Concepts with Shawn Whatley

In France, the progressive Left has invented a new history, identity, and legal framework. French people no longer feel at home. The France they knew has disappeared.

Sound familiar?

We need to pay attention to other countries, especially those in Europe. A similar process is happening in North America. There's no reason, yet, to see why we don't end up in the same place.

Dr. Nathan Pinkoski has spent years studying French and Angl...

Jonah Goldberg never leaves you wondering what he thinks. Clear, bold, and exciting, Goldberg makes politics more fun than should be allowed. 

Goldberg has been a keen observer of conservative politics for nearly four decades. You might say he was the voice of Republicanism in America before President Donald Trump. He thinks deeply, reads widely, and is willing to change his mind.

Don't miss this episode withJonah Goldberg, wi...

Social media posts about conservative debates aim at the sizzle but miss the substance.

Dimpee Brar and Matt Spoke invest a ton of their own time and resources into saving Canada from Leftist nonsense. They aren't just offering opinions devoid of effort.

Is patriotism a 'conservative value' that demands devotion to Canada, even when Canada is ignoble?

Should we defend the prime minister, because his office deserves respect?

Do sepa...

Rusty Reno offers insight into "our crisis of solidarity" that I haven't found anywhere else. In his book Return of the Strong Gods, he tackles the post-WWII liberal consensus that Karl Popper called The Open Society. It is an essential resource to help you understand our times.

Reno is also articulate on post-liberalism. It's not the simplistic idea you see dismissed in most of the legacy media. We also touch on secularism, and I ...

Profound political differences exist between national and cultural traditions. This episode is an introduction to the 4-part audio documentary created by Cardus: The Nation and the Veil: Quebec’s Struggle with Secularism and Religion.

A few hightlights:

1. French republicanism carries markedly different presuppositions than English liberal traditions.

2. We cannot ignore the political differences the follow from a Catholic vs...

The data and demographic argument in support of slowing immigration is overwhelming. Even when people enjoy new neighbours, it takes years to build understanding and trust.

Canada, especially, has pretended that demography and assimilation don't matter. All that matters is world-leading levels of immigration.

Dr. Eric Kaufmann is another refreshing academic who speaks plainly, and he has suffered for it.

We discuss Toward and Ethic...

Conservatism is experiencing a renaissance in the West. It is gaining a new self image beyond its historic passion for economics.

Dimpee Brar has entered the scene in high gear. Over the last few months she has written provocative pieces at a rate of roughly one every two weeks. She's been on panels, podcasts, and interviews. I hope she can maintain her output!

A few of her articles include:

Why Islam seeks shelter under the banner...

Most civilizations prioritize space or time. They either choose empire and expansion (space) or permanence (time). 

Durable civilizations choose both.

Harold Innis was a giant in Canadian academia in the early 20th century, but most people have never heard of him. He offers deep and helpful insights on civilization, progress, and culture. Professor John Bonnett wrote his thesis on Innis and introduces us to his work.

We discus...

Christine Van Geyn captured the central debate around freedom of expression vs state control and put it into a children's book. 

As Interim Executive Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, Van Geyn has the deep knowledge and experience required to explain the essential elements of free expression in a short book titled, Maple's Garden: A Canadian Freedom of Speech Story.

We also discuss her other books, Pandemic Pan...

How do we unify the very different voices on the non-Left? Do our differences mean we are doomed to a soft tyranny of centralized messaging?

Josh Lewis has been wrestling with this, and many other issues, for the last 9 years on his podcast, Saving Elephants. He's hosted many of the biggest influencers in American conservatism, including a number of voices from Canada and Europe.

The conservative movement is a jigsaw puzzle. Conser...

Professor Joshua Mitchell is courageous. He argues for his positions even when they go against the grain of politically acceptable thought.

Mitchell says conservatives have done a good job at addressing the debt and tradition economies. We are strong on fiscal policy, and we stand up for the debts we owe to our fathers. But we are almost completely blind to the more profound, urgent, and critical debt of guilt. Conservatives are bl...

Professor Elizabeth Corey says conservatism is about far more than fighting. In fact, its major emphasis lies outside politics altogether.

Corey offers a thick view of intellectual conservatism. She invites us into something challenging and deep. 

I tried to push her on whether she was asking too much. Was her approach practicable? Should we never ever fight? What role does conflict play in a conservative philosophy?

Professor...

Tim Haggstrom doesn't just promote theory. He bears the personal scars of legal practice. He leads an organization focussed on legal theory, while fighting (personally) for free speech.

This caught me off guard. I thought Tim was simply an exemplary leader of a noteworthy organization. I had no idea that he was also personally up to his neck in litigation about the legitimacy of race-based scholarship.

You won't meet a nicer, more ...

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 science...

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 ...