At the Battle of Saratoga, the tide of the Revolutionary War turned in favor of unlikely victors: the American patriots. What were the major strategy elements at play in the Saratoga Campaign, and why did it prove so crucial? Where did England misstep, and what did the Americans get right? To find out, we chat with Kevin Weddle *03, Professor of Military Theory and Strategy at the Army War College. A graduate of West Point and veteran of operations Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom, Dr. Weddle r...
Dec 06, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 64
Over six million prime-age men are neither working nor looking for work; America's low unemployment rate hides the fact that many men have dropped out of the workforce altogether. Our workforce participation rate is on par with that seen during the Great Depression. Why does this problem affect men so acutely? Why is it so specific to America? What are these missing men doing with their time? How do we differentiate between leisure and idleness? Demographer and economist Nicholas Eberstadt of th...
Nov 22, 2022•51 min•Ep. 63
What is the American Right, where does it come from, and how has it changed over time? Journalist and author Matthew Continetti discusses his recent book: The Right: The Hundred Year War for American Conservatism. Continetti is Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and was formerly the founding editor and the editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon. Previously, he was opinion editor at the Weekly Standard. He is also a contributing editor at National Review and a columnist fo...
Nov 07, 2022•44 min•Season 2Ep. 62
With contentious midterm elections coming up fast, Annika sits down with one of the best-known commentators and participants in the American political economy over the past four decades: Larry Kudlow. Director Kudlow has had a long and storied career; in addition to great success both on Wall Street and as a political commentator, he served in the Ronald Reagan administration in 1981, and as the Director of the National Economic Council under President Trump. He currently hosts the popular Larry...
Nov 02, 2022•28 min•Season 2Ep. 61
What kinds of tools do we need to make big decisions, and why aren't our universities training us to make them? Are universities doing students a disservice by occupying them with myriads of boxes to tick? Are students right to prefer money to meaning? Madison Program alumni Ben and Jenna Storey discuss the philosophy of making choices and of restlessness, and critique the way universities treat those topics. Ben and Jenna are senior fellows at the American Enterprise Institute in the Social, Cu...
Oct 25, 2022•57 min•Season 2Ep. 60
With the Biden Administration's student loan relief coming down the pike, Annika sits down with Dr. Beth Akers, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in higher education finance. Beth discusses the issue of student debt, and what the Biden relief plan will and will not achieve. You can find more information about Dr. Akers and her recent writing and appearances here.
Oct 11, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 59
How did Britain become a global superpower? Historian and classicist Ian Morris thinks geography has a lot to do with it. Prof. Morris discusses his latest book, Geography is Destiny: Britain and the World: A 10,000 Year History, which traces the long history of Britain's complex relationship with the European continent. He draws surprising parallels between characters ranging from the Roman Britons and Nigel Farage, to the Papacy and the European Union. Prof. Ian Morris is the Jean and Rebecca ...
Sep 27, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 58
Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony ('86) discusses the Enlightenment, the American Founding, his latest book: Conservatism: A Rediscovery, and Conservatism's past and future. Dr. Hazony is the President of the Herzl Institute, based in Jerusalem, and the chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a public affairs institute based in Washington D.C., which recently hosted the popular National Conservatism Conference in Miami, FL.
Sep 13, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 57
We all know that things are a little more expensive when we head to the grocery store. But what does inflation actually mean? How did we get to where we are, and what happens next? What does history have to say about our current economic situation? Annika sits down with Tyler Goodspeed of the Hoover Institution. Dr. Goodspeed served in the White House as Acting Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2020-2021, and was formerly on the Faculty of Economics at the University of Oxford, w...
Aug 30, 2022•43 min•Season 2Ep. 4
The overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to a flurry of commentary and wondering, "Where next?" But, it also begs deeper questions: what is the history of abortion and sex-positivity within the feminist movement, and how did Roe affect our views on sex? Feminist legal scholar Dr. Erika Bachiochi is the founder and director of the Wollstonecraft Project at the Abigail Adams Institute and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Here, she discusses these questions as well as her recent book ...
Aug 16, 2022•55 min•Season 2Ep. 55
Modern social and political discussions all seem to revolve around the concept of identity. Dr. Carl Trueman, theologian and former William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and Public Life here at the Madison Program, discusses how thinkers like Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche created a world in which sexuality is politicized, and in which we all instinctively know what it means to "identify as." Dr. Trueman is the author two recent books, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, and a shorter, study-vers...
Aug 02, 2022•59 min•Ep. 54
Who is the new host of Madison's Notes? Season 1 host Nino Scalia interviews the host of Season 2, Annika Nordquist. They chat about her interests, background, and the thinkers who have influenced her most. During the episode, Annika notes the following books as particularly influential on her thought: C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae Rene Girard, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the W...
Jul 26, 2022•15 min•Ep. 53
What are American conservatives trying to conserve? What is Natural Law, and how can we know it? Is there a single "good life"? Robert P. George, Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, joins the show to answer these questions and others in the Season One finale.
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 52
What does it mean to be a great leader? Have we entered an "Age of Artificial Intelligence"? Why is Joe Lonsdale so optimistic? Joe Lonsdale is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Palantir, managing partner at 8VC, and host of the "American Optimist" podcast. He joins Madison's Notes to answer these questions and others.
