This, as it says on the tin, is a show about liberalism. But teasing out what that term means can be challenging. Not just because it's philosophically complex, but because common usage of terms doesn't always conform to rigorous conceptual categories, and even when it does, language evolves.

That's the jumping off point for today's conversation. My guest is Samantha Hancox-Li and she's a writer, game designer, and associate editor at Liberal Currents.

We discuss what it means to be liberal, and how that's distinct from being a progressive. Then we talk about what liberals can learn from progressives, and where progressives sometimes go wrong in matching their political actions to their values. It's a conversation about political engagement, political rhetoric, and the right way to change the world.

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Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

A liberal society is necessarily an open and diverse one. When people are free to move and free to choose, a country's population and culture will reflect all those differences in tastes, preferences, and ways of living. And that's part of what makes liberalism so great.

But a pluralistic society can be bothersome for those who'd prefer everyone be just like them. And if those sorts get uncomfortable enough with cultural diversity and dynamism, they can turn against liberalism itself.

To help think through these tensions, and how liberalism can defend itself against those who would rather it weren't so diverse, I've brought on my friend Jacob T. Levy. He's the Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory at McGill University and author of the terrific book Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom.

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Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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The right has a problem with women. I don't mean in the sense that women are far less likely to vote for right-wing candidates than men are, though it is true that we have women voters to thank for our avoidance, so far, of the country turning fully towards hard-right authoritarianism. Instead, I mean that misogyny is much more openly expressed by the American right than was the case ten years ago, with influencers, politicians, and conservative leaders defending the view that not only are men and women different, but that the only just social hierarchy is one with men at the top.

My guest, Cathy Reisenwitz, has been writing about the diverging politics and ideology of men and women at her newsletter, Sex and the State. She joins me today to talk about why so many men have convinced themselves they're smarter than women, and how that can help us understand our contemporary political scene.

If you enjoy ReImagining Liberty, I encourage you to subscribe to my free newsletter, where I write frequently about the kinds of issues we discuss on the show. And if you want to support my work, you can become a member and get early access to all new episodes. Learn more by heading to reimaginingliberty.com.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Digital expression is weird. When we move our communities and communications into digital spaces, such as social media, the result is an uncertain landscape of new incentives, mechanisms of influence, vectors of information and disinformation, and evolving norms. All of which have profound effects on our personal lives, our culture, and our politics.

Few people have put as much thought into how these platforms function, or dysfunction, as social ecosystems as Renée DiResta, Research Manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory. In today's conversation, we dig into what makes social media distinct, how communities form and interact online, and what evolving technologies mean for the future of digital expression.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Both the short and long term impact of AI technologies is unknown, but it's almost certain to be significant. It will destroy some industries, accelerate others, and revolutionize still more. And, it seems, no one has a lukewarm opinion about AI. You're either excited about its prospects, or convinced it's nothing more than intellectual property theft, or the inevitable end of the market for human creativity.

Worries are particularly acute about what this all means for journalism, and those worries are worth taking seriously, given the importance of quality journalism to a free society and a functioning democracy.

My guest today, writer Julian Sanchez, has worked as a journalist and policy analyst, and thought quite a lot about these issues. He joins me for a conversation about AI, the state of content creation, and the future of journalism as a profession.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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The January 6th insurrection demonstrated the Trumpist right's willing to use violence to advance its political interests. My guest today is worried that was just the start.

Patrick Eddington is a former CIA analyst and a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute. In a series of essays at his newsletter, The Republic Sentinel, he's been exploring the risks of more widespread political violence should Trump be removed from the ballot, convicted of a crime, or lose the November election. Trump's followers sometimes talk of a new Civil War, and it's important to assess their seriousness and what it might mean to see a sudden increase in violent acts from the far-right.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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On the one hand, we're told we live in a postmodern age. On the other, postmodernism is a notoriously challenging set of philosophical ideas to nail down and understand. But it's worth the effort, because postmodernism, even if it gets some of its arguments wrong or overstates its case, is deeply interesting, with genuinely valuable insights.

To help me tease out just what postmodernism is and what we might learn from it, I'm joined by my good friend, and frequent ReImagining Liberty guest, Matt McManus.

He's a lecturer in political science at the University of Michigan, and author of many books, including and The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism and The Emergence of Post-modernity at the Intersection of Liberalism, Capitalism, and Secularism.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Music gives us meaning, not just in the way we identify deeply with our favorite songs, but in the ways genres create scenes and communities. My conversation today brings back my good friend Akiva Malamet, contributing editor at The UnPopulist, to discuss the connection between music and meaning, and what that can tell us about liberal politics and culture.

