Is Democracy Ending? Wisdom Of Crowds podcast

#News #News Talk #Damir Marusic #Shadi Hamid #Philosophy #Society

22:08

Host Francesca Amiker sits down with directors Joe and Anthony Russo, producer Angela Russo-Otstot, stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, and more to uncover how family was the key to building the emotional core of The Electric State . From the Russos’ own experiences growing up in a large Italian family to the film’s central relationship between Michelle and her robot brother Kid Cosmo, family relationships both on and off of the set were the key to bringing The Electric State to life. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts . State Secrets: Inside the Making of The Electric State is produced by Netflix and Treefort Media.…

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Is Democracy Ending?

6 days ago 51:20

MP3•Episode home

Shadi thinks it’s the Mahmoud Khalil case: it’s a straightforward government action against freedom of speech, intended to have a chilling effect on the population. Damir believes it’s the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to Nayib Bukele’s megaprison in El Salvador: the policy relies on the bogus claim that we are at war with Venezuela, and it’s the clearest example yet of executive defiance of the courts.

How will we know when the constitutional order has truly taken a knock-out hit? Damir believes that, unless the Supreme Court votes 9-0 against Trump’s Venezuelan deportation, the “the cracks [will] start opening” on the balance of powers. “How do you break the Supreme Court? That’s the whole game right now. And you break it through pressure, through politics,” Damir argues. “Institutions are just beliefs,” he adds. “If you undermine these beliefs enough, it’s over.”

Shadi takes the conversation back to January 6 which, in retrospect, seems like it was the best opportunity to take down Trump. “Everyone seemed to make the wrong decision on how to deal with Trump, at precisely the time when it would have mattered most,” Shadi says. Shadi says that he is still surprised that more Republicans did not object to January 6. Damir is upset with how Democrats reached: “They had a theory of what is just and right, but no sense of politics or how to do things. They got the s**t kicked out of them and now the country is suffering for it.” What we are getting with Trump now, Damir says, is “a longer-lasting tribalism.”

We are making this timely episode free for all subscribers.

Required Reading:

* CrowdSource about the Mahmoud Khalil case (WoC).

* Santiago Ramos, “From the Harper’s Letter to the Khalil Case” (WoC).

* “Deported Brown University doctor acknowledged she attended Hezbollah leader’s funeral on visit to Lebanon, source says” (CNN).

* “Judge warns of consequences if Trump administration violated deportation order” (Reuters).

* En Boca de León - León Krauze, “The scale of El Salvador’s new prison is difficult to comprehend” (Washington Post).

* “Amy Coney Barrett Sparks MAGA Fury Over Trump Supreme Court Decision” (Newsweek).

* “Gavin Newsom and Steve Bannon find surprising agreement on Elon Musk” (CNN).

* Machiavelli on Savonarola (The Municipal Machiavelli).

Full video of the podcast below:

This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

222 episodes

Wisdom of Crowds

Is Democracy Ending?

Wisdom of Crowds

55 subscribers

published 6 days ago

MP3•Episode home

We are making this timely episode free for all subscribers.

Required Reading:

* CrowdSource about the Mahmoud Khalil case (WoC).

* Santiago Ramos, “From the Harper’s Letter to the Khalil Case” (WoC).

* “Deported Brown University doctor acknowledged she attended Hezbollah leader’s funeral on visit to Lebanon, source says” (CNN).

* “Judge warns of consequences if Trump administration violated deportation order” (Reuters).

* En Boca de León - León Krauze, “The scale of El Salvador’s new prison is difficult to comprehend” (Washington Post).

* “Amy Coney Barrett Sparks MAGA Fury Over Trump Supreme Court Decision” (Newsweek).

* “Gavin Newsom and Steve Bannon find surprising agreement on Elon Musk” (CNN).

* Machiavelli on Savonarola (The Municipal Machiavelli).

Full video of the podcast below:

This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

222 episodes

#News #News Talk #Damir Marusic #Shadi Hamid #Philosophy #Society

All episodes

Wisdom of Crowds

1
Is Democracy Ending? 51:20

6 days ago51:20

51:20

Recent events suggest that the balance of power is breaking down. Trump is achieving executive supremacy. In less fancy terms, Trump looks like he’s becoming a dictator. Rule of law might be slipping away. Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic agree about all this. But they disagree about which recent event is the true inflection point. Shadi thinks it’s the Mahmoud Khalil case : it’s a straightforward government action against freedom of speech, intended to have a chilling effect on the population. Damir believes it’s the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to Nayib Bukele’s megaprison in El Salvador: the policy relies on the bogus claim that we are at war with Venezuela, and it’s the clearest example yet of executive defiance of the courts. How will we know when the constitutional order has truly taken a knock-out hit? Damir believes that, unless the Supreme Court votes 9-0 against Trump’s Venezuelan deportation, the “the cracks [will] start opening” on the balance of powers. “How do you break the Supreme Court? That’s the whole game right now. And you break it through pressure, through politics,” Damir argues. “Institutions are just beliefs,” he adds. “If you undermine these beliefs enough, it’s over.” Shadi takes the conversation back to January 6 which, in retrospect, seems like it was the best opportunity to take down Trump. “Everyone seemed to make the wrong decision on how to deal with Trump, at precisely the time when it would have mattered most,” Shadi says. Shadi says that he is still surprised that more Republicans did not object to January 6. Damir is upset with how Democrats reached: “They had a theory of what is just and right, but no sense of politics or how to do things. They got the s**t kicked out of them and now the country is suffering for it.” What we are getting with Trump now, Damir says, is “a longer-lasting tribalism.” We are making this timely episode free for all subscribers. Required Reading: * CrowdSource about the Mahmoud Khalil case ( WoC ). * Santiago Ramos , “From the Harper’s Letter to the Khalil Case” ( WoC ). * “Deported Brown University doctor acknowledged she attended Hezbollah leader’s funeral on visit to Lebanon, source says” ( CNN ). * “Judge warns of consequences if Trump administration violated deportation order” ( Reuters ). * En Boca de León - León Krauze , “The scale of El Salvador’s new prison is difficult to comprehend” ( Washington Post ). * “Amy Coney Barrett Sparks MAGA Fury Over Trump Supreme Court Decision” ( Newsweek ). * “Gavin Newsom and Steve Bannon find surprising agreement on Elon Musk” ( CNN ). * Machiavelli on Savonarola ( The Municipal Machiavelli ). Full video of the podcast below: This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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1
Why do "Sensitive Young Men" Love Trump? 55:02

12 days ago55:02

55:02

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Mana Afsari is a writer and sometime contributor to Wisdom of Crowds , whose career has taken her from the RAND Corporation, to a job as an assistant to a great American poet, to the position of Research Associate at the Aspen Institute’s Philosophy and Society Initiative. In January, Mana published an essay titled, “Last Boys at the Beginning of History,” a fascinating reported piece about the young men with intellectual ambitions who joined the National Conservative movement and voted for Donald Trump. The essay went viral and earned praise from both liberals and conservatives. Damon Linker of Notes from the Middleground called it “a remarkable essay that’s generated considerable (and well-justified) buzz.” Mana joins Santiago Ramos and Shadi Hamid to discuss the essay and the general question of why ambitious, inquisitive and searching young men are attracted to the MAGA movement. “I am not a right wing zoologist,” Mana says, but it is important to understand where these men are coming form. These young intellectuals are not your average Trump voter. They are not the “DOGE boys,” either. But they are becoming a significant part of the GOP leadership class. Shadi wants to know why an interest in culture and ideas has led these men toward right wing spaces. Mana responds that right wing spaces, at least until recently, had a less politicized approach to culture. Many of these young men are interested in things, like history or cartography, which some suggest are “right-coded.” “Most things that are supposedly right-coded should not be right-coded,” Mana says. And what do they think of Trump? “They don’t think of Trump as Odoacer , they see him as Julius Caesar. They don’t see him as a barbarian, but as a restorer of the republic.” In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Shadi talks about going to a recent right wing party and says it was “a safe space, it was inclusive”; Santiago asks Shadi if he ever went to right wing parties during the War on Terror; Mana distinguishes the desire for free and open discussion versus the desire to “say whatever you want,” i.e., slurs; and Santiago argues that the Israel-Palestine conflict has made all political sides rediscover the importance of freedom of speech. Required Reading and Listening: * Mana Afsari , “Last Boys at the Beginning of History” ( The Point ). * Santiago Ramos , “Let Us Now Praise the Supermen” ( WoC ). * Santiago Ramos , “Do You Know What Time It Is?” ( WoC ). * Damir Marusic , “Barbarians at the Gate” ( WoC ). * Shadi Hamid , “Why Half of America is Cheering for Chaos” ( Washington Post ). * Wisdom of Crowds podcast episode, “The Masculine World is Adrift” ( WoC ). * Henry Kissinger quote about Trump ( Financial Times ). * Vittoria Elliot, “The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover” ( Wired ). * Norman Podhoretz, Ex-Friends: Falling Out with Allen Ginsberg, Lionel and Diana Trilling, Lillian Hellman, Hannah Arendt and Norman Mailer ( Amazon ). * C. P. Cavafy, “Waiting for the Barbarians” ( Poetry Foundation ). * Odoacer ( Britannica ). * Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman, What are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Free preview video: Full video for paid subscribers below:…

