touch on interviews conducted with Alexandra (the founder), Malida (staff), P Doh & P Por (local Karen women from the village), Kham Hom (a former scholarship recipient), and Win (DR staff & former scholarship recipient.The full version of their interviews have been linked below.Need some company, a belly laugh, or a hand to hold? Listen to Lila.The blogInstagramDon't forget to rate, review, subscribe!FULL INTERVIEWSDaughters RisingAlexandra PhamMalidaP Doh & P PorKham HomWinDon't miss last weeks episode with Chai Lai Orchid's photographer James de la Cloche!The Best place to visit elephants in Thailand6 weeks in Thailand in Thailand: My Route & RecsDaughters RisingChai Lai Orchid100 Rural Women

What is the single most important virtue for a leader to possess?  What quality can make the run-of-the-mill politician into a statesman?  Is it integrity, communication skills, resilience, courage, empathy, or wisdom?  All of these things are important, of course, and if any are sufficiently lacking we wouldn't call that a good leader.  But what would you say is the chief virtue?   Conservative thinkers from Burke to Kirk to Kristol to Strauss and even many of the ancient and medieval thinkers from Aristotle to Plato to St. Thomas Aquainis identified a single virtue as the chief “political” virtue.  A virtue so important that Edmund Burke referred to it as the god of this lower world.   What is that virtue?  That's exactly what Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis explores in this solo episode.   Mentioned in the episode: Saul Alinsky's interview on William F. Buckley's Firing Line.  

Having published more than forty books on an astoundingly wide range of topics and holding noteworthy positions at the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature, the University of Oxford, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the University of Buckingham, Sir Roger Scruton was the quintessential British gentleman and scholar.  He was also one of the greatest conservative intellectuals of the last century and the beginning of this century who died in 2020.  Fisher Derderian joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis for a woefully incomplete exploration at the legacy of Scruton, including Scruton's contributions to American conservatism, his curious admiration of Friedrich Hegel, his spirited yet charitable critics of the thinkers of the New Left, and his inscrutable views on the Christian faith.   About Fisher Derderian Source – Scruton.org   Fisher Derderian is the Founder and Executive Director of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation.  He met Sir Roger as a student in the MA Philosophy Programme at the University of Buckingham and the idea for the RSLF was subsequently conceived at a tutorial with Scruton.   Fisher currently resides in Orange County with his wife, Maxine, and their three children.  He serves as a member of the Arts Commission for the City of Costa Mesa.  Fisher holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from The King's College NYC and a MA in Philosophy from the University of Buckingham.  You can follow Fisher on Twitter @Fisher_D   About the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation Source – Scruton.org   The Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation is the centre of an international network of institutions and scholars dedicated to furthering the philosophical and cultural achievements of the West championed in Scruton's work.  Through the hosting and sponsoring of events, lectures, seminars, research and projects, the RSLF supports those dedicated to the achievements of Western philosophy, architecture, art and literature who are committed to living for ‘the vanished things' and teaching our great inheritance to the rising generations.  

The Saving Elephants podcast has welcomed a wide array of incredible guests who are on forefront of the conservative political movement.  But most of the guests discuss conservatism from the perspective of a theory or set of principles or idea.  Few have had the opportunity to enact political conservatism as a practice.  And few ex-politicians have been as successful as former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels in advancing conservatism as a practice.  While Daniels is reticent to label his approach “conservative” or identify as part of red team vs. blue team, his practices in executive offices from the governor's mansion to serving in presidential administrations to leading a university have all displayed a strong tinge of conservative prudence and small-government grit.   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis welcomes former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels to the show to discuss his experiences as governor, advisor to Ronald Reagan, Director of OMB for George W. Bush, president of Purdue University.  His accomplishments in these offices and no-nonsense approach towards governing has earned him recognition among many on the Right.  Some leading conservatives—from George Will to Jonah Goldberg to Ross Douthat—have clearly stated he would have been their preferred presidential candidate in recent elections.  While Daniels isn't a presidential candidate then or now, his story provides a roadmap in our politically bleak wilderness for what qualities we should be looking for in a leader.   About Mitch Daniels from Purdue University   Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. is the 12th president of Purdue University and the former governor of Indiana.  He was elected Indiana's 49th governor in 2004 in his first bid for any elected office, and then re-elected in 2008 with more votes than any candidate in the state's history.  During his tenure, Indiana went from an $800 million deficit to its first AAA credit rating, led the nation in infrastructure building and passed sweeping education and healthcare reforms.   After a series of transformations, which included the biggest tax cut in state history, the nation's most sweeping deregulation of the telecommunications industry and a host of other reforms aimed at strengthening the state's economy, Indiana was rated a top five state for business climate and number one for state infrastructure and effectiveness of state government as Daniels exited office.  Indiana's business climate is now rated among the nation's best.   At Purdue, Daniels has prioritized student affordability and reinvestment in the university's strengths.  Breaking with a 36-year trend, Purdue has held tuition unchanged from 2012 through at least the 2022-23 academic year.  Simultaneously, room rates have remained steady, meal plan rates have fallen about 10%, and student borrowing has dropped 32% while investments in student success and STEM research have undergone unprecedented growth. It is less expensive to attend Purdue today than it was in 2012.   In recognition of his leadership as both a governor and a university president, Daniels was named among the Top 50 World Leaders by Fortune Magazine in 2015 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.   Prior to becoming governor, Daniels served as chief of staff to Senator Richard Lugar, senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush.  He also was the CEO of the Hudson Institute, a major contract research organization.  During an 11-year career at Eli Lilly and Company, he held a number of top executive posts including president of Eli Lilly's North American pharmaceutical operations.   Daniels earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a law degree from Georgetown.  He is the author of three books and a contributing columnist in the Washington Post.  He and his wife Cheri have four daughters and seven grandchildren.  

