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The Saving Elephants Podcast
The Saving Elephants Podcast features engaging conversations about conservative values and ideas with a mercifully modern twist. Tired of political shock-talk and rank punditry? Curious about what conservative thinkers of yesteryear had to say but don't have time to read some terribly long, boring book they wrote? Join us!
New episodes every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month.
Listen to individual episodes below or subscribe by clicking on these platforms:
174 – Triggering Straussians with Greg Collins
In his perpetual quest to mildly trigger his Straussian pals, Josh invites fellow Millennial and Burkean conservative Greg Collins on to...
7 days ago
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173 – The Fertility Gap with Clara Piano
The Right has long had a thing or two to say about the importance of the family and its role in national stability and prosperity. But...
Mar 4
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172 – The History of American Conservatism with George Nash
In 1976 historian George H. Nash wrote The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 , a celebrated historical accounting...
Feb 18
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171 – Reality Therapy Redux
At the end of 2024, Ryan Rogers joined the show to share his experiences with fanatical wokism as a graduate student. He later had...
Feb 4
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170 – Tribalism is Dumb with Andrew Heaton
Comedian, author, and political satirist Andrew Heaton joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to explore where our political tribalism...
Jan 21
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169 – Unsolicited Advice with Blake Fischer
With the 2024 elections in rearview both parties are trying to grapple with what lessons they should learn. Who better to offer...
Jan 7
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168 – The Perennial Burke with Daniel Klein
As Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is wont to do, here is yet another episode exploring the political and philosophical brilliance of...
Dec 17, 2024
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167 – The Woke Mind with Ryan Rogers
“I do not believe,” wrote F. A. Hayek in his book The Fatal Conceit , “that the widely held conception of ‘social justice’ either...
Dec 3, 2024
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166 – Independent Idiosyncrasies with Brett Loyd
“The biggest takeaway from the 2024 election,” writes Justin Longo of the Independence Center , is that “independents have officially...
Nov 19, 2024
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165 – Take Courage
Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis flies this election day episode solo to offer his thoughts on how your vote is more likely to impact...
Nov 5, 2024
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164 – What is a Woman with Kimberly Ross
Saving Elephants meticulously avoids many cringeworthy tropes in today’s “conservative” media and opts instead for deeper conversations...
Oct 15, 2024
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163 – Where Does the Conservative Go from Here?
In a world where both political parties are moving away from free market oriented policy solutions, a robust defense of our international...
Oct 1, 2024
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162 – Harmonizing Sentiments with Hans Eicholz
The Declaration of Independence audaciously declares certain “truths” to be “self-evident”. And, in so doing, offered a justification...
Sep 17, 2024
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161 – American Covenant with Yuval Levin
In this era of polarization and partisan bickering, Americans of all political persuasions are calling for the nation to come together. ...
Sep 3, 2024
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160 – FreeCons with Avik Roy
The great fusionist project of ordered liberty advocated by Frank Meyer, William F. Buckley, and M. Stanton Evans is defended and...
Aug 20, 2024
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159 – The Prudential Lincoln with Allen Guelzo
Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? Were his efforts at emancipation the mere cold calculations of a politician whose sole aim was to win the...
Aug 6, 2024
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158 – Fashionable Fusionists with Samuel Goldman
In an age of rampant informalities, shoddy attire, and the kind of milieu that makes People of Walmart a possibility, conservatives stand...
Jul 16, 2024
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157 – Fifty Conservative Thinkers
In an age where what passes for the archetype conservative are the likes of Candace Owens, Bill Mitchell, Sean Hannity, Matt Gaetz, Tomi...
Jul 2, 2024
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156 – Reappraising the Right’s Foreign Policy with Michael Lucchese
In February of 2004 the late Charles Krauthammer delivered the keynote address at AEI’s Annual Dinner. It was a year into the Iraqi war...
Jun 18, 2024
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155 – Melodic Musings with Barney Quick
How might music point us to the good, the true, and the beautiful? What is the purpose of music, and we are guilty of misusing it? Why...
May 21, 2024
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154 – That Old Burkean Saw with Cal Davenport
After a stint of episodes taking deep dives into obscure topics, Josh returns to some conservative first-principles by inviting long-time...
May 7, 2024
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153 – Full-Time with David Bahnsen
David Bahnsen returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book: Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life. David holds a high view of...
Apr 16, 2024
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152 – Humanist Conservatives with Jeffery Tyler Syck
Fusionism—the viewpoint advocated by the likes of William F. Buckley and Frank Meyer of order and liberty mutually reinforcing each...
Apr 2, 2024
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151 – The God of This Lower World
What is the single most important virtue for a leader to possess? What quality can make the run-of-the-mill politician into a...
Mar 19, 2024
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150 – We Don't Need No Indoctrination with Luke Sheahan
What is the purpose of higher education? Is it primarily to prepare us for the jobs of the future? Is it to ensure the leaders of...