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Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza 47:46

19 days ago47:46

47:46

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live With the Gaza ceasefire possibly collapsing any minute , we return to the topic of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in the Holy Land. Specifically, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic discuss the tension between a belief in universal human rights, on the one hand, and allegiance to one’s ethnic and religious roots, on the other. Joining Shadi and Damir is friend of the pod Peter Beinart , contributing writer for the New York Times and editor-at-large of the magazine, Jewish Currents . In recent years, Beinart has emerged as a leading Jewish voice wrestling with the moral questions surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict. His new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning , describes the different ways that Jews have wrestled with the morality of the war in Gaza. Peter is an observant Orthodox Jew, and this book documents how his criticism of the war has affected (and even broken) several of his friendships in his community. Peter affirms a belief in the universality of human rights and obligations to all human beings. But, he confesses, “there’s another voice inside my head: don’t be naive, this is a world of power in which people either look out for their own, or nobody looks out for you.” Is it possible to reconcile these two thoughts? Shadi argues for the universalist point of view: given the high number of civilian deaths in the Gaza war, shouldn’t it be obvious that our allegiance to universal values should take priority over everything else? Shouldn’t we have more “sensitivity for civilian deaths”? Damir presses from the opposite, particularist perspective. He’s been reading the Bible. There is, Damir says, a biblical sense for “the destiny of the Israelites to the land” of Israel. Moreover, Damir argues, even if Israel is powerful today, and even if Israel did not need to wage war on the scale that it did in Gaza, not too long ago, Israel actually was existentially threatened by its neighbors. Moreover, Iran is still a real threat today. This is a heart-wrenching, wide-ranging episode that covers several controversial topics: the parallels between the war in Ukraine and the war in Gaza; whether Israel can be called an Apartheid state; how to interpret the historical books of the Bible, in particular the Book of Joshua; and much more. In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Peter and our hosts discuss why the Israeli Left is dead and why Yair Lapid supports Trump’s Gaza mass expulsion plan; how liberal Americans internalize the ethnic framing of the Israel-Palestine debate; Israel’s right to exist; ethnonationalism on the rise around the world; what Steve Bannon really thinks about American Jews; and how to maintain friends with whom you might have deep disagreements. Required Reading * Peter Beinart, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning ( Amazon ). * Peter Beinart, The Beinart Notebook ( Substack ). * Peter Beinart, “Teshuvah: A Jewish Case for Palestinian Refugee Return” ( Jewish Currents ). * October 2023 podcast episode with Peter: “Peter Beinart on Israel, Hamas, and Why Nonviolence Failed” ( WoC ). * July 2020 podcast episode with Peter: “Arguing the One-State Solution” ( WoC ). * “Lapid presents Gaza ‘day after’ plan in DC, urges extended Egyptian takeover” ( Times of Israel ). * The Book of Joshua ( Bible Hub ). * David Ben-Gurion ( Jewish Virtual Library ). * Yeshayahu Leibowitz ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ). * Micah Goodman, Catch-67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War ( Amazon ). * Amoz Oz, In the Land of Israel ( Amazon ). * Simone Weil, The Iliad, or the Poem of Force ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Free preview video: Full video for paid subscribers below:…

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A Revolution Has No Allies 1:10:50

25 days ago1:10:50

1:10:50

J. D. Vance delivers a seismic geopolitical speech at the Munich Security Forum. Vance, Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy get into a shouting match before television cameras . Relations between the United States and Europe are deteriorating before our very eyes. In one of our best episodes of the year so far, we invited the great Ivan Krastev to help us understand what is happening. Ivan is one of the brightest minds in Europe — an incisive analyst, historian of ideas, and ever-present track-two diplomat who is always talking to absolutely everyone. He is chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria and Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He writes regularly for the Financial Times and the New York Times . Ivan tells Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic that Trumpism, and its policy toward Europe is not conservative or isolationist, but “a revolutionary movement.” This revolution is what reconciles the populist and libertarian elements of Trump’s administration: “You’re trying to fight bureaucracy by concentrating power in a charismatic leader. Less state, more emperor.” You can see this, Ivan argues, in the way Trump runs his coalition like an imperial court, where opposing figures — like Steve Bannon and Elon Musk — vie for the attention of the emperor. You can also see it in the fact that Trump himself says contradictory things: “A charismatic figure can contain contradictions.” What does this mean for Europe? “Empires fall when the center sees itself as a hostage not as a hegemon,” Ivan argues, and Trump, along with Republicans, long to divest themselves of the Empire. This means applying pressure on Europe to bend to its demands — be it about Ukraine, or Greenland, or immigration. It also means that, inadvertently, Trump has reawakened European nationalism: “The new European politics is nationalist, the populists are internationalist.” This is a rich episode, full of insightful koans from a longtime observer of international affairs. Damir takes the conversation in the direction of what exactly fuels the Right and its “enthusiasm for destruction.” Shadi presses Ivan on the recently overturned elections in Romania, and what this means about the future of European democracy. In our bonus section for paid subscribers, the three men discuss why charismatic political leaders can live with contradictions; the “fast track between [political] office and prison”; how Trump has inadvertently created a new US-European consensus on immigration and state intervention in the economy, and why “you can’t stop a revolution by defending institutions. You need your own version of tomorrow.” Required Reading and Viewing: * J. D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Forum ( Foreign Policy ). * Zelenskyy, Trump and Vance press conference ( C-Span YouTube page ). * Ivan Krastev and Leonard Benardo , “Democracy Has Run Out of Future” ( Foreign Policy ). * Shadi Hamid, “Why Half of America is Cheering for Chaos” ( Washington Post ). * “EU parliament votes to condemn overturning of Roe v. Wade” ( Axios ). * German Revolution of 1918-1919 ( Brittanica ). * Leo Strauss, “German Nihilism” ( archive.org ). * Daniel Kehlmann, German writer ( Wikipedia ). * “The Gender Gap is Growing and it Bodes Badly for American Politics and Culture” ( The Hill ). * 2024 Romanian Elections ( Wikipedia ). * Ezra Klein, Why We’re Polarized ( Amazon ). * Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991 ( Amazon ). * N.S. Lyons , “American Strong Gods: Trump and the End of the Long Twentieth Century” ( The Upheaval ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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1
The Boom Boom Vibe Shift 45:29