Apr 18, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 51
What does Xi Jinping want, and what is he afraid of? What is the future of China's relationship with Russia? What should the United States be doing to counter China? Matt Pottinger, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and former Deputy National Security Advisor, joins Madison's Notes to answer these questions and others.
Mar 27, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 50
What's wrong with vaccine mandates? What is the "biosecurity surveillance regime"? Is trust in our public health institutions damaged beyond repair? Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, who was fired by the UC Irvine School of Medicine for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, joins Madison's Notes to answer these questions and more. Dr. Kheriaty's Substack is here. Dr. Kheriaty's Senate Testimony is here.
Mar 14, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Why should we study Robert E. Lee? Why did he make the fateful decision to betray his country? How should we judge Robert E. Lee? Allen C. Guelzo, Director of the James Madison Program's Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship, joins Madison's Notes to answer these questions and others. Guezlo is the author of Robert E. Lee: A Life.
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 48
Will Russia invade Ukraine? Has America lost its military edge to Russia and China? Is nuclear war a possibility in the 21st century? Marshall Billingslea, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, has held many important positions in the U.S. government, including those of Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control at the U.S. Department of State and Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He joins Madison's Notes to answer these questions and others.
Feb 07, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 47
On September 23, 2021, the James Madison Program and the Ethics and Public Policy Center hosted a discussion of Robert P. George and Ryan T. Anderson's 2019 National Affairs essay, "The Baby and the Bathwater." George and Anderson delivered remarks and then spoke with Alexandra DeSanctis and Antonin Scalia about the central themes of the essay, and how the philosophical framework they set out applies to America. Watch "The Baby and the Bathwater: Toward a Recovery of the American Idea" here. Rea...
Jan 24, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 46
The James Madison Program's new Initiative on Freedom of Thought, Inquiry, and Expression (the "Free Speech Initiative") will "promote, explain, and defend free speech and academic freedom." Keith Whittington and Bernard Haykel, co-directors of the Initiative, join Madison's Notes to discuss the need for and work of the Initiative.
Jan 10, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 45
What did Aristotle and Shakespeare mean to Harry Jaffa, and what might they mean to America? Can extremism be prudent? What is the nature of the crisis facing the West today? Glenn Ellmers, senior fellow with the Claremont Institute, joins the show to discuss his new book, The Soul of Politics: Harry V. Jaffa and the Fight for America.
Dec 20, 2021•48 min•Ep. 44
Can we learn how to rule? How do military innovations change civil society? What did Machiavelli learn from Xenophon? Shilo Brooks, Faculty Director and Teaching Associate Professor in the Engineering Leadership Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, joins the show to discuss The Education of Cyrus by Xenophon.
Dec 06, 2021•54 min•Ep. 43
Did the sexual revolution create identity politics? Why are young men and women so unhappy? Mary Eberstadt, Panula Chair in Christian Culture at the Catholic Information Center and Senior Research Fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute, joins the show to answer these questions and others and discuss her new book, Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics.
Nov 22, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 42
How are hiring and admissions decisions made in the hard sciences if not by merit? What are the risks of allowing science to be politicized? Professors Dorian Abbot (University of Chicago), Anna Krylov (University of Southern California), David Romps (University of California, Berkeley), and Bernhardt Trout (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), join the show to answer these questions and others. Resources: Dorian Abbot "The Views That Made Me Persona Non Grata at MIT" Yascha Mounk "Why the La...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 41
Why doesn't Socrates get drunk? Is love finding your "other half"? What's the relationship between comedy and tragedy, love and immortality? Marcus Gibson, Director of the Princeton Initiative in Catholic Thought, returns to Madison's Notes to continue our journey through the Platonic dialogues with a discussion of Plato's Symposium.
Oct 27, 2021•42 min•Ep. 40
Dorian Abbot is an Associate Professor of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had invited Abbot to deliver their prestigious Carlson Lecture, but rescinded the invitation after receiving complaints about an article Abbot had written for Newsweek, titled "The Diversity Problem on Campus." In response, Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions invited Abbot to speak at the James Madison Program. H...
Oct 11, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Jack Phillips is the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado. In 2012, Jack Phillips declined to create a custom wedding cake celebrating a so-called same-sex marriage. The men who requested the cake filed a charge with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, beginning a legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Jack Phillips joins the show to discuss his new book, The Cost of My Faith: How a Decision in My Cake Shop Took Me to the Supreme Court. Joining Jack is Jake Warner, le...
Sep 27, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 38
What went wrong in Afghanistan, and who is to blame? Is America safer today than on September 10, 2001? What lessons should the leaders of America's foreign policy draw from the war in Afghanistan? Ambassador Nathan Sales is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, the former U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism, and former acting Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. He joins the show to answer these questions and others.
Sep 13, 2021•40 min•Ep. 37
Why is Jordan Peterson so popular? In what ways is Jordan Peterson's approach to Scripture unique? What can Christians learn from Peterson about the Bible? Christopher Kaczor, Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, joins Madison's Notes to answer these questions and discuss his new book, Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity: The Search for a Meaningful Life. Jordan Peterson's Biblical Studies series is here.
Aug 30, 2021•44 min•Ep. 36
What does the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs do? How can a liberal arts education help you personally and professionally? Roger Carstens, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, joins Madison's Notes to answer these questions and more.
Aug 16, 2021•41 min•Ep. 35
