Tim Talks Politics

The "Evangelical Vote" is one of the most talked about, mythologized, and misunderstood voting segments in the American populace. Often portrayed in popular media as a monolithic bloc, Evangelicals are surprisingly diverse and that diversity extends to their voting habits. To help us understand how some segments of Evangelical voters are approaching the 2020 election, I interview twin brothers and...

This is a discussion on the future of the Democratic Party. It mirrors the interview I did with Harvard’s Tom Patterson on the future of the Republican Party. I follow up on that topic by switching focus to consider the Democratic Party. I talk with Dr. Tom Holihan from the University of Southern California to consider what "traps," if any, do Democrats face in the near to medium term (5-10 years)...

Part 5 in our summer read through of the US Constitution. In this episode, we wrap our summer series by looking at Amendments 11-27. Most are short, but Amendments 12, 14, 20 and 25 are fairly long by comparison. We’ll consider why that is and also make some commentary on the historical context of several of these amendments as well as length of time it takes to add these amendments to the Constit...

Part IV in our summer read through of the US Constitution. In this episode and the next, we’ll cover the Constitution’s 27 amendments. Today, I cover the first 10 Amendments that were ratified in the 1790s as a packaged deal and became known as the Bill of Rights. Whose rights do you ask? Yours, mine, our individual state. Just a reminder, listeners of the podcast can get a discount to my weekly n...

Part III in our summer read through of the US Constitution. Articles 3-7 outline the judiciary, the process of amending the Constitution, and lays some of the basic legal and economic groundwork outlining how states were to function in relation to one another in the new republic. Got some good resources to share in this episode too, and a discount to my weekly newsletter the Weekly Brief for podca...

Part II in our summer read through of the US Constitution. Article II deals with the Executive branch, the Electoral College, and the Office of the President. Relevant reading/listening as we approach a presidential election this year. Might be useful to think about the Constitutional duties of the President when considering your vote. Upholding, protecting and defending the Constitution is part o...

We’re going to review the Constitution like we did the Declaration of Independence last summer: I’ll read a little, talk a little, read a little more. The objective is to do something that many of us probably haven’t done since 8th Grade, which is read through the entire US Constitution. My hope is that in reading through this extraordinary document we can: Understand the major forms and functions...

It's summer in 2020, which means two things: We're heading into full bore campaign season for the 2020 election. Because of 1, this podcast is shifting its attention away from foreign policy and towards a discussion on the American political system, its institutions, elections, and parties. We kick this transition off with a banger of an interview: Dr. Thomas Patterson from Harvard discusses his n...

US-Russia relations have historically been murky, and that may be because Russia itself is difficult to decipher. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said of the Soviet Union/Russia: I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest...

I go away for a couple months and wow! A global pandemic and looming economic depression. Well, I was planning on discussing US-China relations when I went on my unscheduled break, so I guess there's no time like the present to talk about the history, context, and flash points in the relationship between the world's two superpowers. Get the show notes at www.timtalkspolitics.com and subscribe to t...

Just what should America be doing with all its economic, political, military, and cultural influence? How should the country behave in world politics? Those questions engage a topic that is hotly debate, especially around election season: the national interest. Broadly speaking, the national interest is a phrase used to describe a country's core concerns and priorities - kind of the absolute essen...

Last season, I explored some basic principles on how American foreign policy gets made and applied those principles to interpreting America's relations with Iran. Since that episode aired, relations with Iran escalated sharply after a drone strike killed General Qasem Soleimani one of the highest ranking military leaders in Iran. In many respects it was a precedent setting move by the Trump admini...

Happy 2020! It's going to be a busy and full year in American politics, which should provide plenty to talk about. However, this podcast is not beholden to the news cycle with its daily dramas of political personalities. Rather, this year I plan to take this podcast on a deep dive into American foreign policy, the Constitution, and American presidential elections. Yes, I'll refer to the news and c...

One of the things TTP works to do is to promote a deeper, richer conversation about politics and citizenship, and I think a big part of that is taking the political conversation out of the recognized grooves of political news and discourse to hear how everyday people engage in the American experiment in self-government.  So, I'm excited to introduce you to Anastasia Halcomb who has launched a...

I introduce this week's topic of America in the Middle East by hewing a little more closely to the news cycle than usual in the podcast, and that's because the last couple of weeks have seen some pretty incredible developments in the Trump administrations approach to the MENA region. Of greatest focus in the US, is Turkey's invasion of northern Syria and the withdrawal of American forces in the co...

The last couple of episodes have focused on some of the big theories that shape our view of international politics. In addition to providing you with summaries of no less that 5 theoretical frames useful to interpreting foreign relations, specifically American foreign relations, I left off last time with applying rational actor theory to President Trump and his approach to foreign policy. In this...

I’m going to spend the next two episodes broadening the discussion on IR theories I introduced last episode – realism, liberalism, constructivism – by first introducing an additional theory this week: Rational Actor Theory. Next week, we’ll look at a particular story in the news and consider how these different theories inform our understanding of it. For both of these episodes, I’ll use President...

Today, I’m shifting the discussion to the world beyond America’s shores. That’s right, we’re talking about international relations and foreign policy. In my intro, I say that this podcast is about “government, citizenship, and America’s place in the world.” The first six episodes have largely focused on that “government citizenship” part and since we’re still in the early going/introductory phase...

For all its stirring words affirming the powerful potential of the individual, the DOI recognizes that building a nation requires a unified, collective effort of free and equal individuals. But how do we hold free and equal individuals together? With the ancient practice of swearing an oath on something the individuals value, in this case, "their lives, fortunes and sacred honor." It’s more than s...

Not going to lie, this is a very hard segment to research without  pretty much paraphrasing or copying what others have said.  So before we get started, let me read off a great resource to understand the list of abuses/facts that Jefferson is submitting to a “candid world” to justify America’s DOI. The National Humanities Center put together a fantastic annotated DOI .  Get it, read...

When it comes to political discussions we should be like Hawkeye and Black Widow facing off in Captain America: Civil War - it’d be good to ask one another, “We’re still friends, right?”  We’re still playing on the same team with the same rule book, right?  If so, then we can do some productive civic discourse.  If not, then we need to work on identifying just what we believe and ag...

We defined politics in the previous episode as being a series of negotiated relationships. Critical to those relationships is information, which is why an independent and diverse media is so crucial to the health of democratic system. However, the Internet has broken down a lot of barriers and filters, and now we’re all members of the media.  So we need to discuss how we, as citizens, engage...

In this episode, Tim briefly explores the differences between politics and government. Though the two terms are VERY closely related, there are some interesting distinctions. Where it gets really interesting, though, is when we consider how government structures enable and limit certain political processes, and how those processes adapt and respond. Crucial to effective citizenship is an unde...

In this inaugural episode of the Tim Talks Politics podcast, I (Tim) outline the whys and wherefores driving this project. You might be wondering, "Why would someone start another political podcast?" I agree, there's a glut, and it's all starting to sound the same - talking head commentary held hostage by a 24-hour news cycle. So I want to recalibrate and rethink a podcast about politics. This one...