177 – Dear Mr. President with Destry Edwards
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Release Date: 05/06/2025
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.
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204 – Weaving Thru Weaver with Michael Lucchese
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Richard Weaver was a twentieth century American scholar and rhetorician whose writings were praised by the likes of Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Willmoore Kendall, and Frank Meyer. But nowadays Weaver is either derided as a racially charged Southern sympathizer or . If he’s discussed at all. Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is Michael Lucchese, whose latest essay in defends Weaver’s contributions to the intellectual Right and argues his writings are still instructive for the conservative today. This episode explores Weaver’s actual views on the South...
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Roundtable - Should We Uncap The House?
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
What if we can agree on the political solution, but we disagree on whose side is most likely to benefit? Congress is broken. On this we can all agree. One of the more interesting reform ideas to emerge is the call to expand the number of Representatives in the United States House, thereby making it more likely Representatives could actually, you know, represent their constituents. This idea seems to have some bipartisan appeal and is championed by voices on both the Left and Right. But doesn’t it stand to reason that any reform to the system is bound to favor one side over...
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203 – Historizing 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. But much has changed since the seventies. What can the history of conservatism tell us about this present moment, and what can it tell us about where things may be heading? Dr. Nash joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to unravel the past, present, and future of conservatism in the United States. About George H. Nash George H. Nash is the epitome of a gentleman and a scholar. ...
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202 – How to Get What You Want with Josh Bandoch
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Persuasion seems conspicuously absent from our politics. Not shouting, denouncing, or trying to convince the “other side” that they’re wrong, evil, or both. But the good faithed attempt to reach the hearts, minds, and emotions of others and persuade them to our point of view. Why? Why is persuasion so hard? And is it even possible to persuade in an era of political polarization? Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis welcomes fellow “Josh”—Josh Bandoch—on the show to discuss his latest book, , and to explore how persuasion can engage with how the...
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201 – All Things China with Lu
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Sometimes the best way to understand one’s culture is to compare it with something entirely different. In this episode Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis take a deep dive into China with Chinese dissident Lu of the YouTube channel . Lu demystifies what the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) wants, why they fear Taiwan, how they view the ethnic Han population, why they work so hard to cover up the history of the Tiananmen Square massacre when far more people died in the great famine and the cultural revolution, and just who the heck is this “professor” Jiang Xueqin who’s been all over...
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200 – Is the GOP Worth Saving?
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
This month marks eight years of Saving Elephants tirelessly calling the GOP back to its classical conservative roots instead of the cult-of-personality nationalist populism to which the party has succumbed. And over these past eight years...things have only gotten worse. Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis assembles an all-star panel to answer the question: is the GOP worth saving? Meet the Panelists: Shawn Whatley Shawn Whatley hosts , a weekly podcast focusing on political ideas, culture, and news. Shawn, MD, is a seasoned physician leader with experience in emergency...
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199 – Getting Friendly with John von Heyking
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
Friendship is one of the last words you might associate with politics these days. Yet John von Heyking believes recovering a proper, classical understanding of friendship is precisely what our civic order needs to function. Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis and John discuss the differences in how the ancients and medievals viewed friendship and how it’s been undervalued by us moderns. They also discuss the important need for civic education and why America has to import Canadians like John to teach American civics. About John von Heyking Bio from John von...
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Roundtable - POTUS War Powers
Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values
It's been nearly a month since Supreme Leader Khamenei and his gathered Legion of Doom were killed in the Trump administration's "special military operation" in Iran. So, are we at war with Iran now? If so, what's the objective? Isn't Congress supposed to declare a war before a president takes things this far? What are the necessary and practical limits on a president's wartime powers? We covered all of this and more in the latest Saving Elephants livestream. The panelists include: · JB Shreve – Host of ...
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.