Episodes

September 20, 2023

The Virtue of Prudence in U.S. Foreign Policy: Lessons for Today w/ Dr. Robert G. Kaufman, Ph.D., J.D., LL.M.

When I first met our guest today, it was during the administration of George W. Bush in 2007 at the Starbucks near Ralphs in Malibu, California between Pepperdine classes. Dr. Kaufman was discussing anything and everything with anyone who would stop by to chat, from students to homeless-looking billionaires to homeless looking homeless people. He reminded me of a real-life Socrates in the Agora, except with a nice tie.

Professor Robert G. Kaufman has taught at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy in Malibu, California since 2004. Before that, Dr. Kaufman was tenured in Bernie Sanders’ country at the University of Vermont as the only Republican faculty member. He has 4 degrees from Columbia University in New York City, including a Great Books background as undergraduate and a Ph.D. Kaufman’s law degrees are from Georgetown (JD) and his advance law studies in dispute resolution were from Pepperdine Law’s famous Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution program in Malibu, California.

The discussion today includes his controversial book “In Defense of the Bush Doctrine” (University of Kentucky Press, 2007) as well as its sister book that came nearly a decade later with the same themes, “Dangerous Doctrine: how Obama’s Grand Strategy Weakened America (University of Kentucky Press, 2016). Those books defend what he urges that a prudent, historically learned president would decide, given the right lessons from the Civil War, WW 1, WW 2, the Cold War, and the first Gulf War.

He stands by his arguments and conclusions in those books despite the well-spring of isolationist rhetoric creeping back into Republican Party politics, allegedly inspired by Trump.

Kaufman voted for Trump and would again, so he’s not a Never Trumper. But he’s not an Always Trumper, as well. And the dangers of either side are worth paying close attention to.

Professor Kaufman also offers critical reflection on presidents Trump and Biden, and suggestions for a way forward with our most critical, pressing challenges.

We also incidently mention an earlier book that I read two decades ago, his biography of the Democrat US senator from Washington, Henry “Scoop” Jackson, who had the correct view of Nixon’s detente and who helped establish the Reagan Doctrine that won the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

The Republican Professor is a pro-getting-a-better-grip-on-the-right-foreign-policy podcast.

Therefore, welcome the one and only Professor Robert G. Kaufman of the Pepperdine School of Public Policy in Malibu, California.

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack

September 13, 2023

Anthony Bradley Unplugged, Part 2 on Anger, Virtue, & the Case for Men w/ Dr. Anthony Bradley, Ph.D.

Lucas J. Mather 0

“No one talks to us like this,” the young men on campus say to Dr. Anthony Bradley, Ph.D., long time professor of Religious Studies at Kings College in Manhattan, NYC, & now Distinguished Research Fellow at Acton Institute. https://www.acton.org/about/staff/anthony-b-bradley

In Part 1, he talks about the loss to New York City of all of its Christian colleges, including Kings College, and begins to talk about his process for writing his books, including being motivated by anger.

In Part 2, Dr. Bradley talks about being motivated by anger as a Christian scholar, that young men are hungry for models of virtue, and the basis for his hope for the future.

We had a few technical difficulties, which we overcame with Dr. Bradley’s quite remarkable patience and kindness.

Part 2 picks up the speed with the rest of the interview where we cover the struggles that men have in today’s American culture, the basis for his hope for change, what makes him the most angry, and how he goes about his work, and a bit about his family life.

He’s written such scholarly books as “Ending Overcriminalization and Mass Incarceration: Hope from Civil Society” (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

His latest we discuss at length is called : “Heroic Fraternities: How College Men Can Save Universities and America” (Wipf & Stock, 2023).

The Republican Professor is a pro-rightly-using-anger, pro-inculcating-virtue-in-men, pro-saving-America podcast.

Therefore, welcome Dr. Anthony Bradley, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor (TRP) Podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

To financially support this work, comment on today’s episode, or to make a suggestion for a topic or guest for the podcast or Substack newsletter, send an email to therepublicanprofessor@substack.com .

We’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for subscribing.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.
The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack

September 13, 2023

Anthony Bradley Unplugged, Part 1 on the Loss of Kings College to NYC w/ Dr. Anthony Bradley, Ph.D.

Lucas J. Mather 0

In this interview, he talks about the loss to New York City of all of its Christian colleges, including Kings College, and begins to talk about his process for writing his books, including being motivated by anger.