5 weeks ago45:29

45:29

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live “Something is happening here and you don’t know what it is,” goes the Bob Dylan track from 1965. That song was directed at the squares who weren’t yet hip to the Sixties. It sounded foreboding then, and it sounds foreboding now, because something is happening, again — something perhaps as great and consequential as the cultural changes of Dylan’s time. For several years now, people have been speaking about a cultural “vibe shift.” The MAGA electoral victory appears to have been the culmination of that shift. The Trumpist victory has ushered in a new political elite and with it, a cultural style that is more transgressive, crude, and rude than the once-liberal American mainstream. Helping us understand what’s happening is this week’s special guest, Sean Monahan , one of the most perceptive cultural forecasters of our time. If you’ve ever used the term “ normcore ,” or if you’ve heard someone talk about a “vibe shift,” you’ve been influenced by Sean. And if you haven’t heard those terms, then you’re about to learn a lot about American culture in this episode. Sean is a writer, trend forecaster and brand consultant, whose Substack, 8Ball , is an oracle of cultural insight. Sean joins Christine Emba and Shadi Hamid and they all get deep about vibes. What is a vibe? Can it be defined? If it can’t, then how is it a useful concept? Is it based on material conditions? How long does a vibe last? But the conversation soon ventures beyond these theoretical generalities. Shadi wants to know whether American culture has fundamentally shifted to the right since the rise of Trump. Christine detects a mean streak to this new culture: a certain cruelty or at least, ruthless competitiveness. Sean puts things in perspective, explaining how generations create, condition, and then abandon trends, and how the weird period of Covid lockdown had a unique effect on trend creation, one that still affects us to this day. He also describes the new aesthetic of the Trump era, which he believes is based primarily on desire for money, and which he has dubbed, “Boom Boom.” In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Sean discusses why religion has become attractive to young people, especially young men, whether he sees good vibes or bad vibes in the near future, and whether he believes most Americans actually like Trump and DOGE. Required Reading: * Sean Monahan’s Substack, 8Ball . * Sean Monahan, “Anatomy of a Vibe Shift” ( 8Ball ). * Sean Monahan, “Boom Boom: Anatomy of a Trend” ( 8Ball ). * Sean Monahan, “The Counter Elite Won the Meme War” ( 8Ball ). * CrowdSource: “Truth and Vibes” ( WoC ). * Famous 2022 article from New York Magazine: “A Vibe Shift is Coming” ( New York ). * W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change ( Amazon ). * Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction ( Amazon ). * Mana Afsari , “Last Boys at the Beginning of History” ( The Point ). * Saddle Creek Records . * Bright Eyes ( Saddle Creek ). * “Cottagecore Aesthetic, Explained” ( Country Living ). * MySpace . * Matthew Walther on the origin of “Woke Capital” ( American Conservative ). * “Dimes Square” ( Know Your Meme ). * Alex P. Keaton ( Wikipedia ). * Gordon Gecko ( Wikipedia ). * Patrick Bateman ( Wikipedia ). * Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho ( Amazon ). * American Psycho film ( YouTube ). * Graeme Wood, “How Bronze Age Pervert Charmed the Far Right” ( The Atlantic ). * “Yosemite Locksmith: 'The People Who Fired Me Don't Know What I Do'” ( MSN ). * “Garry Tan for mayor? ‘Never, or 20 years from now,’ Y Combinator chief says” ( San Francisco Standard ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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Done Saying "Impossible" 49:33

6 weeks ago49:33

49:33

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live “I am done saying, ‘impossible’,” announces Damir Marusic . At least, with regard to what Trump might do or could do in the near future. We are still in the midst of a major shakeup in the administrative state. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is combing through Treasury data and cutting government personnel. Trump is delaying the distribution of federal funds. Trump’s policies have full support of the GOP-majority Congress. Meanwhile, the White House foreign policy agenda has upended three years of support for the Ukrainian war cause and, apart from that, is strikingly imperialistic — annexing Greenland and “owning” Gaza are stated objectives. Will Trump become a dictator? Shadi Hamid believes that Trump won’t become a dictator — America is too big for a dictator — but he very will might signal the end of the “liberal” part of our liberal democracy. Damir fears that, by the end of Trump’s second term, Congress will become a vestigial representative body with littler power, like the Senate in the Roman Empire. Both worry that the demise of democracy could come in a subtle, slow way — a “boiling frog” scenario. Shadi and Damir move on ask whether what’s happening is what Trump’s voters asked for. Why is Trump popular right now? Why do people want to break the state? Shadi says, “[Trump voters] believe that the system is fundamentally broken. Certainly, for a majority of Americans, the system is broken.” Damir partially agrees, but adds: “It’s a lot more resentment-based … Not really an idea that ‘the system is broken’ for me, but that it’s populated by those people over there, and it’s time to hurt them .” But why so much resentment? In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Shadi talks about the Democratic Party’s potential to resist Trump and why the working class likes Trump (hint: it doesn’t have to do with economics). Damir brings up the famous book, What’s the Matter With Kansas by Thomas Frank, and explains why he thinks it misses the mark. Required Reading: * Shadi Hamid, “How to Break Up with the News” ( Contentions ). * CrowdSource about the possible constitutional crisis ( WoC ). * Democratic Party favorability ratings among young people ( YouGov ). * “How Biden is continuing to cancel student loan debt despite Supreme Court ruling” ( CNN ). * Tyler Cowen , “Trumpian policy as cultural policy” ( Marginal Revolution ). * Christine Emba ’s piece engaging with Cowen’s article ( WoC ). * Shadi’s post about the “The System is collapsing” meme ( X ). * David Polansky ’s reply to Shadi’s post ( X ). * Lee Hockstader, “In Germany’s elections, a last, best chance to hold off extremists” ( Washington Post ). * Thomas Frank, What’s the Matter with Kansas ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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Undertaken by Events 43:24

7 weeks ago43:24

43:24

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Donald Trump and Elon Musk are moving quickly, so we decided to release this episode a few days early. In a half-week of alarming developments, Trump has announced that the United States might send troops to Gaza to transfer the Palestinian population to Egypt or Jordan, and to aid in reconstructing the country. Elon Musk has become the undertaker of government agencies, the wrecker of the civil service. Through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has effectively shut down USAID, offered payouts to members of other agencies, and more. In an effort to make sense of all this, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic are interrogated by WoC executive editor, Santiago Ramos . Is Trump serious about Gaza? What do his statements suggest about the possible endgames for the Gaza war and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian question? Was Shadi wrong to suggest that Trump might be better on this question than Biden was? Is Trump acting according to what he thinks is the national interest? Or is this a random shot in the dark? The second issue — DOGE — prompts a more serious set of questions. Are we in a constitutional crisis? If not now, then will we be one in a few months time, when the judiciary steps in to check DOGE? Why exactly are Trump and Musk interested in hollowing out the administrative state? Are we in a watershed moment in American history? Is there anything that we can do to preserve the rule of law? In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Shadi explains why he believes that ideology is driving Trump and Musk, rather than just the desire for power; Damir argues that he concept of punishment is essential to justice; and Santiago describes the difference between Louis XIV and Napoleon. Required Reading * “Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave” ( New York Times ). * Shadi Hamid , “Why an Arab American who backed Trump stands by his choice” ( Washington Post ). * Marco Rubio on Trump’s Gaza comments ( NBC ). * Rich Kushner’s February 2024 comments on “waterfront property” in Gaza ( The Guardian ). * Shadi’s post about Trump v. Biden on Gaza ( X ). * Damir Marusic , “Brushfire of the Vanities” ( WoC ). * Liam Cunningham post ( X ). * Patrick Deneen ( Communia )’s two X posts: first and second . * Patrick Deneen, Regime Change: Towards a Postliberal Future ( Amazon ). * Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed ( Amazon ). * Francis Fukuyama , “The end of history will be a sad time” (“The End of History?, PDF UCSD ). * John Ganz , “Groyperification” ( Unpopular Front ). * Gabe Fleisher , “When I Will Call Something a ‘Constitutional Crisis’ ” ( Wake Up to Politics ). * Thomas Edsall, “ ‘Trump’s Thomas Cromwell’ Is Waiting in the Wings” ( New York Times ). * Jack Goldsmith and Bob Bauer , “The Trump Executive Orders as ‘Radical Constitutionalism’ ” ( Executive Functions ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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The Scramble Before the Storm 47:07

7 weeks ago47:07

47:07

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live “The weird right wing men are coming out to the fore in joy,” announces Shadi Hamid . “They’re strutting more than they did in 2016,” observes Damir Marusic . “The counter-elite is becoming the elite,” says Shadi. “There is gonna be a bloodbath,” says Damir: “They will soon be drinking from a fire hydrant of sewage.” Two weeks have passed since the Trump inauguration, as well as its attendant galas, balls and parties. Damir and Shadi have trained their weary eyes upon the new class of upstart right wingers arriving in the capital for a punchdrunk power-hungry scramble. There are the tech bros, the trad intellectuals, the libertarians living in unrecognized mini-states, the crunchy RFK-supporters, and who knows what else. All want a piece of the pie that Emperor Trump is slicing before them. Shadi believes that a cultural shift has taken place — that Trump is not only a new president, but the usher of a new moment in American culture. “Something has changed,” says Shadi. “Liberal dominance of instutions seems weak and pathetic,” in retrospect, he adds. “The perception of dominance can collapse quickly.” Damir disagrees. “It was not a cultural shift,” he says. It was a repudiation of liberal overreach on cultural issues, and a “light-to-heavy insanity and a lot of stress on our institutions.” The Right is reactionary, Damir concludes, and as soon as they propose a positive program, their popularity will drop. In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Damir and Shadi discuss the difference between “mysterious cultural forces” and “the wisdom of crowds,” Damir further explains why he believes the Right is not as powerful as they think they are, and Shadi tells us about an upcoming spiritual quest. Required Reading: * Liberland official website . * Curtis Yarvin interview ( New York Times ). * Mana Afsari, “Last Boys at the Beginning of History” ( The Point ). * Who is Chris Rufo? * Mark Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan Experience ( YouTube ). * Christine Emba , “Zuck is the Zeitgeist” ( WoC ). * The Harper’s Letter (signed by Shadi). * Richard Reeves on the podcast: “The Masculine World is Adrift” ( WoC ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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How Will the Left Respond to Trump? 46:50

