A national emergency remade American politics—and we follow the fault lines from the Great Depression to the digital age. With Dr. Sidney Milkis, we unpack how Franklin Roosevelt turned crisis into a lasting partisan realignment and built the modern presidency as an institution with its own staff, strategy, and voice. From Social Security to the Executive Office of the President, the New Deal didn’t just add programs; it rewired how citizens see power, how parties compete, and how leaders communicate.

We explore why the Democratic coalition surged during the 1930s and held for decades, how labor and civil rights movements reshaped the map, and why both parties eventually embraced a stronger executive. Media sits at the heart of this story. Theodore Roosevelt leveraged investigative magazines to rally reform, while Franklin Roosevelt perfected radio’s intimacy with the fireside chats, speaking plainly about bank panics, recovery plans, and war aims. That direct line to the public set the template for television-era persuasion and today’s social media bursts, shifting attention away from party organizations and toward a single national voice.

There’s a cost to that success. When the presidency becomes the main interface with government, local democracy can wither. Turnout spikes for presidential races while state and municipal contests lag. Drawing on Tocqueville and family stories of precinct work, we make the case that neighborhood-level engagement—school boards, councils, party committees—still matters for a resilient republic. The path forward isn’t to dismantle national capacity but to restore civic practice where people live: better civic education, stronger state and local institutions, and party infrastructure that invites participation rather than gatekeeps it.

If this conversation sparked ideas for your classroom, community, or study group, share the episode, leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss new chapters in America’s democratic story.

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

We track how the Progressive Era broke the grip of local party machines, elevated public opinion, and strengthened the presidency, reshaping both major parties. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson anchor the story as primaries expand and conventions recede into ceremony.

• limited, decentralized party machines shift toward national agendas
• industrialization and foreign policy drive demand for federal action
• direct democracy tools weaken party gatekeepers
• primaries rise, conventions lose real power
• the presidency emerges as steward of public welfare
• Roosevelt’s reform push and the 1912 split
• Wilson embeds progressivism in Democratic governance
• McGovern–Fraser reforms cement voter-led nominations
• platforms increasingly reflect presidential priorities
• preview of New Deal realignment next

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

A French magistrate walked into an American prison and came out with a blueprint for democratic life. We follow Alexis de Tocqueville’s unlikely journey—from an official study of penitentiaries to a lasting analysis of how habits, values, and local participation keep freedom alive—and we connect his sharpest insights to the choices we face today.

We start with the ruse that made his research possible: a tour of U.S. prisons that opened the door to courts, churches, town meetings, and newspapers. Eastern State Penitentiary becomes a lens for understanding how Americans tried to solve social problems through institutions and moral reasoning rather than upheaval. From there, we unpack Tocqueville’s core ideas: mores as the quiet foundation of democracy; individualism as a retreat from public life, not simple selfishness; and the creeping risk of soft despotism when citizens trade responsibility for comfort. His antidote is both practical and hopeful—local government, civic associations, and what he called self-interest rightly understood, where cooperation advances personal and common good.

We also explore his view of religion as a civic ally that shapes character without controlling the state, supporting a culture of restraint, trust, and responsible freedom. Along the way, we pose the question Tocqueville leaves us with: if the habits that sustain democracy fade, how do we rebuild them? You’ll hear how education, small-scale participation, and everyday duties still function as democratic schools, and why these small acts matter as much as any law or election.

If Tocqueville’s framework sparks your curiosity, keep going with our companion episodes featuring Dr. Zachary German, Dr. Daniel Mahoney, and Dr. Sean Beienberg, each exploring a different theme—from associations and local government to religion and federalism. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who cares about civic life, and leave a review telling us the one habit you’ll practice this week to strengthen your community.

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

What if the biggest threat to freedom isn’t a tyrant but our quiet decision to sit out civic life? We dive into Alexis de Tocqueville’s striking idea of “individualism” as a democratic habit of withdrawal—not mere selfishness—and trace how that mindset can hollow out participation, invite overreach, and make liberty feel ornamental instead of lived.

With Dr. Zachary German from the Institute of American Civics, we unpack why Tocqueville saw this tendency as an intellectual mistake and how he hoped to redirect it rather than erase it. The turning point is “self-interest well understood,” a practical ethic that shows why small sacrifices for shared goods serve our long-term interests. From town roads and school boards to committees and neighborhood groups, local politics becomes the classroom of freedom, where cooperation is unavoidable and tradeoffs are clear. We talk through the texture of those habits—listening, organizing, compromising—and why frequency matters more than grand gestures.

We also probe the complicated role of religion and associations in stitching people back into community. Faith communities can steady democratic life by offering purpose and mutual care, even as democratic culture pushes faith toward utility. Then we wrestle with social media: a powerful tool for organizing that can also perfect solitude and curate away our neighbors. The test is simple and demanding—do digital ties become embodied action that improves the places we share?

By the end, we confront Tocqueville’s enduring question: if the old habits have faded, how do we rebuild them now? The answer won’t come from a distant center. It begins close to home, with modest commitments repeated often. If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who cares about civic life, and leave a review with one small action you’ll take this week.

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

A public park can teach a nation. We head to the National Mall with Jeremy Goldstein from the Trust for the National Mall to trace a civil rights tour that links the MLK Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial into one living civics lesson. From the first glimpse of Dr. King carved out of stone to the bronze plaque marking where “I Have a Dream” rang out, we unpack how place turns moments into movements.