We had a few technical difficulties, which we overcame with Dr. Bradley’s quite remarkable patience and kindness. Part 2 picks up the speed with the rest of the interview where we cover the struggles that men have in today’s American culture, the basis for his hope for change, what makes him the most angry, and how he goes about his work, and a bit about his family life.

He’s written such scholarly books as “Ending Overcriminalization and Mass Incarceration: Hope from Civil Society” (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

His latest we discuss at length is called : “Heroic Fraternities: How College Men Can Save Universities and America” (Wipf & Stock, 2023).

The Republican Professor is a pro-rightly-using-anger, pro-inculcating-virtue-in-men, pro-saving-America podcast.

Therefore, welcome Dr. Anthony Bradley, Ph.D.
The Republican Professor (TRP) Podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.
To financially support this work, comment on today’s episode, or to make a suggestion for a topic or guest for the podcast or Substack newsletter, send an email to therepublicanprofessor@substack.com .
We’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for subscribing.
Warmly,
Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.
The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack

August 17, 2023

The Time I Only Had One Student w/ Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D., The Republican Professor (Ep. 141)

Lucas J. Mather 0

In this episode, professor Mather shares the story of when he only had one student , and what he learned about Higher Education from the experience.

The Reason Magazine Facebook post referenced in the opening is here .

The Republican Professor podcast is a pro-teaching-your-heart-out podcast.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack

August 11, 2023

Age Limits in Elections ? Thoughts on Biden, McConnell, Feinstein w/ @ChartingLiberty’s Dale Fincher (Office Hours No. 2) (TRP Episode 144)

Lucas J. Mather 0

Should there be age limits on candidates for election ?

We say no, and here’s why.

This is the second “office hours” chat with fellow liberty-lover @ChartingLiberty’s Dale Fincher.

The Republican Professor is a pro-rightly-contemplating-Representation-in-Elections podcast.

Welcome, Mr. Dale Fincher of @ChartingLiberty !

Feel free to subscribe here and to TRP Substack as well, link below.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack

August 7, 2023

On Phyllis Schlafly, w/ Schlafly’s Biographer (1981, Doubleday), Carol Felsenthal, Author of “The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority” (TRP Ep. 143)

Lucas J. Mather 0

She’s had access to such luminaries as President Bill Clinton and the Washington Post’s Kay Graham for her biographies of them, but her very first book was on the woman that seemed to split the country in half, Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly is most notorious (or famous, depending) for nearly single-handedly stopping the Equal Rights Amendment from most certainly being ratified in my lifetime. How she did that — and the fact that it is probably only her that could have done something like that — is an issue in American Politics not many understand. Though it seems you have to at some point grapple with it.

But Schlafly was sui generis in every rich nuance of the term. She was more comfortable debating detente with the Soviets and nuclear throw weights. She had a lot of kids, was a serious Catholic, and went to Law School in her fifties. She homeschooled all of her children up to a certain age, taught them all how to read herself, wrote books that were self-published and sold millions of copies, spoke all around the country, sometimes multiple times in one day, traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, and yet answered her own telephone.

One could make the argument that she was the most important woman in American Politics in the latter half of the twentieth century — perhaps the entire twentieth century.

Is this real ? Her critics thought she was a phony. And she had millions of critics.

My recent thoughts about this topic began in Scottsdale , Arizona, in 2023 at a used bookstore. In the section called “Conservativism,” I found a copy of Carol Felsenthal’s 1981 Doubleday biography of Schlafly . The book is called “The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority: The Biography of Phyllis Schalfly” by Carol Felsenthal. It began with a story that Schlafly gave her biographer the cold shoulder because of something very critical that Felsenthal had written about Schlafly years prior. Yet this copy had of all things Phyllis Schlafly’s signature on it, inscribed for a couple , with best wishes.

Now Schalfly had not signed most of the books she herself had written — copies in the many, many millions. To think that she had signed this one written by someone whom she herself had dissed at some point for being highly critical. This, I had to see.

So I reached out to Carol while reading it, and made the offer that she could easily refuse.

But she didn’t. And we ended up talking for 2 hours about Phyllis Schlafly and Carol’s life as a biographer and a writer.

Here’s an example of the writing she has done for Chicago Magazine, a quite moving piece she did about her brother, an obituary of sorts, the man who had done the title sequences for such famous films as Superman (1978), Alien (1979), and The Untouchables (1987), who had recently died : https://www.chicagomag.com/arts-culture/June-2018/On-the-Life-and-Death-of-My-Brother-Dickie/

The Republican Professor is a pro-understanding-correctly-Phyllis Schlafly podcast.