8 weeks ago46:50

46:50

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Last week’s episode dealt with the state of the American Right post-election. Today we ask: Where is the American Left going? How will it respond to Trump? “There is a palpable sense of passivity on the Left,” says Damir Marusic . “What I’ve seen is resignation or weird, detached analysis,” says Samuel Kimbriel . Is there more going on than we see? We invited WoC contributor Osita Nwanevu , writer for the New Republic and author of an upcoming book about American democracy , to tell us more. Osita begins by distinguishing between the Democratic Party and the movement Left. While the Democrats are a loose coalition in broad disarray, the Left simply stands for “a grand reform of political economy to empower workers.” The Left, Osita argues, was not surprised that Trump won. The problem lies it how it can create a platform that will appeal to American voters. There is too much despair. Too many on the Left, Osita argues, have been left in a state of “political hopelessness” after the election, wondering what to do in a country where most people voted for Donald Trump. But such an attitude is “antithetical to democratic thought and what we need to do for practical politics.” Damir and Osita go on to engage the question of whether a Left that stands for universal human values, rather than in-group, national concerns, is able to win. Osita argues that there is not necessary contradiction between a universal value and a local interest. When it comes to climate change, for example, the Left isn’t asking voters to care about “the Maldives,” but about “fires in LA and storms in Florida.” Damir is not so sure. The conversation touches on symbolic politics versus real politics, whether protest movements can actually transform society, whether Trump is the true revolutionary force in American politics, and whether the Left actually has intellectual leaders and a utopian vision today. In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Sam argues that the Left needs an idea of transcendence, Osita talks about transcendence without god, and Damir pushes both on whether personal philosophical convictions actually have any bearing on real-life politics. Required Reading: * Osita’s website . * Sam on why the Left needs ideas ( WoC ). * Damir’s post-election reaction ( WoC ). * Osita on BLM ( Pairagraph ). * Osita’s debate with Oliver Traldi about democracy and ideology ( WoC ). * Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution ( Amazon ). * “Nancy Pelosi Insists the Election was Not a Rebuke of the Democrats” ( New York Times ). * On the Gushers BLM post mentioned by Osita ( New York Times ). * “Costco Teamsters vote to authorize US-wide strike, union says” ( Reuters ). * “Costco shareholders just destroyed an anti-DEI push” ( CNN ). * History of hospitals ( Britannica ). * Scott Alexander, “Everyone’s A Based Post-Christian Vitalist Until The Grooming Gangs Show Up” ( Astral Codex Ten ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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The State of the Right (and the Left) 45:27

9 weeks ago45:27

45:27

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live On the eve of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic sit down to discuss the state of the Right and the Left in American politics. The conversation picks up where the last podcast episode left off, in a discussion about Damir’s apparent rejuvenation in the wake of Trump’s victory. Given that he didn’t vote for Trump — in fact, he didn’t vote for anybody — why is Damir smiling? Shadi suggests that “Democrats needed this defeat to learn important lessons.” Damir is not so sure that they will learn them. But one of the reasons he is giddy is that they will get their comeuppance for the political “villainy” of Russiagate, the Biden health coverup and other misguided Democratic gambits. Shadi, in turn, notes that many of his center-left acquaintances seem surprisingly at peace with the new government, and ready to entertain new ideas. “Very rarely did I hear despair,” he reports. Both Shadi and Damir go deeper by asking about the status quo of the Left and the Right. Damir thinks that Trump has “cleared the field” of the conservative movement’s Reaganite past, and that the Right is now ready to debate issues in a more realistic way. Shadi laments that the Left has become boring by being too certain that they are correct about everything: they are the party of “facts, data and progress,” and think that they have “resolved all the big ideological debates.” In our bonus content for paid subscribers, Damir discusses what he means by “tragic liberalism,” Shadi explains why he thinks atheism is over, and our hosts discuss the best and worst things that could happen during the second Trump presidency. Required Reading and Listening: * Damir, “We’ll Have to Rethink Everything” ( WoC ). * Shadi, “Trump’s ‘madman theory’ worked in Gaza when all else failed” ( Washington Post ). * Christine, “Zuck is the Zeitgeist” ( WoC ). * Santiago questions Damir about his newfound conservatism ( WoC ). * Tara Isabella Burton, “Believe for Your Own Sake, Not for ‘the West’” ( WoC ). * Ezra Klein and Nate Silver on “peak Trump” ( X ). * Elon Musk is an ‘Evil Person,’ Steve Bannon Says” ( New York Times ). * “Corporate America embraces a new era of conservatism under Donald Trump” ( Financial Times ). * “How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge” ( Wall Street Journal ). * David Brooks, “Why People Are Fleeing Blue Cities for Red States” ( New York Times ). * Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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The Dawn of a New Era? 1:13:12

10 weeks ago1:13:12

1:13:12

A new year is before us, and soon, a new president will assume office. What does the future have in store? Trump supporters are happy, and his opponents are full of foreboding. Many people also feel that a new era in American history is about to begin — for better or worse. Damir Marusic and Santiago Ramos discuss the nature of this new era. They begin with the question of fear: Are you afraid of the second Trump term? Santiago explains why the Trump phenomenon seemed more frightening in 2016 than it does in 2024. Damir asks whether finding historical analogues for Trump actually illuminates anything about the man, and makes him less scary. Santiago then asks Damir about two of his latest pieces for Wisdom of Crowds , in which Damir seems almost giddy about the collapse of the liberal establishment and Trump’s rise. What exactly is Damir happy about? What good does he see coming from this historical moment? What is changing? While not defending Trump himself, Damir argues that Trump’s crushing of liberal illusions, and the exposure of the hypocrisy of our political class, are good things. What he hopes for is a new “positive program of skepticism and humility,” and a more limited version of liberalism. In the course of the conversation, Damir and Santiago cover wide variety of topics: Damir’s newfound conservatism; Trump and Andrew Jackson; Kissinger on Trump; the USA and Latin America; NATO; Greenland; and the Cold War. Because this is our first podcast of the new year, and season-opener of sorts, we are making this episode free for all subscribers . Required Reading and Listening: * Damir, “The feeling of limitless possibility ahead of Trump's inauguration is dizzying” ( WoC ). * Damir, “The Peasants, the People and God” ( WoC ). * Santiago on Latinos and the election ( Commonweal ). * Santiago on Trump and Latin America ( Commonweal ). * Black Mirror episode Santiago mentions: “The Waldo Moment” ( IMDB ). * Henry Kissinger: “I think Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretences” ( Financial Times ). * Jason Willick on Trump and Andrew Jackson ( Washington Post ). * Samuel Goldman on why the US is more like Latin America than Europe ( The Week ). * Antonio García Martínez on why the US is like Brazil ( X ). * Our podcast episode with Yuval Levin ( WoC ). * Video of Trump and Stoltenberg ( YouTube ). * Jon Stewart on Nancy Pelosi’s “legal corruption” ( The Wrap ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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Freedom, Justice and McDonald's 50:24

