American Restraint

Is porn just harmless entertainment—or a cultural toxin? In this episode of American Restraint, Patrick Trepanier explores the rise of online pornography and its devastating impact on men, relationships, and American culture. From the fall of the Hays Code to the rise of hyper-individualism, we trace how Hollywood and the porn industry reshaped our national values—and why Gen Z might be waking up...

What happened to the American Dream? Once rooted in liberty, family, and faith—it’s now been hijacked by consumerism, credit cards, and click-to-buy culture. In this episode, I explore how hyper-individualism and hyper-capitalism have turned America into a society of stressed-out shoppers… and how we can fight back. 🔎 Is capitalism eating itself? 🔎 Can minimalism and restraint help us rebuild fa...

Elon Musk is right: the U.S. debt is a disaster. But launching a third party won’t fix it. In this episode of American Restraint, Patrick Trepanier explains why our debt crisis—national, personal, and cultural—can’t be solved through politics as usual. Washington is structurally broken. The real solution? An Article V Convention to pass 3 critical amendments: ✅ Balanced Budget Amendment ✅ Congre...

Is religion the missing piece in fixing America? In this episode of American Restraint, Patrick Trepanier explores why both an atheist (Jonathan Rauch) and a Catholic (Ross Douthat) are calling for a revival of religious values in America. From Utah's rise to #1 in the U.S. News rankings to John Adams’ warnings about unbridled passions, we examine how religion might be the key to pushing back agai...

Welcome to Episode 10 of the American Restraint podcast with Patrick Trepanier. In this visionary episode, we fast-forward to 2035—after a successful Article V Convention leads to term limits, a balanced budget, and the return of federal power to the states. With power returned to the states, how can we finally push back against the destructive forces of hyper-individualism and hyper-capitalism? P...

This ninth episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We review themes of How to Fix America by diving into the alternatives. An Article V Convention is the only option to fix America because the other alternatives won’t work. What are the other alternatives? We put together a few thought experiments for a Progressive Paradise, A Libertarian A...

This eight episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We present a Top 10 list for why we need an Article V Convention. A fun list of reasons why America is broken, why status-quo solutions (and George Soros) can’t help us and why an Article V Convention is the best solution to fix America. Washington, DC WON’T reform itself. The federal gover...

This seventh episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We discuss how to fix America by revisiting federalism. America has two choices: keep going with the status-quo (which won’t change anything), or try something different. Try something different means looking at Article V in the US Constitution and getting behind the Convention of States...

This sixth episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We go Back to the Future to revisit the Reagan Revolution. We look at hyper-individualism and hyper-capitalism in the context of the Reagan ‘80s. Everyone looks at the past differently and in this episode I look back at my feelings about the Reagan Revolution in the ‘80s, the ‘90s and today...

This fifth episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We discuss hyper-capitalism in more depth. We talk about how the current bad trade deals are an example of hyper-capitalism. We also discuss income inequality, executive compensation, the Wall Street Casino and Big Business Fraud as additional examples of hyper-capitalism. And of course, mo...

This fourth episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We discuss hyper-individualism in more depth and how the 60s counter culture contributed to more focus on “me” and less focus on “we.” Brief discussion of Robert Putnam’s classic book, Bowling Alone and his prediction of our current epidemic of loneliness, and also discuss more classic 80s...

This third episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We discuss why hyper-individualism and hyper-capitalism are the root causes of America’s structural brokenness. We go through a mini book review of Patrick Deneen’s Why Liberalism Failed and his powerful indictment of what ultimately became cultural and economic libertarianism. We finish wi...

This second episode of the American Restraint podcast continues discussing the theme of “How to Fix America.” We discuss how America is no longer one country anymore and what some of the issues are that divide the country so. We then get into some of the background behind the America’s brokenness by looking at trends of declining trust and declining belief that the country is on the right track. M...

Episode Summary: This first episode of the American Restraint podcast introduces the host, Patrick Trepanier, the book American Restraint, and provides a background for the podcast. This episode is an introduction to the main theme of this podcast: “How to Fix America” and why is the country so divided. We discuss the root causes of the Divided States of America (hyper-individualism and hyper-capi...

Introduction to the American Restraint Podcast. This podcast explores how both hyper-individualism and hyper-capitalism are what is fundamentally ripping our country apart. Traditional solutions and status quo politicians can’t help us. Patrick Trepanier is a powerful new voice addressing the real root causes and solutions for our divided country. The first solution is Article V in the Constitutio...