The United States of America: An Experiment in Federalism

Virtue in the Wasteland Podcast

Sometimes our shows start with really simple ideas. For instance, one of us might think of something that would be relevant to the podcast and send the article, idea, etc… via text. We do a little reading, figure out what the “bigger story” at play is, and… voila. An hour and a half later, plus editing time (we sometimes do that!) and we’ve got another show. Ok, now you know how the generic sausage is made. This show, this sausage (?!) is al about the States of the Union. Having just completed a road trip, Dan being in the middle of his own personal California Renaissance, and Jeff having wandered the earth much of his life, the guys reflect on the nature of these United States with regards to state rankings, biases, federalism, and all of this with two dogs running around the studio. As we tell you in the beginning, this is a standard “let’s think through this together” show that involves postulating theses, changing them, rethinking them, and then coming together at the end of the show to discuss what we learned from the conversation. We go on a few tangents, edited a few, but this is a kind of “at home with Jeff and Dan” type show where they talk about their lives, their dogs, the really big questions, and perhaps a Super Bowl prediction or two…