In 2021, Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis joined three other veteran podcasters on a new podcast endeavor: Are We Right? Cal Davenport, Brooke Medina, and Calvin Moore, and Josh debated a wide range of topics from politics to religion to culture and invited the audience to weigh in on whether or not they're right. While the show was tragically short-lived, a number of excellent episodes were produced and this is a re-podcast of their Christmas episode to commemorate the holiday season: In the spirit of the season, Are We Right presents an epic Christmas-themed episode unmatched in festive gaiety since George Lucas' The Star Wars Holiday Special.  Calvin recalls fond memories of the family going to the movies at Christmastime and waxes eloquent about the proper color of Christmas lights and ranking of Christmas films.  Brooke attempts in vain to engage the group in a lively debate about the merits of singing Mariah Carey Christmas songs and ruminates about the religious implications of Christmas in a manner that would make a Southern Baptist shout “Amen!”.  And Josh regales the audience with a banjo solo of Angels We Have Heard on High (no, really). You can find the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Audible, or wherever you listen, find us on Twitter @ TheAWRPodcast, and email us at arewerightpodcast@gmail.com.

Poachers in Africa kill over 20,000 elephants every year. Rangers usually arrive too late. Dutch organization "Hack the Planet" has developed an intelligent camera trap that sends warnings in real time.

Earlier this year Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis was on AD Tippet's podcast, Conservative Historian.  This episode is a re-podcast of that conversation that covered a wide variety of conservative topics from both the past and today.   About AD Tippet   AD Tippet (the podcast formerly known as Belisarius Aves) is the founder and publisher of the Conservative Historian YouTube channel and podcast. “History is too important to be left to the left,” writes AD. “The Conservative Historian provides content and opinions on conservative thinking through the prism of history.” You can follow Bel on Twitter @BelAves  

In 1953 a little-known political theorist Russell Kirk repurposed his doctoral dissertation as a book for publication.  His book, The Conservative Mind, would quickly become a bestseller, give the nascent conservative movement its name and intellectual moorings, be reviewed and debated in respectable publications across the country, and launch its author to international fame.   Seventy years later, the book is still going strong.  Now on its seventh edition and reprinted in multiple languages, The Conservative Mind is among the indispensable tomes for understanding the conservative movement.  In this episode, Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by Michael Lucchese to explore the enduring legacy of The Conservative Mind at seventy.   About Michael Lucchese   Michael Lucchese is the founder and CEO of Pipe Creek Consulting, a communications firm based in Washington, D.C., and a visiting scholar at the Liberty Fund.  Previously, he was a communications aide to U.S. Senator Ben Sasse.   He received a BA in American Studies at Hillsdale College and was a Hudson Institute Political Studies fellow and an alumnus of the Röpke-Wojtyła Fellowship at Catholic University of America's Busch School of Business.   His writing have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Examiner and National Review, Engelsberg Ideas, Public Discourse, and Law & Liberty.  Michael Lucchese is from Chicago, Illinois.   The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal Celebrates the 70th Anniversary of The Conservative Mind   In celebration of the 70th anniversary of Russell Kirk's landmark book, The Conservative Mind, the Russell Kirk Center cordially invites you to join them for a special evening event with a panel of emerging conservative thinkers: Adapting Conservatism for the Current Generation   The celebration will be held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, December 5.   Reserve Your Tickets  

This podcast features Josh Lewis, founder of Saving Elephants (savingelephantsblog.com), a blog dedicated to reigniting conservatism for millennials.  AD and Josh discuss how to apply conservatism to the issues of today.  Burke, Kirk and even Trump come up in the conversation.  

