Salon of the Refused

Rob Tracinski talks with Brad Thompson, author of America's Revolutionary Mind, about the philosophical ideas behind the founding of America. The conversation includes: the Declaration of Independence as an ideological road map to the founding of America, the Enlightenment religion of the founders, the meaning of equality, America's moral awakening on slavery, the actual "beau ideal" of communism, and the rise of illiberal conservatives and the "Bronze Age Pervert." For more commentary and analysis, visit The Tracinski Letter at www.TracinskiLetter.com. Support us at patreon.com/SalonoftheRefused.

Rob Tracinski talks with Helen Pluckrose, editor of Areo magazine and co-author of Cynical Theories, about the roots of today's "woke" culture war in the philosophical school of Postmodernism. The conversation includes: how a philosophy of radical skepticism became dogmatic and authoritarian, how we lost both individualism and universalism, how coronavirus made our ideological bubbles more impenetrable, was Immanuel Kant the first Postmodernist, have we reached peak wokeness, and liberalism as an intellectual system. For more commentary and analysis, visit The Tracinski Letter at www.TracinskiLetter.com. Support us at patreon.com/SalonoftheRefused.

Rob Tracinski talks with Washington Post columnist George F. Will about the rising statism of the right. The conversation includes: how he became more "libertarian," the "loaded pistol" of populism and the virtues of elitism, the paradox of American conservatism, the substance of Donald Trump's style, the "most important election in the history of the planet," and a self-declared pessimist's case for optimism. For more commentary and analysis, visit The Tracinski Letter at www.TracinskiLetter.com. Support us at patreon.com/SalonoftheRefused.

Rob Tracinski talks with Jaroslav Romanchuk, President of the Scientific Research Mises Center in Minsk, about the "Revolution of Order" in Belarus. The conversation includes: the world's most orderly protest movement, how the coronavirus pandemic fueled the uprising, how a housewife became the leader of a united opposition, why this is happening now after 26 years of dictatorship, Vladimir Putin's dilemma, and how Belarussians intend to avoid the pitfalls of other post-Soviet transitions. For more commentary and analysis, visit The Tracinski Letter at www.TracinskiLetter.com. Support us at patreon.com/SalonoftheRefused.

Rob Tracinski talks with Jason Crawford, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and blogger at Roots of Progress, about progress and the need to recognize it and study it. The conversation includes: how progress really took off 200 years ago, why then, whether progress has begun to stagnate, why the Ancient Greeks never really had a concept of progress, bringing the study of progress into schools, and what we can do to build a culture of achievement. Check out Crawford's Progress Studies for Aspiring Young Scholars. For more commentary and analysis, visit The Tracinski Letter at www.TracinskiLetter.com. Support us at patreon.com/SalonoftheRefused.