American Angst
Politikk og nyheterAmerican Angst is a podcast where political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey unpacks the founding ideals and present tensions of American democracy with clarity, depth, and concern. Hosted and produced by his longtime friend Dale McConkey, the show blends serious civic reflection with honest, good-humored conversation for anyone trying to make sense of this American moment.
Siste episoder av American Angst podcast
- Democratic Backsliding: How Democracies Erode (with Dr. Sam Call) (01:06:11)
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 (01:08:44)
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 (01:04:47)
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 (01:01:47)
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 (01:13:20)
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 (00:51:58)
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 (00:49:57)
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 (00:51:28)
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 (00:45:29)
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 ...
- American Inequality: From Gilded Age Tycoons to Tech Oligarchs (00:56:19)
In this episode of American Angst 101, host Dale McConkey hands the reins to Michael Bailey, political philosopher at Berry College, for a thoughtful deep dive into the growing problem of inequality in America. With historian Christy Snider joining the conversation, the trio explores the widening gap between rich and poor, comparing today’s digital tycoons with the industrial giants of the Gilded Age. Bailey unpacks the numbers behind income and wealth disparities, examines why American...
- Campaigns, Congress, and Cattle: A Conversation with Candidate Shawn Harris (01:06:09)
In this special episode of American Angst, political scientist Michael Bailey and host Dale McConkey welcome retired Brigadier General Shawn Harris, a Democratic candidate for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. The conversation ranges across key issues including veterans’ care, agriculture, healthcare, border security, and foreign policy, as Harris reflects on his 40 years of military service and his current life as a cattle farmer. He shares lessons from his 2024 campaign, explains why p...
- End of an Era? Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 4 (01:02:50)
In our fourth and final installment of our "Democrats in the Hot Seat" series, political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey shifts the focus squarely onto the Democratic Party—its historic dominance since the New Deal, the vision it set forth, and the serious challenges it faces today. Bailey examines how Democrats built an era defined by international cooperation, inclusion, regulation, and a social safety net, but questions whether those pillars can endure in the age of globalization, inequality,...
- Patriarchy in the Pulpit and the Pentagon: Pete Hegseth and Doug Wilson (00:56:35)
CROSSOVER EPISODE! In this first-ever crossover episode between Church Potluck and American Angst 101, host Dale McConkey, political scientist Michael Bailey, and historian Christy Snider dive into a hot-button political and theological controversy surrounding Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recent social media post endorsing ideas from pastor Doug Wilson, a leader in the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches. The trio unpack the historical and ideological roots of Wilson’s...
- Limits to Pluralism? Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 3 (00:49:05)
Political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey leads this episode of American Angst 101 with a sweeping exploration of how the United States’ founding-era vision of a liberal federal government—meaning one grounded in Enlightenment ideas of individual rights, consent of the governed, and limited purposes for government—continues to shape modern politics. Bailey explains that, unlike the states of the era, which often enforced religious and moral norms, the federal Constitution was deliberately secula...
- Elitism, Crime, and Borders: Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 2 (00:58:33)
In this follow-up to the previous conversation on MAGA critiques of the Democratic Party, Political Scientist Michael Bailey dives into the final three charges: (1) being elitist cultural snobs, (2) soft on crime, and (3) favoring open borders. Bailey examines how charges of cultural condescension, fueled by moments like Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment, have long hampered Democrats’ ability to connect with rural, working-class, and religious Americans. He warns that dismissi...
- Wokeness, Patriotism, and Religion: Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 1 (00:50:54)
In this episode of American Angst, political philosopher Michael Bailey analyzes the first three of six major criticisms often leveled against the Democratic Party by conservatives and MAGA supporters: that Democrats are (1) “woke” and obsessed with identity politics; (2) unpatriotic and ashamed of America; and (3) hostile toward religion. With insight and nuance, Bailey explores where these charges come from, why they resonate with many Americans, and how Democrats might better respond. Host...
- The Phrase That Won’t Die: “We’re a Republic, Not a Democracy" (01:02:19)
In this thought-provoking episode of American Angst 101, Michael Bailey and his longtime friend and fellow political scientist Dr. Steven Taylor join forces to examine the phrase “We’re a republic, not a democracy”—a line increasingly echoed in American political rhetoric. What do people mean when they say it? Where did the phrase originate? And more crucially, what are its implications for American political identity? Steven brings historical context and global comparisons to bear, highlight...
- Why July 4th? The Truest Meaning of Independence Day (00:53:36)
In this episode of American Angst 101, political historian and resident expert Michael Bailey takes center stage to explore a deceptively simple question: why do we celebrate Independence Day on July 4th? With Dale McConkey hosting, Bailey delivers a captivating, wide-ranging treatise that combines historical insight, political theory, and cultural reflection. Intermixed with his typical wit, he considers several alternate dates that could logically serve as America’s national holiday—from th...
- The Mandate Mirage: When Presidents Stretch Thin Margins into Sweeping Claims (00:37:38)
In this episode of American Angst 101, political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey unpacks one of the most pervasive myths in American politics: the presidential mandate. With insight, clarity, and a touch of dry wit, Bailey walks through why claims of sweeping public endorsement—often made by presidents right after elections—are both analytically weak and politically hazardous. From Bill Clinton’s healthcare push to George W. Bush’s Social Security rhetoric to Donald Trump’s wildly exaggerated “1...
- No Kings, New Terrain? Is Today's Political Climate Unprecedented? (00:56:42)
Political scientist Michael Bailey brings his deep knowledge, sharp wit, and characteristic humility to this episode of American Angst 101, hosted by sociologist Dale McConkey. Launching from the massive “No Kings” protest—which coincided with a military parade and President Trump’s birthday—Bailey unpacks the historical, constitutional, and cultural significance of what many see as an unsettling alignment of military symbolism and political power. Through conversation both candid and insight...
- Truth Decay, Part 2: Democracy as Pro Wrestling (00:46:55)
In this second episode of American Angst 101, political philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey and host Dale McConkey continue their dig into the nature of political truth in the age of Trump—and what it means for democracy today. Bailey argues that Trump's rhetoric, far from being random or merely outrageous, functions more like pro wrestling: it’s not about factual truth, but about affirming identity, rallying fans, and naming enemies. From conspiracy theories to casual disinformation, the episode ...
- Truth Decay: Our Inaugural Angst (01:14:58)
Political philosopher Michael Bailey has spent years thinking carefully about American democracy—its roots, its ideals, and its increasingly shaky relationship to truth. In American Angst 101, he sits down with his friend Dale McConkey to reflect on what’s happening in our political culture, what’s changed, and whether anything can be done about it. The podcast opens with humor (and a theme song contest), but quickly shifts into a deeper discussion about the decline of shared facts and the ri...