Everyone supports civility, in theory, when the “other side” is behaving themselves.  But what is the role of civility in an era of growing political division?  Is civility a weakness that can be exploited by our political opponents?  Is it simply being well-mannered and exceedingly nice, or is there more to it?   Those are the very questions Alexandra Hudson set out to answer in her new book, The Soul of Civility.  Alexandra joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to unpackage how civility holds the timeless answers for humanity's timeless struggle with living alongside the “other side”.   About Alexandra Hudson From Alexandra's website: Alexandra Hudson is a writer, popular speaker, and the founder of Civic Renaissance, a publication and intellectual community dedicated to beauty, goodness and truth. She was named the 2020 Novak Journalism Fellow, and contributes to Fox News, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME Magazine, POLITICO Magazine, and Newsweek. She earned a master's degree in public policy at the London School of Economics as a Rotary Scholar, and is an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. She is also the creator of a series for The Teaching Company called Storytelling and The Human Condition.  She lives in Indianapolis, IN with her husband and children.   But wait, there's more… During the conversation Josh and Alexandra briefly discuss Edmund Burke's take on social contract theory.  This is a complex issue and there simply wasn't adequate time to explore it fully.  So, after the conversation with Alexandra, Josh shares his thoughts on how Burke's understanding of social contract theory might rescue Lockean liberalism from being merely a tool of the Left to something conservatives can embrace themselves.  

In this episode, I welcome Josh Lewis, the host of Saving Elephants, a podcast and blog espousing the goodness and benefits of the conservative tradition in the United States.   Josh believes bad actors have hijacked conservatism, and if true conservatism is to survive — where the wisdom of the past is applied to the challenges of the present — then it will be up to Millennials to recapture its true meaning.   In 2016, Josh stepped down as the treasurer of the Tulsa County Oklahoma Republican Party when he saw conservatism going in a direction that strayed from its historical foundations set for by people like Edmund Burke, Thomas Sowell, and William F. Buckley.   Josh and I discuss his draw to the original premise of conservatism, the modern Republican party and Donald Trump, as well as his overarching belief that true conservatism embraces lively yet civil dialogue.   Check out Josh's work at https://www.savingelephantsblog.com/ and connect with Josh at https://twitter.com/svngelephants.

This is part 2 of Jonathan's conversation with Josh Lewis of the Saving Elephants podcast on the topic of political theology. Check out the Saving Elephants podcast here: "Millennials defending and expressing conservative values." The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

