177 – Dear Mr. President with Destry Edwards
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Release Date: 05/06/2025
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
While Saving Elephants is dedicated to offering the conservative intellectual tradition in mercifully modern vernacular, fellow podcaster Nic Dunn has been on a similar mission: making the work of policy institutions more digestible. Nic joins Josh for a conversation around the important role policy can play in defusing political tension, alleviating poverty, and expanding the freedom and opportunities all Americans seek. About Nic Dunn Bio from Nic Dunn serves as Vice President of Strategy and Senior Fellow at Sutherland Institute. As VP of Strategy, Nic oversees the...
info_outlineSaving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
For good or ill, the post World War II era built by the Baby Boomers seems to be rapidly coming to an end. But what will replace it? What might be done to prevent global conflicts and bloodshed as the old order begins to break down? And what should younger conservatives seek to conserve in this era of chaotic change? Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is Director of Research at the , Calum Nicholson to share how the Anglosphere often misunderstands the way the rest of the world thinks and how that might help us better prepare for what’s ahead. About Calum...
info_outlineSaving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
In a world of exhaustive binary thinking sometimes complexity offers relief. Lauren Hall joins the show to offer her alternative living in 4D she calls “radical moderation”. In the latter half of the conversation Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis happily takes Lauren up on her offer to geek out on Edmund Burke. About Lauren Hall Excerpts from Lauren Hall is an author and professor helping people combat overwhelm in an age of extremes. Her writing rejects binary and black-and-white thinking to help people lead more balanced lives, build stronger relationships, and...
info_outlineSaving 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...
info_outlineSaving 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...
info_outlineSaving 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
info_outlineSaving 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...
info_outlineSaving 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...
info_outlineSaving 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.
info_outlineSaving 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...
info_outlineFormer 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 Dear Mr. President: The Letters of Julia Sand, and how a single citizen can have an outsized effect on our political system.
About Destry Edwards
Destry Edwards is the Media Production and Studio Manager at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. With a passion for both film and politics, Destry seeks to use storytelling as a way to bridge the gap between people and policy. He is a native of the great state of South Carolina. Before coming on with CEI, Destry’s background includes time at FreedomWorks and Blaze Media. Destry holds a Bachelor of Science in Cinema Production from Bob Jones University.
About the Documentary
In 1881, following President James Garfield’s assassination, the country was in turmoil. Many suspected Vice President Chester Arthur, a long-time beneficiary of the spoils system, to be a party to the plot and dreaded his ascension to the presidency.
In the immediate aftermath—and before the height of the women’s suffrage movement—New Yorker Julia Sand wrote to the soon-to-be President. Between August 1881 and September 1883, Sand penned 23 letters to President Arthur imploring him to abandon his corrupt machinations, become the leader the country deserved, and champion civil service reform.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute proudly presents the documentary Dear Mr. President: The Letters of Julia Sand to discover the outsized effect a single citizen can have on our political system.
You can watch the full documentary on the streaming platform SalemNow.