Jeremy pulls back the curtain on how memorials happen: citizen fundraising, an act of Congress, and a commission that steers design and purpose. We talk about Alpha Phi Alpha’s early role in rallying support for the MLK Memorial, and why the Mall’s open design—with permits, rules, and respect for the grounds—protects both speech and safety. The story stretches backward to Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert on the Lincoln steps, showing how culture, protest, and the promise of equality share the same stage.

This tour also restores complexity to the March on Washington by centering its economic demands—jobs, wages, and opportunity—alongside moral urgency. With the National Mall Gateway’s curated routes and time mapping, plus the March On podcast that spotlights Bayard Rustin’s strategic genius, you can walk the timeline or experience it from home. The Mall stands as America’s front yard: open, accessible, and lined with reminders that a more perfect union is a practice, not a finish line.

If this journey moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves history, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find the tour. What stop on the Mall changed how you see America?

Take the tour here!

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

Freedom doesn’t last on parchment alone. We sit down with Dr. Daniel Mahoney to trace why Tocqueville believed that religion—understood broadly and charitably—quietly underwrites the habits that make a republic work. Laws matter, but mores matter more, and the moral culture of a people determines whether constitutions breathe or break. Moving from Puritan townships to the American founding, we explore how early communities paired local self-rule with moral seriousness, teaching citizens to deliberate about justice while tethered to a shared code. That ethic softened over time, yet the deeper pattern remained: religion formed citizens; citizens sustained liberty under law.

We contrast this with France’s revolutionary rupture, where a state-imposed “religion of reason” failed to replace the church it toppled. Tocqueville’s lesson is not to fuse altar and throne, but to keep a public friendship with faith—a separation of institutions without a hostility to belief. We unpack why he saw the Ten Commandments as natural law echoes rather than sectarian impositions, and why he’d likely resist a public square so sterile that biblical literacy is taboo even as other civilizational texts are welcomed. Along the way, we revisit Washington’s Farewell Address, Lincoln’s biblical cadence, and the idea that self-government begins with governing the self.

Pluralism doesn’t erase the need for shared moral ground; it makes it more urgent. We talk about religious literacy as a civic skill, empathy for serious belief across traditions, and the common grammar of the good that allows neighbors to cooperate without uniformity. The takeaway is a demanding middle path: neither theocracy nor militant secularism, but a civic order that protects freedom by cultivating virtue. If you value thoughtful conversations about how culture shapes politics, hit follow, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the show.

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

A French traveler saw something in America that Americans often miss: a Constitution that works precisely because it limits what anyone can do. We dive into Tocqueville’s sharp reading of federal design and put it to the test in the age of Andrew Jackson—where states’ rights, nullification, and a rising presidency collide. The result is a surprisingly balanced verdict: admiration for divided power, suspicion of centralized administration, and a sober warning about how quickly charisma can turn a popular mandate into a battering ram.

We unpack why Tocqueville leaned on The Federalist—especially No. 39—to explain how national authority and federal structure coexist. He champions a system where Washington enforces its own laws but leaves most daily governance to the states, gaining a specialization of labor that protects liberty. Yet he’s no romantic about state governments. He worries about short terms and direct democracy, arguing federalism’s main virtue is checking power, not guaranteeing flawless policy.

Jackson becomes the test case. We explore his claim to independently interpret the Constitution, his battle against nullification, and his instinct to push authority back to the states. Tocqueville does not fear a dictator in uniform; he fears a president declaring, “I alone represent the people,” and using that line to short-circuit institutions. Then comes the long view: foreign policy inexorably enlarges executive power, turning external crises into a domestic shift toward the White House. Alongside this, Tocqueville’s most modern insight rings out—every major conflict becomes a legal fight, and the Supreme Court’s prudence can steady or shatter the Union.

If you care about constitutional government, executive power, judicial review, and the tension between national authority and states’ rights, this conversation offers clarity without nostalgia. Press play, subscribe for the next installment in our Tocqueville series, and leave a review with your take: which branch is America’s real guardian of liberty today?

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

Why did a fledgling republic across the Atlantic make constitutional democracy work while France kept crashing into chaos? We pull on that thread with Tocqueville as our guide, following his journey from “prison inspector” to one of the sharpest observers of American civic life. What he learned here wasn’t a hack or a hero story. It was a layered culture of limits—town meetings, federalism, courts, and religious humility—that slowed power down just enough for freedom to last.

We explore how local government functions as a school for citizenship. Tocqueville loved the mess of New England town halls because they taught people to govern: to bargain, to lose, to return. Federalism, in his view, wasn’t mainly about policy laboratories or regional flavor. Its highest purpose was participatory. By multiplying meaningful venues—school boards, councils, state legislatures—it gave citizens practice and ownership, making it less tempting to hand every problem to a distant capital. Along the way, we connect his arguments to Edmund Burke’s skepticism of radical uniformity and highlight why process and “forms” protect substance in a democracy.

There’s a warning here too. Democracies tilt toward equality, and when equality hardens into uniformity, liberty gets traded for comfort. Tocqueville’s “soft despotism” arrives quietly: a web of small, meticulous rules that bend wills without breaking them, encouraging people to shrug and wait for instructions. We talk through how decentralized power checks that drift, why courts and civic education matter, and how cultural humility keeps politics in scale. We close by teeing up what Tocqueville thought of Andrew Jackson and the parties of his era, setting the stage for our next chapter in this series.

If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves history and policy, and leave a review so others can find it. What level of government do you trust to solve the problem closest to you? Subscribe and tell us your answer.

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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics