As more and more working-class Americans join the Republican party some voices on the Right are advocating the GOP become the worker’s party—a role that has traditionally been held by various movements and parties of the Left. Is there any merit to this idea? What is the history of labor relations and the Right and Left in the United States? How have labor unions and right to work laws evolved over the past century? Do national candidates like JD Vance or Ron DeSantis have what it takes to capitalize on the surge of working-class voters on the Right? Joining Josh is his friend of nearly a decade Christopher Chesny to discuss all this and more.

About Christopher Chesny

Christopher Chesny is a conservative activist who has been involved in Republican and conservative politics for almost two decades. After his political awakening at a young age after the 2000 Election and 9/11, he began to engage in the public policy process in a myriad of ways before graduating high school, and that engagement has continued through college up to the present day. This has included academic public policy research, journalism covering state governmental bodies including legislatures and executive and judicial branch agencies, being elected to various party offices and as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention, lobbying legislators for conservative causes both in an activist and professional capacity, managing social media accounts for conservative groups, and most significantly volunteering and sometimes professionally managing and consulting political campaigns in multiple states across the country.

Currently living in Virginia outside of Washington, D.C., Christopher was born in Oklahoma City and grew up outside Tulsa, and received his B.A. with a Major in Political Science and Minors in History and Economics from Arizona State University, and later his Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma. Besides specializing in American political history and psephology (the study of elections) since the Second World War, he is a fan of history and geography from most every era in most every part of the world, especially the history of different religious faiths. Besides keeping up with current events, he is also an armchair cinephile and an avid fan of both classical music and rock 'n roll, especially alternative rock and its offshoots from the 1980s through to the present day.

You can find Chris on Twitter at @ChrisChesny89

Historian George Nash returns to the show to discuss the life and legacy of Herbert Hoover.

Few American presidents are as decried by voices on both the Left and Right as Herbert Hoover. His name has become synonymous with economic suffering and callous Federal response. But Dr. Nash contends that the popular narrative linking Hoover to the catastrophes of the Great Depression do a great injustice to the actual historical account and reduce one of America’s most remarkable men to that of a callous buffoon. Hoover, in Dr. Nash’s telling, was responsible for saving the lives of more people than anyone else who ever lived. And that’s just the start of it. He accomplished so much in his long life of public and private service that, even if he had never been president, he would be well worth studying today. A greater appreciation for the complexities of the man and the times in which he lived provides the student of conservatism a greater appreciation for the challenges we face today.

About George Nash

George H. Nash is the epitome of a gentleman and a scholar. A graduate from Amherst College who received his Ph.D. in History from Harvard University, Dr. Nash is an authority on the histories of American conservatism and the life of President Herbert Hoover. Dr. Nash is an independent scholar, historian, and lecturer. He speaks and writes frequently about the history and present direction of American conservatism, the life of Herbert Hoover, the legacy of Ronald Reagan, the education of the Founding Fathers, and other subjects. His writings have appeared in the American Spectator, Claremont Review of Books, Intercollegiate Review, Modern Age, National Review, New York Times Book Review, Policy Review, University Bookman, Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. He has lectured at the Library of Congress; the National Archives; the Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson presidential libraries; the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum; the Hoover Institution; the Heritage Foundation; the McConnell Center; and at various universities and conferences in the United States and Europe. Several of his lectures have been featured on C-SPAN. He has also been interviewed by C-SPAN, National Public Radio, numerous radio stations, and the print media. Dr. Nash lives in Massachusetts.

Julie Mastrine of AllSides joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis in a freewheeling conversation about the media. Conservatives love to complain of the liberal media bias, but are their complaints founded or over exaggerated? Do “both sides” have a bias problem? How do they differ and how are they similar? Are there times when bias is acceptable and even welcome? Is bias the same as inaccuracy or dishonesty? How might you identify media bias and what can we do about it?

About Julie Mastrine

Julie Mastrine is a writer and online marketing professional who is passionate about being a responsible member of the media. She believes in promoting critical thinking and traditional values.

Julie creates engaging online content to help brands communicate, tell their stories, and get attention. Her content has earned millions of online impressions. As Director of Marketing and Media Bias Ratings at AllSides, Julie oversaw a 1,684% increase in total social media impressions for AllSides in just three years and a 1,656% increase in website traffic. Julie created the AllSides Media Bias Chart™, which has been viewed and shared tens of millions of times and published in numerous academic textbooks. She frequently conducts media bias research to bolster AllSide’s media bias ratings, and wrote the highly trafficked guide, 12 Types of Media Bias.

Julie is also a frequent writer and editor, writing regularly for AllSides and Evie Magazine on topics such as politics, culture and relationships. And her work has also appeared in The Epoch Times, USA Today, The Federalist, and other publications.

