American Angst

ตอน

• Filibustered: When Debate Damages Democracy 15.04.2026 1ชม. 10นาที

  In this episode of American Angst, political philosopher Michael Bailey offers a clear, engaging, and deeply informed exploration of the filibuster—what it is, how it has evolved, and why its modern use may be undermining democratic governance in the United States. Moving beyond the familiar image of marathon speeches, Bailey explains how today’s “silent filibuster” functions as a routine tool of obstruction, effectively requiring a supermajority for most legislation and raising serious quest...
• Is This War Different? Putting the Iran Conflict in Context 16.03.2026 59นาที

  After a break, American Angst returns with Dr. Michael Bailey bringing his sharp, historically grounded perspective to one of the biggest questions in political culture right now: how unusual is this latest American war footing, really? Rather than offering hot takes, Bailey carefully sorts through what feels familiar, what feels troublingly new, and what may signal a deeper shift in the way the United States talks about power, war, and presidential authority. With his trademark mix of intell...
• Kitchen-Table Congressman? A Conversation with Candidate Shawn Harris 23.02.2026 1ชม. 1นาที

  In this return appearance on American Angst, congressional candidate Shawn Harris joins Michael Bailey and host Dale McConkey for a candid, unscripted conversation about politics grounded in lived experience rather than partisan theater. Drawing on decades of military service as a brigadier general and his current life as a cattle rancher, Harris frames leadership as humility, responsibility, and a relentless focus on people over personality. The discussion moves from Northwest Georgia’s “kit...
• Protesting in God's Name: Faith, Immigration, and Public Witness 30.01.2026 1ชม. 10นาที

  This week on American Angst, Mike shares a crossover episode with host Dale McConkey Church Potluck. They are joined by United Methodist pastors Rev. Ash McEuen and Rev. Karen Kagiyama for a timely and poignant conversation exploring immigration, protest, and the uneasy intersection of faith and public life in the United States. The episode begins with the real-world impact of current immigration policies. Ash McEuen, whose ministry is deeply rooted in immigrant and Latino communities, descri...
• Jimmy Carter’s Living Legacy (Literally!) Josh Carter on Democracy, Global Health, and Caregiving 22.01.2026 1ชม. 5นาที

  In this kickoff-to-2026 episode of American Angst, we’re joined by a truly special guest: Josh Carter—podcaster, advocate, and yes, Jimmy Carter’s grandson—who offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the values that shaped his grandfather’s public life and his own. Josh shares unforgettable stories from Plains Sunday school (where people of many faiths felt welcomed), the surprising role of music in Carter-world (including a wild Bob Dylan family anecdote), and how Jimmy Carter’s faith ...
• "It's a Republic, not a Democracy": Bailey's Take 22.12.2025 53นาที

  Dr. Michael Bailey closes out the American Angst year with a holiday-season conversation that’s equal parts warm, witty, and razor-sharp about American civic identity. Starting with a few Christmas-movie confessions (including some truly astonishing gaps in Dr. Bailey’s viewing history), the episode quickly pivots into the real theme: why the phrase “We’re a republic, not a democracy” is not just misleading, but often politically weaponized. Bailey breaks down the difference between republic,...
• Trump’s Troublesome Environmental Policy: From Ocean Depths to Atmospheric Heights 12.12.2025 1ชม. 2นาที

  In this wide-ranging episode of American Angst, Dr. Michael Bailey and Dale take a deep and sobering look at Donald Trump’s environmental record. Using a “bottom of the ocean to the top of the atmosphere—and into our minds” framework, Michael walks through Trump’s approach to deep sea mining, fossil fuel expansion, weakened clean air and water protections, changes to endangered species rules, and targeted obstruction of wind and renewable energy. The episode also explores Trump’s efforts to d...
• Thanksgiving: The Most American Holiday? 24.11.2025 1ชม. 4นาที

  It's a special Thanksgiving crossover episode of American Angst and Church Potluck! Dr. Michael Bailey and Dale McConkey start off-topic with a quick overview of 10 dizzying days in American politics. From there, they pivot to something far older, quieter, and deeper: Thanksgiving! Michael makes a bold claim—that Thanksgiving is the most American of all holidays—and builds his case like a true political theorist, tracing four different “foundings” of America (Puritan, Revolutionary, Civil War...
• Election Results and Shutdown Breakthrough: Who Won the Week? 11.11.2025 58นาที

  In this episode of American Angst, Michael Bailey briefly updates us on the apparent breakthrough in the government shutdown. The deal reopens the government and restores furlough pay, but Bailey emphasizes that the underlying fight—especially over Affordable Care Act subsidies—remains unresolved. In his view, the shutdown ended without Democrats gaining meaningful policy concessions, making this more of a pause than a resolution. The primary focus of the episode, however, is the recent off-y...
• American Dream on Hold: The Rising Barriers to Homeownership for Young Adults 10.11.2025 53นาที

  Homeownership used to be the on-ramp to the middle-class American Dream. For many young adults, that on-ramp now feels barricaded—by high prices, high mortgage rates, high rents, and student debt. In this episode, Michael Bailey and Dale McConkey trace how the starter-home drought ripples outward, negatively affecting: Wealth-building: Years of renting replace decades of equity, widening generational gaps.Life milestones: Delayed ownership nudges later marriages, fewer or later kids, and less...
• The Government Shutdown: Why Our System Fails on Purpose 01.11.2025 1ชม. 11นาที