• Here's the thoughtful article Akiva wrote about loud music that sparked our conversation on the show.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You'll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they're released to everyone else.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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There's something different about the contemporary right. Classical liberal rhetoric has been replaced with something much uglier and more reactionary, keen to carve the world into us and them and celebrate the use and abuse of power.

Today's conversation is about this turn. Or, as my guest explains, this return to ideologies a century old or more, but now gaining prominence and attacking the very idea of liberalism.

To discuss that, I'm joined by Tom G. Palmer. He is executive vice president for international programs at Atlas Network where he holds the George M. Yeager Chair for Advancing Liberty, and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.

Our conversation explores the parallels between current far-right movements and ideologies and those of the 1930s and discusses the thinkers and trends that have influenced these movements, such as Carl Schmitt and the rejection of liberal values. We delve into the revolutionary nature of far-right ideologies and their desire to smash existing institutions and examine the aesthetic dimension and the search for meaning in these movements. We conclude by addressing the difficulty in recognizing the danger of far-right movements and the need to take them seriously.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You'll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they're released to everyone else.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Early access release: 12/9. Public release: 12/16. Become a supporter and get early access to all new episodes.

I am a liberal. I’m also a Buddhist. In a recent essay at The UnPopulist, I wrote about the intersection of the two, which I see as more than compatible, and in fact mutually reinforcing. Buddhist ethics gives us not just the best way to live happy and harmless lives, but also a strong foundation for a genuinely liberal society.

While Buddhist philosophy informs much of the perspective I bring to conversations at ReImagining Liberty, I haven’t yet done an episode specifically on it, and on how it relates to the kind of liberalism this show is all about. Today I’m correcting that gap.

And rather than just monolog at you, I’m delighted to have my friend, and frequent ReImagining Liberty guest, Cory Massimino step in as host to interview me. Cory is a philosophy student and a fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society, and, through many conversations over the years, he’s played a significant role in shaping my intellectual perspective.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else. Learn more: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Years go, I put together an edited volume called Arguments for Liberty. Every chapter took a different school of moral philosophy and made the case for liberalism within it. The point wasn’t just to be an introduction to moral philosophy by way of being an introduction to liberalism, but also to show that the case for liberty isn’t limited to a single philosophical school. It's much more universal than that.

But it's not limited to academic philosophy, either. Religion informs the ethical worldview of most of people, and discussing the case for liberalism within religious contexts enriches liberalism and our understanding of it. That’s why I’m so happy to be joined today by my friend Kat Murti.

Kat is the Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and co-founder of Feminists for Liberty. But she is also a practicing Hindu. Hinduism is a fascinating faith I know too little about. So I asked Kat to join me on the show to give an introduction to Hinduism, and then to discuss how her Hindu faith informs her radical liberalism and how her liberalism informs her Hindu perspective.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

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We talk a lot about liberalism on this show, but to date haven't done an episode on just what liberalism is. So it is my pleasure to have Chandran Kukathas join me today to fix that. He is Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Political Science at Singapore Management University, and the author of many books, including the classic The Liberal Archipelago, and his most recent, Immigration and Freedom.

We set out the basic principles of liberalism, explore the nuances and complicated application, and dig into critiques that have been raised by non-liberal thinkers.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else. Learn more here: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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I'm joined today by Janet Bufton, Program Coordinator & Co-Founder at the Institute for Liberal Studies. I'm a little embarassed it's taken me this long to get her on the show, because she's one of the most thoughtful advocates out there of the kind of genuine and broad liberalism--and liberal values--that are at the heart of ReImagining Liberty.

We discuss the link between liberalism and liberation, the intellectual history that's led many self-described liberals and libertarians to be skeptical of robust social liberalism, and how we can better position liberalism to meet illiberal challengers.

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Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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The future is a conversation. What the future looks like, and how and which technologies will shape it, isn’t something we can plan, or dictate, or demand in advance, but rather something that emerges from the back-and-forth bargaining of everyone with a stake in it.

That’s the argument presented by my guest today, Jason Kuznicki, Editor in Chief of TechFreedom. Jason recently published an essay responding to the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen’s “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto,” which presents the future as under assault by enemies of progress. Jason and I talk about what it means to be a futurist, why certain ideologies have colonized the different sides in debates about emerging technologies, and how we can get back to a hopeful vision of the future as a conversation.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else. Learn more.

Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Today’s conversation is a companion to our prior episode. I’m joined again by Akiva Malamet, managing editor of The UnPopulist.

Last time we talked about identity within liberalism. Now we turn to meaning. Everyone wants to lead a meaningful life, but one of the critiques of liberalism is that a liberal society takes away traditional sources of meaning, and so leaves its citizens feeling detached, either unable to find meaning, or seeking it in frivolous, and so ultimately unmeaningful, pursuits. How compelling is this objection? And what should we, as liberals, do about it?

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else. Learn more.

Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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It seems like everyone has an opinion about identity politics, but far fewer people have a clear definition of it. This is a problem, not just because arguing about vaguely defined terms is rarely productive, but also because identity plays a important role in how we ought to think about liberalism and the role of liberal institutions.

My guest today is , managing editor of . Our discussion digs into the nature of identity politics, the nature of identity itself, what it means to validate versus merely tolerate identities, and how that all plays into liberalism.

* Read Akiva’s essay on liberalism, toleration, and identity politics.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early and get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else.

Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Governments rule our lives, but quite a lot of us believe corporations do as well. And just like we can ask questions about how the states are governed, we can ask similar questions about corporations. How ought they to run themselves? Whose interests should they take into account? What social responsibilities, if any, do they have?

To help us think through these questions about corporate governance and the role of corporate institutions, I’m joined by Alexei Marcoux. He’s a Professor of Business, Ethics and Society and Institute for Economic Inquiry Senior Scholar at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early, get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else, and access to the community Discord and our monthly reading group.

Get early access.

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People have all kinds of reasons, none of them good, for opposing liberalism. Recently, among intellectuals on the right, we've seen the reemergence of a particular religious anti-liberalism that goes by the term “integralism.” It most often comes in a Catholic flavor, but you can find versions of it across pretty much every faith.

Kevin Vallier, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University, has a new book out that’s the first to offer a thorough explanation and sustained critique of this new integralist ideology. It’s called All the Kingdoms of the World and it’s my pleasure to bring Kevin on the show to talk about why so many religious intellectuals are attacking liberalism from within a religious framework, and why they’re wrong to do so.

Links:

* All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism

* Kevin Vallier’s Substack

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early, get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else, and access to the community Discord and our monthly reading group.

Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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One of the earliest episode of this show was a conversation with my friend Ian Bennett, of the Epoch Philosophy YouTube channel, about Marxism. It’s one of my favorite ReImagining Liberty episodes so far, not just because Ian is tremendously smart and I learn a lot from him, but because it’s the kind of conversation I find particularly valuable: a dive in a set of ideas I have many disagreements with, but are influential, interesting, and worth understanding.

That’s why I’m so happy to have Ian back today to talk about the Frankfurt School, critical theory, and cultural Marxism. As before, Ian and I diverse rather dramatically on many political and economic issues, but given the role these ideas—or at least the specter of these ideas—plays in current culture war battles, it’s important explore them on their own terms, and see how and where they conflict with the radical liberal perspective I’m building out on this show.

And if you come away interest in understanding critical theory more thoroughly than we have time for in an hour long podcast, I encourage you to check out Epoch Philosophy on YouTube. Ian creates short explainers on all the important ideas and thinkers, and does so with remarkable clarity and sophistication.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll be able to listen to episodes early, get all my essays a week before they’re released to everyone else, and access to the community Discord and our monthly reading group. Learn more here.

Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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In a series of essays on my website, I’ve been setting out the case goodwill and what I call sympathetic joy within the liberal project. These virtues not only strengthen liberalism, but help us to be happier and more content within a diverse and dynamic liberal society.

I haven’t discussed this much on the podcast so far. And so I was happy that my friend Peter Boettke, a University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, gave me an excuse to do so by raising some critiques of my arguments. I’ve brought him on today to talk about the liberal virtues, goodwill and toleration, and the values liberal citizens should have.

ReImagining Liberty is an independent show. If you enjoy it, consider becoming a supporter. You’ll get access to the community Discord and our monthly reading group, as well as all of my essays—including the audio editions—a week early. Learn more at https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe.

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This is an audio version of my essay "Surround Yourself With Those Who Are Admirable, and Distance Yourself From Those Who Aren’t.," originally published on my website on July 20, 2023. The essay discusses the place of admirable friendship in an ethical life.

