Factions of both the Republican and Democratic parties are struggling to defend the political center against illiberal extremes. The country needs policies that can reverse our political and governmental dysfunction, advance the social welfare of all citizens, combat climate change, and confront the other forces that threaten our common interests. We launched the Vital Center podcast in February 2021 to explore solutions to the threats facing our democracy.
The podcast focuses on current politics seen in the context of our nation’s history. It highlights the policy initiatives of the Niskanen Center and other non-partisan institutions while drawing upon current academic scholarship and political literature from years past — including Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s 1949 classic “The Vital Center.”
The podcast is hosted by Geoffrey Kabaservice, Niskanen’s Vice President of Political Studies, with the regular participation of other Niskanen staff members.
You can find all episodes on this webpage, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Episodes
Episode 1: The Forces Behind the Radical Right, with Damon Linker
Episode 2: Why I Left the GOP, with Linda Chavez
Episode 3: The Man Behind the Modern Conservative Movement, with Sam Tanenhaus
Episode 4: Could Women Save the GOP by Running for Office? with Kodiak and Ariel Hill-Davis
Episode 5: The Rise of the “Establishment,” and Its Impact Today, with Aaron Renn
Episode 6: How Democrats Lost the Working Class, with Matt Karp
Episode 7: How to Fix Our Political Parties, with Rob Saldin
Episode 8: The Case for a Moderate Third Party, with Chris Vance
Episode 9: Moderate Conservatism as a Way to Protect Pre-modern Institutions, with R.R. Reno
Episode 11: The Roots of Reactionary Conservatism, with Laura K. Field
Episode 12: The Role of the Corporate Elite in Politics, with Mark Mizruchi
Episode 13: Can America Untangle Itself from Red Tape? (With Philip K. Howard)
Episode 14: How to Bridge Our Divides and Find Our Shared American Identity, with Philippa Hughes
Episode 15: How to Confront the Growing Threat to American Democracy, with Tom Nichols
Episode 16: Dark Days in Washington, with A.B. Stoddard
Episode 17: The Last Liberal Republican President, with John R. Price
Episode 19: How America Can Become a “Can Do” Country Again, with Philip Zelikow
Episode 20: Why the U.S. Government Can’t Seem to Get Anything Done Anymore, with Brink Lindsey
Episode 21: What’s a Principled Conservative to Do About Donald Trump? (With Mona Charen)
Episode 22: A Veteran Administrator’s Perspective on Higher Education, with Sam Chauncey
Episode 23: Looking at America from up High and on the Ground, with Jim Fallows
Episode 24: Re-centering the Democratic Party, with Elaine Kamarck
Episode 25: Abraham Lincoln as a Pragmatist and Peacemaker, with John Avlon
Episode 27: Can Conservatism Ever Become Sensible Again (with Joshua Tait)
Episode 29: Reckoning with the Deep Structural Problems in our Democracy, with Greg Sargent
Episode 30: The Rise of the Ripon Society and Moderate Republicanism, with Emil Frankel
Episode 31: Michael Mazarr on American Decline and Possible Revival
Episode 33: Homophobia in the Mid-20th Century, with James Kirchick
Episode 34: Why Men and Boys are Falling Behind, with Richard V. Reeves
Episode 36: America’s Unfinished Civil War, with Jeremi Suri
Episode 37: Reclaiming libertarianism, with Andrew Koppleman
Episode 38: Larry Hogan’s GOP Alternative, with Mileah Kromer
Episode 39: The Paradoxical Life of J. Edgar Hoover, with Beverly Gage
Episode 40: Imagining a Better Future for American Democracy, with Suzette Brooks Masters
Episode 41: The GOP’s Faustian Bargain with Far-Right Extremism, with David Corn
Episode 42: Tackling Immigration Reform in a Divided Washington, with Kristie De Peña
Episode 43: Los Angeles in 1974 and the Politics of Culture, with Ronald Brownstein
Episode 44: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right, with Matthew Dallek
Episode 45: How Ronald Reagan Ended the Cold War, with William Inboden
Episode 46: An Economic Agenda for a Divided Nation, with Isabel Sawhill
Episode 47: A Long-Term Success Strategy for Democrats, with Ruy Teixeira
Episode 48: How the Government Can Succeed in the Digital Age, with Jennifer Pahlka
Episode 49: Why Congress Needs to Be Revitalized, with Philip Wallach
Episode 51: Slouching Toward Utopia, with Brad DeLong
Episode 52: The Century-Long War for American Conservatism, with Matthew Continetti
Episode 53: Joe Biden as “The Last Politician,” with Franklin Foer
Episode 54: The Contested Meaning of American freedom, with Jefferson Cowie
Episode 55: The Two-Parent Privilege, with Melissa Kearney
Episode 56: The Political Reform that Might Matter Most, with Katherine Gehl
Episode 57: The Decline of the American Dream, with David Leonhardt
Episode 58: Seth D. Kaplan on How to Repair Our Fragile Society, One Neighborhood at a Time
Episode 59: Minnesota’s Progressive Republican Tradition, with Lori Sturdevant
Episode 60: Milton Friedman’s Unexpected Legacy, with Jennifer Burns
Episode 61: Is America’s past hurting us now? Deep dive with Fergus Bordewich
Episode 62: Illiberal vanguards in Russia and the U.S., with Alexandar Mihailovic
Episode 63: Conservative voices in 1960s campus activism, with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Episode 64: Understanding inequality and rising mortality rates in America, with Angus Deaton
Episode 65: The case for incremental change, with Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox
Episode 66: Slouching and the posture panic, with Beth Linker
Episode 67: America Last: Right-wing admiration for foreign autocracies, with Jacob Heilbrunn
Episode 68: The Latino century, with Mike Madrid
Episode 69: The conservative vision of Edward C. Banfield, with Kevin Kosar
Episode 70: The online misinformation epidemic, with Renée DiResta
Episode 71: Why the center must hold, with Yair Zivan
Episode 72: Hollow political parties, with Sam Rosenfeld and Daniel Schlozman
Episode 73: Exploring Norman Holmes Pearson’s legacy, with Greg Barnhisel
Episode 74: Why Britain (and the US?) face a governance crisis, with Sam Freedman