  Boo! In this Halloween edition of American Angst, political philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey leads a brisk, illuminating tour of the current government shutdown and what it reveals about our constitutional machinery. Michael lays out why both parties share blame in different ways, but, more importantly, why the structure itself incentivizes brinkmanship over basic governance. He explains how the Senate filibuster concentrates leverage, why “who’s actually in charge?” is maddeningly opaque to vo...
• Democratic Backsliding: How Democracies Erode (with Dr. Sam Call) 27.10.2025 1ชม. 6นาที

  We may begin talking about sweater weather and niceties about upstate New York, but we quickly let the angst flow deep and wide. Join us as Sam Call (comparative politics) joins Michael Bailey (political science and philosophy) and host Dale McConkey (sociology) for a fascinating exploration of how democracies erode, or "backslide." Dr. Call explains why today’s threats rarely look like coups; instead, elected leaders chip away at checks and balances, politicize the bureaucracy, blur truth, a...
• Faith & the Founders, Part 2: The Godless Constitution Thesis 20.10.2025 1ชม. 8นาที

  We’re back with another crossover of American Angst and Church Potluck—and it’s the middle slice of a three-part series. In Part 1, we explored evidence for a religious impulse at the founding of the United States. Today, we flip the coin and examine the “godless constitution” thesis: why the U.S. Constitution reads secular by design, how the framers imagined church–state separation, and what that meant in practice—from oath vs. affirmation options and chaplains, to presidential proclamations...
• Faith & the Founders, Part 1: The Christian Commonwealth Thesis 10.10.2025 1ชม. 4นาที

  It’s a crossover feast: American Angst meets Church Potluck for a lively, thoughtful dive into religion, politics, and the Founders—setting the table for an upcoming conversation on Christian nationalism. This one leans a bit more American Angst in tone, with Michael Bailey taking the lead while Dale McConkey jumps in with sociological insight and good-humored pushback. In this episode, the focus is squarely on the Christian Commonwealth perspective—the idea that America’s roots lie in Purita...
• San Francisco De-Angstified: A Father-Daughter Conversation 06.10.2025 1ชม. 1นาที

  San Francisco is often painted as a city in crisis by conservative politicians and pundits, but does that picture hold up when you actually live there? In this special episode, political scientist Michael Bailey sits down with his daughter, Lydia Bailey, for a wide-ranging father–daughter dialogue about her life in the city. Host Dale McConkey is along for the ride, chiming in from the back seat. Through their conversation, Lydia helps us see whether the lived reality of San Francisco matches...
• Climate Change and Glimmers of Hope: A Conversation with Courtney Cooper 29.09.2025 1ชม. 13นาที

  Environmental policy professor Dr. Courtney Cooper joins American Angst to untangle climate science, local vs. federal solutions, and why adaptation and mitigation aren’t either/or options. With Dr. Michael Bailey (our resident “Avatar of Angst”) pressing on partisanship, expertise, and the politics of denial, and host Dr. Dale McConkey steering the conversation, we move from Andean glaciers and wildfire smoke to bike lanes, data centers, and why “co-benefits” (healthier cities, better transi...
• Trump Loyalty Shakedown: Free Speech’s New Fault Line 25.09.2025 51นาที

  Is America’s free-speech problem moving from online pile-ons to state-pressured loyalty tests? Political scientist and philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey makes the case that we’re drifting into a new, internet-era McCarthyism—a “Trump Loyalty Shakedown”—while host Dale McConkey presses on what truly protects expression: not just the First Amendment, but civic norms that resist conformity. We warm up with rectangles on the U.S. map and West Coast daydreams, then trace three classic threats to spee...
• Why Don't We Trust the Experts? Science and the Crisis of Authority 22.09.2025 49นาที

  Physicist and astronomer Dr. Todd Timberlake joins the conversation to explore the modern crisis of expertise. What does it mean to trust science when experts sometimes get things wrong? How do peer review, replication, and the broader scientific community create self-correcting systems that still move knowledge forward, even through mistakes? And why has public trust in institutions—including science and medicine—eroded so dramatically in recent years? Together with our angsty leader, Michae...
• Charlie Kirk's Tragic Death and the Temptation of Collective Blame 12.09.2025 51นาที

  Political philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey and host Dale McConkey reflect on the public murder of Charlie Kirk and a week already heavy with 9/11 remembrances. With humility about their limits and the fluid facts, they focus not on speculation but on what our reactions to this tragedy reveal about us as a people. Michael outlines three tensions—legal individual responsibility, our deep cultural formation, and our tendency toward selective outrage—urging listeners to reject collective guilt whil...
• Trump Derangement Syndrome: Sincerity, Bulls**t, and the Death of Dialogue 09.09.2025 45นาที

  Political philosopher Michael Bailey joins host Dale McConkey to unpack “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a window into America’s fractured political discourse. They begin with how shifting cultural guardrails have normalized dismissive rhetoric and redefined what counts as acceptable in public conversation, creating an environment where team loyalty often matters more than truth. From there, they explore why labels like TDS, “deep state,” “woke,” or “snowflake” shut down dialogue, trace their ...