123 – Judging Lord Acton with Dan Hugger
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Release Date: 01/17/2023
211 – Next Right with Mike Warren
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Mike Warren has been on a mission to uncover what awaits conservatives, the Republican party, and the Right as the Trump administration begins to wind down. Who will control Congress after the midterms? Is Trumpism finished and everything will go back to the way it was prior to 2016? Does MAGA produce another cult leader who controls the GOP for the foreseeable future? Does Trump find a way to defy the Constitution and stick around? Does finally make his long-heralded appearance and put an end to us all? Mike isn’t in the business of making political...
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210 – John Quincy Adams with Jeffrey Tyler Syck
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Sure, most of us are aware that John Quincy Adams was the son of Founding Father John Adams and the sixth POTUS with a long and illustrative career in public service and diplomacy. Some might even recall that he was the brains behind the Monroe Doctrine, or that he nearly drowned during one of his many multi-hour swims in the Potomac River, or that he is undoubtedly the former president Americans would least likely want to have a beer with, or that he was considered by some to be . But all of that’s just trivia. More importantly, John Quincy Adams was a prolific writer whose...
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Roundtable - Rise of the DSA
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Whether it's Zohran Mamdani's win in NYC last year or the slew of Democratic Socialists of America electoral victories this year, the DSA is having a moment. Is this the beginning of the socialist utopia displacing the patriarchal/capitalist system in the United States or the latest ill-fated iteration of a party out of power attempting to redefine itself? Saving Elephants assembled another august panel to discuss this very issue, including: serves as Vice President of Communications for . Prior to joining SPN, Brooke was the Vice President of Communications at the , a...
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209 – The Soul of Schooling
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Former President George W. Bush was wrong when he iconically stated "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" Actually, it's asked all the time (dubious grammatical structuring aside). Politicians and social influencers are quick to bemoan the state of education, but thoughtful conversations on how we might meaningfully change things for the better are few and far between. Saving Elephants has assembled an all-star panel to have a real conversation about education: Have we failed to educate our children? To what extent are problems in education a matter of bad policies,...
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Roundtable - Common Good Conservatism
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
In recent weeks conservative social media has been aflurry debating that nebulous phrase, the Common Good. Does the New Right have a monopoly on the concept of the common good? If we can agree on the common good, does that alone grant us the political authority to impose it? What is the relationship between liberty and the common good? Saving Elephants welcomes two guests to set the record straight for good and all. Dan Hugger, Editorial and Research Fellow and the Host of Acton Line Podcast at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty. He writes and speaks on questions...
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208 – Fusionism with Stephanie Slade
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Fellow Millennial, Stephanie Slade, has been in the trenches of various factions on the dissident Right lo these past several years to share with the uninitiated normies just how unhinged the Right has become in certain quarters. She joined Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis earlier this year () to explore this phenomenon. But since that time she’s written a book, , which offers the antidote to the rise of rightwing radicalism. That antidote is fusionism, a largely forgotten idea that once defined American conservatism. About Stephanie Slade From Stephanie...
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207 – Why Postliberalism Failed with James Patterson and Thomas Howes
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Patrick Deneen’s 2018 book, Why Liberalism Failed, was by the standards of most academic works of political philosophy, wildly successful. It struck a chord with some of the broader Right and gave a voice to a growing movement skeptical of the promises of classical liberalism and looking for an alternative. This burgeoning New Right, however, is anything but new. The kind of postliberalism often advocated by the New Right has been attempted in nations across Europe and South America. And each time it has been tried, it has failed. Joining Saving Elephants host...
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206 – Pondering Patriotism with John Wilsey
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
What does it mean to love your country? Is that nationalism? And isn’t nationalism—you know—bad? And how should our allegiance and love of country be weighed against our duties and affections to family and faith? Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by John Wilsey to discuss his latest book, , the origins of nationalism and how it differs from patriotism, the link between history and love of ones country, the battles between the Romantics and Rationalists, and that great public servant, John Quincy Adams. About John Wilsey From the Dr. John...
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205 – Radical Experimentation in Liberty with Brad Birzer
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
The immortal words of the —We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness—are etched upon the hearts of American patriots today and knit us together with patriots down through the ages. Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by Hillsdale professor Brad Birzer as they delve into the depths of this most remarkable of political texts and explore the origins of the ideas that birthed our nation. About Brad Birzer From...
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Roundtable - America, 250 Years Young
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Whether you call it the Semiquincentennial or the Sestercentennial; whether you’re on team Red, Blue, or politically homeless; whether you believe Die Hard is a movie about Independence Day; America’s 250th birthday is something worth celebrating. So how best to ring in this once-in-a-lifetime advent? Saving Elephants has assembled a panel to reflect on what it means for America to turn the big 250.
info_outline1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton who, for obvious reasons, is more commonly referred to as simply Lord Acton, was a 19th century writer, historian, and member of the British parliament whose contributions to history, faith, and politics are largely forgotten beyond his most famous quote: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Joining Josh to explore just why Acton was important and why he’s worth studying today is Dan Hugger from the apply named Acton Institute.
About Dan Hugger
From Dan’s bio: Dan Hugger is librarian and research associate at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty. He writes and speaks on questions of education, history, political economy, and religion, and is the editor of two books: Lord Acton: Historical and Moral Essays and The Humane Economist: A Wilhelm Röpke Reader.
About the Acton Institute
From Acton’s website: The Acton Institute was founded in 1990 in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a think-tank whose mission is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles. This direction recognizes the benefits of a limited government, but also the beneficent consequences of a free market. It embraces an objective framework of moral values, but also recognizes and appreciates the subjective nature of economic value. It views justice as a duty of all to give the one his due but, more importantly, as an individual obligation to serve the common good and not just his own needs and wants. In order to promote a more profound understanding of the coming together of faith and liberty, Acton involves members of religious, business, and academic spheres in its various seminars, publications, and academic activities.
Links to resources mentioned in the conversation:
Russell Kirk’s last public address—at the Acton Institute—offering his critiques of Lord Acton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCz023vKs98
Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics
Lord Acton: Historical and Moral Essays
https://shop.acton.org/products/lord-acton-historical-and-moral-essays?_pos=2&_sid=937cdddbd&_ss=r
Selected Writings of Lord Acton
https://www.libertyfund.org/books/selected-writings-of-lord-acton/
Lord Acton: Historian and Moralist
https://shop.acton.org/products/lord-acton-historian-and-moralist?_pos=1&_sid=937cdddbd&_ss=r
Lord Acton
Bradley Birzer’s piece on Seven Conservative Minds
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/seven-conservative-minds/