250th Anniversary of the USA Ep. 1: Dr. Martin Diamond, Ph.D. on Reading in an Empire of Mediocrity

Episode 1 in the series marking the 250th Anniversary of the USA in this second quarter 2026. Martin Diamond channels Alexis de Tocqueville in raging against the grade-inflation machine back before IA, before much of the grade inflation crap got off the ground. We're making a fair use, transformative reading and discussion of Martin Diamond's 1970 "Reading in an Age of Mass Democracy", which is in a section called "'Enclaves of Excellence' and the Study of Politics" as essay number 16, made available by AEI in Washington DC in 1992 in a volume they called "As Far as Republican Principles Will Admit: Essays by Martin Diamond." Diamond would be another one of my intellectual grandfathers, as he mentored, among others, the Chair of my dissertation committee at The Claremont Colleges, Ralph Rossum, who was on the podcast back in 2022 and was the Salvatori Professor of American Constitutionalism at Claremont McKenna College (where Diamond had taught when it was called Claremont Men's College). Diamond had been a product of the University of Chicago as had been Rossum and another one of my committee members, Joseph M. Bessette. Martin Diamond never finished college but talked his way into a masters and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago by his post war-time self-education. Amazing. The Republican Professor is a pro-as-far-as-Republican-Principles-will-admit, anti-age-of-mediocrity, anti-grade-inflation-plantation podcast. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

We continue Jaffa's discussion of Aristotle's Politics, this time finishing his take on Aristotle's Book II and beginning with his take on Aristotle's Book III, in our discussion of an entry in the 1963 Rand McNally publication, edited by Leonard Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, called "History of Political Philosophy." This episode contains discussion of pages 89 thru the top of page 97 covering the first part of Book II of the Politics. That entry on Aristotle is by Harry V. Jaffa, who famously applied his understanding of Political Philosophy to the history of the Republican Party in American politics, and who, as such, influenced me profoundly through my mentors, who were mentored by him. He is thus one of my intellectual grandfathers. We continue our discussion of Harry Jaffa on Aristotle, pp. 89 thru the top of page 97 covering the rest of Book II and beginning his section on Book III of Aristotle's Politics, discussing an entry published the year before the author wrote one of the most infamous (or famous, depending) Aristotelean speeches for 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater (R, AZ). Jaffa also wrote one of the most influential phenomenological comparisons of the Democratic and the Republican parties using classical political philosophy for the political phenomenology in "Crisis of the House Divided" (University of Chicago Press) The Republican Professor is a pro-getting-political-philosophy right podcast. 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 https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/podcast/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/articles/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRepublicanProfessor Twitter: @RepublicanProf Instagram: @the_republican_professor

Part 4: On the 22nd of December 2025, Republican appointed federal Judge Roger Benitez (Cuban ethnicity) struck down the Democrat mandated lying to parents in the K-12 school system. We covered it beginning in late December 2025 and in a second episode in late January 2026. The third episode, the last one before this one, was 17 March 2026. Unusual behavior or conduct of a student at school isn't grounds for a violation of Constitutional rights, Benitez held in Mirabelli v. Olson (Filed 22 Dec 2025), available here : https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46/6949e11ea6bae817c8eaf637_Dkt%20%20307_MSJ%20Order.pdf Part 4. We cover from Part B on page 30 through to page 38 up to but not including letter C. We'll continue from there next time. This episode includes a Chaplain's corner prayer time thanking the Lord for Roger Benitez and asking for wisdom for the future. The Chaplain's corner includes a reading from Psalm 57 and Streams in the Desert 28 Jan (Cowman Publications Lost Feliz Station Lost Angeles Calif). The Republican Professor is a pro-anti-tax-funded-abuse-of-parents podcast. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Part 5 of a series on the history of Israel based on a fair use and transformative reading of "Israel and the Nations: From the Exodus to the Fall of the Second Temple" (Eerdmans, 1963) by FF Bruce. This episode includes interaction with the famous historical characters of Elijah and Elisha in his chapter V entitled "The House of Omri 881 to 841 BC" by the Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, FF Bruce, my intellectual and spiritual grandfather because he mentored my professor Bruce Demarest who himself studied under FF Bruce at the University of Manchester. We're going to do a fair use and make a transformative reading of this material. We'd like to thank Eerdmans for making it available and thank FF Bruce for writing it. It also contains multiple references to Deuteronomy 17. The Republican Professor is a pro-biblical-literacy, pro-Christmas, pro-quality-mentoring, pro-understanding-the-history-of-Israel podcast. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Part 8: We continue our timely coverage of Pope Leo XIII 's Rerum Novarum numbers 36 through the end of 45 in his continued condemnation of Socialism and collectivism against the individual rights of employers, workers and families in 1891, when Socialism was increasingly popular in intellectual circles, setting the stage for the statisms of the 1900s. The Republican Professor is a pro-getting-theology's-application-to-public-policy-correct podcast. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D. Support the podcast. Buy me a cup of coffee or ten here : https://buymeacoffee.com/lucasj.mather Warmly, Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D. The Republican Professor Podcast The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/podcast/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/articles/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRepublicanProfessor Twitter: @RepublicanProf Instagram: @the_republican_professor

