Category: Interviews

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Mike talks with David Obst, a former journalist, publisher, screenwriter, and film producer. He’s also the author of a new book on the automotive industry called Saving Ourselves from Big Car, which is the focus of their conversation.

Topics Mike & David cover include:

• How “Big Car” became a self-perpetuating system
• The deadly legacy of leaded gasoline
• Corporate cover-ups and government complicity
• Racial injustice in the building of highways
• Planned obsolescence and car addiction
• The invention of jaywalking
• Big Car’s influence on media and politics
• Cities breaking free from car dependence
• Alternatives to a car-centric future

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The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike talks with New York Times bestselling author, historian, and journalist Colin Woodard. His latest book is Nations Apart: How Clashing Regional Cultures Shattered America, which they discuss on this episode.

Topics Mike & Colin discuss include:

• America as a federation of rival regional cultures
• How early settlers shaped lasting political divides
• Culture’s role in red and blue state patterns
• Communitarian vs. individualist visions of freedom
• Why internal migration reinforces cultural divides
• The roots of American ethno-nationalism
• Shared civic ideals in the Declaration of Independence
• Regional culture’s effect on health and longevity
• The South’s authoritarian legacy and modern politics
• Rebuilding a unifying national story for America

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike talks with John L. Campbell, the Class of 1925 Professor and Professor of Sociology Emeritus at Dartmouth College. He’s the author of the recently released book, Pay Up! Conservative Myths About Tax Cuts for the Rich, which they discuss on this episode.

Topics Mike & John cover include:

• the main conservative tax cut myths
• the Laffer Curve and “self-funding” tax cuts
• neoliberalism – intellectual movement or marketing strategy?
• when are tax rates too high?
• US taxes in international perspective
• government vs market inefficiency
• social programs and dependency
  

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike talks with Paul Starr, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and the author of multiple books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Social Transformation of American Medicine. His latest book is American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now, which they discuss in this episode

Topics Mike & Paul cover include:

• Trumpism as ‘total revenge’
• why American politics is a ‘tie game Democrats have been losing’
• America as a new people in an old nation
• the illusion of past consensus
• the rise of conservative counter-institutions
• the Democrats ‘demographics is destiny’ myth
• immigration, identity, and the limits of tolerance

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Travis talks with entrepreneur and trade industry leader Dan Varroney about his new book, Rethinking Economic Growth: How Small Businesses Can Help Consistently Grow the Economy, in which he writes about some of the biggest challenges facing small business owners and how American policymakers can support these businesses.

Topics Travis and Dan cover include:

• The critical role that small businesses play in the American economy
• Some of the major challenges small businesses face from government
• How politicians and bureaucrats can be mindful of small businesses and promote public policy that helps small business—and thus the U.S. economy—thrive

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The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike talks with Bruce Schneier, an internationally renowned security technologist, a lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and the New York Times bestselling author of 14 books. They focus on his latest book, co-authored with Nathan Sanders: Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship.

Topics Mike & Bruce discuss include:

• Democracy as an information system and what that means for governance.
• How AI differs from past technologies in shaping politics.
• Government adoption of AI worldwide, from pilots to legislation drafting.
• The risks of hallucinations, deepfakes, and overconfidence in AI systems.
• Transparency, explainability, and legitimacy concerns around AI use.
• The promise of public AI versus corporate-controlled systems.
• AI’s role in legislation, lobbying, and citizen participation.
• Potential for AI to make bureaucracies more efficient without replacing humans.
• The dangers and opportunities of AI for authoritarian regimes.
• Why regulation of human use of AI—not just AI itself—is essential.

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike talks with Jason Pack, host of the Disorder podcast, in this crossover episode. In addition to hosting the Disorder podcast, Jason is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a Senior Analyst for Emerging Challenges at the NATO Defense College Foundation, and the author of Libya & the Global Enduring Disorder.

Topics Mike & Jason discuss include:

• What “global enduring disorder” means.
• Why Cold War unity faded.
• Power: hard, soft, cultural & convening.
• Neopopulism’s fake solutions.
• U.S. blunders in Iraq & Afghanistan.
• Why Ukraine is different.
• Trump, Israel & the Middle East.
• Reasons for optimism amid disorder.

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The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike talks with Osita Nwanevu, a contributing editor at The New Republic, columnist at The Guardian, and the Democratic Institutions fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. He’s also the author of The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, which they discuss on this episode

Topics Mike & Osita cover include:

• why democracy is the best political system
• the ‘folk theory’ of democracy
• if Americans actually care about democracy
• democracy and demagogues
• grounding principles for modern democracy
• the Framers’ views of democracy
• reforms to make the US system more democratic

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike talks with David Garland, the Arthur Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology at New York University. He’s the author of multiple books, including the recently released Law and Order Leviathan: America’s Extraordinary Regime of Policing and Punishment, which they discuss on this episode

Topics Mike & David cover include:

• why the US justice system is so deeply punitive
• how American capitalism affects our penal system
• American gun culture and crime
• why crim is down but incarceration is up
• race, family cohesion, and the prison population
• how the US differs from other rich democracies
• regional incarceration differences within the US

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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Mike welcomes back George Mason University economist Bryan Caplan to discuss Bryan’s latest collection, Pro-Market AND Pro-Business: Essays on Laissez-Faire.

Topics Mike & Bryan discuss include:
– Mike’s skepticism of big business and Bryan’s response
– why Bryan thinks businesspeople earn every penny
– the pro-market case for noncompete clauses
– consumer harm and antitrust law
– positive and negative externalities
– Bryan’s ideal pro-market healthcare system
– opportunity costs and using paper plates

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.