Why Postliberalism Failed

Tom and James speak with Dr. H. David Baer (Texas Lutheran) about Englebert Dolfuss and the rise of Austrofascism of the 1930s and its influence on contemporary postliberals. They then pivot to discussing the centralized of Viktor Orbán to postliberal ideas and institutions.

We waited until after the election to upload this episode with friend of the podcast Fr. Stephen Vrazel. Fr. Vrazel gives us a sense of how much postliberalism is part of the ordinary life of a parish and where he has or has not seen it crop up in Catholic circles he travels in.

A recent episode of The Remnant featured its host, Jonah Goldberg, discussing contemporary political Catholicism with George Weigel. Weigel dismissed postliberalism and integralism as primarily "online" and hence marginal. Weigel reveals his age by dismissing online media as though it were not the primary source for young people to learn about the world. We discuss that more here.

This episode is about Fr. Martin Rhonheimer, one of the most important living theologians on the subject of human dignity, the common good, and democracy--although his work extends even beyond these subjects.

James talks about the misconceptions around the heresy of "Americanism" and how Ven. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen repurposed the term to defend a form of Catholic Republicanism. Tom patiently listens, as James clearly is way, way too interested in Sheen while, at the same time, regularly forgets names.

James interviews his friend Paul DeHart about his recent book The Social Contract in Ruins on U. of Missouri Press. Meanwhile, Tom saves his energy to make one comment during the entire episode because he has COVID and can barely stay conscious.

In this episode, we speak with Daniel Di Martino about historical and contemporary postliberal policies on immigration and how they, combined with arguments for tariffs, would make working Americans considerably worse off.

This week's episode features a flailing James and a locked in Thomas discussing the economics of religion with Ole Miss economics professor Clara Piano. She explains recent academic literature that posits the relatively weak faith of the Middle Ages and how religious competition through pluralism has led to stronger faith rather than state-imposed establishments.

In today's episode, we spend some time talking to Dr. Dawn Eden Goldstein about American Jesuit priest Father Louis J. Twomey and his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. We also speak to her about Father Edward Dowling, another American Jesuits who dedicated his life to people with addictions, troubled marriages, and nervous disorders. Their examples provide an alternative vision for Catholicism in America that serves the stated ends of postliberalism but without all of the weird baggage.

Today, James and Tom talk about the rhetorical role the still critically dead Spanish authoritarian Francisco Franco plays in contemporary postliberal discourse. Then, Tom's computer dies, and he had to record the ending by himself with the inclusion of possible copyright violations that will probably get this channel permanently demonetized.

In this week's episode, James talks about another example of a postliberal party that failed to secure a position within in government, the Brazilian Integralist Action Party. Plínio Salgado founded the party after a wealthy friend sponsored him to meet with Benito Mussolini in 1930. Salgado followed Mussolini's advice and created the Catholic authoritarian party in 1932 but ultimately could not exercise sufficient influence over the factions in the authoritarian regime of Getúlio Vargas.

Today, we interview Dr. Catherine Pakaluk to discuss her book Hannah's Children. She answers questions on why women have fewer children, the importance of religion, and why rightwing family policy seems to fail to encourage more births.

This episode focuses on Tom's work on political economy and the constitutionalism (or lack thereof) found in the work of Adrian Vermeule. This episode ends a little abruptly because Tom's phone died. We run a very professional operation.

Today, James talks about the methodology for assessing why different postliberal regimes have failed and applies them it to the case of António de Oliveira Salazar and the Estado Novo of Portugal. We also get a little into Francisco Franco and Spain, but Franco will definitely get his own episode(s).

We talk to Kevin Vallier about how postliberals cannot evade association with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the arguments against integralism in Kevin's fine book All the Kingdoms of the World (available where fine books are sold), and the postliberalism of Republican 2024 VP nominee JD Vance. 

In this episode, Dr. Howes takes the reins in an overview of the disagreement over how best to interpret Dignitatis Humanae. He especially focuses on the work of Dr. Thomas Pink and Fr. Martin Rhonheimer, ultimately siding with the latter in his use of the "hermeneutic of reform" inspired by the late Pope Benedict XVI.

I talk to Tom about the conspiracy theory that many nineteenth century European reactionaries believed in and how it haunts contemporary efforts of articulating a new postliberalism that does not want to repeat the moral and political failures of the older efforts.

In our first episode of this video podcast, Thomas and I introduce ourselves, our upcoming book on postliberalism, and our motivations for writing it. We also demonstrate our inexperience with recording and editing, so forgive us as get used to working in this new medium.