We cover Justice Gorsuch's Concurring Opinion for the Court today for Episode 17 of this deep dive as we continue the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024) decision that overruled Chevron (1984), Justice Gorsuch's concurring Opinion for the Court. This is the 17th Chevron Deference Deep Dive episode we've done on TRP podcast since winter 2024. And here it is Spirng 2026. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf (603 U.S. _____ (2024) of the Opinion of the Court written by Chief Justice Roberts. The Republican Professor is a pro-correctly-articulating-separation-of-powers podcast. Donate a gift to keep the podcast going on Venmo at-sign no space TheRepublicanProfessor or https://buymeacoffee.com/lucasj.mather Warmly, Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D. The Republican Professor Podcast The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/podcast/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/articles/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRepublicanProfessor Twitter: @RepublicanProf Instagram: @the_republican_professor

Part 2: Karen Humphries joins us 4 years later for Part 2 in a series on getting elected to local School Board in Ohio. She's just been reelected this past Fall 2025, having first been elected to the position in 2017. The Republicans need to come to terms with what the plan is with public education. A good first step is having a good School Board in place, no matter what you think about homeschooling and vouchers and the plethora of other issues in public funding of education. Interested in running for School Board yourself ? Or, interested in recruiting quality candidates on how to do so and what it might be like ? You'll be interested in Part 1 which was Episode 32 published on 29 March 2022 and this Part 2 here 4 years later (26 March 2026 recorded). More to come in the future. The Republican Professor is a pro-education podcast. Therefore, welcome back Karen Humphries! This episode was recorded in my Dr. Dallas Willard, Ph.D.-trained Epistemology mentor Dr. Doug Geivett, Ph.D.'s home study in Orange County. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

This is part 7 in the series. (Part 6 was the episode on 5 Feb, 2026). We're continuing our discussion of the chapter called "Sex." Chapter 3. We finish that chapter today. The next chapter is War. We discuss his sub-chapters starting at "Roe v. Wade and the Supreme Court" on page 53 and discuss the book Our Bodies, Ourselves and the Equal Rights Amendment, both titles of subsections in the chapter on Sex. This is a continuation of a transformative reading and fair use of Chris Caldwell's "The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties" published by Simon and Schuster in 2020. We'd like to thank Chris Caldwell for writing it, Simon and Schuster for making it available, and encourage you to purchase your own physical copy of the book so that you can follow along. Please support brick and mortar book dealers, you local book dealers. I'd like to thank my former political philosophy student Matt Stone (Phil M03: Social and Political Philosophy at Moorpark College, Spring 2008) for purchasing my copy of the book for me and supporting TRP podcast. Let's foster a culture that values good authors and good books, physical books, and honors and rewards publishers for making those books available for us to read and to think about. Please support this author and this publisher. Also, support your local brick and mortar book dealer, dealers in physical books. The Republican Professor is a pro-political-phenomeonology-done-right podcast. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Part 4: The Natural Law provides a key to resolving a Republican debate in the 1980s on the normative judicial power, Judicial Activism v. Judicial Restraint. We discussed the first part of the second chapter last time (8 Jan 2026) and this time we continue with the second half of Chapter 2, pp. 16 to through 23. Stephen Macedo published "The New Right v. The Constitution" with The CATO Institute in 1986. We're going to make a fair use and do a transformative reading of the book. CATO offers a free download of the book here: https://www.cato.org/books/new-right-v-constitution We'd like to thank Stephen Macedo for writing the book and to thank CATO for making this material available in publishing it. Consider supporting CATO with a financial donation so that they can continue providing quality resources for discussion. Tell a friend about their resources. The Republican Professor is a pro-appropriate-judicial-activism podcast. Warmly, Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D. The Republican Professor Podcast The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/podcast/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/articles/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRepublicanProfessor Twitter: @RepublicanProf Instagram: @the_republican_professor

Part 3: On the 22nd of December 2025, Republican appointed federal Judge Roger Benitez (Cuban ethnicity) struck down the Democrat mandated lying to parents in the K-12 school system. We covered it beginning in late December 2025 and in a second episode in late January 2026 Unusual behavior or conduct of a student at school isn't grounds for a violation of Constitutional rights, Benitez held in Mirabelli v. Olson (Filed 22 Dec 2025), available here : https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46/6949e11ea6bae817c8eaf637_Dkt%20%20307_MSJ%20Order.pdf Part 3. We cover from page 18 at line 24 through to Part B on page 30. We'll continue from there next time. This episode includes a Chaplain's corner prayer time thanking the Lord for Roger Benitez and asking for wisdom for the future. The Republican Professor is a pro-anti-tax-funded-abuse-of-parents podcast. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.