EP87: The Political Realignment with Stephanie Slade of Reason - Gracearchy with Jim Babka

Gracearchy with Jim Babka

Do you understand the new political realignment?

Is freedom fading?

Traditional Democrats are fleeing their party. Many of them are sounding more socially conservative.

Meanwhile, Republicans are questioning free trade and calling for industrial policy. They increasingly sound like FDR Democrats.

Oh, and over the last few decades, the Libertarians popularized a Nolan Chart Quiz, demonstrating that left-right (liberal vs conservative) spectrum was incomplete. David Nolan introduced a second dimension that measured freedom vs authoritarianism. The result was a more diverse and accurate picture of individual ideology.

Nolan's second axis is based on the political left standing for social freedom, and the political right working for economic freedom. But the purveyors of the most popular Quiz are noticing some strange behaviors. They're noticing less freedom too!

We wonder what is happening. That's why we invited an expert to Gracearchy with Jim Babka...

Stephanie Slade is a senior editor at Reason. She has written articles like "Can Free Markets Win Votes In the New GOP?" and "The Authoritarian Convergence" about the fact that each national party has become less (classically) liberal. We reference four of her most relevant articles, below.

Slade is also an expert on "fusionism" -- the historical alliance between conservatives and libertarians. Remember when Ronald Reagan said, "Government is the problem?" What happened to that? We asked Stephanie. And you'll learn her answer by listening to this interview...

Stephanie Slade is also a scholar for the Acton Institute. Acton is concerned with teaching the moral benefits and workings of free markets to Christians. Slade is herself a Catholic.

Our show went from faith, to fusionism, to political realignment, to the rising illiberalism we are seeing in many places, including the Nolan Chart quiz.

It was fun to discuss what it's like to be a Christian at Reason (magazine). We covered other topics too, such as Thick vs Thin libertarianism, and why a believer should oppose...

- Government welfare programs

- Prohibition

- Having the State inculcate virtue -- especially to schoolchildren.

TIMELINE

0:00 Theme

0:44 Faith, Fusion, Nolan's Chart

2:49 Intro Stephanie Slade

4:05 A Catholic at Reason

9:15 Can the State inculcate virtue?

12:01 The ways Gov Welfare is bad

15:31 Subsidiarity

21:15 Frank Meyer and fusionism

27:47 Thick vs Thin libertarianism

37:12 What happened to Reaganism?

41:35 Authoritarian Convergence

46:04 Perspective combats fears

51:16 The political realignment is real

55:54 Nolan Chart evidence of realignment

1:04:39 How to write World's Smallest Political Quiz questions

1:12:23 Orient from extremes, toward Grace

LINKS

The episode of Gracearchy (EP 19) inspired by Stephanie Slades article, "The Authoritarian Convergence"...

https://youtu.be/xDn9OSWqKjI

Stephanie Slade articles referenced during the show...

- Can Free Markets Win Votes In the New GOP?

https://reason.com/2024/02/03/reexamining-the-realignment/

- The Authoritarian Convergence

https://reason.com/2022/09/13/the-authoritarian-convergence/

- Is There a Future for Fusionism?

https://reason.com/2021/02/10/is-there-a-future-for-fusionism/

- Must Libertarians Care About More Than the State?

The tension between two libertarianisms in the big tent

https://reason.com/2022/03/19/two-libertarianisms/

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Be grace-full to each other.