How My View Grew

Latest Episodes:

The day liberals became small "c" conservative Nov 13, 2024

Show notes

When new political leaders promote disruptive and even violent change, then people accustomed to pressing the gas pedal on change may choose instead to hit the breaks. Liberals become small "c" conservatives.

In this episode of How My View Grew, I suggest that after November 5, 2024 every liberal in the United States became a small "c" conservative. Instead of pushing for change in society, liberals now have good reason to slow it down. That's because the changes coming with the new Trump Administration threaten to destroy or disrupt many things worth preserving, from liberal gains of the past 90 years to basic Constitutional protections we've had for two and a half centuries. Much that we Americans take for granted, everything from childhood immunizations to Constitutional freedoms to the rule of law, is now at risk. Someone needs to stand up and shout, "Stop."

For decades, liberals associated this stance with Republicans, and for good reason. But today's Republican leader doesn't have a small "c" conservative bone in his body. His Administration will be about rapidly disrupting and destroying much that liberals—and all Americans—value.

So, who will fill the void of slowing down change and preserving that which we hold most dear? Liberals.

After making this case, I describe five steps liberals can take to embody such small "c" conservatism.

**Key takeaways**

2:00 The reactionary changes coming
5:30 The two forms of conservatism: small "c" and big "C"
8:30 Big "C" conservatism, the ideology, is whatever the Republican Party currently stands for
13:30 Five steps liberals can take to conserve liberal gains and American traditions

**Resources**

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5 Election Scenarios and 3 No-Matter-What Commitments Oct 30, 2024

Show notes

The human brain craves certainty. It convinces us we know how next week's U.S. presidential election will turn out. We don't. Things are uncertain. Yet, we can imagine different scenarios.

In this nine-minute episode of How My View Grew, I describe five scenarios for the election and its aftermath.

Then, I invite you to consider three "no-matter-what commitments." These are stands we can take no matter what happens. Making such commitments is an antidote to anxiety and despair. It reminds us of our strengths and resilience.

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Stephen E. Hanson: Can Mafia-like States Spread to the West? Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

In the upcoming U.S. presidential election, democracy, many say, is on the ballot. But is democracy versus autocracy the best description of the stakes?

Not according to Stephen E. Hanson, co-author with Jeffrey Kopstein of the new book The Assault on the State. The democracy/autocracy distinction is about how people come to power. It doesn't address how leaders rule their staffs and administrations once they are in power.

In the West, we've long managed states based on professional expertise and the rule of law. It's so common that we take it for granted. Yet, in recent years a different form of rule has taken root, first in Russia, then in Eastern Europe, and now in England, the U.S., and other parts of the West. Here the method of rule resembles the mafia. It's based on loyalty to a single leader, typically a man, and characterized by attacks on professional experts and power centralized in a ruling household.

For many years, Hanson, an expert on Russia and Eastern Europe, didn't think that strong mafia-like states were possible in the 21st century. And he was far from alone in this. Then, when Putin defied the odds by building one in Russia, Hanson didn't think this model of rule would spread elsewhere. And yet it has.

In this episode of How My View Grew, we explore why it made sense to bet against the rise of mafia-like states and why such bets turned out to be misguided.

**Key takeaways**

5:30 Steve's prediction that Russia wouldn't build a state after communism
8:30 How Putin built a state with loyalists
14:00 Why nobody thought Russia's mafia-like rule would spread
17:00 An epiphany during the pandemic sparks an "aha"
20:00 Three warning signs
24:00 Democracies can be run like the mafia. Autocracies can be run by experts based on the rule of law
28:00 The "unholy alliance" leading the assaults on the expert-run state
33:00 How an assault on the state in Israel contributed to the country's lack of preparedness for Hamas's massacres on October 7, 2023
39:30 We only notice government when it fails
41:00 Amiel's reflections

**Resources**

The Assault on the State by Stephen E. Hanson and Jeffrey S. Kopstein

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Man Up For Good Oct 02, 2024

Show notes

In this five-minute episode of How My View Grew, I offer five perspectives about being a man today:

It's confusing
Men and women are different
There is no need to apologize for being a man
Long live the healthy masculine
It's time for a new Bro Code

**Resources**

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David Storey: Can A Liberal Democrat Be Conservative? Sep 18, 2024

Show notes

Why might a liberal Democrat with progressive values hold a conservative disposition? Could it make sense to both advocate for positive change and honor traditions and the social cohesion they foster? Might this represent the twin challenges facing today's Democratic Party?

In this 30-minute episode of How My View Grew, Boston College philosophy professor David Storey explores these questions through his own personal and professional experience.

How did someone who dismissed the Republican Party as simplistic and repellent learn to recognize the virtues of the conservative disposition, even as Republicans themselves abandoned this disposition? What does this tell us about MAGA, Mr. Trump, January 6, and the the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election? Who are the "barstool conservatives," and why are they anything but conservative?

If you believe in the gains brought by liberalism and progressivism, aren't you acknowledging that these are traditions you want to conserve?