The name Edmund Burke is used quite liberally on the Saving Elephants podcast as host Josh Lewis makes no bones about being a “Burkean” conservative.  But who was this Irish statesman, economist, and philosopher?  What were his contributions to conservative thought?  Why does Josh hold him in such high regard?  And why do some conservatives argue there's no place for Burke in conservatism?   Rather than inviting one guest to tackle these pressing questions, Josh explores the various conversations had on the podcast with past guests about Burke to help us navigate this rather complex and often misunderstood political thinker.  The lineup includes:   Wes Siler Podcast appearance: 71 – Exploring Burke with Wes Siler   Wes is the founder and Director of The Burkean Conservative, a website, social media presence, and video platform that produces content focused on educating and expanding the conservative movement on the basis of Edmund Burke's principles.  You can follow The Burkean Conservative on Twitter @TheBurkeanCon.   Yuval Levin Podcast appearance: 73 – Formative Institutions with Yuval Levin   Yuval Levin is a political analyst, public intellectual, academic, and journalist.  He is the founding editor of National Affairs, director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a contributing editor of National Review, and co-founder and a senior editor of The New Atlantis.  He also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy.   Yuval served as a member of the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush.  He was also executive director of the President's Council on Bioethics and a congressional staffer at the member, committee, and leadership levels.   Yuval's essays and articles have appeared in numerous publications, among them, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary.  He is the author of five books, two of which are discussed in detail in the episode: A Time to Build and The Great Debate.   Jonah Goldberg Podcast appearance: 82 – Ruminating Remnants with Jonah Goldberg   Jonah Goldberg hosts The Remnant, a podcast featuring a “Cannonball Run”-style cast of stars, has-beens, and never-weres to address the most pressing issues of the day and of all-time, mixing history, pop culture, rank-punditry, political philosophy, and, at times, shameless book-plugging, and the nudity is (almost) always tasteful.  In October of 2019 Goldberg co-launched and became founding editor of the online opinion and news publication The Dispatch.  He was the founding editor of National Review Online, and from 1998 until 2019 he was an editor at National Review.   A prolific writer, Goldberg writes a weekly column about politics and culture for the Los Angeles Times as well as a frequent “newsletter” The G-File.  He has authored three books, the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Liberal Fascism; The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas; and Suicide of the West, which also became a New York Times bestseller.   Goldberg is also a regular contributor on news networks such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, appearing on various television programs including Good Morning America, Nightline, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Real Time with Bill Maher, and The Daily Show.  Goldberg is an occasional guest on a number of Fox News shows and a frequent panelist on Special Report with Bret Baier.   Bo Winegard Podcast appearance: 104 – Armchair Burkeans with Bo Winegard   Bo Winegard obtained his PhD in social psychology from Florida State University, under the tutelage of Roy Baumeister.  Formerly a professor at a small college in the Midwest, Bo is now an independent scholar interested in human evolution, human variation, the rise of political order, and political conservatism.  He also enjoys literature, film, sports, and mediocre detective fiction.   Bo has many peer-reviewed publications on motley topics and often writes for the online media publication Quillette.  He is currently working on the first of several books on human nature and political ideology.   Visit Bo's website: https://www.bmwinegard.com/   And his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8mHb9VLBbrlvzRRwwGgL5w   You can also find Bo on Twitter @EPoe187   David Bahnsen Podcast appearance: 119 – Inflating the Apocalypse with David Bahnsen   David L. Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a bi-coastal private wealth management firm with offices in Newport Beach, CA, New York City, Minneapolis, and Nashville managing over $3.5 billion in client assets.  David is consistently named as one of the top financial advisors in America by Barron's, Forbes, and the Financial Times.  He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business and is a regular contributor to National Review and Forbes.  He has written his own political viewpoint blog for over a decade.   David serves on the Board of Directors for the National Review Institute and was the Vice-President of the Lincoln Club of Orange County for eight years.  He is a committed donor and activist across all spectrums of national, state, and local politics, and views the cause of Buckley and Reagan as the need of the hour.   David is passionate about opposition to crony capitalism, and has lectured and written for years about the need for pro-growth economic policy.  Every part of his political worldview stems from a desire to see greater freedom as a catalyst to greater human flourishing.   He is the author of the book, Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It and his most recent book, There's No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths.   His ultimate passions are his lovely wife of 18+ years, Joleen, their gorgeous and brilliant children, sons Mitchell and Graham, and daughter Sadie, and the life they've created together in Newport Beach, California.   Jeff Nelson Podcast appearance: 130 – Cultivating Kirk with Jeff Nelson   Jeff Nelson co-founded the Kirk Center with Annette Kirk and is currently Vice Chairman of the Center's Board of Trustees.  He served in 1986 and again in 1989 as Dr. Kirk's personal assistant.   Dr. Nelson is Executive Vice President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (Wilmington, Delaware).  He also served as president of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, NH).  He received his B.A. at the University of Detroit, an M.A. at Yale University Divinity School, and was awarded his Ph.D. in American History at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.   Dr. Nelson founded ISI Books, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's now nationally recognized publishing imprint, in 1993.  Under his direction, more than 110 books were published.  During that time he also edited two respected journals of thought and opinion: The Intercollegiate Review and The University Bookman, and is publisher of Studies in Burke and His Time.  He also is senior fellow of both the International G. K. Chesterton Institute (Toronto, ON) and the Centre for the Study of Faith and Culture in Oxford, England; and he is secretary of the Edmund Burke Society of America.   Dr. Nelson has edited two book collections: Redeeming the Time by Russell Kirk, and Perfect Sowing: Reflections of a Bookman by Henry Regnery; he co-edited an award-winning treasury of the historian John Lukacs' writings entitled Remembered Past; and was project director of the popular national college guide, Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth About America's Top Schools.  Dr. Nelson was featured in a New York Times front-page news article about a major reference work he co-edited, American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia; and he is series editor of The Library of Modern Thinkers.  Jeff Nelson is a frequent and popular guest on radio and television talk shows across the country.   You can follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffOttoNelson  

