America Trends Podcast

<p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2666" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/HF-Michael-Shermer-139908357-226x300.png" alt="" width="84" height="112" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/HF-Michael-Shermer-139908357-226x300.png 226w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/HF-Michael-Shermer-139908357-203x270.png 203w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/HF-Michael-Shermer-139908357.png 612w" sizes="(max-width: 84px) 100vw, 84px" />I must admit that while I took a deep dive into Michael Shermer&#8217;s new book, &#8220;Truth: What It Is, How to Find It &amp; Why It Still Matters,&#8221; I was not certain in what direction I would take the interview.  It raised so many questions about this moment when many believe that you can&#8217;t believe anything you read or see in the media and that politicians feel the bigger the lie, the harder it is to refute.  So how do you test for veracity, when you&#8217;re told there are such things as &#8216;alternative facts?&#8217;  It&#8217;s so confusing.  However, his great personality and sharp intellect were on full display and off to the races we were discussing scientific truths and how they&#8217;re tested and a range of other truths from spiritual to political.  Shermer, in addition to being the author of a fascinating new book about almost imponderable subject, is the publisher of &#8216;Skeptic&#8217; magazine.  So why not start by asking what differentiates a skeptic from a cynic and then, well, we were off and running.</p>

<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2663" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/gary-taubes-case-against-sugar-1611600068-229x300.png" alt="" width="106" height="139" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/gary-taubes-case-against-sugar-1611600068-229x300.png 229w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/gary-taubes-case-against-sugar-1611600068-206x270.png 206w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/gary-taubes-case-against-sugar-1611600068.png 248w" sizes="(max-width: 106px) 100vw, 106px" />You may have heard that there is a new food pyramid in town.  In January of this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released an updated version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  The 10-page document is a major change from the one published five years ago. The new emphasis is on boosting protein and healthy fats, like eggs, seafood, red meat, dairy, beans and nuts.  It still wants us to load up on veggies and fruit and to choose whole grains.  Pasta, white breads and other carbohydrates are further diminished on this pyramid in favor of more whole foods and fewer processed foods.  Saturated fat, villainized in previous pyramids, has been resurrected in this one.  To discuss the shifts is Gary Taubes, an accomplished science writer who has written books, including &#8220;Good Calories: Bad Calories&#8221;, &#8220;Why We Get Fat&#8221; and &#8220;The Case Against Sugar.&#8221;  He knows his stuff as you can tell early on in this discussion.</p>

<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2659" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/9A-Gloria-Browne-Marshall-3305469808-208x300.jpeg" alt="" width="79" height="114" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/9A-Gloria-Browne-Marshall-3305469808-208x300.jpeg 208w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/9A-Gloria-Browne-Marshall-3305469808-187x270.jpeg 187w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/9A-Gloria-Browne-Marshall-3305469808.jpeg 356w" sizes="(max-width: 79px) 100vw, 79px" />In 2025, more Americans have taken to the streets to protest various issues that concern them about our nation&#8217;s politics than in the recent past.  As a country that came about from rebellion against tyranny, it is an American birthright.  Various forms of protest have given energy to civil rights, improved labor conditions, a cleaner environment and the ending of wars, like Vietnam. However, there are many who are not moved to participate in this great American tradition or may not think they are.  Writing to a government official, signing a petition or not shopping at a particular business, as well as more demonstrative acts of holding a sign in public, constitute a form of protest.  We learn a great deal about the various manifestations it takes in Gloria J. Browne-Marshall&#8217;s new book, &#8220;A Protest History of the United States.&#8221;  She gives us eye-opening account of its centrality to the American experience then and now.  Regular people using resistance, rebellion and activism represent the most effective way to change our world.</p>

<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2656" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Hankins-Serena-1-3802167184-202x300.jpg" alt="" width="89" height="132" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Hankins-Serena-1-3802167184-202x300.jpg 202w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Hankins-Serena-1-3802167184-689x1024.jpg 689w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Hankins-Serena-1-3802167184-768x1141.jpg 768w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Hankins-Serena-1-3802167184-1034x1536.jpg 1034w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Hankins-Serena-1-3802167184-182x270.jpg 182w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Hankins-Serena-1-3802167184.jpg 1083w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 89px) 100vw, 89px" />Courses on Western Civilization were once a staple in schools.  No longer.  It&#8217;s been replaced by Global Civilization or Social Studies courses.  Our guest,  former Harvard Professor, James Hankins and his co-author, Professor Allen Guelzo, sought to change that so that the good resulting from the traditions of Western Civilization&#8211;its art, literature, law, philosophy, science, faith, and tolerance&#8211;are preserved and, thus, perpetuated.  Professor Hankins authored volume I of &#8216;The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition&#8221; and Professor Guelzo will take this impressive work from the 1500&#8217;s to the modern day in Volume II.  The epic scope of the project is meant to provide that which threads from ancient Greece, through the Roman Empire and Christendom and then to more modern civilizations, including our own.  The second volume will provide context as to how our Founding Fathers tried to maintain the synthesis of reason and compassion, the twin exemplars of the tradition they unpack for us.  Western Civilization&#8217;s great achievements predominate, but its failings are also a part of this scholarly work.  Professor Hankins joins us today to discuss.</p>

<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2652" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2-The-Massey-Teaching-Excellence-Award-1200x1500-3499559979-255x300.jpeg" alt="" width="86" height="101" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2-The-Massey-Teaching-Excellence-Award-1200x1500-3499559979-255x300.jpeg 255w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2-The-Massey-Teaching-Excellence-Award-1200x1500-3499559979-869x1024.jpeg 869w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2-The-Massey-Teaching-Excellence-Award-1200x1500-3499559979-768x905.jpeg 768w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2-The-Massey-Teaching-Excellence-Award-1200x1500-3499559979-229x270.jpeg 229w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2-The-Massey-Teaching-Excellence-Award-1200x1500-3499559979.jpeg 898w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 86px) 100vw, 86px" /> America built this thing we call the middle class.  It was purposeful and forward-looking public policy in the 1930&#8217;s which recognized that the strength of our democracy required a vibrant sector that could aspire to a middle -class life of owning a home, putting your children through college and retiring comfortably.  It resulted in a period our guest calls the &#8216;Great Compression&#8217; (1947-1974) in which workers received a fair share of the nation&#8217;s economic prosperity.  In this timeframe, there was an expectation of job security and stability, undergirded by strong labor unions.  Much of that has changed over the last 50 years as wealth has gone to the top and left workers behind.  Much of our political unrest today (affordability) is a byproduct of those changes.  So, what happened?  Our guest, University of Texas Law School professor, A. Mechele Dickerson, lays it out, chapter and verse, in her new book &#8220;The Middle- Class New Deal: Restoring Upward Mobility and the American Dream.&#8221;  It&#8217;s essential to any understanding of where we are today</p>