Mar 5, 2024
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149 – The Legacy of Roger Scruton with Fisher Derderian
Having published more than forty books on an astoundingly wide range of topics and holding noteworthy positions at the British Academy...
Feb 20, 2024
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148 – Conservatism in Practice with Gov Mitch Daniels
The Saving Elephants podcast has welcomed a wide array of incredible guests who are on forefront of the conservative political movement. ...
Feb 6, 2024
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147 – Where the Religious Right Went Wrong with JB Shreve
One of the strangest political developments over the past several decades has been the devolution of the Religious Right and large swaths...
Jan 16, 2024
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146 – The Myth of Nationalism with Samuel Goldman
What does is mean to be an American? And why do we Americans obsess so much over the question of what it means to be an American? This...
Jan 2, 2024
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145 – Smoking Yule Logs and Donning Gay Apparel
In 2021, Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis joined three other veteran podcasters on a new podcast endeavor: Are We Right? Cal Davenport,...
Dec 19, 2023
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144 – Conservative Historian Redux with AD Tippet
Earlier this year Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis was on AD Tippet’s podcast, Conservative Historian. This episode is a re-podcast of...
Dec 5, 2023
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143 – The Conservative Mind at 70 with Michael Lucchese
In 1953 a little-known political theorist Russell Kirk repurposed his doctoral dissertation as a book for publication. His book, The...
Nov 21, 2023
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142 – Jiving with Jaffa with Seth Root
While Leo Strauss was famous for influencing men and women who became intellectual heavyweights in the conservative movement—names like...
Nov 7, 2023
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141 – The Soul of Civility with Alexandra Hudson
Everyone supports civility, in theory, when the “other side” is behaving themselves. But what is the role of civility in an era of...
Oct 17, 2023
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140 – Back to Burke
The name Edmund Burke is used quite liberally on the Saving Elephants podcast as host Josh Lewis makes no bones about being a “Burkean”...
Oct 3, 2023
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139 – Perspectives from Across the Pond with Sarah Stook
The United States and United Kingdom have enjoyed and, at times, endured a symbiotic history, culture, politics, and global relationship....
Sep 19, 2023
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138 – The Conservative Historian with Belisarius Aves
“History offers not simply a chronicle of events but, more importantly, opportunities to gain insights about the human condition from the...
Sep 5, 2023
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137 – Political Theology with Jonathan Cole – Part 2
Christian or not, it’s undeniable that Western civilization, and the United States in particular, has deep historical roots in...
Aug 15, 2023
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136 – Political Theology with Jonathan Cole – Part 1
“I never discuss anything else except politics and religion,” English writer, philosopher, and Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton once...
Aug 1, 2023
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135 – Cool Ellul with Jason Thacker
Modern views on how future technology is likely to change our lives range from bloviatingly aspirational visions of utopia to musings on...
Jul 18, 2023
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134 – Gilding a Mess with Avi Woolf
In the aftermath of the Civil War and prior to the first World War lies an often overlooked era in American history known as the Gilded...
Jul 4, 2023
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133 – Grappling with Hate Speech with Brooke Medina
In this brave new digital world, opportunities for hate speech seem ubiquitous and increasingly dangerous. How should a conservative...
Jun 20, 2023
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132 – Classical Period Non-Perverts with Jack Butler
Among the very-online, relatively young, and mostly male cohorts of the Right is a movement growing in popularity and intensity that...
Jun 6, 2023
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131 – Witnessing Whittaker with Sam Tanenhaus
In 1948 Whittaker Chambers shocked the nation when, while testifying before Congress, he gave the names of individuals he claimed were...
May 16, 2023
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130 – Cultivating Kirk with Jeff Nelson
Perhaps no other individual (or person, for the benefit of the Kirkian insider) was more responsible for resuscitating intellectual...
May 2, 2023
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129 – Epistemological Musings with Bonnie Kristian
Our digital world is saturated in “facts” but there’s little agreement on what constitutes “truth”. If we can no longer agree on what...
Apr 18, 2023
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128 – Reconciling Kirk and King with John Wood Jr
What do Russell Kirk and Martin Luther King Jr. have in common? Though they’re traditionally depicted as coming from opposing political...
Apr 4, 2023
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127 – 40 Must-Read Conservative Books – Part 2
The conservative tradition embodies centuries of accumulated wisdom from some of the brightest and most inspiring thinkers you’ll find. ...
Mar 21, 2023
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126 – 40 Must-Read Conservative Books – Part 1
The conservative tradition embodies centuries of accumulated wisdom from some of the brightest and most inspiring thinkers you’ll find....
Mar 7, 2023
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125 – Braver Angels with Elizabeth Doll
In response to America’s rapidly polarizing political divide a number of organizations have developed to try and turn down the heat....
Feb 21, 2023
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