12 weeks ago50:24

50:24

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live For some people, “liberal socialism” sounds like an oxymoron. Liberalism is a political idea that promises to protect individual rights. Socialism, on the other hand, is about collective power: the power of workers to organize and, if not quite seize, at least have a say in the administration of the means of production. Liberalism is about freedom, while socialism is about equality. Not so, argues Matthew McManus , political science professor at the University of Michigan. In his new book, The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism , McManus recovers the oft-forgotten tradition of liberal socialism. He tells the story of great liberal socialist thinkers while also crafting a contemporary version of liberal socialism, relevant for today. Samuel Kimbriel and Santiago Ramos open the episode with a discussion about the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” trucker protests in Canada, which displayed some of the tensions between socialist and liberal ideals. The conversation moves on to the thought of Mary Wollstonecraft, whether John Rawls was a socialist, and how Matthew’s experience working for McDonald’s converted him to socialism. Samuel and Santiago press Matthew about a core first principle: equality. Why does he hold to this principle? Where does it come from? How can it be philosophically defended and justified? Matthew considers the different sources of political conviction: personal experience, and political theory. Which one is more influential in a person’s mind? In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Matthew criticizes the “nebbish incrementalism” of neoliberalism and the excesses of “postmodern skepticism,” while declaring: “Left wing intellectuals have a lot more that they could be doing.” Required Reading: * Matthew McManus, The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism ( Amazon ). * Matthew McManus faculty page ( University of Michigan ). * Matthew McManus and Carlo Lancellotti debate about conservatives and equality ( WoC ). * Matthew McManus, “The Liberal Democratic Socialism of John Rawls” ( Liberal Currents ). * “Canadian Trucker Convoy Descends on Ottawa to Protest Vaccine Mandates” ( New York Times ). * Article about 2010 anti-G20 protests in Canada: “Police take ‘pre-emptive strikes’ with sweeping arrests” ( CTV News ). * Santiago Ramos, “The Meaning of McDonald’s” ( WoC ). * Samuel Kimbriel and Damir Marusic debate “What Politics is Really About” ( WoC ). * Podcast with Alexandre Lefebvre, “Liberalism is Not Neutral” ( WoC ). * Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons ( Amazon ). * Mary Wollstonecraft ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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Christmas Time and Regular Time 1:13:42

13 weeks ago1:13:42

1:13:42

Damir Marusic has been reading the Bible this year for the first time. So Christine Emba and Santiago Ramos decided it was the perfect occasion for interrogating him about what he’s learned and what he’s been thinking about. In the ensuing conversation, the three discuss Freemasonry, Protestantism, Catholicism, Predestination and how Christianity is receiving new attention in Silicon Valley. Then, the conversation turns to Christmas traditions, and how the contemplative and party-going sides of Christmas complement each other. In the spirit of Christmas, we have made this a free episode for all subscribers. The conversation culminates in a discussion about time itself: what makes some moments in time different from others, and how Christmas is a necessary “break” from chronological time. Required Reading: * Damir Marusic, “The Protestant Deformation in America” ( WoC ). * King James Version ( Bible Gateway ). * Ruth Graham, “In a First Among Christians, Young Men Are More Religious Than Young Women.” ( NYT ). * “Christians in tech drive religious revival in SF” ( San Francisco Standard ). * Peter Thiel, “Against Edenism” ( First Things ). * CrowdSource: “Tech-Trad Synergy” ( WoC ). * Charles Taylor on secular time and higher time. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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Live Episode: Rebellion or Realignment? 1:03:36

14 weeks ago1:03:36

1:03:36

As election data analysis continues to pour in, we can be sure of one thing: a large number of working class votes which traditionally would have gone to the Democrats shifted in 2024 toward the GOP. As CNN reported last week: “Trump ran up large margins among White voters without a college degree who belong to labor unions and also significantly improved among unionized non-White workers without advanced education.” So, did Trump’s victory signal a realignment for the working class? Or was it a one-off thing, an act of rebellion against a complacent Democratic establishment? In terms of first principles, what is an economy that makes sense for workers, and for all Americans? What are Americans owed? And do we have obligations toward undocumented immigrants? For this special live recording of the podcast, we invited Oren Cass from the conservative pro-labor think tank, the American Compass , to help us answer these questions. Samuel Kimbriel kicked things off with a question about the “American dream,” which Oren contrasts with what he calls “the American promise.” The dream is about upward mobility, and the promise is about economic stability. The problem in America today, Oren says, “is not that you can’t rise to the top, but you don’t have this basic stability to work from.” Christine Emba challenged Oren on immigration. On what grounds should the rights of American workers take precedence over the rights of workers in general? Why should we restrict immigration to people who want to join the American project? The conversation touched up the first principle question of “Who qualifies as a member of the political community?”, as Oren put it. The recording of this live event is fully open and free for all subscribers. You can listen to the Crowd ask questions during the Q and A period at the end. Our holiday party followed the event — something which, alas, was not recorded. But you can enjoy these pictures! Required Reading: * CrowdSource about economic populism ( WoC ). * “How Trump is giving the labor movement the blue-collar blues” ( CNN ). * The American Compass’ mission statement . * “This Conservative Wants to Change the Way Republicans Think About Economics” ( New York Times interview with Cass). * Oren Cass, “Workers Deserve Real Power. Unions Aren’t the Best Way to Get It” ( New York Times ). * Oren Cass, The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America ( Amazon ). * Oren’s Substack, Understanding America . * Christine Emba, “What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?” ( The Atlantic ). * Samuel Kimbriel, “Bonfire of the Vanities” ( WoC ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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Did Trump Win Over the Working Class For Good? 50:33

14 weeks ago50:33

50:33

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live In 2024, over 77 million Americans voted for Donald Trump. Friend of Wisdom of Crowds Michael Brendan Dougherty, a writer and conservative commentator at the National Review , was one of them. However, MBD (as he is known) did not vote for Trump in 2020 nor in 2016. In fact, he was an early conservative opponent of Trump. In 2016, MBD wrote: “[Trump] is clearly a product of a decadent society, not the scourge or redeemer of one.” MBD did not disagree with Trump on his main issues: trade, immigration, and a restrained foreign policy. But he did not believe that the man has the character fit for office. So, what happened? Did MBD change his principles, or did Trump live up to them? Why did MBD vote for Trump, and what does that tell us about the process of picking a candidate, and of the formation of political judgment in general? Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic join MBD to discuss this question and much more. Did MBD change his mind about Trump’s character? Which of Trump’s first term achievements turned MBD into a supporter? What can we expect from a second Trump term — both in domestic policy, as well as in the increasingly dangerous international scene? In the course of discussing these questions, MBD defines the “working class” in American terms, and talks about his own experiences working in a chemical factory. In the bonus portion for paid subscribers, MBD explains the complicated relationship that pro lifers have with Trump, and debates whether the #Resistance movement will return. Required Reading and Listening: * Our 2021 podcast episode with MBD ( WoC ). * “The Case Against Esoteric Trumpism” by Michael Brendan Dougherty ( The Week ). * “My First Vote for Trump” by Michael Brendan Dougherty ( National Review ). * My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son's Search For Home by Michael Brendan Dougherty ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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Thou Hypocrites! 43:45

15 weeks ago43:45

43:45

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Last week, President Biden granted his son, Hunter Biden , “a full and unconditional” pardon for any and all offenses from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. Because Hunter Biden has been a politically charged figure since the first Trump term, and because President Biden repeatedly promised that he would not use his power to protect his son, the presidential pardon was, for many, a strategic and moral mistake — an act of hypocrisy, in short. In this week’s episode, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic question the assumptions that Biden’s critics are making. Is political hypocrisy inevitable? Might it actually be a good thing? Shadi has written extensively on the topic of hypocrisy, defending it in a unique way. Damir pushes back against Shadi’s moral interpretation of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is not primarily a failure to live up to one’s morals, says Damir, but the failure of a powerful figure to live up to their morals. “Biden’s problem is that he did it [the pardon] so visibly,” says Damir. The conversation progresses to a discussion of the how Islam and Christianity deal with hypocrisy. It becomes a discussion about hypocrisy and international justice, where Damir asks whether international law can be said to exist if it cannot be universally enforced. Perhaps, Damir suggests, Shadi is less of an advocate for international human rights as he is a booster of American imperialism. It’s a classic Shadi-and-Damir give-and-take. In our bonus portion for paid subscribers, Shadi and Damir discuss whether the Department of Justice is ever truly independent of partisan politics, and explore an alternative history where the Democrats never pursued the Russiagate investigations against Donald Trump. Required Reading: * “Biden pardons his son, Hunter, after repeatedly saying he would not” ( Reuters ). * Shadi: “Can Hypocrisy Be Justified?” ( WoC ). * Shadi: “Why America Needs Hypocrisy” ( WoC ). * King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. * “ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova ( International Criminal Court ). * “Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant” ( International Criminal Court ). * Jason Willick post (X) . This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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Thriving in the Apocalypse 1:24:26

