The Political Orphanage

Latest Episodes:

Richer Than Ever, Miserable Anyway Mar 18, 2026

Show notes

Brink Lindsey is the Senior Vice President at the Niskannen Center. He is the author of "The Permanent Problem: The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing." You can find it at mightyheaton.com/featured

A.I. and the Future of Scams Mar 11, 2026

Show notes

Brian Brushwood is by trade a magician, but of late has become a security expert. The FBI flew him to Quantico to brief agents on how scams work, and he's become a popular speaker and consultant for large corporations on how to shield against sophisticated scams. The host of "World's Greatest Con" joins to advise Heaton on how not to get screwed.

On YouTube at: https://youtu.be/_5PnMjvxTDg

Undeclared Wars Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

When was the last time the United States actually declared war?

Why did it stop officially declaring war, if nonetheless bombing folks?

And when is the president authorized to attack another country without explicit congressional authorization?

What is the War Powers Act, and why did it piss of Nixon?

All that and more in this history and constitutional deep dive.

How the Court Neutered Trump Feb 25, 2026

Show notes

The Supreme Court just struck down Donald Trump's sweeping emergency tariffs, but this case is about far more than slinkies and sombreros. When Congress passes an ambiguous law, does the president get broad discretion, or only the specific powers clearly granted to him? We unpack the Major Questions Doctrine, Justice Roberts' loaded-gun theory of taxation, Gorsuch's blistering concurrence calling out judicial inconsistency, and the surprising dissents from Kavanaugh and Thomas. This is an episode about tariffs — but it's really about who holds the power to tax, and whether the Constitution still means what it says.

Grover Norquist at Burning Man (Rebroadcast) Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

Burning Man is a giant, 80,000-person party in the desert, complete with a crazy amount of neon, bicycles, and narcotics. Grover Norquist is a powerful Republican, alternately famous or infamous for compelling GOP leaders to pledge never to increase spending, who attends Burning Man every year. He joins the podcast to talk about Burning Man, influential secret societies, his foray into standup comedy, and of course, taxes.

Original air date Sep 5th, 2019

Governing through Blockchain: Techno-Communes (Preview) Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Jonathan Hillis is the founder and caretaker of Cabin, a network of co-living spaces which link up and vet members in other communities via blockchain technology. His "neighborhood" of intentional living is in beautiful Texas Hill Country an hour outside of Austin, where he lives with friends in a hub-and-spoke model of private accommodation surrounding communal social spaces.

He's the former CTO of Coinbase, and you can see how his tech background influences his obsession with scalability (we talk about Metcalf's Law, and the optimum size of "one sauna teams") as well as the non-financial elements of blockchain to that end. It actually reminds me a bit of Neil Stephenson's Franchise-Organized Quasi-National Entities or "burbclaves" in Snow Crash.

Cabin strikes me as a kind of libertarian commune (though neither Hillis nor myself ever uses the term). It's big scattered geographic network of modular co-ops you can plug into and out of. Vetting community members is a big thing in communes, and Cabin relies on blockchain technology and somethin akin to personal Yelp reviews to allow people to skip up from Austin, TX to like-minded communities in Santa Fe or Portland, or wherever.

He joins to discuss his model, and what day-to-day life is like living in an intentional co-living community.

How to Build a Commune: Samwise Rodriguez Feb 16, 2026

Show notes

If you wanted to live with a bunch of buddies in a house, how would you do it? What are the mechanics of setting up, financing, and socially maintaining a commune? Samwise Rodriguez runs a commune—which combines their skills as a philanthropist, entrepreneur (and to some extent, as a polyamorist). This week we explore: how do you build your own commune?

Jeff Flake Alone on an Island with a Knife Feb 11, 2026

Show notes

What happens when Trump leaves office? Do the Republicans reform or catalyze?

Jeff Flake is the former Executive Director of the Goldwater Institute, Ambassador to Turkey, and representative and then Senator from the great state of Arizona. He is also a Knight of the Kingdom of Sweden.

He joins to discuss what a post-Trump Republican Party will look like.

The Map That Explains Everything About America: Colin Woodard Feb 04, 2026

Show notes

Colin Woodard posits that America is not really a country, it's a dozen or so distinct nations with their own cultures and ideologies which are constantly battling for supremacy. His new book "Nations Apart: How Clashing Regional Cultures Shattered America." In it he argues that

argues that deep-seated cultural divisions, stemming from different colonial settlement patterns, are the root cause of modern American political polarization, inequality, and threats to democracy. The book uses historical and data-driven analysis to show how these regional cultures clash on issues like gun control, immigration, and abortion, and proposes a renewal based on the unifying ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

"America is Eleven Different Countries"

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/america-is-eleven-different-countries/id1439837349?i=1000646222225

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Patreon: Patreon.com/andrewheaton

Substack: ThePoliticalOrphanage.com

America is Eleven Different Countries (Rebroadcast) Feb 03, 2026

Show notes

Rudyard William Lynch is the host of WhatifAlHist, a popular history channel on YouTube.

He joins to discuss how the origins and circumstances of America's regions permanently imprinted on its cultures and political outlooks.

Colin Woodard's Map: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-11-nations-of-the-united-states-2015-7

Rudyard's Map: https://preview.redd.it/cultural-map-of-america-done-by-whatifalthist-on-youtube-v0-7clddg9nunpa1.jpg?auto=webp&s=663b38b9434bdf7791fac983f0d5e5beb643b779

Relevant Book: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, by Colin Woodard

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