Original link: https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/surround-yourself-with-those-who

If you'd like to receive all of my essays a week early, as well as get access to the community Discord and reading group, consider becoming a supporter. Head to www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe to learn more.

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Over the last decade, the political far right has roared back into power, not just with Trumpism in the US, but with populist movements around the globe. Understanding why this is happening—and what we can do about it—requires understanding the nature of the right, as well as its history.

That’s why I was so happy to learn that my friend and frequent guest Matthew McManus has a new book, The Political Right and Equality, in which he traces the philosophical development of right-wing ideas. Matt is a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Michigan, and it’s my pleasure to have him back on the show to talk about the nature and motivations of the right.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord and Book Club (and get all my essays a week early).

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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White evangelicals overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in his campaigns and presidency. White Christian nationalism was a driving force in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And many of the worst reactionary movements in the country, powering the growth of the far right’s influence, have their source in evangelical America.

This is all, frankly, a little perplexing, given the peaceful, love thy neighbor core of Jesus’s moral teachings. But it’s nothing new. In her fascinating and troubling book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, Kristin Kobes Du Mez traces the emergence of the Christian radical right, particularly its patriarchal and toxically masculine forms, from its origins in the middle of the 20th century through to Trump. It’s a story that’s often appalling, but also helps us to understand much of our contemporary political scene.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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On June 7th, David Boaz died. He was the Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute, author of *The Libertarian Mind*, and the most important figure in the libertarian movement in the last half century. He was also my mentor, my close friend, and, for twelve years, my boss.

I had the privilege of holding, for the first two of those years, what is among the most exclusive, challenging, and rewarding jobs in Washington: Staff Writer at the Cato Institute, a role that primarily meant being David's right-hand man and primary conversation partner.

David's life and work are worth celebrating, and his legacy worth cherishing. He set the standard for how to live one's principles, lead a profoundly moral life, and change the world for the better while doing it.

I'm delighted to bring together a group of my fellow staff writers to talk about what David meant to the libertarian movement, what it was like to work for him, and how he enriched our lives.

• Aaron Steelman is a Senior Fellow and Policy Adviser at the Cato Institute, and has the honor of being David's very first staff writer.
• Julian Sanchez has worked as a journalist and policy analyst.
• Maria Santos Bier is the Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations at the Cato Institute.
• Andy Craig is Director of Election Policy at the Rainey Center.

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Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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The ongoing moral panic and sweeping legislative changes aimed at trans people aren’t just a tremendous assault on the liberty, autonomy, and dignity of peaceful Americans owed the space to live their lives as they choose. They’re also the latest example of the way ideological ideas about “traditional” and “natural” gender roles have long been a tool authoritarians use to justify and maintain social and political control.

To talk about these critical issues and what we can do about them, I’m joined by Gillian Branstetter, a Communications Strategist at the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project and LGBTQ & HIV Project.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Immigration has meant that America's demographics, throughout the whole of the nation's history, have been in constant flux. Today, the percent of the population that’s foreign born is the highest it’s ever been, and we'‘e headed, over the next couple of decades, to a majority minority status.

This is all good news for the country, in terms of our dynamic economy and culture. But it’s also led to a significant social and political backlash, the rise of nativism, and a decided turn to reactionary populism among Republicans.

I’m joined today by Justin Gest, an associate professor at George Mason University, and author of a number of fascinating books digging into these critical issues. His latest is Majority Minority, from Oxford University Press.

* Here’s the Politico article Justin mentions in our discussion: “The Expiration of Title 42 Is a Reality Check”

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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We can take the social and economic concerns of the left seriously while still embracing free markets. In fact, if we understand the nature and effects of markets correctly, it can become compelling to view them not as antagonistic to those concerns, but as the most powerful solution to them available.

I’m joined today by Nick Cowen. He’s a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln in the UK and author of the book Neoliberal Social Justice, which defends commercial society on progressive grounds.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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This is an audio version of my essay "Social Conservatism is Suffering," originally published on my website on April 7, 2023. The essay discusses how we cannot make permanent what is inevitably impermanent, and so insisting otherwise brings distress. It is better to embrace dynamism and social diversity.

If you'd like to receive all of my essays a week early, as well as get access to the community Discord and reading group, consider becoming a supporter. Head to www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe to learn more.

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Read a transcript of this episode.

