Beyond Ideology

In two days, the United States celebrates its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of independence. Most commemorations will begin and end on July fourth. At Beyond Ideology, we’re doing something different; we’re going beyond Independence Day to explore the full picture of the American Revolution. In America’s national mythology, July 4, 1776, is treated as the culmination of the colonies’ long e...

In 1917, two men emerged from the chaos of war and revolution with competing visions for the future. One sought to spread liberal democracy. The other sought to ignite a global socialist revolution. This week, we debated the legacies of Woodrow Wilson and Vladimir Lenin. Were they visionary idealists, or arrogant ideologues convinced they could remake the world? Every episode of Beyond Ideology is...

Who were the worst presidents in American history? How should we judge them? In Episode 3 of Beyond Ideology , two historians break down the most controversial leaders in U.S. history, based on corruption and incompetence, and the lasting damage presidents leave behind. From Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon to Donald Trump , we go beyond partisan rankings to examine what actually defines a “bad” p...

In Episode 1, we explored The Great Debate —the centuries-long argument between liberalism and conservatism that shaped the modern West. That's not the debate we’re having anymore. In Episode 2 , we step back, not as partisans, but as historians, to ask the fundamental question: How did we get here? From Vietnam and Watergate to the rise of populism on both the left and right, we trace the slow er...

Beyond Ideology: Where ideas outlive ideology. Hosted by two historians—one liberal, one conservative—each episode steps back from the daily news cycle to explore the deeper historical trends, cultural forces, and moral questions that shape public life. Through good-faith debate and rigorous historical perspective, Beyond Ideology restores serious conversation in a polarized age. Here, disagreemen...

Beyond Ideology is a podcast about politics, history, and culture. It is built on a simple idea: politics only makes sense when you understand what came before it. Hosted by two historians (one liberal the other conservative ), the show explores the ideas behind the arguments. In an age of pre-packaged beliefs, we choose sides before we ask questions. Beyond Ideology pushes back by returning to hi...

Here's a teaser of Ep. I: The Great Debate of Beyond Ideology, which drops May 7 . Why does political debate today feel more like performance than persuasion? And how did we move from forming ideas to inheriting them? In this preview, we introduce the central problem behind the podcast and the framework we’ll use to explore it. The full episode dives deeper into these questions through the len...