16 weeks ago1:24:26

1:24:26

The headlines prove it: we live in turbulent times. Elizabeth Oldfield , our guest this week, recently published a book — Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times — about how to thrive during such a moment. “If we’re heading into (even more) turbulent times,” Elizabeth writes, “I want to be someone who is of use, not overwhelmed and panicking but steady and hopeful, able to contribute to weaving a canopy of trust under which other people can shelter.” Along with being a writer, a former think tank director and an accomplished broadcast journalist, Elizabeth is host of The Sacred , a podcast where she interviews cultural leaders who “shape our common life,” and asks them “about their deepest values.” In this week’s episode, Damir Marusic and Santiago Ramos turn the tables on Elizabeth, putting her in the interviewee’s chair. What is the source of the wisdom distilled in Elizabeth’s book? If it is religious faith, then is faith required in order to truly embrace that wisdom? Or is the grace of God required? What is “grace,” anyway? Santiago wants to understand how the wisdom that Elizabeth writes about can be appropriated for one’s self. Damir tries to distinguish that wisdom from self-help and therapy. The conversation touches upon art and faith, whether “despair” or “preserving civilization” are good reasons to adopt religion, the necessity of community, and the role that doubt plays in faith. At the heart of the discussion is Damir’s question: “How do we live in this world, and how do we cope with the existence of the horror of this world?” This episode is a searching, personal discussion that is just the thing we need this holiday season. In the bonus section for paid subscribers, Elizabeth talks about her experience of living in community, and also plunges deep into one of the biggest mysteries of the Christian faith. Required Reading: * Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield ( Amazon ). * Elizabeth’s podcast, The Sacred ( Apple Podcasts ). * Damir’s essay about therapy ( WoC ). * Shadi and Damir podcast episode on therapy ( WoC ). * Pensées by Blaise Pascal ( Amazon ). * Ayaan Hirsi Ali column explaining “Why I am now a Christian” ( UnHerd ). * Ayaan Hirsi Ali interview further explaining her conversion ( UnHerd ). * Elizabeth’s “middle class commune” ( profile in the London Times ). Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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American Heretics and Liberal Neutrality 51:56

17 weeks ago51:56

51:56

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live The Declaration of Independence affirms that all human beings are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Yet the Declaration is silent about who this Creator is. Is it the Jewish deity or the Christian God? Or is it the god of the philosophers — the blind watchmaker of the Enlightenment? The Constitution, on the other hand, doesn’t mention the divine at all, except for the phrase, “Year of Our Lord.” Mainstream liberals and conservatives, whatever they may think of the silence regarding God in our founding documents, believe in the American experiment. But as Jerome E. Copulsky writes in his new book, American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order , throughout American history there have been those who do not, radical groups who opposed the American project, root and branch, for being liberal, as opposed to Christian. In his book, Copulsky, professor at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, writes about the Loyalist churchmen who opposed the American revolution, the proslavery theologians of the 19th century, the “Theonomist” theocrats of the 20th century, and the “Integralists” of our own time. Jerome joins Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to discuss his book, but as often happens in Wisdom of Crowds , the conversation takes an unexpected turn. Early on, Shadi presses Jerome to specify exactly what a secular liberal Founding really means for religious practice in the public sphere. Then Shadi submits his own interpretation of the modern state as an inherently secularizing force. Damir brings the question of the secularity of the American project to bear upon current events. To what extent was the American liberal state ever “neutral”? Or is technocratic liberalism the default, unspoken “religion” of the American state? Or was it, until Donald Trump came along? And is Trump, by filling his cabinet with representatives from various American ideologies, violating liberal neutrality, or simply exposing it for the fiction that it always was? In our bonus content for paid subscribers, Jerome discusses the National Conservative movement, as exemplified by intellectuals like Patrick Deneen and Adrian Vermeule, and its influence on Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. In the second Trump term this movement will have unprecedented access to power and, Jerome argues, pose a serious challenge to — and even a “betrayal” of — the American system. Required Reading * American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order by Jerome E. Copulsky ( Amazon ) * The Declaration of Independence ( National Archives ). * The Constitution of the United States ( National Archives ). * Everson v. Board of Education ( FindLaw ). * George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island ( National Archives ). * We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition by John Courtney Murray, S.J. ( Amazon ). * Common Good Constitutionalism by Adrian Vermeule ( Amazon ). * Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future by Patrick Deneen ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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The Player and the Referee 54:50

18 weeks ago54:50

54:50

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Official WoC house philosopher Samuel Kimbriel joins Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to discuss the role that ideas had in the recent elections. Specifically, they focus on whether it was bad ideas or bad political strategy that doomed the Dems. Sam insists that the Democrats failed because liberalism as we understand it has become weak, devoid of ideas and moral persuasion. Liberals, Sam insists, constantly shift from wanting to be a player in the political contest, to a referee of the same. They argue for their side and its views, until they start losing in the contest. If they start losing, they shift to a referee role, and try to rule out the legitimacy of certain opposing ideas (for example, immigration restrictionism). What we need, Sam says, is a renewed liberalism that is unafraid to make moral claims — one that plays and plays well, without tying to also be the referee. Damir disagrees. He isn’t sure whether what happened on November 5 will be seen as revolutionary — that is, an overthrow of a previous order — or merely “an empty, peasant backlash,” though he is leaning toward the latter. Regardless, “what happened is a failure of rulership, not ideas,” he says. “It was not a failure of metaphysics, but of arguments.” Shadi stands between Sam and Damir, sometimes as referee, sometimes as a player on Sam’s side. He supports democracy and the idea of moral politics. And he believes that Damir “always attacks us [Sam and Shadi] for having beliefs,” while hiding or being in denial of his own implicit metaphysical convictions. In the bonus segment for paid subscribers, Sam and Shadi corner Damir into finally admitting that he does indeed have metaphysical convictions of his own, even if that conviction is materialism. Damir talks about how he’s reading the Bible this winter, and he gives us his own definition of the word “politics.” It’s a rollicking discussion that you won’t want to miss! Required Reading: * Western Civilization: Paleolithic Man to the Emergence of European Powers — the textbook Sam cites at the beginning of the episode ( Volume I , Volume II ). * The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea by Shadi Hamid ( Amazon ). * “Republicans See a Better Economic Outlook. Now It’s Democrats Who Don’t” ( New York Times ). * Sam’s piece on the French Revolution and the contemporary Left ( WoC ). * Ordinary Vices by Judith Shklar ( Amazon ). * Damir’s piece about peasant revolts ( WoC ). * “How the Ivy League Broke America” by David Brooks ( The Atlantic ). * “A Letter Concerning Toleration” by John Locke ( WikiSource ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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The Restoration of Trump and the Last Man 59:29

20 weeks ago59:29

59:29

Tuesday night’s election has left us with total Republican control of all three branches of government. What does this mean for the immediate future of the Republic? Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic get together to discuss. We are releasing this episode early and completely free for all subscribers. Will Donald Trump become a dictator? What is he capable of? What might be the worst aspects of his second term? Damir discusses mass deportations as the biggest risk. Shadi worries about Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East. More than that, Shadi worries about a Donald Trump who all of the sudden has everything he’s ever wanted — a revenge victory — and finds it still unsatisfying. “What now?” Damir and Shadi are not very fond of the Harris-Walz campaign. Shadi laments that Harris never seemed comfortable on the campaign trail, and could never quite communicate authenticity. Damir says that Walz is an irrelevant politician, a “weirdo” with no discernible contribution to the Democratic cause. Two minds trying to figure out where things stand in the wake of what seems to be like a momentous election. The first of many attempts at Wisdom of Crowds where we will try to read the signs of the times. Required Reading: * Tim Alberta on the dysfunction in the Trump campaign ( The Atlantic ). * Politico piece why Kamala lost ( Politico ). * Shadi: “The Democrats can’t blame anyone but themselves this time” ( Washington Post ). * Turkish migrant interview ( YouTube ). * “What Do Men Want?” podcast with Shadi and Richard Reeves ( Washington Post ). * Megan McArdle, Jim Geraghty and Ramesh Ponnuru podcast: “Are Republicans Kamala-curious? Not so much.” ( Washington Post ). * Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank and James Hohmann podcast: “Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank and James Hohmann” ( Washington Post ). * Andrew Sullivan’s Election Night Notes on Substack . * Donald Trump’s interview with the Wall Street Journal editorial board. * Barack Obama roasts Donald Trump at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner ( YouTube ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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Happiness and Misery in America 1:04:29

