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Episode 54 – The Art of Losing

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

Release Date: 03/17/2020

177 – Dear Mr. President with Destry Edwards show art 177 – Dear Mr. President with Destry Edwards

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

Former president Chester A. Arthur is probably best remembered for his mutton chops and as a trivia question.  But he did play a surprising role as a reformer when the nation was in the grips of political corruption.  And the story of how he found the courage to do so holds some lessons for how we might interact with political power today in hopes of a better tomorrow.   Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is Destry Edwards to discuss his new documentary , and how a single citizen can have an outsized effect on our political system.   About Destry Edwards Destry...

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176 – Consuming News Responsibly show art 176 – Consuming News Responsibly

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

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...

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175 – The Two James Burnhams with David Byrne show art 175 – The Two James Burnhams with David Byrne

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

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...

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174 – Triggering Straussians with Greg Collins show art 174 – Triggering Straussians with Greg Collins

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

In his perpetual quest to mildly trigger his Straussian pals, Josh invites fellow Millennial and Burkean conservative Greg Collins on to discuss how Leo Strauss misconstrued Edmund Burke’s political views and lasting impact.  Also discussed are Burke’s complex views on natural rights, manners, reform, revolution, social contract theory, classical liberalism, and Rousseau.  Fair warning, dear listener, this one gets nerdy in a hurry!   About Greg Collins From The Kirk Center Dr. Gregory Collins is one of the most celebrated Burke scholars of the rising generation. He is a...

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173 – The Fertility Gap with Clara Piano show art 173 – The Fertility Gap with Clara Piano

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

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...

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Roundtable - Conversing Across the Political Divide show art Roundtable - Conversing Across the Political Divide

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

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: (former Acton Institute podcast host), (), Will Wright and Josh Burtram (), Elizabeth Doll (), and Calvin Moore ().

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172 – The History of American Conservatism with George Nash show art 172 – The History of American Conservatism with George Nash

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

In 1976 historian George H. Nash wrote , 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...

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171 – Reality Therapy Redux show art 171 – Reality Therapy Redux

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

At the end of 2024, Ryan Rogers joined the show to share his as a graduate student.  He later had Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis on his new podcast, , 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...

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Roundtable - Trump's 1st Week on the Job show art Roundtable - Trump's 1st Week on the Job

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

It’s Trump’s first week on the job and he’s been quite busy making America great again or summoning the Fourth Reich, depending on your political perspective. Join Saving Elephants’ livestream roundtable of cross-partisan pontificators to break it all down for you and what this first week might portend for the next four years.

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170 – Tribalism is Dumb with Andrew Heaton show art 170 – Tribalism is Dumb with Andrew Heaton

Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values

Comedian, author, and political satirist 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   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...

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Let us begin with some unsettling facts:
  • It is quite possible your death will be painful and frightening.
  • For some, death comes tragically early and unexpectedly.
  • For some, death comes much later and is fully expected, after years of the body and mind steadily deteriorating to the point vital organs no longer function.
  • If you live long enough, everyone you care about now will die.
I’m not trying to be macabre here; I’m simply trying to frame things in a certain context before we proceed.
 
Our society is obsessed with success, winning, reaching our goals, being our all, “arriving”, self-help, and self-actualization. Trump promised his supporters we’d be winning so much they’d get tired of winning. We love winning. Shelves are dedicated to self-help books in bookstores and there’s no end to podcasts offering advice on how to get rich, be successful, and reach whatever goal you have in mind.
 
Failure is temporary. If it manages to truly set us back or keep us from our goals that’s only because something or someone—God? The lifeforce? The Universe?—has set in motion something even better for us than we had imagined. Death, if it enters our minds at all, is some distant threat that won’t come knocking until after a long life of success and a solid legacy that will ensure our life’s impact is felt for generations to come.
 
Conservative thinkers have had a lot to say about loss and failure. And their words can be a great comfort when our shallow world of "winning" falls apart.
 
British philosopher Roger Scruton observed in his book, How to be a Conservative: “The loss of religion makes real loss more difficult to bear; hence people begin to flee from loss, to make light of it, or to expel from themselves the feelings that make it inevitable…The Western response to loss is not to turn your back on the world. It is to bear each loss as a loss. The Christian religion enables us to do this, not because it promises to offset our losses with some compensating gain, but because it sees them as sacrifices. That which is lost is thereby consecrated to something higher than itself.”
 
“There has been a decline in the belief in an afterlife in whatever form—the belief that, somehow or other, the ‘unfairness’ of this life in this world is somewhere remedied and that accounts are made even,” wrote Irving Kristol in his book Neoconservatism, “As more and more people cease to believe any such thing, they demand that the injustice and unfairness of life be coped with here and now.” What if the faith of our ancestors that taught life everlasting is awaiting us after death wasn’t an antiquated superstition that we’ve evolved out of, but the very glue that held people together when everything else around them looked meaningless in an eternal sense?
 
“I am a conservative. Quite possibly I am on the losing side; often I think so,” wrote Russell Kirk several generations ago, “Yet, out of a curious perversity I had rather lose with Socrates, let us say, than win with Lenin.” Can Millennial conservatives muster the strength of mind to say the same today? Once again, a new generation of conservatives faces the very real possibility of the movement fading into oblivion. The only thing that has prevented that in the past were those brave men and women willing to choose the prospect of losing over meaningless victory. Let us pray that we can find the same courage. Because when all we’re about is winning, we’ve already lost.