Therefore, welcome, Mrs. Carol Felsenthal, 1981 Doubleday biographer of Phyllis Schlafly.

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack
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August 1, 2023

The Case for the AR-15 w/ Constitutional Law Scholar and Attorney Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook, Ph.D., J.D., Author: America’s Rifle (TRP Episode 142)

Lucas J. Mather 0

The author of the most thorough, clear, interesting and persuasive academic textbook on Constitutional Law of the Second Amendment is today’s guest. That book is “America’s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15” and the scholar’s name is Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook, Ph.D., J.D.

Get it today and buy a copy for a friend or family member. Share this book, and read it carefully yourself — you will not regret it for a second.

Guest co-hosting this episode today is Instagram’s @highcalibernc , Heather Allen, a firearms educator and concealed carry instructor, and candidate for city council in North Carolina.

For a brief review of the book and a link to buy it, see TRP Substack’s write up at https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/p/the-best-second-amendment-academic

The Republican Professor is a pro-rightly-contemplating-the-Constitution, pro-correct-understanding-of-the-Second-Amendment, pro-taking-productive-action-to-defend-liberty podcast.

Therefore, welcome Constitutional legal scholar and attorney Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook, Ph.D., J.D. & conceal carry instructor @highcalibernc, Heather Allen of North Carolina.

Please subscribe here and at TRP Substack. It helps us cobble together the resources necessary to continue in this vitally important work.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

July 28, 2023

Common Sense Moral Epistemology & the Rational Status of Trump Voters (2016, 2020) w/ Dr. Jonathan Fuqua, Ph.D. (TRP Episode 141)

Lucas J. Mather 0

Dr. Jonathan Fuqua, Ph.D. teaches full time with Benedictine monks in Missouri, but before that he was a jock, played football, and majored in PE as an undergraduate. He has five kids and has been married for 20 years. And he sensed a calling to do a Ph.D. dissertation in Philosophy at Purdue University on Common Sense Epistemology. He is an expert, a legit expert, in the philosophy of Common Sense. And yes , there is such a thing to be an expert in, and he’s one of them.

He’s publishing a co-authored academic paper on the rationality and morality of Trump voters (2016, 2020) where he argues that the demonization of Trump voters is not properly based in justification, evidence, knowledge or common sense morality.

The papers referenced in this episode can as of this date be viewed on Jonathan’s Academia.edu page here : https://conception.academia.edu/JonathanFuqua

The Republican Professor is a pro-Common-Sense-Morality, pro-Common-Sense-Epistemology podcast.

Therefore, welcome Dr. Jonathan Fuqua, Ph.D., colleague of Benedictine monks and expert in the Common Sense philosophical tradition.

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Please subscribe here and at TRP Substack, linked below.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

July 25, 2023

What to Make of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., w/ Jeffrey Tucker, The Epoch Times & Brownstone Institute (Co-hosted by Jonalyn Fincher Art Studio, Exeter, New Hampshire) (TRP Ep. 140)

Lucas J. Mather 0

It’s wonderful to listen to Mr. Jeffrey Tucker opine on anything, and here he does in some detail on what he thinks of RFK, Jr. and anything related to the recent public health panic and civil and economic liberties.

Mr. Jeffrey Tucker writes for the Epoch Times and is founder of Brownstone Institute, and joins us to talk about what we like and don’t like about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s run for 2024 President of the United States. I have some serious concerns about him, but Jeffrey is a fan.

There’s very helpful writing featured at Jeffrey’s website. Check out Brownstone Institute here: https://brownstone.org/ and subscribe to The Epoch Times to read Jeffrey’s regular writing there on economic issues and civil liberty.

Guest co-hosting this episode is Jonalyn Fincher Art Studio out of Exeter, New Hamsphire, who has been featured on local TV for her current watercolor exhibit on Masks & Lockdowns — art as a way to deal with the trauma of the public health panic in recent years. You can see the TV interview here : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l3KegrbUEWbq7tMgZV1_3cfe4crk6k8T/view?pli=1

The Republican Professor is a pro-getting-clear-about-civil-liberties, anti-censorship podcast.

Therefore, welcome again Jeffrey Tucker of Brownstone Institute and co-host Mrs. Jonalyn Fincher Art Studio of Exeter, New Hampshire.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.