Episode 85 – Strong Towns with Charles Marohn
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Release Date: 06/15/2021
194 – Conversing Across the Pond with Daniel Pitt
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Dr. Daniel Pitt and his imposing mustache joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to explore the similarities and differences between American and British conservatism, proto-Burkean “conservative” thinkers, Pitt’s personal relationship with Sir Roger Scruton, and the importance of unchosen obligations in a free society, all offered up in a wonderfully meandering conversation that nonetheless stays within the broader parameters of some conceivable structure analogous to the conservative vision of ordered liberty. Undoubtedly, Michael Oakeshott would have been proud. About...
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193 – Dissenting the Dissident Right with Stephanie Slade
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
While Saving Elephants defends the classical conservative position, the loudest voices on the Right today coalesce around different policies, priorities, and goals. Those that form the dissident Right are comprised of multiple sub-groups with overlapping and, at times, incompatible views. So who is this disparate group of dissidents? What holds them together, and how do they differ from conservatives? Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is Stephanie Slade to explore the contours of the dissident Right. About Stephanie Slade From Stephanie Slade is a senior...
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Roundtable - What Lieth Ahead
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Does the fractious stupidity of our politics, the rapid advancement of AI, and the release of the final season of Stranger Things portend making America great again or the coming apocalypse? Join our panelists for a (definitive, obviously) glimpse into what's in store for us all in 2026. Panelists include: - VP of Comms with the - Host of - Host of - Host of
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192 – Remnant Redux with Jonah Goldberg
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Jonah Goldberg makes his triumphal return to Saving Elephants where host Josh Lewis peppers him with unyielding questions on what his fourth and forthcoming book will be about, the practicality of setting lottery winnings as a life-goal, what a post-Trump GOP might look like, whether it makes sense to even “save” the elephants, and whether we should welcome human enslavement to our future AI overlords. Remnant fans, have your bingo cards at the ready! About Jonah Goldberg From Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of , based in Washington, D.C. Prior to...
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191 – Canceling Caylan with Caylan Ford
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
In 2019 Caylan Ford resigned her political candidacy in Canada after controversy over allegations of her echoing white nationalist rhetoric. In spite of her resignation—and continual insistence she held no such views—the mobs of cancel culture demanded “justice”. She was blacklisted from employers, unable to continue work with organizations that seek to liberate people living under the yoke of totalitarianism, ostracized by friends and colleagues, attacked and trolled online, and shunned by her community. Caylan joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to share her...
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Roundtable - Buckley Turns 100
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
William F Buckley was one of the most important figures in the conservative movement over the past century. His posthumous 100th birthday is Monday, November 24. Come celebrate the life and legacy of Buckley as our Saving Elephant panelists pay tribute to a conservative life well lived. Panelists include: - CEO of Michael Lucchese - Founder and CEO of - Podcaster, professor, ect.
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Roundtable - Taking Federalism Seriously
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Returning to the Founders' blueprint for dividing power across federal, state, and local governments may be the greatest weapon we have to reverse the appalling state of our politic divisiveness. What is federalism? And what would a recommitment to federalism look like? Saving Elephants welcomes panelists from the State Policy Network and the Acton Institute to discuss what it means to take federalism seriously again. The panelists include: Brooke Medina - VP of Comms with the State Policy Network Jenn Butler - Sr Policy Advisor with the State Policy Network Dan Hugger - Librarian and...
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190 – Biographizing Buckley with Sam Tanenhaus
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
There are four faces on the Saving Elephants’ Mount Rushmore of great conservatives: Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk, Thomas Sowell, and William F. Buckley. While the first three have each had fully episodes dedicated to their life and works, William F. Buckley has yet to be explored at length. And with Buckley’s posthumous 100th birthday happening later this month, now is the perfect time to reflect on his long and remarkable life. Sam Tanehaus’ decades-in-the-making biography of Buckley was published earlier this year and he joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to cover...
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189 – Rescuing the American Project with Nathan Brown and Robert Haglund
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Those who identify as pro-immigration and pro-nationalist are often at odds with one another. But what if a healthy dose of nationalism is the very thing that could bolster our immigration? Nathan Brown and Robert Haglund argue in their new book that “much of the dysfunction in contemporary American politics is a consequence of the failure by our elites to understand the crucial relationship between immigration and nationalism.” Nathan and Robert join Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to explore the history and controversy of immigration in America, what the Left and the...
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Roundtable - The Kids are all Alt-Right
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Does the Right have a radical problem, particularly among young men? Saving Elephants assembles another insightful panel to offer their...insights. The panelists include: - President of America's Future - Proffessor at the University of Pikeville - VP of NoCapFund Lura Forcum - President of the
info_outlineFor thousands of years the ways in which cities and towns developed has provided us with a of blueprint for what human habitats need to flourish. Yet today many of our cities and towns have forsaken these tried-and-true methods and instead imposed rational planning and an overreliance on pricey infrastructure projects to foster growth and further development. What are the potential downfalls of departing from these practices of the past?
Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns to traverse the world of urban planning and discuss the need for a return to the ancient models of development, the terrible costs of over-indebted infrastructure projects to younger Americans, whether or not Wal-Mart is a net boon or detriment to local communities, and how conservatism can help us form a more prosperous and enjoyable world.
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About Charles Marohn
Charles (or “Chuck” to friends and colleagues) Marohn is the founder and president of Strong Towns, a nonprofit that supports thousands of people across the United States and Canada who are advocating for a radically new way of thinking about the way we build our world. Marohn is a professional engineer and a land use planner with decades of experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota.
Marohn is the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity (Wiley, 2019). He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. Planetizen named him one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time. He is a long-time commentator on KAXE Northern Community Radio. He currently co-hosts KAXE’s Dig Deep program, a monthly examination of public policy issues affecting Minnesotans.
Marohn grew up on a small farm in central Minnesota. The oldest of three sons of two elementary school teachers, he joined the Minnesota National Guard on his seventeenth birthday during his junior year of high school and served in the Guard for nine years. In addition to being passionate about building a stronger America, he loves playing music, is an obsessive reader, and religiously follows his favorite team, the Minnesota Twins. Chuck and his wife live with their two daughters in their hometown of Brainerd, Minnesota. You can find him on Twitter @clmarohn
Listener Mail
Josh responds to a listener’s question about conservatism’s challenges with appealing to minorities and whether our nation’s institutions are worth conserving given the history of American slavery and other past sins.