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Episode 46 - Should Presidents be our Role Models?

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

Release Date: 12/03/2019

158 – Fashionable Fusionists with Samuel Goldman show art 158 – Fashionable Fusionists with Samuel Goldman

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

In an age of rampant informalities, shoddy attire, and the kind of milieu that makes 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...

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157 – Fifty Conservative Thinkers show art 157 – Fifty Conservative Thinkers

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

In an age where what passes for the archetype conservative are the likes of , , , , , 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...

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156 – Reappraising the Right’s Foreign Policy with Michael Lucchese show art 156 – Reappraising the Right’s Foreign Policy with Michael Lucchese

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

In February of 2004 the late Charles Krauthammer delivered the keynote address at .  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...

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155 – Melodic Musings with Barney Quick show art 155 – Melodic Musings with Barney Quick

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

How might music point us to the good, the true, and the beautiful?  What is the purpose of music, and we are guilty of misusing it?  Why are we so obsessed with Taylor Swift?  Musician and conservative journalist Barney Quick joins Josh to discuss how conservatism might better inform our approach to music.  Also discussed are whether or not the elephants can be saved at all, how an owning-the-libs approach misses the spirit of conservatism, and whether or not Principles First has lost its first principles.   About Barney Quick Barney Quick is a journalist whose work...

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154 – That Old Burkean Saw with Cal Davenport show art 154 – That Old Burkean Saw with Cal Davenport

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

After a stint of episodes taking deep dives into obscure topics, Josh returns to some conservative first-principles by inviting long-time friend of the podcast Cal Davenport on for a wide-ranging discussion on whether or not the fusionist consensus is truly dead, why all the energy in the Right seems to be going towards the NatCons, what’s leading to the rise of populism, how to repackage conservative ideas into digestible slogans, who belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of conservative thought, and how Edmund Burke factors into all of this.  Trigger warning for the Straussian listener: this...

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153 – Full-Time with David Bahnsen show art 153 – Full-Time with David Bahnsen

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

David Bahnsen returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book: .  David holds a high view of work and, in an era where self-help gurus are teaching us how to work less to achieve a work/life balance, David wants to shift the paradigm to work/rest and celebrate the productive nature of our being.  Also discussed in this episode are what the church gets wrong about work, how each generation brings different challenges and advantages to work culture, universal basic income (UBI), whether the Marxist are right and work under a capitalist system is exploitation, and what the future of...

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152 – Humanist Conservatives with Jeffery Tyler Syck show art 152 – Humanist Conservatives with Jeffery Tyler Syck

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

Fusionism—the viewpoint advocated by the likes of William F. Buckley and Frank Meyer of order and liberty mutually reinforcing each other—has been the dominant form of conservatism in the United States for a generation.  In the era of Trump and the rise of nationalist populism on the Right, however, fusionism has steadily lost influence.  Should conservatives double down on what’s worked in the past?  Or is it time for a different approach that was advocated by some of the original critics of fusionism on the Right?   Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is...

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151 – The God of This Lower World show art 151 – The God of This Lower World

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

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...

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150 – We Don't Need No Indoctrination with Luke Sheahan show art 150 – We Don't Need No Indoctrination with Luke Sheahan

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

What is the purpose of higher education?  Is it primarily to prepare us for the jobs of the future?  Is it to ensure the leaders of tomorrow hold the right opinions on important issues?  Is it to provide a safe haven for the pursuit of Truth?   Thinkers on the Right have held differing—sometimes incompatible—views on the purpose of higher education.  Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is returning guest Luke Sheahan to explore these arguments and how conservatives might respond to the rise of radicalism and wokism on college campuses.   About Luke...

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149 – The Legacy of Roger Scruton with Fisher Derderian show art 149 – The Legacy of Roger Scruton with Fisher Derderian

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

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...

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Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis and frequent guest Bob Burch delve into questions about looking to our political leaders as role models and the tension between morality and ability when choosing who should govern us.  This discussion was prompted by a listener’s email:
 
Hi there,
 
I'm a new follower and listener to your podcast, but I like that after each episode you ask for people to contact you with thoughts or ideas. Since Trump has been in office I keep hearing about how horrible of a person he is a sexist, womanizer, racist, and the list goes on and on. I personally don't believe much or any of that narrative but here's my thought regardless, do we have to elect a president that we view as a role model? And, when did we (Americans) get so consumed with thinking of our president as a "role model"? Let's let our presidents do what they were elected to do!
 
In every presidential election that I can remember, polls indicate that people care more about jobs and the economy overwhelmingly more than any other social issue. Trump is in office because the majority of voters thought he was better for the economy.
 
I think that the left and their cancel culture has made it so that if anyone has skeletons in their closet they can never be electable or even run a business!
 
Once again, people should be finding role models and people to look up to in other places. A teacher, pastor, mentor or even athlete and not their elected leaders; it shouldn't be criteria to be a good public servant or leader of the free world.
 
I would entertain any thoughts or feedback!
 
Thanks,
 
Brandon