The Liberalism.org Show A free society is bigger than its politics. It lives in our economics and our courts, but also in our families, our technology, our art, and the ordinary business of living alongside people who see the world differently. On the Liberalism.org Show, Aaron Ross Powell talks with the site's writers and scholars, taking one of their essays as the starting point for a wide-ranging conversation—from tariffs and zoning to science fiction, sitcoms, and mini tacos. Curious, serious, and always circling back to how liberal ideas play out in the life you actually lead. https://www.liberalism.org/ en © 2026 Liberalism.org 019fc826-ba45-72e1-9467-11ad8fef0e86 no podcast https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/72f7dee3-fa17-4074-b14c-73189798c7f1/0a0f3b97-b2f7-4052-8b3b-221f9023435d.jpeg?t=1785771136 The Liberalism.org Show https://www.liberalism.org/ false episodic Liberalism.org A free society is bigger than its politics. It lives in our economics and our courts, but also in our families, our technology, our art, and the ordinary business of living alongside people who see the world differently. On the Liberalism.org Show, Aaron Ross Powell talks with the site's writers and scholars, taking one of their essays as the starting point for a wide-ranging conversation—from tariffs and zoning to science fiction, sitcoms, and mini tacos. Curious, serious, and always circling back to how liberal ideas play out in the life you actually lead.

]]> Liberalism.org contact@liberalism.org Thu, 06 Aug 2026 04:00:00 +0000 Fri, 07 Aug 2026 14:01:37 +0000 beehiiv What Conservatives Actually Believe About Democracy (with Scott Warren and Morgan Ramsey-Elliot) https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/what_conservatives_actually_believe_about_democracy_with_scott_warren_and_morgan_ramsey-elliot Most conservatives don't see themselves as opponents of democracy — they see a democracy that has drifted from the values that make it legitimate. On this episode, Aaron Ross Powell talks with Scott Warren of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins Un... Thu, 06 Aug 2026 04:00:00 +0000 2560 Liberalism.org false full 13 Most conservatives don't see themselves as opponents of democracy — they see a democracy that has drifted from the values that make it legitimate. On this episode, Aaron Ross Powell talks with Scott Warren of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and Morgan Ramsey-Elliot of ReD Associates about their Liberalism.org essay "Can Democracy Survive if We Stand on Different Foundations?" and the ethnographic study behind it, for which researchers embedded for weeks in conservative communities in Wyoming, Michigan, and South Carolina. They discuss why "save democracy" messaging so often fails to land, the moral foundation of faith, family, freedom, and place against which these citizens judge their institutions, how everyday encounters with institutional failure erode trust from the local level upward, and the harder work of building institutions that people standing on genuinely different moral foundations can still recognize as legitimate.

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]]> Rebuilding a Liberal Majority (with Jamelle Bouie, David French, and Danielle Allen) https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/rebuilding_a_liberal_majority_with_jamelle_bouie_david_french_and_danielle_allen Institutions of bigotry, racism, and social control were supposed to be decades into retreat. Instead they have come roaring back from the top-down. In this special joint release of The Liberalism.org Show and The UnPopulist 's Zooming In, recorded liv... Sun, 26 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000 4135 Liberalism.org false full 12 Institutions of bigotry, racism, and social control were supposed to be decades into retreat. Instead they have come roaring back from the top-down. In this special joint release of The Liberalism.org Show and The UnPopulist's Zooming In, recorded live at the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism's "Liberalism for the 21st Century" conference, host Aaron Ross Powell sits down with New York Times columnists Jamelle Bouie and David French and Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen. They discuss the apparent return of open bigotry and illiberalism to American politics, debate whether it is a Trump-specific phenomenon or a durable coalition that will outlast him, and consider why so much of it is driven from the top rather than by the public.

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]]> Why We Keep Fighting About New Technology (with Troy Cross and Karim Farhat) https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/why_we_keep_fighting_about_new_technology_with_troy_cross_and_karim_farhat Why does every new technology spark the same recurring fight, with utopian boosters on one side and doomers on the other, and what would a more productive conversation look like? On this episode (recorded live at the Institute for Humane Studies’ Flour... Thu, 16 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000 2369 Liberalism.org false full 11 Why does every new technology spark the same recurring fight, with utopian boosters on one side and doomers on the other, and what would a more productive conversation look like? On this episode (recorded live at the Institute for Humane Studies’ Flourishing House at SXSW) host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Troy Cross, Professor of Philosophy at Reed College and a Senior Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, and Karim Farhat, Assistant Director of the Internet Governance Project at Georgia Tech.

They explore why identity and storytelling distort our judgment about new tools, what the Bitcoin energy debates reveal about motivated reasoning, how markets have quietly solved earlier trust problems like online authentication, and why a liberal society in the age of AI has room for both data centers and the Amish family next door.