When she’s not immersed in media, Julie is also a fire dancer and performance artist.

You can learn more about Julie on her website and follow her on Twitter @juliewrites

About AllSides

Is a web-based organization dedicated to strengthening our democratic society with balanced news, diverse perspectives, and real conversation. AllSides exposes people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world—and each other. Their balanced news coverage, media bias ratings, civil dialogue opportunities, and technology platform are available for everyone and can be integrated by schools, nonprofits, media companies, and more.

AllSides displays the day’s top news stories from the Left, Center, and Right of the political spectrum—side-by-side so you can see the full picture.

AllSides also provides Media Bias Ratings for over 800 media outlets and writers, so you can easily identify different perspectives.

Josh engages in a Cannonball Run conversation with Bo Winegard across a wide variety of subjects from how Bo found himself migrating from the political Left to the Right, whether Edmund Burke believed in natural rights, how one might approach Burke from both a religious and secular angle, the curious tendency of the academic Left to erect strawman versions of conservatism, the limitations of Thomas Sowell’s constrained vs. unconstrained visions paradigm, how the GOP might chart a course between throwback Reaganism and MAGA Trumpism, and whether religion is necessary to sustain ordered liberty.

About Bo Winegard

Bo Winegard obtained his PhD in social psychology from Florida State University, under the tutelage of Roy Baumeister. Formerly a professor at a small college in the Midwest, Bo is now an independent scholar interested in human evolution, human variation, the rise of political order, and political conservatism. He also enjoys literature, film, sports, and mediocre detective fiction.

Bo has many peer-reviewed publications on motley topics and often writes for the online media publication Quillette. He is currently working on the first of several books on human nature and political ideology.

Visit Bo’s website:

https://www.bmwinegard.com/

And his YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8mHb9VLBbrlvzRRwwGgL5w

You can also find Bo on Twitter @EPoe187

The British theologian and philosopher G. K. Chesterton observed that “religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” When we talk openly about political or religious matters, we risk endangering relationships. Yet politics and religion are immensely important topics that ought not to be ignored for the sake of avoiding awkward conversations. Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by Corey Nathan as they discuss how we might talk politics and religion without killing each other.

About Corey Nathan

Corey Nathan was raised in an observant Jewish household attending an Orthodox synagogue. His family is mostly from Brooklyn, NY; but Corey grew up on the Jersey side—Bruce Springsteen country! In his late 20s, much to the family's chagrin, Corey became a Born-again Christian. Not long after this epiphany, the new believer began to find many of the default social and political positions of contemporary American Evangelicalism to be at odds with the very Scriptures that are supposed to be Christians’ authority for how to engage in the world. Vocationally, Corey started out as a stockbroker (Series 7, Series 63) during the day while he was studying at a theatre conservatory at night. Since then, he’s been an entrepreneur with one foot in business and one foot in creative pursuits having built and managed such endeavors as a specialty headhunting firm, a theatre and film ministry, a residential and commercial service company, a 501c3 to help folks during the pandemic, and, most recently, a new media/content company.

Corey continues to be a student of theology, politics and culture and enjoys sharing invigorating conversations with world-renowned experts of these subjects on the podcast he produces and hosts, Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killin’ Each Other. He can also be caught having these same kinds of discussions with friends and family over a good whiskey or glass of wine with the music of Monk, Coltrane or Louis Armstrong setting the mood. Corey has been married to Lisa for 24 years and has 3 kids, along with the family pooches, Bailey and Charles Mingus the 3rd. You can follow Corey on Twitter @coreysnathan.

How secure and reliable are elections in the United States?

The Left and Right are both replete with voices warning of the dire consequences of the “other side” getting their way. And nowhere is this more evident than with concerns about the legitimacy of elections. Whether it’s the Right’s concerns with voter fraud and election theft or the Left’s apprehensions about voter suppression and disenfranchisement, Americans are growing increasingly concerned that their votes don’t, or won’t, or eventually will not count.

What’s more, the leaders of each party, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, have used increasingly alarmist language in claiming our democratic institutions have been undermined. Trump continues to assert that the 2020 election was “stolen” and that it was a “fraud on the American people”. Meanwhile, Biden has warned that those who do not share his views on election reform are interested in instituting “Jim Crow 2.0” and that they are akin to the likes of George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis.

In this episode Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis takes a deep dive into the various allegations made by Trump and Biden and offers some thoughts on whether Americans can have faith in their democratic institutions.

Saving Elephants officially hits 100 episodes! Host Josh Lewis is joined by Alan Wolan to discuss their mutual admiration for the writings and ideas of Thomas Sowell.