Deirdre McCloskey is probably my favorite contemporary liberal scholar. Her work ranges widely across disciplines, is always fascinating, and builds its defense of free markets and the open society in a deeply humane and compassionate fashion.

I've talked with her on podcasts before, but today's a little different. Our topic isn't economics, but religion. Deirdre is a committed Anglican, and her next book sets out the case that religious faith is an important component of a thriving liberal society—and that those who think Christianity points in a more reactionary, illiberal direction get Christianity wrong.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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On the one hand, it seems like everyone today is calling everyone else a fascist. On the other, genuine fascism is clearly on the rise, and fascist ideas have found increasing purchase, even mainstream purchase, on the right.

Taken together, these two statements mean that not only should we be serious about the work of combating fascism, but we also need to be very clear on what it is, and what it isn’t.

To help work through these important questions, I’m joined by Shane Burley. He’s a writer and filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon and is the author of Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse and Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It.

Read the transcript.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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It seems like everyone is mad at “Big Tech.” Progressives dislike it because they think it’s too permissive of the spread of mis- and disinformation. Conservatives dislike it because they think it’s biased against them. Both sides agree that government should do something about it. Which, if you care about a free, open, and innovative internet, is a terrible idea.

To discuss the state and future of digital expression, I’m joined by my good friend Matthew Feeney, Head of Technology and Innovation at the London-based Centre for Policy Studies.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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A liberal society is a tolerant one. It's a society that allows for pluralism in preferences, lifestyles, religions, and approaches to life. But how far does tolerance go, what are the exceptions, and how can we better cultivate it?

To discuss these questions, I'm joined today by Andrew Jason Cohen. He is is Professor of Philosophy and Founding Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Georgia State University. He is the author most recently of Toleration and Freedom from Harm: Liberalism Reconceived and is working on a new book on civil discourse.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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My guest today is Kevin J. Elliott, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Murray State University. He's the author of the upcoming book, Democracy for Busy People, and that's the jumping off point for today's conversation, which digs into what it means to be a good democratic citizen, and what democracy demands of us.

Read a transcript of this episode.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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This is a show about liberalism, but liberalism is a bit of a contested term, slippery, evolving, and claimed by lots of people with rather diverse views about what it means.

My guest offers a helpful framework for clarifying what liberalism is by dividing it in what she's called "The Four Corners of Liberalism": related and overlaping, but still distinct, approaches to the the liberal idea.

Emily Chamlee-Wright, the president and CEO of the Institute for Humane Studies, has made a career of defending the liberal tradition, and her insights in our conversation help clarify what liberalism is and how we should approach and respond to those who would seek to overturn it.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Politics gets pretty emotional, and we typically view that as bad. The political scene would be better, we suppose, if more people could set aside their emotions and rationally engage with the hard questions.

My guest today isn't so sure. Jason Canon is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge in political science, and while he doesn't reject reason, he argues that emotion plays, and ought to play, a much larger role in how we think about and approach politics than it typically gets. Reason doesn't work without emotion, and emotions can lead us to better political outcomes.

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Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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Welcome to the first episode of ReImagining Liberty at its new home with The UnPopulist. This is a show about the emancipatory and cosmopolitan case for radical social, political and economic freedom. With every episode, host Aaron Ross Powell explores and defends liberalism by talking with scholars, activists and others working to build a freer world.

For this first episode at The UnPopulist, Aaron offers a monologue about why America's political culture seems so broken, and why this has led to rising illiberalism. He traces the problems to what he calls an “unskillful” approach to politics, and to a widespread lack of the virtues necessary for citizens to be good liberal citizens.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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I sometimes hear market anarchists say that "Anarcho-capitalism isn't anarchism." This claim, and the disagreements about the nature and values of a free society underpinning it, raises a lot of fascinating questions about liberty, radical liberalism, the characteristics of capitalism, how you even define that term, and the broader movement for liberty.

My guest today is William Gillis (@rechelon). He a fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society and one of the most interesting writers out there on radical politics.

We talk about freedom and coercion, the legitimacy of power, the role of privilege in political action and inaction, and the ways the culture and incentive structure of the mainstream liberty movement make it less effective, principled, and radical than it should be, and sometimes even lead liberty advocates to become apologists for the status quo.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Years ago, a then colleague and I pitched the idea of a book called "The Reasonableness of Radicalism," which would've set out the case for an unapologetically radical political liberty and defended it against calls for moderation. The project never went anywhere, though, because we were told by the people making decisions that they didn't like to use the word "radical," because it might turn people off.