20 weeks ago1:04:29

1:04:29

On October 21 in Washington, DC, Wisdom of Crowds hosted a special live taping of the podcast. WoC editor-at-large Samuel Kimbriel joined WoC contributor and New Republic journalist Osita Nwanevu , along with Georgetown political theory professor Joshua Mitchell , to discuss “Happiness and Misery in America” on the eve of the general elections. Joshua spoke from a more communitarian and conservative point of view, citing the drawbacks that come with the growth of the state: “When you have a regime founded on small government and mediating institutions, you have to develop personal and collective competence. … Early on, happiness is linked to competence and to doing. But as the state has grown larger, and more and more the functions of living have been left up to the state, we’ve become more isolated and we come to think of happiness more as feeling and self-expression.” Osita spoke from a left-liberal perspective. It might be less the case that we are unhappy, he argued, than that we think we ought to be unhappy, given the way life is structured today. “We think that Americans should be less happy than they are. If you think that Americans should be less happy, because they use smart phones a lot, then you should own that. … Liberals always are in the business of saying less than they actually mean. The pursuit of happiness is not just material well-being … happiness for the Founders … also meant moral and spiritual well-being.” This was a robust and rich clash of perspectives that generated much more light than heat. Osita cautioned against romanticizing the old America of traditional communities, arguing that the “freedom to seek what the good life is, without having it given to you by father or pastor, is an important part of what American civilization is.” Joshua agreed that sometimes the state has to intervene in local communities for the sake of justice — for example, to desegregate the schools in Little Rock — but he also cautioned that we will never be fully satisfied without some “concreteness of embodied relations with others. … We [Americans] are all cowboys … the rest of the world can’t believe the level of unboundedness we live with.” Free for all subscribers, this is a valuable and — crucially during this moment — civil conversation that will be interesting to anyone who cares about the soul of America. Give it a listen. Required Reading: * Joshua Mitchell ( Georgetown faculty webpage ). * Osita Nwanevu (personal website ). * Surgeon General’s Advisory on Loneliness Epidemic ( Department of Health and Human Services ). * Declaration of Independence ( National Archives ). * Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville ( Amazon ). * Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation by Samuel Kimbriel ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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Is It Okay Not to Vote? 1:38:13

21 weeks ago1:38:13

1:38:13

For the past year, Shadi Hamid has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza — and the Biden administration’s complicity. Now he, like many others, is baffled by the Harris campaign’s disregard and seeming disdain for Muslim and Arab voters. In a week is election day, and he is wrestling with the moral and political implications of the choice at hand. In our pages earlier this week, Shadi and Haroon Moghul debated the merits of voting for Harris or not voting at all. You can read their full exchange here . This podcast episode continues that conversation, but goes deeper. It is, in essence, about voting: is there a duty to vote? In a two-party system, must we accept the lesser of two evils? Moghul is director of strategy at The Concordia Forum and author of Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of a Muslim Future . Haroon shares all of Shadi’s misgivings about Trump and Harris, and has publicly chosen not to vote. “I don’t think you can get to democratic ends with a candidate who is at war with democracy,” Haroon says, “and I don’t just mean Trump, I mean Harris.” Shadi, on the other hand, takes a more pragmatic point of view: Sitting an election out doesn’t do anything real; it would be better for Muslim and other pro-Palestine voices to continue supporting the Democratic Party, hoping to influence it from within. Meanwhile, Damir Marusic applies his trusty sense for realpolitik to the question. He challenges Shadi, arguing that he’s conflating two very different strategies: electoral pressure and intra-party influence. He questions Haroon whether there is an actual “theory of a change” behind his choice not to vote. This is a passionate discussion, not so much about electoral politics as about the first principles undergirding citizenship. And it also asks an intensely personal set of questions: how do we ultimately make what can seem like an impossible choice? Required Reading and Viewing: * Shadi Hamid and Haroon Moghul debate: “Should Americans Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils?” ( WoC ). * Haroon Moghul, “What I Told My Muslim Students about Gaza” ( WoC ). * Biden’s comments admitting Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” while also saying “we’re not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel.” * “Prominent Muslim Democrat Demands Answers After Being Kicked Out of Harris Rally in Michigan” ( Democracy Now! ) * “Trump in Michigan makes play for Arab American and Muslim voters angry over war in Gaza” ( CNN ). * An emotional debate with our friend and Christian Zionist Robert Nicholson weeks after Oct. 7 ( WoC ). * Haroon Moghul, Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of the Muslim Future ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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The Sublime Object of Our Terror 1:02:15

22 weeks ago1:02:15

1:02:15

Damir Marusic and WoC executive editor Santiago Ramos get together to discuss Damir’s latest article, “Why We Need Nightmares.” In it, Damir writes about the the binding of Isaac — the chilling story from the Book of Genesis where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. Damir is fascinated both by the story and by a Caravaggio painting depicting it. “That’s the stuff ,” he writes. But what is this “stuff”? While searching for an answer to this question, Damir and Santiago cover a lot of ground. They discuss the story of Abraham and Isaac, as well as the different ways that philosophers have interpreted it. They talk about Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Kant. They come to the conclusion that, while we all have different words for it — terrifying, mysterious, sublime — everyone must grapple with the stuff. Grappling with the stuff is an essential part of living a human life, for believers and unbelievers alike. This episode covers the Bible, philosophy, art, music, and much more. It is not a debate, but an exploration of what exactly it is that makes certain stories, works of art, and experiences so moving, compelling, terrifying. We enjoyed recording this episode so much that we decided to make it free for all subscribers. Required Reading and Listening: * Damir, “Why We Need Nightmares” ( WoC ). * Damir, “The Pursuit of Passion for Its Own Sake” ( WoC ). * Damir, “It’s Not Really About Cancel Culture,” about Tár ( WoC ). * “Ending Summer on Violence and Despair, with Twitter’s Audrey Horne ” ( WoC ). * The story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis 22 ( King James Version ). * Immanuel Kant ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ). * Søren Kierkegaard ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ). * Friedrich Nietzsche ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ). * “Time of tension between dying and birth” quote by T. S. Eliot, in “Ash Wednesday” ( Best Poems ). * Mozart, Symphony No. 40 (Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, YouTube ). * Roger Scruton on pop music as addictive ( YouTube ). * Keith Richards on heavy metal, “No lift, no bounce, no syncopation” ( YouTube ). * Caspar David Friedrich, “Sea of Ice” (painting of shipwreck/example of the sublime). * The Rolling Stones, “Gimme Shelter” ( YouTube ). * Nirvana, “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” ( YouTube ). * Shellac, At Action Park ( YouTube ). * Arvo Pärt, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten (Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, YouTube ). * Leonard Bernstein, “The Unanswered Question,” lectures ( YouTube ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

Wisdom of Crowds

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The Passion of the Elites 1:01:38

23 weeks ago1:01:38

1:01:38

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Musa al-Gharbi is a sociologist and assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. He joins Christine Emba and Damir Marusic to discuss his new book, We Have Never Been Woke: Social Justice Discourse, Inequality, and the Rise of a New Elite . Don’t worry: the book is not another culture war polemic. Instead, it’s something much more useful: a work of social science that explains what “woke” means in terms of class and culture in the United States. In our conversation Musa describes the inner workings of a group that has gone by many different names: the PMC (Professional-Managerial Class), the New Class, the cognitive elite or the symbolic capitalists. This group enjoys higher wages and more autonomy than most workers, and its power is derived from knowledge-based work, which requires (at the very least) a college degree. Damir thinks that the PMC is merely hypocritical and self-interested, while Musa sees things differently. He argues that while this group has sincere interests in advancing social justice, they also have an interest in maintaining their own elite status. This contradiction is the source of so much of the insanity we see in American society today. Christine presses Musa for details about this insanity: to what extent is the symbolic capitalist class actually sabotaging positive social change, in order to preserve their privileges? Among the topics discussed is the nature of symbolic capital; whether self interest and political idealism are necessarily contradictory; how wokeness and anti-wokeness have similar incentives; violence and social change; and the economics of victimhood. This practical and illuminating episode will make you smarter about how America works. Required Reading: * We Have Never Been Woke: Social Justice Discourse, Inequality, and the Rise of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi ( Princeton University Press ). * Alex Press, “On the Origins of the Professional-Managerial Class: An Interview with Barbara Ehrenreich” ( Dissent ). * Musa al-Gharbi, “Social Movement Requires Force” ( Salon ). * Musa al-Gharbi, “The Symbolic Professions Are Super WEIRD” ( Substack ). * Musa al-Gharbi, “The Absurd Spectacle at Columbia Occludes the Grim Realities of Gaza” ( Compact ). * “Georg Simmel” ( Encyclopedia Britannica ). * Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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War in the Middle East, Again 1:20:33