This is the first of Jonathan's two-part conversation with Josh Lewis of the Saving Elephants podcast on the topic of political theology. Check out the Saving Elephants podcast here: "Millennials defending and expressing conservative values." The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

The United States and United Kingdom have enjoyed and, at times, endured a symbiotic history, culture, politics, and global relationship.  Often understanding the quirks of one nation helps us better understand our own.  Sarah Stook, journalist of American politics and history, joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to discuss what Americans and Brits can learn from one another, what unique challenges face young, British conservatives, the importance of the British monarch, and whether American politics looks as off-the-rails from an outsider's perspective as it does from those actually living in the United States.   About Sarah Stook Sarah Stook is a freelance writer and beat reporter for Elections Daily (focused on American politics) and The Mallard (focused on politics in the United Kingdom) with an emphasis on the Republican Party, presidential elections, and the interworking of campaigns.  She is a fan of historical threads, first ladies, presidents, and vintage fashion.  She is a student at Lancaster University in the U.K. and is a member of the Conservative Party.  You can follow Sarah on Twitter @sarah_stook  

“History offers not simply a chronicle of events but, more importantly, opportunities to gain insights about the human condition from the experience of other times and places,” writes Thomas Sowell in his provocatively titled book Black Rednecks and White Liberals.  “That is, it offers not merely facts but explanations.”  Yet history's capacity to benefit us is naturally limited by our natural biases.  “History cannot be a reality check for visions when history is itself shaped by visions.”  To learn how to extract beneficial explanations from history, therefore, we must first learn how to recognize our biases, pre-conceptions, worldviews, and visions.   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by the Conservative Historian Belisarius Aves to explore the various schools of historical thought and how conservatism might instruct us to approach history.   About Belisarius Aves Belisarius Aves (or Bel for short) is the founder and publisher of the Conservative Historian YouTube channel and podcast.  “History is too important to be left to the left,” writes Bel.  “The Conservative Historian provides content and opinions on conservative thinking through the prism of history.”  You can follow Bel on Twitter @BelAves  

Christian or not, it's undeniable that Western civilization, and the United States in particular, has deep historical roots in Judeo-Christian teachings.  Scripture has shaped much of our culture, thought, values, and politics.  But while plenty of Biblical passages appear to have political implications, there's little consensus among the general population—to say nothing of the religiously devoted—what a political worldview based on the Bible should look like.   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis continues his conversation with Jonathan Cole on the topic of political theology.  But this time they turn their attention to more practical applications of how specific Scriptures might inform our politics and how we might avoid the pitfalls of making our politics too religious or our religion too political.   About Jonathan Cole From Jonathan Cole's website: Dr Jonathan Cole is a scholar, writer, translator and lecturer specializing in political theology—the intersection between religion and politics.   He is currently Assistant Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and host of The Political Animals Podcast: "Honest conversations about the political, theological and cultural ideas that shape who we are in the 21st century."   He has a PhD in political theology from CSU, an MA in Islamic theology and Middle Eastern politics from the Australian National University and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history from La Trobe University.  He speaks Greek.   He spent 13 years working in a number of Australian federal government departments and agencies in Canberra, including seven years in intelligence, most recently as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at the Office of National Assessments (2010–2014).   Follow Jonathan on Facebook, Twitter, or Academia for his latest content.  

Modern views on how future technology is likely to change our lives range from bloviatingly aspirational visions of utopia to musings on whether the latest advancement in AI will destroy humankind in our lifetime or merely enslave us all in Matrix-style battery capillaries.  Yet debates on whether technology is a neutral tool for our benefit or a near-unstoppable force leading us to a particular destiny are nothing new.  In 1964, French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul wrote The Technological Society, in which he argued technology had a totalizing effect that could potentially dehumanize our world in its never-ending effort to make all things efficient and “useful”.   While he's somewhat critical of Ellul's determinism, this episode's guest—Jason Thacker—gleans much wisdom from Ellul's warnings.  Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis and Jason Thacker discuss competing views of technology and how they might help us for a foundation for dealing with the technological challenges we face in our digital public square.   About Jason Thacker From https://jasonthacker.com/ Jason Thacker serves as an assistant professor of philosophy and ethics at Boyce College in Louisville, KY.  He also is a research fellow in Christian ethics and director of the research institute at The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.  He is the author of several books including Following Jesus in the Digital Age and The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity.  He also serves as the editor of The Digital Public Square: Christian Ethics in a Technological Society and co-editor of the Essentials in Christian Ethics series with B&H Academic.  He is the project leader and lead drafter of Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles, and his work has been featured at Slate, Politico, The Week, USA Today, Christianity Today, World Magazine, The Gospel Coalition, and Desiring God.   He is a graduate of The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies.  He also holds a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is currently a PhD candidate in ethics, public theology, and philosophy.  He serves as an associate fellow with the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge, an advisor for AI and Faith, fellow in science and technology at the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Seminary, and a research fellow with the ERLC Research Institute.  He is married to Dorie and they have two sons.   You can follow Jason on Twitter @jasonthacker   About The Digital Public Square Brooke was one of the contributing writers to the recently published book The Digital Public Square.  In The Digital Public Square, editor Jason Thacker has chosen top Christian voices to help the church navigate the issues of censorship, conspiracy theories, sexual ethics, hate speech, religious freedom, and tribalism.  Many of the contributing writers (David French, Bonnie Kristian, Bryan Baise, and Brooke Medina) have been prior guests on the Saving Elephants show.  