**Key takeaways**

3:00 The thick culture and Fox News habits of a childhood friend's family
5:30 Discovering positive patriotism on 9/11
9:00 Learning from Andrew Sullivan that traditions are complex, involve pruning, and were built by people
12:00 Why the Iraq War violated conservative principles and climate activism can piggyback on them
17:30 The primal ethnocentric energies of George Wallace and Patrick Buchanan—also not truly conservative
20:00 How these primal energies broke through to the mainstream in the form of MAGA and Mr. Trump
22:30 The "barstool conservatives" who are angry they can't watch cheerleaders or call things "gay"
25:00 The January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is what happens when you abandon the conservative disposition
27:00 The important contributions of the Never Trumpers
28:00 Amiel's reflections

**Resources**

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The Surprising Lesson of History Jun 19, 2024

Show notes

In this final episode of season one, a short one, I describe how my view of history shifted after reading the memoir of Stefan Zweig, a popular early 20th century European novelist. What if the lesson of history, especially around war and other catastrophes, is precisely the opposite of what I long assumed? How might history make us humbler about our ability to predict the future? Might it help us see possibilities and perils we otherwise would ignore or dismiss? Finally, a brief riff on why, in light of this uncertainty, curiosity, resolve, and acceptance are more useful moods than despair and anxiety.

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Marci Shore: How to Improve the World Amidst Evil? Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

In a Soviet-era bunker in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, a Ukrainian soldier reads books by the late historian Tony Judt and wonders: Is it possible to make the world better amidst evil? Not long after, Yale historian Marci Shore, a former peacenik, finds herself pleading to the German government to send lethal weapons to Ukraine.

What's happening here? How does one historian's words support a courageous defense of democracy that, in turn, inspires another historian to step outside of her comfort zone and into a debate about war?

In this week's episode of How My View Grew, the second-to-last of season one, Marci Shore joins me to explore these questions. The story she shares is about choosing to take moral responsibility rather than ignoring evil or rationalizing it away, even if this means risking friendship, status, or your own sense of identity. Her story is also about tapping the lessons of history to see future scenarios you otherwise might miss or consider impossible. And it's about postmodernism—both the new capacities it offers and, when stretched to an extreme, the disasters it produces.

The episode draws from Shore's book, The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution, as well as Judt's books, Thinking the Twentieth Century, written with Timothy Snyder, and Past Imperfect.

**Key takeaways**

6:00 Judt's harsh critique of French intellectuals' silence about the show trials and other Soviet terror
17:00 The alternative to silence and rationalization: taking moral responsibility
20:00 There is a difference between good and evil, and between truth and lies
25:00 A Ukrainian soldier reading Judt's books in a bunker
30:00 Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump, and the evasion of responsibility
33:30 Why liberals struggle to grasp nihilism and mass murder
40:00 World War I was, before it occurred, unimaginable
46:00 Historians can't predict the future, but they describe what can happen
50:00 Amiel's reflections

**Resources**

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The Clarifying Question Jun 05, 2024

Show notes

This short episode is about asking clarifying questions, which involve far more than building rapport and trust. Clarifying questions provide powerful ways to understand what matters to others—clearly, accurately, and without illusions. Listen in as I walk through the three steps in the clarifying question (only two of which happen while you're speaking!) and when you can use this powerful conversation habit.

Einat Wilf: What Do Most Palestinians Actually Want? May 29, 2024

Show notes

Do most Palestinians want their own state in the West Bank and Gaza, one that co-exists with the state of Israel? Is the conflict between Israel and Palestinians primarily about territory and the solution therefore simply to trade territory for peace?

For many years, as an advisor to Israel's top leaders and member of its parliament, Einat Wilf thought so.

Then she started to listen deeply to what Palestinians were saying, and what she heard stunned her. What Palestinians wanted was a land to themselves so they could return to the homes their families once occupied in Israel proper. What they didn't want was a Jewish state.

This discovery, coupled with extensive research into the century-long history, left Einat with a dramatically different view of the conflict. Palestinians' dream of "return" and the world's support for this dream constituted as big an obstacle to peace as Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Engaging with this possibility may be painful, but it opens new possibilities for long-term peace in the region. If Israel and the United states take Einat's story seriously, they will approach the conflict dramatically differently than they have been doing for decades.

**Key takeaways**

4:00 Why Einat believed that the conflict was simply about territory
9:39 The purpose and flaws of constructive ambiguity
16:00 The shock and meaning of the Second Intifada
19:00 Listening deeply to Palestinians and taking seriously what they say they want
22:30 The settlements are Israel's most wasteful project
28:30 The Jews want a state. The Arabs want the Jews to not have a state
31:00 What the Arabs of Gaza did and didn't do when they finally controlled the territory
37:30 Why Israel's Labor Party declined
40:30 When Arabs say two states, do they mean two Palestinian states?
44:00 A clarifying question to a Palestinian student reveals a great deal
45:00 The one question Israeli negotiators should ask before entering the room
50:00 No refugees anywhere else in the world have had a "right of return"
54:00 Amiel's reflections

**Resources**

**Subscribe to the podcast**

To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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My Assessment, Your Assessment May 22, 2024

Show notes

In this week's episode, I describe how to have difficult conversations about charged topics. It's a game called My Assessment, Your Assessment. I walk you through the eight rules of the game, how to know when the game is over, and what makes this valuable in discussing big global challenges or everyday topics.

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