The Rise of Socialism at Home and Abroad

Summary

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Hillsdale Dialogues: "The Rise of Socialism at Home and Abroad"

Date: July 13, 2026
Host: Hugh Hewitt
Guest: Dr. Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College

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Overview

This episode dives deep into the state of socialism both in the United Kingdom and the United States. Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Larry Arnn analyze recent political shifts, focusing on the rise of Andy Burnham as the UK's next Prime Minister, Britain's persistent economic and military struggles, and the increasing presence of Democratic Socialists in American politics. The discussion is wide-ranging, touching on generational divides, economic malaise, the legacy of statesmen like Churchill and Washington, and the societal need for work and family.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. British Political Upheaval: Andy Burnham and Labour’s Dilemma

• Context: Andy Burnham is set to become the UK's seventh Prime Minister in eight years, touted as a "folk hero" from northern England, replacing Keir Starmer ([03:44]).
• Burnham’s Political Identity:
  • Described as a "business-friendly socialist" with a strong regional identity ([04:22]).
  • Has ties to working-class northern England and has challenged the economic dominance of London and the South ([04:24]).
• Labour’s Economic Troubles:
  • Britain faces difficult economic conditions, including unmet defense spending commitments and borrowing constraints ([04:22]-[05:40]).
  • Starmer’s fall partly attributed to defense budget issues and public disagreements over military funding ([05:00]).
  • Britain’s failed attempts at "net zero" and the self-sabotage of its own energy resources (pouring concrete into gas wells) have compounded economic woes ([06:35]).
• Memorable Quote:
  • “They found a bunch of natural gas there and they had a bunch of wells, and year ago or so, they poured concrete down those wells.” — Dr. Larry Arnn ([06:38])

2. British Decline: Immigration, Energy & Defense Challenges

• Immigration Concerns:
  • Arnn notes a sense that many new arrivals "don't feel themselves British or respect its laws” ([05:50]).
• Defense and International Stature:
  • Britain is militarily weakened, with many ships out of service and an inability to project power in coordination with the U.S. ([08:48]).
  • Debate on whether Britain can recover its global influence:
    • Arnn cites a speech by Danny Krueger (Reform Party) advocating for the UK as America’s indispensable partner in Europe ([07:00]).
    • The west's need to face Russian aggression with a renewed "strategy" ([07:46]).
• Quote:
  • “Do they have any ships they can send there? Because a lot of their ships are not in working order... it’s a sad, you know, they're in a poor state.” — Dr. Larry Arnn ([08:48])

3. U.S.-Iran Relations and Foreign Policy: Lessons from Churchill & Washington

• Iranian Threat:
  • U.S. policy needs long-term maneuvers with Iran, acknowledging its expanding missile reach and strategic regional significance ([12:37]).
  • Administration praised for framing actions “entirely in the interest of the United States” ([13:30]).
  • Arnn draws a distinction between nation-building and acting strictly in national interest ([13:49]).
• Historical Reflection:
  • Arnn discusses his recent speech on "the shoulders of giants":
    “The immediate effects of the career of George Washington and the immediate effects of the career of Winston Churchill... are simply opposite.” ([16:35])
  • Churchill is praised for pursuing Britain’s interests in a world transformed by science and facing totalitarian threats ([17:00]).
• Quote:
  • “We have to think about the interest of the United States. We have to restrain our enemies when they're dangerous to us. We are not going to try to govern them.” — Dr. Larry Arnn ([18:17])

4. The Rise of Socialism and Generational Divides in America

• Democratic Socialists' Surge:
  • Three DSA-endorsed “communists” becoming Democratic nominees in New York; similar trends seen in Minnesota ([20:38]).
  • Arnn argues this signals something "dangerous and big” driven by youth disenchantment and economic dysfunction ([21:36]).
• Economic Frustration of Young Generations:
  • Federal Reserve tripled the money supply in 18 years, driving up asset prices and hurting young people unable to buy homes ([21:54]).
  • “Money is only valuable for what it can buy… and it benefited very greatly people who own assets, which would be boomers. Right. And our assets have climbed in value greatly, and that hurts people who don’t have any, the young.” — Dr. Larry Arnn ([22:19])
• Generational Wealth Gap:
  • Discussion of 20th-century economic conditions: affordability of homes for returning WWII veterans, contrasted with current scarcity and regulation ([23:59]).
  • Personal stories shared about their fathers’ postwar experiences ([24:40], [25:22]).