In the aftermath of the Civil War and prior to the first World War lies an often overlooked era in American history known as the Gilded Age.  This was an extraordinarily “messy” period where it's often difficult to identify the heroes to extol or villains to condemn.  But it is also a period that has unusually similar parallels to our own times from rapid technological advancements, growing partisanship, and the unraveling of communities and traditions.  We might benefit from a closer understanding of the lessons learned in this messy period.   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by returning guest Avi Woolf, a fellow podcaster who has been working through an in-depth and nuanced series on the Gilded Age on his podcast Avi's Conversational Corner.  He joins Josh to help decipher the mess of this era.   About Avi Woolf Avi Woolf is a writer, editor, translator, and podcaster whose work has been published in Arc Digital, Commentary, National Review, The Bulwark, and The Dispatch.  He was chief editor of the online Medium publication Conservative Pathways, and he—in his words—"hopes to help forge a path for a conservatism which is relevant for the 21st century while not abandoning the best of past wisdom.”   Avi hosts his own podcast entitled Avi's Conversational Corner, a podcast on culture, history, and politics in a broad perspective.  You can find Avi on Twitter @AviWoolf  

In this brave new digital world, opportunities for hate speech seem ubiquitous and increasingly dangerous.  How should a conservative balance their values of limited-government and protection of the vulnerable in social media?  How do we answer the charges of “silence is violence”, or that speech and equal violence from a legal, cultural, and moral framework?   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by frequent guest Brooke Medina to grapple with the problem of hate speech.  Josh shares his experiences of being harassed while (briefly) identifying as a woman on Facebook and Brooke draws from her contributing chapter in the recently published book The Digital Public Square: Christian Ethics in a Technological Society.   About Brooke Medina Brooke Medina serves as Vice President of Communications for the John Locke Foundation, an independent, nonprofit think tank in North Carolina.  There Brooke manages a team of talented communications, design, and media professionals.  Brooke oversees the implementation of the organization's strategic communications efforts and regularly engages with the press and public through written commentary, television and radio interviews, as well as public speaking engagements.  In addition to these roles, Brooke is responsible for creating and implementing the foundation's marketing strategy.   Brooke is a graduate of Regent University, holding a B.A. in Government and a minor in English.  While in college, she attended both the Koch Leaders Program and Koch Communications Fellowship, programs that focus on the philosophical underpinnings of market-based management and classical liberalism.  She is currently a member of the American Enterprise Institute's Leadership Network.   Brooke's writing has been published in outlets such as The Hill, Entrepreneur, Washington Examiner, WORLD, Daily Signal, FEE, and other publications.  She is a frequent podcast guest on a variety of shows, a C. S. Lewis aficionado, and, along with Josh, part of the quartet that make up the hosts of the Are We Right? podcast.   You can follow Brooke on Twitter @Brooke_Medina_   About The Digital Public Square Brooke was one of the contributing writers to the recently published book The Digital Public Square.  In The Digital Public Square, editor Jason Thacker has chosen top Christian voices to help the church navigate the issues of censorship, conspiracy theories, sexual ethics, hate speech, religious freedom, and tribalism.  Many of the contributing writers (David French, Bonnie Kristian, Bryan Baise, and Brooke Medina) have been prior guests on the Saving Elephants show.

