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One of the nice things about being the Top Conservative Podcast is that we get to have the coolest and smartest people on the right stop by to chat. Case in point this week as we welcome two of the biggest brains on the right, Yuval Levin and Dr. Thomas Sowell. Yuval’s WSJ essay The Next Conservative Movement is a must read, and while you’re at it, order his forthcoming book The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism. Re-building the party is topic of Yuval’s segment, and we welcome your suggestions in the comments below. With Thomas Sowell, things get a little more somber as he is no fan of the presumptive nominee of the party. The good doctor explains why he’s not a fan of The Donald, or of the voters who have propelled him to where he is today. Finally,we send out 90th birthday greetings to Jerry Lewis from a certain podcaster with a French brother-in-law. Guess who.
Music from this week’s episode:
Sweet Soul Music by Arthur Conley
The BRAND NEW opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
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I enjoyed that even without knowing it was a quote.
You might be right. Though, like Peter (and James?), I think Americans abandon these “social” traditions at their own peril, and though voters with SoCon values remain significant, the culture is trending against us even on the Right where issues like marriage are concerned. We are not as politically influential as we once were.
That doesn’t mean cultural conservatives should tailor our beliefs to trends. And it doesn’t mean we won’t have an outsized role to play in the frictions to come. When the Left hammers us, the legal consequences and culture of intimidation will be felt by all.
There was a moment in Yuval Levin’s talking that caused me some consternation.
At around the 28:30 mark, when he is saying “There was a real attempt in the Bush Years to incentivize marriage…it was not successful at all.” He goes on to say you cannot use economic carrots to achieve ends like that, then describes what sounds to me like Federal grants to neighborhoods as laboratories of family redefinition. (“Let a thousand Frankensteins bloom,” is that it?)
My impression, which might be wildly off, is that our Welfare State pays unwed women to have out-of-wedlock babies. Seems to me that payment plan is an economic carrot that contributed mightily to the dissolution of the American family: Uncle Sam is a better provider than a man; and state welfare does not have the “judgement” or strings that religious charity might.
It may well be that it is Thought Crime to posit the elimination of welfare to the unwed. Perhaps, if that had been stated, the solution of throwing more money at it via “family labs” would have been slightly more palatable to me.
Unbuild the Great Society.
Then you must be thrilled with two and more.
Regarding the new opening: I like the updated sound, with the percussive beat and the more ominous tone. Seems fitting for 2016. I do hope we don’t have to live with those particular sound bites indefinitely, though! I miss “Tear down this wall,” which should be grandfathered in for Peter’s sake.
Musically, I have just one suggestion: the low brass rendition of the main theme toward the end desperately needs some reverb. Digital instruments like that come out sounding terribly fake when they’re recorded dry.
Regarding the problem of software becoming obsolete, I can identify: a Windows upgrade broke my old installation of Gigastudio, a virtual-instrument app that had been discontinued. I had to painstakingly reconstruct several old multitrack recordings.
I don’t know what software James is using, but I strongly recommend rendering all virtual-instrument tracks as .wav files when you archive a project; that way you don’t need the virtual instruments anymore, and you’re protected from that kind of dependency. It will always be possible to play back .wav files.
I like the sound too. It needs more positive soundbites at the beginning. I expect to be hearing enough from Trump and Hillary for the next several months with the opening too.