Clearly, that's not a worry I share, and neither does my guest today. Jason Lee Byas is a PhD Candidate in Philosophy at the University of Michigan and a fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society. He's also the author of the best essay I've read in a long time, "Radical Liberalism: The Soul of Libertarianism," which I strongly encourage you to read.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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I've spent my entire career as what you might call a professional liberty advocate. But the last six or seven years have forced a lot of re-thinking on my part about how best to discuss these ideas in the evolving political landscape. The fundamental case for freedom, grounded in shared dignity and mutual respect, remains strong, but it feels like Americas, and much of the world, have proven more willing to reject it recently. Liberalism is ceding ground to the base desire to use power to reward friends and punish enemies.

To help me get a handle on how things have changed, were we stand now, and were it all might be headed, I'm joined today by David Boaz, distinguished senior fellow at the Cato Institute, and my boss for the 13 years I spent at Cato.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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We all want to alleviate poverty, and help those living with it. The hard question is how. The left has a set of ideas, focused on redistribution and the welfare state. The right tends instead to view poverty as the result of moral and cultural failings. Libertarians have their own set of answers, but have often been pretty bad at talking about them in persuasive ways, developing a reputation for just not caring about the poor.

My friend Michael Tanner (@MTannerCato), senior fellow at the Cato Institute, has the kinds of ideas we need more of, and talks about them in the way I wish more of us did. He's had great success in bridging ideological divides while advocating for principled, market and liberty based ways of addressing both immediate and long-term poverty.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Few terms in our contemporary political scene provoke stronger reactions than “critical race theory.” If you listen to much of the right, CRT is a Marxist plot to literally destroy America by teaching children to hate the country, its founding principles, and even themselves. The resulting moral panic has led to anti-CRT legislation, and acted as a precursor to the growing anti-trans and anti-gay backlash among reactionary conservatives.

But what is critical race theory? Because few of those people with strong opinions seem to have much of an idea.

Today I'm talking with Sam Hoadley-Brill (@deonteleologist), a PhD student in philosophy and a fellow at the African American Policy Forum. Sam has written extensively about critical race theory, the movement against it on the right, and the way concerns are being manipulated by dishonest activists like Christopher Rufo to roll back the achievements of social liberalism.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Chances are, you've never heard of Don Lavoie. I certainly didn't run across him when I was getting into libertarianism in college, and it wasn't until years into my time working for the Cato Institute that I learned about him from my boss, David Boaz.

But Lavoie is arguably the North Star for what the liberty movement needs to become if it wants to reestablish itself in America's shifting political landscape, and if it wants to be more than just a somewhat limited government version of conservatism.

So for today's episode, I'm chatting with George Mason University professor Pete Boettke, one of Lavoie's students. We discuss Lavoie's scholarship, his updating of Hayek's Knowledge Problem argument against economic planning, the problems of socialist calculation, and how to build a case for radical liberty within a politically left framework.

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  Get Don Lavoie's books.

  
  


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  Mercatus video on Lavoie's work and influence.

  
  


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  Boettke and Candela's paper on technosocialism.

  
  

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Across nearly a decade, and over four hundred episodes, of the Free Thoughts podcast, Trevor Burrus and I talked a lot about liberty.

Today I invited him on ReImagining Liberty to continue that conversation. At issue is the question of how to approach being an advocate for radical liberalism in a political environment that seems to have lost its taste for it.

We range, as we often do, rather broadly, from how not to talk about liberty, to how to start fruitful arguments, to the dangers of contrarianism and over-attachment to narratives.

Trevor Burrus is a research fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor of the Cato Supreme Court Review. He's also the continuing host of my beloved Free Thoughts podcast, and it was joy getting to sit across microphones from him again.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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What's the relationship between libertarianism or radical liberalism and the ideas of the left? Most place them in clear and direct opposition, and argue that liberty advocates should have more affinity for conservatism, at least in its American variety.

My guest today argues otherwise. Akiva Malamet (@akiva_malamet), a writer and philosopher, and contributor to my old website, Libertarianism.org.

We discuss the shared concerns those of us who see radical liberty have with the political left, but also draw important distinctions between socialism and liberalism.

(Here's the article on libertarian and leftist views of power that Akiva and I discuss.)

