Category: Interviews

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Mike talks with political scientist Matt Grossmann, Director of Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, about his book Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy Change Since 1945.

Topics Mike & Matt discuss include:
– how much of a role the public has in policy change
– the flaws in our standard notions of how policy change happens
– how Matt examined every major policy change from 1945 – 2004
– why policy favors the status quo – and liberal interests
– President Trump as a policymaker
– and lots more

– follow Matt Grossmann on Twitter

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support.

Mike talks to Mark Godsey, a former federal prosecutor who’s currently a professor of law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Professor Godsey is the co-founder and director of the Ohio Innocence Project, which is one of the most active and successful Innocence Projects in the country. He’s also the author of Blind Injustice: A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions.

Topics Mike & Mark discuss include:

• the scope of the wrongful convictions problem
• the prosecutorial mindset and wrongful convictions
• main reasons for wrongful convictions
• how Innocence Projects work to free the wrongfully convicted
• making it easier to free the wrongfully convicted
• how to decrease wrongful convictions

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support.

Mike talks with media expert Matthew Pressman, an Assistant Professor of Journalism at Seton Hall University. Prior to earning his doctorate in history, Dr. Pressman worked for eight years at Vanity Fair, where his articles about the news media won the 2010 Mirror Award for Best Commentary (digital media). He’s the author of On Press: The Liberal Values That Shaped the News.

Topics Mike & Matt discuss include:

• the shift from ‘straight news’ to interpretation
• the meaning of objectivity in the news
• how commercial pressures shape news coverage
• the inherent conservative bias of pre-1960s news media
• the conservative critique of ‘liberal media’
• racism and sexism in newsrooms and news coverage
• the rise of the reader-oriented newspaper
• the media’s response to Donald Trump
• if today’s media is better than the pre 1960s media
  
  Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support.

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Mike talks with theologian and economist Mary Hirschfeld about her book Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy. Professor Hirschfeld started her career as an economist, getting her Ph.D. from Harvard and then working and teaching in the field for the next 15 years. She then made a fascinating career change, going back to graduate school and earning a doctorate in theology from Notre Dame. She’s currently an Associate Professor of Economics and Theology at Villanova University.

Topics Mike and Professor Hirschfeld discuss include:

• what theology can bring to a discussion of economics
• what Thomas Aquinas – a medieval Dominican friar – can contribute to our understanding of 21st century economics
• why economics isn’t as value-neutral as many people think
• money, desire, and happiness
• ‘maximizing your utility’ vs. ‘ordering your life’
• why private property is a good thing
• inequality and economic justice

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to patreon.com/politicsguys

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Mike talks to Patrick Deneen, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. In his book Why Liberalism Failed, Deneen argues not only that liberalism has failed (which you probably picked up from the title) but more importantly, he argues that it failed because it was based on a fundamentally unsound understanding of human beings.

In this talk, Mike and Professor Deneen discuss the individual autonomy, liberalism & capitalism, how liberalism’s success led to its failure, virtue ethics & Judeo-Christian values, education, Alexis de Tocqueville, Wendell Berry, and lots more.

Patrick Deneen on Twitter

Recommended Reading:

Articles
The World Is Better Than Ever. Why Are We Miserable? (Andrew Sullivan on Steven Pinker and Patrick Deneen)
Can Democracy Save Us? (Ryszard Legutko’s review of Why Liberalism Failed.)
The Dead End of the Left? Augusto Del Noce’s Critique of Modern Politics.

Books
The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy. Christopher Lasch
The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics. Christopher Lasch
The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations. Christopher Lasch
The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies. Ryszard Legutko
The Crisis of Modernity. Augusto Del Noce
The Age of Secularization. Augusto Del Noce
The World-Ending Fire. Wendell Berry
Democracy in America. Alexis de Tocqueville

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.

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Mike talks with Tyler Cowen, a professor of Economics at George Mason University, blogger at Marginal Revolution, host of the ‘Conversations with Tyler‘ podcast, regular contributor at ‘Bloomberg Opinion‘, and author of a number of books including The Great Stagnation, Average is Over, The Complacent Class, and most recently Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals.

Topics Mike & Tyler discuss include:
– Why we should focus more on economic growth.
– The importance of sustainable growth.
– How future people should be valued.
– Why human rights should trump even economic growth.
– Economic growth and human happiness.
– Tyler’s specific policy recommendations.

Follow Tyler on Twitter

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.

Mike talks with author, speaker, and practicing barrister Jamie Susskind. Jamie studied history and politics at Magdalen College, Oxford before turning to law, and is a past Fellow of Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. His recently released book is Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech.

Mike and Jamie discuss:

• the digital lifeworld
• the nature of power
• increased state scrutiny and the loss of privacy
• the power, promise, and peril of algorithms
• the future of liberty
• alternatives to democracy
• the wealth cyclone
• and lots more!

Jamie Susskind on Twitter

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.