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Rob’s off on vacation, but Peter’s back from the Promised Land! Thankfully you won’t have to wait until his next episode of Uncommon Knowledge is released to hear from Yoram Hazony, author of Conservatism: A Rediscovery. Yoram has revisited the past in the hopes of finding something new that conservatives will desperately need in order to offer something other than a another variant of liberalism. He answers his many critics and considers a plausible path of resistance against the progressive threat.
Later, Peter describes his faith-strengthening visit to Israel and James recounts the excitement of his chance to meet Ricochet members in New York. Plus, what’s the deal with Humphrey Bogart!?
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Nice photo, EJ. Love that movie!
Well, you’re in for an interesting confab at the end of the show. ;)
Is Peter Robinson the guest?
Here is some fun data about economic growth.
It’s great to have Peter Robinson back, particularly with his most moving comments about his stay in Israel…I hope that Yoram Hazony appears again as a guest on Ricochet…I was pleased to hear him remind us that the future really is indeed unpredictable and that whether secularization is relentlessly ongoing is something we cannot know. I wish there had been some discussion about how Christians and Jews, conservative and religious, in America can or should interact in that regard.
Humphrey Bogart, like the film Casablanca, at least with anyone with a European background, requires considerable suspension of disbelief. Perhaps because it is so quaint, so quintessentially “American” of a certain era, that one can enjoy it.
James Lileks’ pronunciation of femme fatale sent me to the Internet. Yes, Anglicized, femme does rhyme with gem. Interesting… And pourquoi pas?
In case the content creators and influencers at Ricochet Mothership didn’t know, this episode is not yet available via my Apple podcasts subscription/feed.
Yes. We had an issue with our hosting platform yesterday evening. The issue is sorted and I’m uploading it now.
When this happens, use the Superfeed temporarily.
Gentlemen, terrific interview with a really great guest. His book is now at the top of my reading list.
And yes, Peter it’s great to have you back.
Okay. I commented before reaching the end of the podcast — critically, before Peter opined about Bogart.
Peter is a gentle man, a gracious man, a man who ties his sweater around his neck. Those are all commendable, or in the case of the sweater at least not objectionable, qualities that contribute to Peter’s undeniable charm. May he never change.
Bogart played another kind of man.
I would like to meet Peter.
I would like to be Bogart.
Well, when I’m drinking, anyway.
I suggest that you do a Bar Crawl in LA! I’ll drive to join you. Or you could do it in Phoenix, Jon’s hometown.
I ordered Quip. I love it. Thanks.
Not in the summer.
Good point. A bar crawl in LA now, and a bar crawl in Phoenix in Winter. How about on Saturday, February 11, 2023, the day before the Super Bowl in the Phoenix area?
I was disappointed by the guest. He seems to be making a few fundamental mistakes.
He repeatedly suggests that (classical) liberalism has “failed” and that it lacks “conservation and transmission”. If he means that liberalism/freedom on its own is good (the forms “have all sorts of things going for them”) but insufficient, that much was already understood by the founders.
In his 2012 book A Free Peoples’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future, Os Guinness describes a mutually supporting cycle of qualities that the founders valued. Alexis de Tocqueville observed that Americans were distinguished from Europeans by “habits of the heart”. Guinness describes these qualities and their relationship to Liberty as The Golden Triangle of Freedom.
Freedom requires virtue, which requires faith, which requires freedom.
And so on. All three are needed.
Article: The Forgotten Triangle of Freedom?
Video (<4 minutes) of Os Guinness – The Golden Triangle: Virtue, Faith, and Freedom
Just because the founders would not permit the federal government to use coercive power to force a chosen religion does not mean they did not value the essential role that faith communities must fulfill in instilling virtue into a free people.
They simply had the wisdom to realize that this was not the proper role of the federal government. The power of government to secure human rights, including freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, created the space in which that work of instilling virtue must be done by other institutions based on voluntary association, not coercive power.
So when Yoram Hazony starts talking about looking for states where there are enough voters …, he is quite on the wrong track entirely.
Instilling the virtue that healthy liberty requires has nothing to do with establishing a voting block to wield government power. It isn’t the job of government to “conserve” and “transmit” that virtue. That can only be done willingly in voluntary association. Government power should secure the basic human rights of life, liberty, etc, but other work must be done by other associations of free people that instill in them the “habits of the heart”.
My grown daughter knows nothing of Ricochet but when I was explaining the meet up she said ‘Wait, what? You were with Rob Long from Gutfeld?’ Mightily impressed.
Local governments should have more say so than the federal does. That is people being able to freely associate to secure what they wish – like zoning loss to prevent strip clubs in neighborhoods. That is perfectly within the rights of a community to push for.
if another community doesn’t care, that is also in their right.
This is great to hear!! We have more upcoming meet ups. Stay tuned ! Where is your daughter located ? Maybe we can get a meet up in her neck of the woods !
I thought the ideas were interesting. I was frustrated with the guest’s speaking style. I wanted him to spit whatever out. My husband who was listening with me even paused the podcast at some point to ask if I thought “that guy” would dislike the many pauses and stutters in his answers if he listened to the playback. It was very distracting.
Why is Rob always conveniently absent when someone who is well equipped to challenge his conventional, establishment, Arnold Schwarzenegger-brand Republicanism the guest? Of course he had plenty of time to record GLOP. It’s almost as if Rob doesn’t like to have his views questioned.
@jameslileks, I had the same reaction you did to @peterrobinson. Although, I have found, there are just some people who don’t like some old movies. I was surprised to hear Peter didn’t like this, and other type movies, partly due to extensive dialogue. I would have thought Peter would like the talking, especially when it drives the plot. I have gotten to be a “snob” when it comes to movies. There are few made after 1949 that I care for and the noir genre is my favorite. Knives Out comes new movie. Your discussion was fabulous! If we ever meet IRL, we must have this conversation.
This is almost exactly the thought running through my head as I listened. I think Hazony has an interesting and important perspective, but he seemed to be starting with an incorrect premise. Of course the Founders understood the need to conserve and transmit the principles of freedom, virtue, and liberty. John Adams was explicit that the US was made for a good and virtuous people.
In terms of zoning and other police powers, you’re right. But even at the local level government power is restricted when it comes to matters of religion and conscience. The problem the Hazony is getting at is cultural, not political.
At the founding, states had the right to establish an official religion. Many states did establish churches.
I don’t know if anyone has made FEWER guest appearances on Gutfeld, than Rob. (Among those who have made guest appearances, of course.)
Zzzzz. INSANELY BORING COMMENT.
She’s 20 minutes from me, we’re all on Long Island.
I find it hilarious that Peter Robinson would suggest that someone else talks too much.