Thomas Sowell, along with Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk, and William F. Buckley, comprise the Mt. Rushmore of thinkers who best exemplify the conservatism espoused by Saving Elephants. Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, and researcher whose nine decades of life and forty-five books covering topics as far reaching as social policy on race, ethnic groups, education, and decision-making, to classical and Marxian economics, to the problems of children perceived as having disabilities.

About Alan Wolan

Alan Wolan is a business owner, entrepreneur, investor, homeschool dad with five kids and host of The Genius of Thomas Sowell podcast, a venue for discussing the books and ideas of Thomas Sowell. That's it. Nothing else. You can check out a brief summary of Sowell prepared by Alan at TomSowell.com

Alan earned his BA in Intellectual History from the University of Pennsylvania and MBA in Marketing from New York University. He lives in California. You can follow Alan on Twitter @AlanWolan

Few individuals have had as deep an impact on modern conservative thought, yet remain in relative obscurity, as Willmoore Kendall. The conservative English professor Jeffrey Hart said of Kendall that he was "the most important political theorist to have emerged in the twenty-odd years since the end of World War II." Kendall’s writings are thought-provoking, challenging, contentious, scrupulous, and, often, innovative. His analysis and critiques took no prisoners on both the Right and Left, and his prickly personality shattered relationships with friends, family, and spouses alike. Founding editor of National Review and early mentor to William F. Buckley, Kendall was on the forefront of conservative thought. His ideas don’t entirely fit squarely within the broader warring camps on the Right today, but they are nonetheless instructive, and we ignore his arguments at our own peril.

Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to discuss the life and ideas of this important yet often neglected thinker on the Right is historian Chris Owen whose new book Heaven Can Indeed Fall: The Life of Willmoore Kendall offers the definitive biography of Kendall’s life and work.

Per the book’s description: “Willmoore Kendall was a man against the world, a "maverick," an "iconoclast." His thoughts were profound, his countless enemies powerful, his personal life full of drama. Heaven Can Indeed Fall is the first full-length biography of Kendall and integrates the man with the teacher, thinker, and cold warrior. Once a Marxist, Kendall became a fearsome foe of global communism. He never apologized for supporting Joseph McCarthy. As the co-founder of National Review he helped turn the word liberal into an insult. A "stormy petrel," Kendall was a man “who never lost an argument or kept a friend.” Yet he was one of the most effective and sensitive teachers of his age. His ideas shaped Cold War practices of intelligence analysis and psychological warfare. As an academic he became the premier American theorist for conservative populism. The recent reemergence of populist ideas among American conservatives makes understanding Kendall ever more imperative. This book shows how a child prodigy and bucolic boy scout became an ambitious intelligence analyst, razor-tongued polemicist and profound student of American politics. By knowing Kendall one can better understand Cold War America, and contemporary America as well.”

About Chris Owen

Dr. Christopher Owen is a historian and recently retired Professor of English within the Department of Languages and Literature at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Dr. Owen earned his PhD in history at Emory University in 1991. His previous book includes The Sacred Flame of Love: Methodism and Society in Nineteenth-Century Georgia.

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat joins Josh Lewis to talk about his recent memoir The Deep Places. His book tells of his recent journey in battling chronic Lyme disease and his reflections on illness, discovery, and hope.

Ross’ story begins prior to the illness in which he was attempting to build the life he’d always dreamed of. “At that moment in my life I only really believed in upside…I wrote my share of words on the problem of evil…usually making the case that much of American Christianity offers people the wrong answers, encouraging them to believe that actually bad things shouldn’t happen if you’re good, that the American Dream should be yours if you just stay in God’s good graces and follow the paths that He’s marked out.”

“I had a similar critique of the secular meritocracy in which I had been educated: that because it asked its climbers to work so hard and jump so high, it encouraged an idea that we had somehow earned all our privileges, that our SAT scores and extracurricular accomplishments meant that we genuinely deserved to rule.”

“But despite these critiques, there was still a sense in which I believed exactly these ideas myself—or at least for myself—as I passed through college into adulthood, achieved the career as a writer that I wanted, won the wife I wanted, the job I wanted, the kids I wanted, and now the house and country life I wanted, too.”

Yet life had other plans for Ross as he’s spent the past six years battling an invisible enemy that’s robbed much of the life he’d built. His book offers profound insights into what we can make of our sufferings and how to keep hope in hopeless situations.

About Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an opinion columnist in April 2009. His column appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic and a blogger on its website. He is also a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies American politics, culture, religion, and family life.

A prolific writer, Ross has written for The Atlantic and National Review and has been published widely in the popular press. In addition to The Deep Places, he is also the author of five other books: “The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success”; “To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism”; “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics”; “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream”, which he coauthored with Reihan Salam; and “Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class”.

Ross has a BA in history from Harvard University. He lives with his wife and four children in New Haven. You can follow Ross on Twitter @DouthatNYT