Among the very-online, relatively young, and mostly male cohorts of the Right is a movement growing in popularity and intensity that valorizes the very excesses the Left criticizes as toxic masculinity.  This movement, promulgated by the likes of Bronze Age Pervert and Mencius Moldbug and defended or even praised by a surprising array of mainstream conservative outlets, has captured the attention of many a young man yearning for a deeper sense of purpose and pursuits in an age of secular materialism and Leftist wokism.   In this episode Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by National Review Online submissions editor Jack Butler who contends that the West's spiritual vacuum has made it possible for pre-Christian paganism to gain a foothold in the culture and that a return to an authentic faith is the only plausible means of combatting this worrisome trend.   About Jack Butler Jack Butler is a researcher, editor, and writer who currently works as submissions editor at National Review Online.  Jack is a media fellow for the Institute for Human Ecology, and a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies.  He was the original producer of The Remnant podcast with Jonah Goldberg and host of the Young Americans podcast.  Jack is an alumnus of Hillsdale College and a graduate of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, his hometown.  He is also an avid long-distance runner.  You can follow Jack on Twitter @jackbutler4815.  

In 1948 Whittaker Chambers shocked the nation when, while testifying before Congress, he gave the names of individuals he claimed were working within the United States government as Communist spies for the Soviet Union.  Among those named was Alger Hiss, Chamber's close friend and former Communist comrade.  The ensuing trial quickly divided the nation into competing narratives.  Who was lying and who was telling the truth?  Was Chambers insane or, perhaps, seeking to destroy Hiss due to some personal grievance?  Was this merely a pretext to the coming Communist “purges” under the McCarthy hearings that took place a few years later?  Or had Chambers alerted the nation to the fact there were Soviet spies deep within the government and the prevailing liberal elite of that era had failed completely to respond to the threat?   Sam Tanenhaus, American historian, biographer, and journalist joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to take a deep dive into the remarkable life of Whittaker Chambers, including how Chambers came to break with Communism, whether Hiss was truly guilty, the real threat of Communism of that era, what the Chambers/Hiss trial came to represent for the nation as a whole, Chamber's association with William F. Buckley and the burgeoning conservative movement, and his lasting impact on the Right.   About Sam Tanenhaus Sam Tanenhaus is the US Writer at Large for Prospect and the editor of both The New York Times Book Review and the Week in Review section of the Times.  From 1999 to 2004 he was a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where he wrote often on politics.  His work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, and many other publications.  Tanenhaus's book, Whittaker Chambers: A Biography, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.  His books also include The Death of Conservatism and a soon-to-be-released biography of William F. Buckley Jr. and is the US Writer at Large for Prospect.  