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]]> Tariffs, Emergency Powers, and the Limits of the Presidency (with Ilya Somin) https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/tariffs_emergency_powers_and_the_limits_of_the_presidency_with_ilya_somin It started with a blog post. When the Trump administration invoked emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs, law professor Ilya Somin suggested in passing that someone ought to challenge it in court — and then found himself co-counsel in the case th... Thu, 02 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000 1605 Liberalism.org false full 10 It started with a blog post. When the Trump administration invoked emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs, law professor Ilya Somin suggested in passing that someone ought to challenge it in court — and then found himself co-counsel in the case that reached the Supreme Court.

In this episode, Aaron Ross Powell talks with Somin, professor of law at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School and the Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, about how V.O.S. Selections v. Trump came together, why the Court held that the IEEPA doesn't authorize tariffs at all, and what the major questions and nondelegation doctrines mean for presidential power. They also explore what should count as a genuine "emergency," why the courts alone can't restrain executive overreach, and how litigation and ordinary politics have to work together to keep power in check.

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]]> Freedom, Faith, and the Unfinished Work of Democracy (with Jason Canon and Melvin Rogers) https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/freedom_faith_and_the_unfinished_work_of_democracy_with_jason_canon_and_melvin_rogers What kept Black thinkers faithful to American democracy through slavery, Jim Crow, and worse? On this episode of the Liberalism.org Show, political theorist Jason Canon talks with Melvin Rogers — the Edna and Richard Salomon Distinguished Professor of ... Thu, 18 Jun 2026 04:00:00 +0000 2241 Liberalism.org false full 9 What kept Black thinkers faithful to American democracy through slavery, Jim Crow, and worse? On this episode of the Liberalism.org Show, political theorist Jason Canon talks with Melvin Rogers — the Edna and Richard Salomon Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Brown University and author of The Darkened Light of Faith — about the tradition running from David Walker and Frederick Douglass to W. E. B. Du Bois and James Baldwin. They explore why these figures insisted on freedom and equal regard even without evidence it could be won, the difference between democratic "faith" and ordinary hope or optimism, and why Baldwin asks us to measure progress not by redemption but by how honestly we confront a history that never fully leaves us.

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]]> The Future and Its Enemies, Revisited (with Virginia Postrel) https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/the_future_and_its_enemies_revisited_with_virginia_postrel Recorded at Flourishing House, the Institute for Humane Studies' gathering at SXSW exploring what people and societies need to thrive, this episode finds host Aaron Ross Powell in conversation with Virginia Postrel — journalist, former Reason editor, a... Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:58:21 +0000 1776 Liberalism.org false full 8 Recorded at Flourishing House, the Institute for Humane Studies' gathering at SXSW exploring what people and societies need to thrive, this episode finds host Aaron Ross Powell in conversation with Virginia Postrel — journalist, former Reason editor, and author of The Future and Its Enemies and The Fabric of Civilization. The 1990s now look like a golden age of optimism about the future — but at the time, critics were smashing computers on stage and running "Smash the Internet" cover stories. Powell and Postrel revisit her enduring distinction between dynamism and stasis nearly three decades on: why today's backlash against openness is less about pocketbook economics than discomfort with a diverse, experimental society; why every solution breeds fresh discontents, and why that's a feature rather than a bug; and how liberals can keep making the case for abundance through concrete, everyday stories — from YIMBY housing reform to the surprisingly contentious history of the toothbrush.

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]]> The Power of Cities (with Jason Canon and Ed Glaeser) https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/the_power_of_cities_with_jason_canon_and_ed_glaeser Cities are humanity's greatest invention—not in spite of their density, but because of it. In this bonus episode of the Liberalism.org Show, Jason Canon sits down with Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, author of Triumph of the City and Survival o... Wed, 27 May 2026 21:00:00 +0000 1607 Liberalism.org false full 7 Cities are humanity's greatest invention—not in spite of their density, but because of it. In this bonus episode of the Liberalism.org Show, Jason Canon sits down with Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, author of Triumph of the City and Survival of the City, to make the case for urban life and to ask why America has stopped building. They discuss how the New York of the 1970s shaped Glaeser's lifelong fascination with cities, why urban poverty is a sign of opportunity rather than failure, how prosperous suburban homeowners turned the Sun Belt's growth machines into engines of stasis, and what the YIMBY movement and comparisons to housing policy in Japan and the UK reveal about the tension between local control and the freedom to build.

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]]> Why Liberalism Needs the Family with Lauren K. Hall https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/why_liberalism_needs_the_family_with_lauren_k_hall Liberals have ceded the family to social conservatives for decades — and Lauren K. Hall thinks it's a mistake liberalism can't afford. In this episode, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Hall, professor of political science and associate dean of academi... Wed, 20 May 2026 21:00:00 +0000 2019 Liberalism.org false full 6 Liberals have ceded the family to social conservatives for decades — and Lauren K. Hall thinks it's a mistake liberalism can't afford. In this episode, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Hall, professor of political science and associate dean of academic affairs at the Rochester Institute of Technology, about her Liberalism.org essay "Why Liberalism Needs the Family." They discuss why classical liberals have under-theorized this pre-political institution, how siblings, trust, and the wider "village" cultivate the citizens that markets and self-government require, the false binary between total family autonomy and state intervention, and why over-scheduled, over-supervised childhoods may be quietly producing adults more comfortable with authoritarianism.