25 weeks ago1:20:33

1:20:33

An emergency pod: “War, or something resembling war, is breaking out in the Middle East,” says Shadi Hamid . A year after the October 7 massacre, Israel has all but destroyed Hamas. Last month, it killed Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah, thus decapitating that terrorist organization. This week, it launched an invasion of southern Lebanon. In retaliation, Iran — the longtime backer of Hezbollah — has lobbed a barrage of ballistic missiles into Israel. We decided to release the podcast early this week, before it is overtaken by the swiftly-moving events. What is this war about? What should the US do about it? Does anyone in the US political class truly believe that the Arab world is capable of democracy? Were the Abraham Accords foolish — or racist? How do you define a “rogue state”? What is Netanyahu right about? Joining Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to discuss these questions is Matt Duss , Executive Vice President of the Center for International Policy , co-host of the Undiplomatic Podcast , and former foreign policy advisor for Senator Bernie Sanders. “A lot of [Arab Americans] are not going to pull the lever for Kamala Harris,” Shadi reports. Matt lambasts the “racist logic” of the Abraham Accords, which swept the Palestinian question aside and decided that “this is the best [America] can hope for, deals with modernizing autocrats.” Damir applies a realpolitik analysis, explaining the Israeli military strategy and arguing that American and European diplomats have no choice but to strike deals with the autocrats that rule the world. Shadi responds: “Realpolitik is supposed to be effective .” It’s a passionate, intense discussion that strikes at the core preoccupations of Wisdom of Crowds : justice, war, and the state. Free for all subscribers: You will want to listen to the whole thing. Required Reading: * Shadi’s responses to subscribers’ provocations about the Middle East ( WoC ). * Bruno Maçães ’ article on the end of Western hypocrisy ( Time ). * Jeffrey Goldberg’s 2016 article on “The Obama Doctrine” ( The Atlantic ). * James Baldwin on the Dick Cavett Show ( YouTube ). * The Abraham Accords ( US State Department ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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Human Dignity and Beyond 1:11:40

25 weeks ago1:11:40

1:11:40

What is human dignity? Is it a real thing, or merely an idea? If it’s real, then where does it come from? And why do only human beings have dignity? What about other intelligent beings? What about the octopus? These are only some of the many questions that Damir Marusic and Santiago Ramos talk about in a slow-burn, philosophical episode of Wisdom of Crowds . Because Santiago is executive editor of Wisdom of Crowds , Damir wants to learn more about his bedrock convictions. He cross-examines Santiago about his religion, politics, and formative experiences. At first, Damir finds in Santiago a kindred spirit: both are skeptical about power and about big political theories. But Santiago does have one fundamental conviction that he is not skeptical about: universal human dignity. Damir presses Santiago on this topic. What is human dignity? How do you know it exists? And do only human beings have dignity? What about other intelligent animals? What about … octopi? The ending is one of the richest parts of the conversation, so we made this episode is free for all subscribers. * Daniel Patrick Moynihan documentary ( PBS ). * Song about the guerrilla priest: Victor Jara, “Camilo Torres” ( YouTube ). * “Of New Things,” Pope Leo XIII ( Vatican.va ). * “On the Progress of Peoples,” Paul VI ( Vatican.va ). * Jacques Maritain and the UN Declaration of Human Rights ( UNESCO ). * The Cold War in Latin America ( RetroReport ). * Michael Novak obituary ( New York Times ). * Iraq War timeline ( Council on Foreign Relations ). * Thomas Aquinas on the human soul ( Summa Theologiae , New Advent ). * Valladolid debate on the rights of indigenous people ( In Our Time , BBC). * Octopus intelligence ( Natural History Museum ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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1
The Comedy of the Commons 1:02:36

27 weeks ago1:02:36

1:02:36

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live How does order emerge from anarchy? How do human beings create institutions? Can big problems — like climate change, income inequality, or AI alignment — find solutions “from below,” through collective action, rather than “from above,” i.e., imposed by regulatory bodies? Today’s guest is a fascinating economist. Professor Paul Dragoș Aligică is a senior research fellow at the Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a Professor of Governance at the University of Bucharest. Paul believes that we are living through the third great moment in human history, after the transition to agriculture and the industrial revolution. What will this third moment be about? Far too broad to pigeonhole, he’s a visionary public choice theorist and a student of renowned economists Vincent and Elinor Ostrom (the latter won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2009). Paul has thought long and hard about the strange inflection point our world seems to be hurtling towards. It’s a slow burn of an episode, one where interesting and complex ideas are laid out carefully, before Damir and Santiago engage Paul in sussing out their implications. Does Paul think that public choice theory means the world has hope? How do we fix the seemingly intractable problems posed by capitalism and globalization? Tune in to find out. Required Reading and Viewing: * Paul Dragoș Aligică’s personal website . * Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons ( Amazon ). * What is the Tragedy of the Commons? ( Harvard Business School ). * Elinor Ostrom on Ending the Tragedy of the Commons ( Big Think on YouTube ). * Santiago Ramos, “What Does McDonald’s Mean?” ( WoC ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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Charles Taylor on the Need for Cosmic Connection 1:02:58

29 weeks ago1:02:58

1:02:58

A very special episode this week, completely free for all listeners. The world-famous philosopher Charles Taylor joins Wisdom of Crowds editors Samuel Kimbriel and Santiago Ramos for a conversation about his new book, Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment . Professor Taylor has spent a long and fruitful career trying to understand the basic questions of modern life. What does it mean to be a modern person? How do we form our sense of identity? How do we relate to the sacred? What does it mean to be secular? What happened to religion? In Cosmic Connections , he tells the story of how the Romantic poets of the nineteenth century sought to reconnect with nature through art, after the rise of modern science and the industrial revolution left many people wondering about man’s place in the universe. Appropriately enough, Sam called in from a log cabin somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, and he enthusiastically supported Professor Taylor’s thesis that a connection with nature is an essential component of a healthy society. The more city-bound Santiago took a more skeptical approach, at least at first. He questioned Professor Taylor’s claim that a connection with nature entails a connection with a transcendent, spiritual reality. Along with these heady topics, the conversation touched upon Beethoven’s symphonies, A.I. “friends,” and the idea of progress. Required Reading (and Listening): * Charles Taylor, Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment ( Amazon ). * Charles Taylor, A Secular Age ( Amazon ). * Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity ( Amazon ). * Damir Marusic, “Beauty and Niceness in an Accidental World” ( WoC ). * Romanticism ( School of Life ). * Henry David Thoreau ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ). * Beethoven, Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement ( YouTube ). * Beethoven, Sixth Symphony “Pastoral” ( YouTube ). * “Wear This A.I. Friend Around Your Neck” ( Wired ). * Joni Mitchell ( Official YouTube Page ). * Leonard Cohen ( Official YouTube Page ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe…

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Embrace the Vibes! 47:40

30 weeks ago47:40

47:40

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live The Harris-Walz campaign is having a moment. It is polling well . Harris made a good speech at the Democratic National Convention. The Democratic Convention as a whole got better TV ratings than the Republican one. Harris’s campaign is all about joy . Even Shadi’s parents are feeling the vibes (and using the word, “vibes,” probably for the first time). But Shadi and Damir aren’t feeling it. No joy. No vibes. No excitement about the current moment in American politics. What’s going on is at best groupthink, at worst, the manufacturing of consent . Our podcast hosts are skeptical about the fact that the media made an abrupt 180-degree turn on Harris: someone who was once considered a political dud is now seen as “the second coming of Barack Obama.” But soon Shadi and Damir start interrogating their assumptions. Is it necessarily a bad thing that large numbers of people are feeling positive emotions? Could large trends and coalitions develop organically, through common affinity, rather than through the machinations of politicians and propagandists? Could a campaign based on good vibes actually be more efficient at creating a Democratic Party platform that appeals to the median American voter? Maybe the Harris-Walz campaign is forcing us, as Damir puts it, to “update our priors on what democratic politics is.” In the bonus concluding section for our paid subscribers, our hosts make a 180-degree turn of their own. They explore learning to like Harris and embracing the vibes. “No one is talking about threats of civil war anymore,” Shadi observes. This is a good thing. “People want to feel good about their country.” Maybe Harris is making that possible for millions of voters. Required Reading: * “Harris has upended years of Democratic dogma. That’s good,” by Shadi Hamid and Aden Barton ( Washington Post ). * “The Peculiar Moderation of Donald Trump,” by Shadi Hamid ( Washington Post ). * Full text of Kamala Harris’ speech at the Democratic National Convention ( PBS ). * Our CrowdSource about “vibes” ( WoC ). * Noam Chomsky on “manufacturing consent” ( YouTube ). * Matt Yglesias on “popularism” ( Slow Boring ). * Matt Yglesias on the “unhinged moderation” of the Republicans ( Slow Boring ). Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…

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Ending Summer on Violence and Despair 58:35

30 weeks ago58:35