Perhaps no other individual (or person, for the benefit of the Kirkian insider) was more responsible for resuscitating intellectual conservatism back to life in the mid Twentieth century than Russell Kirk.  Today, Kirk's efforts to recover and conserve the “Permanent Things” lives on at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.  Co-founder and Vice Chair of the Russell Kirk Center, Jeff Nelson, joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to explore the legacy of Russell Kirk and its lasting impact on the conservative movement today.   About Jeff Nelson From the Kirk Center bio: Jeff Nelson co-founded the Kirk Center with Annette Kirk and is currently Vice Chairman of the Center's Board of Trustees.  He served in 1986 and again in 1989 as Dr. Kirk's personal assistant.   Dr. Nelson is Executive Vice President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (Wilmington, Delaware).  He also served as president of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, NH).  He received his B.A. at the University of Detroit, an M.A. at Yale University Divinity School, and was awarded his Ph.D. in American History at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.   Dr. Nelson founded ISI Books, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's now nationally recognized publishing imprint, in 1993.  Under his direction, more than 110 books were published.  During that time he also edited two respected journals of thought and opinion: The Intercollegiate Review and The University Bookman, and is publisher of Studies in Burke and His Time.  He also is senior fellow of both the International G. K. Chesterton Institute (Toronto, ON) and the Centre for the Study of Faith and Culture in Oxford, England; and he is secretary of the Edmund Burke Society of America.   Dr. Nelson has edited two book collections: Redeeming the Time by Russell Kirk, and Perfect Sowing: Reflections of a Bookman by Henry Regnery; he co-edited an award-winning treasury of the historian John Lukacs' writings entitled Remembered Past; and was project director of the popular national college guide, Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth About America's Top Schools.  Dr. Nelson was featured in a New York Times front-page news article about a major reference work he co-edited, American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia; and he is series editor of The Library of Modern Thinkers.  Jeff Nelson is a frequent and popular guest on radio and television talk shows across the country.   You can follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffOttoNelson   About The Russell Kirk Center The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal is located in Kirk's ancestral village of Mecosta, Michigan.  It is at its heart a residential research and study center, a community of fellow travelers that lives together in the Center's six cottages, and gathers in the Kirk Library of some 15,000 books and in the family house, where ideas and community join in what Dr. Kirk used to describe, borrowing from Tolkien, as the Last Homely House.  Like his hero Edmund Burke, Kirk is a perennial thinker, anti-materialist and a Christian humanist.  At the Kirk Center and in the writing of Kirk, generations connect, community and tradition live, the politics of prudence and humility extolled, and imagination, religion, and key societal beliefs, practices, and institutions studied with a view toward cultural renewal.  Inspired by Russell Kirk, the Kirk Center cherishes the Permanent Things as the best way to enliven the conservative mind and to re-enchant our world.   And so I hope listeners of this podcast will visit the Kirk Center website, kirkcenter.org.  Sign up for the Center's newsletter, Permanent Things, and find great classic Kirk content regularly curated by Cecilia Kirk Nelson.  Finally, one of the premier conservative book review publications, The University Bookman, posts new book reviews each weekend and has its own weekly e-newsletter that features reviews and interesting content from other groups and podcasts, including the occasional Saving Elephants episode.   Book Recommendations Here are four of Jeff Nelson's book recommendations on Russell Kirk:   First, James Person's Russell Kirk: A Critical Biography of a Conservative Mind is a wonderful introduction to Kirk and the key areas of his thought.   Second, as mentioned, Bradley Birzer's Russell Kirk: American Conservative is a thoroughly researched standard biographical treatment that is both insightful and lively.   Third, Gerald Russello's The Post Modern Imagination of Russell Kirk is one of the best analyses of Kirk's thought and the role that both ideas and imagination play in it.   Finally, for a discussion and application of Kirk's understanding of the Moral Imagination, especially as a kind of process or mode of knowledge, through the prism of great children's literature, Vigen Guroian's Tending the Heart of Virtue is especially good.  

Our digital world is saturated in “facts” but there's little agreement on what constitutes “truth”.  If we can no longer agree on what sources of information can be reliable, is civil debate even possible?  To what degree is the problem exacerbated by social media?  To what degree is this simply a problem of human nature?  Bonnie Kristian joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to discuss the knowledge crisis and our inability to reach consensus on what constitutes truth.  Bonnie also shares her thoughts the challenges of unplugging from the digital world, whether our current woes are likely to get better in the near future, becoming better consumers of news, and dealing with people who we believe hold false views.   About Bonnie Kristian Bonnie Kristian is a journalist and author specializing in foreign policy, religion, and politics.  Her column, "The Lesser Kingdom," appears in print and online at Christianity Today and her writings have appeared at The New York Times, The Week, USA Today, CNN, Politico, Reason, and The Daily Beast.  She is the author of two books: Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today.  Bonnie is also a fellow at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank.   A graduate of Bethel Seminary, she lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and twin sons.  You can follow Bonnie on her Substack and on Twitter @bonniekristian  

What do Russell Kirk and Martin Luther King Jr. have in common?  Though they're traditionally depicted as coming from opposing political orientations, National Ambassador for Braver Angels John Wood Jr. believes a deeper understanding of their religious convictions and societal aspirations reveals an important commonality between these two men.  And this commonality points us to the restoration of tradition and community.   John Wood Jr. joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis as they explore what value Kirk and King symbolize in the conservative project of restoration.  They also discuss whether Jesus can heal our political divide, the role of faith in politics, and what John's experiences as a black conservative has taught him.   About John Wood Jr. John Wood Jr. is the National Ambassador for Braver Angels—the largest bipartisan, grassroots organization in the United States that seeks to depolarize our politics.  In 2014, Wood was the Republican nominee for California's 43rd congressional district and ran against the formidable 17-term Maxine Waters.  Wood has served as Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, America's largest county-level Republican party.  He is a musical artist and a noted writer and speaker on subjects including racial and political reconciliation.  You can find him on Twitter at @JohnRWoodJr  

In part 2 of my conversation with conservative blogger/podcaster Josh Lewis, we shift gears from talking about conservatism to religion. It was a powerful conversation about the soul, the afterlife, and the conflict (if any) between religion and science. One question that came up pertaining to politics is whether a non virtuous society can truly be free. Super grateful to Josh for joining me. Be sure to listen to his podcast, Saving Elephants. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/searchingforpoliticaliden/support