The Political Orphanage

Why Childcare Will Always Be Expensive

Alex Mayyasi of NPR's Planet Money joins me to explore some of the stranger forces shaping the economy. Why did the federal government create a legally mandated raisin ca

The A.I. Civil War

Are we racing toward an AI-powered golden age—or building something we won't be able to control? Justin Robert Young joins to explore the emerging philosophical divide ov

Upwingers Fighting Downwingers (Rebroadcast)

Dr. Steve Fuller of Warwick University says the meaningful split in society is not Leftwing vs. Rightwing, but rather Upwing vs. Downwing. Both have radically different a

How Do Other Countries do Healthcare?

Healthcare in America is more expensive than anywhere else in the world—but what are other countries actually doing differently? Physician and Slice of Life MD author Sal

Guys with Swords Control the French Language

Donald Trump has renamed Lake Ontario "Lake America" for federal purposes—but can a president actually rename a place, or only change what the government calls it? Andrew

I Read the DSA's Platform. They're Socialists.

The DSA recently released a policy platform establishing the goals of their political movement. In this episode we got through the main planks of that document, namely th

Chinese Lobbyists Hate California Pig Laws

The Save Our Bacon Act, now repackaged into the Farm Bill, would upturn state rights in favor of federal prohibitions on animal cruelty laws. It's being pushed, in large

What Does Nolan Owe The Odyssey?

What is The Odyssey actually about beyond a clever guy trying to get home? Classicist Isabella Reinhardt joins to dig into the poem's deeper themes of civilization, hospi

Why Can't We Have Nice Trains?

It's not that America won't spend money on mass transit, it's that we piss it away when we do. Our transit system is a mess, with a lot of problems in spending, procureme

Richard Hanania on Populism Eating America

Should you trust experts—or trust yourself? Richard Hanania, author of Kakistocracy: Why Populism Ends in Disaster joins to discuss why populism has become one of the d

Why Nobody Trusts the News: Isaac Saul

Why has trust in the news collapsed—and is it really all the media's fault? Tangle founder Isaac Saul joins for a candid conversation about the incentives driving modern

I Ask an Amish Guy about Everything

Is Rumpsringa real? Are Amish people happier than you? Let's visit Amish country! Heaton visits Muhlenberg County, Ohio, to investigate America's unique subculture of pac

Revenge of the Non-Profits

Brian Dunning of the Skeptoid podcast returns to The Political Orphanage for a spirited pushback episode on the modern non-profit industry. In a previous conversation, we

George Washington's Anti-Daddy

Why did the United States become a stable republic while so many revolutions ended in dictatorship? The answer lies in two men pivitol to the Revolution: George Washing

How Harlots Saved America (Rebroadcast)

What if history isn't a string of great man biopics or a struggle between conservatives and progressives? What if it's a battle of disciplinarians against drunks and harl

America's Dueling Enlightenments (Rebroadcast)

The Founding Fathers were all children of the Enlightenment, and they agreed on kicking King George out, but they never agreed on how to run the country. Seth Radwell,

Cicero and the Founding Fathers (Rebroadcast)

Jeffrey Rosen is a legal scholar and the President of the National Constitution Center. He's the author "the Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspire

Zuby Grew up in a Company Town

Zuby is a British rapper who spent his childhood on a Saudi Aramco compound—a sprawling corporate community complete with schools, recreation, housing, and services. We d

(Preview) Vampire Bats Thwart Henry Ford

Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing, built the modern automobile industry, and amassed one of the greatest fortunes in American history. Then he decided to conquer th

The Dark Side of Corporate Utopia: Pullman vs. Hershey

George Pullman built his employees a sparkling company town with clean homes, parks, libraries, luxury trains, and some of the best living conditions in the country—but d