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]]> Yours, Mine, or Ours? Liberals Need a Theory of the State with Michael C. Munger https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/yours_mine_or_ours_liberals_need_a_theory_of_the_state_with_michael_c_munger Markets can fail — but can government actually fix them? In his Liberalism.org essay " Yours, Mine, or Ours? Liberals Need a Theory of the State," political scientist Michael Munger argues that liberals have been losing the policy debate by defending t... Wed, 06 May 2026 21:00:00 +0000 1880 Liberalism.org false full 5 Markets can fail — but can government actually fix them? In his Liberalism.org essay "Yours, Mine, or Ours? Liberals Need a Theory of the State," political scientist Michael Munger argues that liberals have been losing the policy debate by defending the perfection of markets rather than challenging the imperfection of the state. Host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Munger — a Liberalism.org fellow and the Pfizer, Inc./Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. University Distinguished Professor at Duke University — about what he calls the "pretty pig problem" in policy arguments, why roads are actually a poor example of public goods, how the concept of government as a technology reframes what belongs in the state's toolkit, and whether intellectual honesty about market failures can coexist with a strong presumption in favor of liberty.

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]]> Sitcoms: A Defense with Shal Marriott https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/sitcoms_a_defense_with_shal_marriott Can a half-hour of sitcom reruns make you a better liberal? Shal Marriott thinks so — and in this episode of the Liberalism.org Show, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Marriott, a PhD student in political science at McGill University, about her article... Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000 1628 Liberalism.org false full 4 Can a half-hour of sitcom reruns make you a better liberal? Shal Marriott thinks so — and in this episode of the Liberalism.org Show, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Marriott, a PhD student in political science at McGill University, about her article "Sitcoms: A Defense." They discuss how popular television can cultivate liberal habits of character beyond mere tolerance, why appreciating pluralism requires something closer to delight than grudging acceptance, what Adam Smith and Judith Shklar have in common with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and whether the low stakes of fictional worlds offer a space to practice the discernment that liberalism demands.Further Reading

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]]> Mini Tacos, Murder, and the Problem of Getting Exactly What We Want with Sarah Skwire https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/mini_tacos_murder_and_the_problem_of_getting_exactly_what_we_want_with_sarah_skwire What does a thriller about a murderous house-hunter have to do with liberalism? Quite a lot, it turns out. In this episode, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Sarah Skwire, Senior Program Officer at Liberty Fund and a Liberalism.org Fellow, about her ar... Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:00:00 +0000 1781 Liberalism.org false full 3 What does a thriller about a murderous house-hunter have to do with liberalism? Quite a lot, it turns out. In this episode, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Sarah Skwire, Senior Program Officer at Liberty Fund and a Liberalism.org Fellow, about her article "Mini Tacos, Murder, and the Problem of Getting Exactly What We Want." They explore how narrative can persuade where data can't, how literature trains empathy by putting us inside other minds, and how the very abundance that liberalism celebrates can paradoxically generate its own kind of scarcity — one we engineer through our own over-optimized desires.

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]]> The Enemy Is Power, Wherever You Find It with Matt Zwolinski https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/the_enemy_is_power_wherever_you_find_it_with_matt_zwolinski In this episode, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Matt Zwolinski, Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Diego and a Liberalism.org Fellow, about his article " The Enemy Is Power, Wherever You Find It." They discuss why liberals have traditi... Wed, 25 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000 1961 Liberalism.org false full 2 In this episode, host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Matt Zwolinski, Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Diego and a Liberalism.org Fellow, about his article "The Enemy Is Power, Wherever You Find It." They discuss why liberals have traditionally focused on state power while neglecting its private forms, how institutional design can disperse and counterbalance power through mechanisms like competitive markets and federalism, and what both the left and classical liberals should learn from the current illiberal moment about the dangers of concentration.

]]> Welcome to Liberalism.org with Emily Chamlee-Wright https://www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/liberalismorgshow/welcome_to_liberalism_org_with_emily_chamlee-wright In the very first episode of the Liberalism.org Show, Aaron Ross Powell sits down with IHS President Emily Chamlee-Wright to introduce Liberalism.org —why it exists, why it’s launching now, and what listeners and readers can expect from the online maga... Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:18:37 +0000 1864 Liberalism.org false full 1 In the very first episode of the Liberalism.org Show, Aaron Ross Powell sits down with IHS President Emily Chamlee-Wright to introduce Liberalism.org—why it exists, why it’s launching now, and what listeners and readers can expect from the online magazine and its companion podcasts.

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