Christian college professors Matt Parks and David Corbin explore the ideas behind today's headlines.
Part 1 (1:40): Headlines - We discuss the dangerous, deep divisions in American politics and the prospects for promoting civility in the public square. Links: Our essay at The Federalist; Politico on political violence; Colleen Sheehan at The American Mind; RealClearFoundation on civic knowledge; Gallup poll on single-party government; RealClearEducation college free speech rankings; RealClearEducation on campus free speech; University of Chicago Statement on Academic Freedom.
Part 2 (24:02): Required Reading - We discuss the roots of our present division and the prospects for reducing it with the help of two books from 1955: Louis Hartz’s The Liberal Tradition in America and Walter Lippmann’s The Public Philosophy.
Part 2 (45:10): Open the Grade Book - We grade the first presidential debate and discuss our grading rubrics for next week’s vice presidential debate.
Part 3 (52:46): Tocqueville's Crystal Ball - After three weeks of picking five different contests in five different sports, Matt leads with a record of 11-4 to Dave’s 4-11. This week we pick: New England at Kansas City (NFL), #10 Texas A & M at #2 Alabama (College Football), game 2 of the NBA finals between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), game 3 of the St. Louis-San Diego Wild Card Series (MLB), and our first MLS game: NYCFC at Inter Miami.
Opening and closing music is from the beginning of "Happy Life" by Ryan Andersen from his 2018 album, Americana volume 1. Available here. Licensed by Creative Commons.
Matt Parks is an Associate Professor of Politics at The King’s College in New York City. David Corbin is a Professor of Politics and the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Providence Christian College in Pasadena, California. All views expressed in this podcast are their own.
