Episode 93 – Repainting the Fusionist Fence with James Davenport
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Release Date: 10/19/2021
107 – Right to Work with Christopher Chesny
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
As more and more working-class Americans join the Republican party some voices on the Right are advocating the GOP become the worker’s party—a role that has traditionally been held by various movements and parties of the Left. Is there any merit to this idea? What is the history of labor relations and the Right and Left in the United States? How have labor unions and right to work laws evolved over the past century? Do national candidates like JD Vance or Ron DeSantis have what it takes to capitalize on the surge of working-class voters on the Right? Joining...
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106 – Reappraising Herbert Hoover with George Nash
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Historian George Nash returns to the show to discuss the life and legacy of Herbert Hoover. Few American presidents are as decried by voices on both the Left and Right as Herbert Hoover. His name has become synonymous with economic suffering and callous Federal response. But Dr. Nash contends that the popular narrative linking Hoover to the catastrophes of the Great Depression do a great injustice to the actual historical account and reduce one of America’s most remarkable men to that of a callous buffoon. Hoover, in Dr. Nash’s telling, was responsible for saving...
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105 – AllSides with Julie Mastrine
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Julie Mastrine of joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis in a freewheeling conversation about the media. Conservatives love to complain of the liberal media bias, but are their complaints founded or over exaggerated? Do “both sides” have a bias problem? How do they differ and how are they similar? Are there times when bias is acceptable and even welcome? Is bias the same as inaccuracy or dishonesty? How might you identify media bias and what can we do about it? About Julie Mastrine Julie Mastrine is a writer and online marketing professional who...
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104 – Armchair Burkeans with Bo Winegard
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Josh engages in a Cannonball Run conversation with Bo Winegard across a wide variety of subjects from how Bo found himself migrating from the political Left to the Right, whether Edmund Burke believed in natural rights, how one might approach Burke from both a religious and secular angle, the curious tendency of the academic Left to erect strawman versions of conservatism, the limitations of Thomas Sowell’s constrained vs. unconstrained visions paradigm, how the GOP might chart a course between throwback Reaganism and MAGA Trumpism, and whether religion is necessary to sustain ordered...
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103 – Creative Impostors with Andrea Klunder and David Blatt
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
In this re-podcast episode Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis joins his committed liberal friend David Blatt on Andrea Klunder’s show to discuss the differences between the Right and the Left, why we’re so polarized, and how civil dialogue might be restored. About Andrea Klunder Andrea Klunder is the Creative Director, Media Strategist and Podcast Producer behind . Andrea works with organizations, companies, and leaders who want to use audio content to tell stories, create movements, and change culture. She calls upon her myriad experiences as a singer, actor, director,...
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102 – More Talking Less Killing with Corey Nathan
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
The British theologian and philosopher G. K. Chesterton observed that “religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” When we talk openly about political or religious matters, we risk endangering relationships. Yet politics and religion are immensely important topics that ought not to be ignored for the sake of avoiding awkward conversations. Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by Corey Nathan as they discuss how we might talk politics and religion...
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101 – Voting Vexations
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
How secure and reliable are elections in the United States? The Left and Right are both replete with voices warning of the dire consequences of the “other side” getting their way. And nowhere is this more evident than with concerns about the legitimacy of elections. Whether it’s the Right’s concerns with voter fraud and election theft or the Left’s apprehensions about voter suppression and disenfranchisement, Americans are growing increasingly concerned that their votes don’t, or won’t, or eventually will not count. What’s more, the leaders of each...
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100 – The Genius of Thomas Sowell with Alan Wolan
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Saving Elephants officially hits 100 episodes! Host Josh Lewis is joined by Alan Wolan to discuss their mutual admiration for the writings and ideas of Thomas Sowell. Thomas Sowell, along with Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk, and William F. Buckley, comprise the Mt. Rushmore of thinkers who best exemplify the conservatism espoused by Saving Elephants. Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, and researcher whose nine decades of life and forty-five books covering topics as far reaching as social policy on race, ethnic groups, education, and decision-making, to classical...
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Episode 99 – The Forgotten Legacy of Willmoore Kendall with Chris Owen
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Few individuals have had as deep an impact on modern conservative thought, yet remain in relative obscurity, as Willmoore Kendall. The conservative English professor Jeffrey Hart said of Kendall that he was "the most important political theorist to have emerged in the twenty-odd years since the end of World War II." Kendall’s writings are thought-provoking, challenging, contentious, scrupulous, and, often, innovative. His analysis and critiques took no prisoners on both the Right and Left, and his prickly personality shattered relationships with friends, family, and spouses...
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Episode 98 – The Deep Places with Ross Douthat
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat joins Josh Lewis to talk about his recent memoir . His book tells of his recent journey in battling chronic Lyme disease and his reflections on illness, discovery, and hope. Ross’ story begins prior to the illness in which he was attempting to build the life he’d always dreamed of. “At that moment in my life I only really believed in upside…I wrote my share of words on the problem of evil…usually making the case that much of American Christianity offers people the wrong answers, encouraging them to believe that actually bad...
info_outlineFounded in 1953, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has remained on the forefront of the conservative intellectual movement with a particular focus on ensuring college students are equipped with the tools they need to explore the conservative worldview. During the tumultuous begins of the modern conservative movement in the United States, ISI embraced many of the views and adherents of both the libertarian and traditionalist wings of the movements. Today, ISI is yet again navigating the divisions on the Right as they seek to maintain a platform where these embattled factions can meet together and debate their differences with civility and passion.
Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis in this episode is James Davenport, Academic Program Officer for ISI, as they discuss indispensable books for the student of conservatism, the plight of young conservatives on college campuses, the importance and relevance of fusionism, cancel culture and civility, and how conservatives might combat the continuous Leftward bent of higher education.
About James Davenport
James Davenport is Academic Program Officer for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He received his BA in politics, philosophy, and theology from the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University. As an undergraduate, James was an ISI Honors Scholar and president of his campus ISI Society—The Montaigne Society. He also participated in seminars with the Elm Institute, was a fellow with the Philadelphia Commons Institute (formerly the Agora Institute), and was a course fellow in religion and politics with the Hertog Foundation.
James’ writing can be found in the Imaginative Conservative, The University Bookman, Philanthropy Daily, Front Porch Republic, the Forma Journal of the Circe Institute, and more. He also hosts the Conservative Conversations with ISI podcast alongside ISI President Johnny Burtka and National Director of Student Programs Marlo Slayback. You can find James on Twitter @mrJSDavenport
Listener Mail
In the listener mail segment Josh responds to a listener’s request to cover the topics of conservatism in urban areas and the challenge of countering the Left’s hold over elite institutions, particularly in higher education.