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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We can argue at length about the proper role of government. But if we're to have any state at all, one of its clear jobs is to protect us from crime, and to punish criminals.

And yet the American criminal justice system is anything but just, and a full accounting of just how bad it is can be pretty harrowing. The criminal justice system is the most direct application of violence by government on its citizens, and it's overrun by corruption, self-interest, racism, and brutality.

To talk about just how bad things are and how we can build a more humane system, I'm joined by journalist Radley Balko (@radleybalko). For years, he's been the top writer in the country when it comes to investigating, exposing, and cataloging the horrors and corruption of the American criminal justice system.

Radley and I talk about the state of our system, the prospects for reform in the wake of the widespread protests after the murder of George Floyd, and why many in the liberty movement tend to turn into law and order, bust some heads conservatives whenever those pushing back on police violence and state injustice get even the slightest bit unruly.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Among the various ideologies opposing liberalism that have seen new or renewed prominence in the last decade is Christian nationalism. It motivates quite a lot of the far right in the culture war, played a role in the attempted overthrow of American democracy on January 6th, and seems to be everywhere on social media.

But what is it? Where did it come from? And how can liberalism respond?

My guest today is my good friend Paul Matzko. He's an historian and author of The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement.

Want to listen to new episodes of ReImagining Liberty two weeks early? Become a supporter and get early access and other perks.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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A lot of people seem to be pretty down on freedom right now. Some take it so far as to blame liberty, and political liberalism, for not just our economic woes, but also for allowing our culture to drift away from some kind of socially conservative, right-leaning, often religious imagined ideal. These “post-liberals” have found intellectual purchase, writing talked-about books, headlining conferences, and catalyzing a new reactionary movement.

But do their arguments work? Or are they in fact self-defeating?

My guest today is Michael Tolhurst (@MikeTolhurst), senior director of research at the Institute for Humane Studies. Michael has graduate degrees in philosophy and political science, and today's conversation features a bit from both.

We talk about the problems of post-liberalism, and why so many are ready to throw away liberty to force their peculiar cultural preferences upon the rest of us.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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What's the best economic system for achieving prosperity, while maximizing liberty and autonomy? Capitalists give one answer, socialists another.

Capitalists say that free markets not only produce wealth, but that wealth then empowers workers to have more say over their conditions and more freedom to exit from bad working situations, as well as experiment with different workplace organizational structures.

Socialists might counter that capitalism concentrates so much power in the hands of owners and bosses that workers have little or no say in their circumstances, and lack the resources to exit or organize.

To dig into this debate between socialism and capitalism, I'm joined by two guests today. First is socialist, and frequent ReImagining Liberty guest, Matt McManus (@MattPolProf). He's a Lecturer at the University of Michigan and the author of, among other books, The Rise of Postmodern Conservatism.

Taking the capitalist side is Christopher Freiman (@cafreiman), associate professor of philosophy at William & Mary, and author of Unequivocal Justice and Why It's OK to Ignore Politics.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Cory Massimino (@corymassimino) is back on (Re)Imagining Liberty to talk about the politics of radical freedom at their most radical. Namely, anarchism.

I get asked every so often whether I'm an anarchist. My honest answer is I'm not sure. I believe anarchism as a moral claim is clearly correct. State power is illegitimate. No one has a right to rule, and no one has an obligation to be ruled just because some people call themselves the government. Arguments for why the state is morally permitted to use violence against us and extract resources from us don't hold up to scrutiny.

At the same time, I have worries that a society without any state at all won't be a paradise, but instead unbearable—potentially so bad that avoiding it outweighs the harms of enforcing illegitimate authority. But I'm not certain of that, and I believe thinking through those issues is central to the liberty project.

We shouldn't assume we need the state, but should instead tackle the question of its necessity head on. Today's conversation is about that.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Today's episode is about transgender rights, and the growing cultural backlash among conservatives against the very idea of transgender identities.

My guest is Kelly Wright (@anarchakelly), a Brooklyn-based writer and activist and an affiliate of the Center for a Stateless Society.

We explore the myths and objections that conservatives have about transgender people, gender affirming healthcare, and the greater prevalence of transgender identification. We look at how treating transgender people with respect and acceptance, and giving them the healthcare they need, improves lives and lowers suicide rates. We dig into the nature of gender identity, and what it means for self-expression.

And we tie it all in to the cause of liberty, which means nothing if it doesn't support and embrace the right of everything to live lives, and express identities, of their own authoring.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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