Concepts with Shawn Whatley

Update on the quest to define conservatism! After almost 100 episodes, I see a way to articulate conservatism coming into view. I hope to capture it all into a short book/long essay later this year.

In the meantime, I offer a recap of liberalism and contrast it with conservatism. I also touch on inheritance, myth, and experience as themes within conservatism.

I also tackle a summary of neoconservatism. Neocons remain the main opini...

Jodi Bruhn offers a sobering take on Canada. Professor Bruhn is an expert on governance and constitutional thought. She says we might not appreciate the significance and potential fallout from the Supreme Court wading in the Notwithstanding Clause.

We discuss civics education and whether there's an increased appetite for first principles.

Thanks for checking this out!

I look forward to your comments.

Shawn

Chapters and AI summary:

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Tom Flanagan explains why we need Hayek's ideas about spontaneous order, institutions, and the limits of state control. Hayek will frustrate central planners and also anarchists. Libertarians can't depend on Hayek; he's too supportive of traditional institutions.

Professor Flanagan has taught a generation of political science students at the University of Calgary. He's informed so much of what the Right assumes in Canada. He's gene...

Evan Menzies shows why Albertans should be furious. As an Albertan himself, he understands. And as a political consultant, he sees even more reasons to be upset than most Albertans have heard of. He is frustrated and doesn't hide it.

In spite of powerful reasons to be upset, he still thinks Alberta should stay.

The rest of Canada isn't paying enough attention to this. Alberta separation wouldn't be an issue if Canada was well gover...

Ashley Moyse is a bioethicist and theologian at Baylor University. In America, he hails from the political left. If he was in his native Saskatchewan, he'd be centre-left or perhaps even right-wing to some people. 

Our conversation tackled technology, ethics, and humanity in professional education. How we can keep clinicians human and prevent them from becoming robots?

Although we situate the conversation in the health sciences, th...

I asked Dr. Matthew Rowley for help with questions on political theology. It turns out he's another big supporter of independence for Alberta. 

The current Supreme Court hearings last week are pouring fuel on the Alberta separatist movement. The Mark Carney Liberals are intervenors on the SCC hearing about Quebec's Bill 21 and use of the notwithstanding clause (s.33). Carney is asking the Supreme Court to do an end-run around the c...

Can AI replace teachers? Would students benefit?

Should classical schools -- great books curricula -- use AI? 

I tried very hard to get Dr. Grant Havers into trouble in this episode. But he was too smart to say anything that would offend school administrators.

Instead of picking a side in the pro- vs anti-AI debate, Dr. Havers worked to bring out issues and objectives. If we trust AI to think for us, what does that say about our ow...

Dr. Paul Gottfried packages his writing in dynamite and grit. He uses an academic style which is now almost extinct on the political right.

No one tries to provoke in order to make a point anymore. The Left still uses it all the time, but not the Right.

You cannot listen to Gottfried with modern antennae tuned to gasp at every offence. If you do, you will miss the impact of his next three punches.

I lack the courage to match Gottfr...

Sam Duncan has worked in government for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Doug Ford. He is current VP at Wellington Advocacy.

We discuss a powerful article Sam wrote titled: Toward a conservative counter-elite.

Sam's article almost has enough content to outline a whole book. He diagnosed Canada's problems, uncovers the causes, and offers a detailed list of almost a dozen solutions.

I was able to press Sam on manager...

Professor Barry Cooper is an Albertan. This fact transcends location. It speaks to a prairie self-understanding, a prairie myth, that stands apart and distinct from the Laurentian myth. For example, Cooper says bilingual Canada is a "huge myth outside Laurentian Canada."

Professor Cooper argues that George Grant did not understand the prairie mindset. He was a Laurentian, and as such, Grant was clueless about Alberta. He reflects t...

Ron Dart seems to embody generosity. It's hard to find a hard edge in him. Even when he states an opinion strongly, he always works to understand your side of the issue. 

Ron and I approach things from different angles, but we both try to embody the same method. Of course, his is far more honed and nuanced, educated and articulate. But I think our conversations reflect a genuine desire to understand -- attentive listening as Profes...

Mia Hughes has no qualms about saying the Emperor has no clothes. She says what the rest of us cannot say, because we must stay within the boundaries of what our licences require.

Transgender medicine strikes at the core of what medicine is; at what it means to care for patients.

Should doctors do whatever patients want, or should doctors do whatever saves life and limb?

There could not be a greater debate. 

Should technology deter...

Professor von Heyking just left Lethbridge Alberta and moved to Arizona to help lead the Civics program at ASU. Our discussion pivoted around differences between USA and Canada, civics education, and how constitutions differ on each side of the border.

This episode ran more like a visit between friends. We jumped between topics too much, laughed too much, and were probably too open about our opinions. 

In my opinion, this is precis...

Do ideas determine elections? Or should we forget about ideas and focus on issues?

Dan Pitt has experience with both theory and practice. He teaches and writes books about political theory. And he's been involved with several election campaigns, including serving as a candidate in a recent by-election.

Power rests with ideas. Unless we shape ideas, forming government can mean you are simply in office but out of power.

Check out Dan...

We return to a persistent challenge for conservatives. What do we do with intellectuals? Can politicians trust them? What role, if any, do intellectuals play in conservative politics?

Dr. Ferenc Hörcher argues that intellectuals have a different job than politicians, but each can benefit from the other. In the ideal case, intellectuals avoid telling politicians what do, and politicians foster an appetite for intellectual discourse....

Franco Terrazzano knows taxes. As Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, he's the one in front of media calling on government for accountability on tax spending.

But behind the pizzaz lies a deep thinker. Franco loves the nerdy arguments buried in books few people read. They inform his tirades on social media. So don't be fooled, he's not just a talking head.

I kept trying to pull our discussion into the ideas behind the no...

Barry Bussey has spent decades thinking about freedom and working around the legal edges of it. Most people don't think about freedom until it's compromised. Barry thinks about it all the time.

Canada has led the world as a test case on the limits of freedom with our MAiD (euthanasia) legislation, approach to COVID, and the Emergency Measure's Act. These are complex legal issues.

I always learn something when I talk with Barry. Let...

Barbara Kay has written professionally about issues on the non left since the 1960s. We might want to say she had a 'front-row seat', but that would be wrong. Her writing went beyond simple observation. She helped shape conservative opinion in Canada for half a century.

Barb wrote a piece on Norman Podhoretz, when he passed in December. She mentions reading everything he had ever written: books and articles; editorials in his role ...

Prime Minister Mark Carney's Davos speech made liberals swoon and conservatives nod in admiration.

Are the accolades warranted? Or are we being fooled by eloquence?

I couldn't resist recording something about The Speech. In this episode I offer three big points:

1. Carney appears to use a sycophantic foreign policy strategy. Is it rational? Will it work?

2. Carney appropriates brilliance to serve his own ends. Is that fair or justi...