EP. 028 - Conservatism Before the Revolution

Is America a nation like any other, defined by a people, a place, and a shared history? Or is America simply an idea, a creed that anyone can adopt? In this episode, Dan McCarthy challenges the popular notion of the United States as a purely “creedal nation,” arguing that it is a modern innovation and a false alternative to both ethno-nationalism and rooted national identity.Drawing on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the foreign policy arguments of the Federalist Papers, McCarthy explains how the Founding understood America as “one people” united not only by principles, but by sovereignty, territory, and a common political life. Nationhood, he argues, is not just abstract philosophy, but the real defense and inheritance of a self-governing people.The discussion then turns to the Cold War and the rise of ideological universalism, when America increasingly came to define itself in opposition to the Soviet Union as an “idea” rather than a historic nation. As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, McCarthy calls for a renewed understanding of American citizenship, tradition, and national self-government rooted in history rather than abstraction.

If conservatives favor limited government, how limited should it be? In this episode, Dan McCarthy explores that unexpected convergence on the American Right. We revisit the late-20th-century debates between libertarians, paleoconservatives, and neoconservatives over trade, borders, national sovereignty, and the growing power of the federal state and why those arguments are resurfacing today in the New Right.The discussion turns to a deeper question: whether either the market or the modern bureaucratic state can sustain the families, churches, and local communities conservatives seek to preserve. Drawing on thinkers like Robert Nisbet and the idea sometimes called “Tory anarchism,” this episode asks how much authority a healthy society really needs.

What if the story you’ve been told about the American Revolution is backwards?Dan McCarthy argues that the Founding was not a revolt against law, authority, or order. It was a conservative revolution, aimed at defending inherited rights, lawful government, and constitutional liberty.In today’s protests against immigration enforcement and law enforcement in places like Minneapolis, the Left often claims the mantle of 1776. But the Founders, especially George Washington and John Adams, feared mob rule, condemned extra legal “democratic societies,” and even used federal force to suppress lawless rebellion.This episode revisits what the American Revolution actually meant and why the Founders would likely side with enforcing the law, not undermining it.

Has Donald Trump brought the conservative era to an end, or has he exposed something deeper about what conservatism has been for the past eighty years?Dan McCarthy responds to a recent argument that Trump marks a break with the Reagan, Buckley, and Goldwater tradition. Instead, Dan argues that much of modern conservatism lived in the shadow of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, defined more by opposition than by a full vision of conservative.This episode explores how the New Deal reshaped American government, foreign policy, and the administrative state, and why Trump’s presidency challenges not just the welfare state, but the broader legacy of Roosevelt era liberalism. Is this the end of conservatism, or the beginning of something older and wider?For an in-depth read on the topic, check out Dan's article:https://tomklingenstein.com/the-first-republican-since-fdr/🔔 Subscribe for more episodes diving deep into the ideas behind modern conservatism.📖 Visit ModernAgeJournal.com for thoughtful essays and analysis.#ModernAge #Conservatism #DanMcCarthy

A tragic encounter in Minneapolis has reignited national debate over law enforcement, activism, and the rule of law.In this episode, Dan McCarthy examines the killing of Renee Good during an ICE operation and places it in the broader context of post-2020 policing, judicial leniency, and organized efforts to obstruct law enforcement. He explores how activist tactics, sympathetic judges, and political pressure have reshaped enforcement of immigration and criminal law, often with deadly consequences.This episode argues that when law enforcement is undermined and criminal behavior is excused, the result is not justice but disorder. Minneapolis offers a clear warning about the costs of politicizing the rule of law.🔔 Subscribe for more episodes diving deep into the ideas behind modern conservatism.📖 Visit ModernAgeJournal.com for thoughtful essays and analysis.#ModernAge #Conservatism #DanMcCarthy

Did the capture of Nicolás Maduro mark a return to America’s original foreign policy or a new era of U.S. interventionism?In this episode, we examine the so-called “Donroe Doctrine” and ask whether President Trump’s decisive operation in Venezuela aligns more closely with the Founders’ restrained vision of foreign policy than with the ideological interventionism of the 20th and 21st centuries. By revisiting the Monroe Doctrine and the historical limits America once placed on its use of force, we explore what distinguishes Trump's realism from regime-change wars.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary (the Semiquincentennial), we return to the Declaration of Independence and its most debated phrase: “all men are created equal.” Why created equal? Why not merely born equal?In this episode, Dan McCarthy argues that the Declaration’s logic depends on a Creator: rights are not inventions of the state or products of social consensus, but endowments grounded in God and that foundation produces a radically different view of liberty, property, justice, and political authority than modern secular “rights talk.”We also revisit what “revolution” meant to the American founders. For them, it was less a radical rupture and more a restoration of legitimate authority back to the people. From Locke to Jefferson, from Calhoun to modern ideologies, this is a philosophical primer on the competing foundations of political order and why recovering the Founding requires recovering what “created” truly implies.Modern Age is published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Visit modernagedjournal.com for new essays and archival classics, and subscribe to the quarterly print journal founded in 1957.

During the Christmas season, it’s natural to think about joy, generosity, and prosperity. But it’s also a moment to reflect on restraint, discipline, and the long-term health of our economy.In this episode of Modern Age, Dan McCarthy examines President Trump’s plan to lower interest rates and appoint a Federal Reserve chair who would pursue easier credit. While lower rates can give the economy a short-term boost, they also carry serious risks including inflation, reckless investment, and long-term instability.Drawing on economic history, conservative political thought, and the lessons of the Christmas season itself, Dan explains why prosperity cannot be built on cheap money alone, and why discipline and sound credit matter more than quick fixes.Modern Age looks beyond the headlines to explore the deeper philosophical questions behind today’s economic debates.

What does it really mean to be a conservative?As the 250th anniversary of American independence approaches, Dan McCarthy traces the deeper origins of American conservatism, not just to 1980s Reaganism or 1950s fusionism, but back to the political battles of Whigs and Tories in 18th-century England.This episode offers a sweeping intellectual history that places today’s debates over populism, foreign policy, and national identity in long historical context.🔔 Subscribe for more episodes diving deep into the ideas behind modern conservatism.📖 Visit ModernAgeJournal.com for thoughtful essays and analysis.#ModernAge #Conservatism #DanMcCarthy #PoliticalHistory #AmericanFounding #ToryTradition #Burke #HistoryPodcast

How well do Americans really understand monarchy, constitutionalism, and the actual causes of the American Revolution?In this episode of Modern Age, editor Dan McCarthy peels back the mythology to explore the deep historical roots of the American system—going back to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the rise of the Whigs and Tories, and what those debates teach us about executive power, liberalism, and today’s populist backlash.With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching in 2026, now is the time to confront the foundational question:Was America founded as a liberal nation?📱 Subscribe for future episodes and daily content at modernagejournal.com🎧 Available on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.