5. Prescriptions for Renewal: Work, Innovation, Family, and Freedom

• Economic Recovery Model:
  • Relaying economist Brian Westbury’s message: Solid money, revival of work, and freeing “innovators” from suffocating government control ([28:11]).
  • “We have an asset that China cannot duplicate. And the asset has a name… Palmer Lucky. Elon Musk. Alex Karp. Peter Thiel. People like them... So the trouble with socialism is it conscripts all that and thereby stifles it.” — Dr. Larry Arnn ([28:40])
• Critique of Socialism's False Promises:
  • Discussion of New York’s policies of free buses, city-run grocery stores, rent control—contrasted with their failed Soviet and Californian precedents ([29:46]).
  • Call for a revival of self-reliance, productivity, and strong families ([30:32]).
• Importance of Family:
  • Arnn emphasizes marriage, responsibility, and raising children as essential to societal health ([33:50]).
  • “There is this one high, sacred, difficult responsibility... that is have a child and raise it. Have a bunch better, right?” — Dr. Larry Arnn ([33:50])
• Legacy of Churchill:
  • Churchill understood what should and should not be socialized—family and home are personal and vital ([34:50]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote / Anecdote | |------------|---------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 06:38 | Larry Arnn | “...they found a bunch of natural gas there...and they poured concrete down those wells.” | | 08:48 | Larry Arnn | “A lot of their ships are not in working order...they’re in a poor state.” | | 13:49 | Larry Arnn | “He justified what he did entirely in the interest of the United States... that’s not our job.” | | 16:35 | Larry Arnn | “The immediate effects of the career of George Washington and Winston Churchill...are simply opposite.” | | 18:17 | Larry Arnn | “We have to think about the interest of the United States...We are not going to try to govern them.” | | 22:19 | Larry Arnn | “Money is only valuable for what it can buy...it benefited the people who own assets...and that hurts people who don't have any, the young.” | | 28:40 | Larry Arnn | “We have an asset that China cannot duplicate. And the asset has a name: Palmer Lucky, Elon Musk, Alex Karp, Peter Thiel.” | | 33:50 | Larry Arnn | “There is this one high, sacred, difficult responsibility...have a child and raise it. Have a bunch better, right?” |

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & UK Scene-Setting:
  • [02:23] – Burnham’s impending premiership, Labour’s identity crisis
  • [04:24] – Burnham’s roots and regional politics
  • [05:40] – Defence, economic, and energy trouble for the UK
• Britain as Ally & the Role of Optimism:
  • [07:00] – Krueger’s vision for Britain as America’s “indispensable partner”
  • [08:48] – Decline in Britain’s military capability
• U.S.-Iran Foreign Policy Discussion:
  • [12:37] – Prospects for U.S./Iran relations and American interests first
  • [13:49] – Washington and Churchill: contrasting legacies
• Socialism in the U.S. & Generational Economics:
  • [20:38] – Democratic Socialists' rise in the Democratic Party
  • [21:54] – Generational economics and the asset gap
  • [24:40] – Reflections on postwar economic opportunity
• Solutions and Broader Societal Needs:
  • [28:11] – Prescriptions for recovery: work, innovation, family
  • [29:46] – Rent control and socialism’s failures
  • [33:50] – Family and the essentials of human life

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Tone and Language

The tone of the conversation is collegial, thoughtful, and at times nostalgic, with a strong thread of concern for the country's future and rootedness in Western political tradition. Dr. Arnn frequently ties historical perspective to current events, urging grounding in national interest, self-reliance, and family.

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This episode delivers a rich analysis of current transatlantic politics, the socioeconomic drivers behind socialism's resurgence, and a conservative prescription for societal renewal rooted in historic precedent and enduring human responsibilities.

Transcript

[Scott Bertram]

Every week, Hillsdale College president Larry Arne joins Hugh Hewitt to discuss great books, great men and great ideas. This is Hillsdale Dialogues, part of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network. More episodes at podcast Hillsdale. Edu or wherever you find your audio.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Morning Glory and Evening Grace America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. That music means it's time for the Hillsdale dialogue. Dr. Larry Orn is in the house, president of Hillsdale College, enjoying his summer in Michigan after he returned from the Hillsdale Cruise. I'm not sure where he went on the cruise. I think it was Norway. Did you go to England? Did you go to the United kingdom at all?

[Larry Arnn]

Dr. Arne I, I did go. I, of course, always go and see my wife's family. And my friend Roger Kimball bought dinner for me and my wife and her brother and sister and sister in law. So that was a wonderful culture experience because Roger's a very cultured man, but also very American. So they got another look at America. It was fun.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I'd be very afraid to have dinner with Roger Kimball because he's very, very smart. And I think that would show that I'm not. Where did you dine with Mr. Kimball?

[Larry Arnn]

Well, that was the thing. See, I was going to buy the dinner, but we dined at the Garrick Club, to which he has reciprocal rights. And the Garrick Club is from the 1830s, named for the actor, still somewhat famous, called somebody named Garrick. And so, you know, many famous people were and are members of it. And it's entertainment is the theme, but distinction is the rule.

[Hugh Hewitt]

So it's the food any good?

[Larry Arnn]

It was good. It was very good. Roger recommended the toffee, something dessert. That was really good, but it was all good. And it's a, it's quite, it's a, it's a, you know, it's a London club, a famous old London club. And I've never been in it before and didn't know much about it, but it's cool. It's, you know, we ran into Lord Hennen there, Daniel Hannan, the European Parliament. So we were rubbing shoulders with the great and the near great.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, I wanted to begin today's program by looking forward to July 17, when the United Kingdom will get, I believe, its seventh prime minister in eight years in the form of the former mayor and now member, Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who is replacing the rather unpopular, and that's putting it mildly, Keir Starmer. Now, I want to read you from the Guardian, which is a left wing newspaper about Mr. Burnham. It says it's not Entirely clear how Burnham will navigate the limits of the Labour Party and bring his unique, his unique brand of politics to the revolving door post that would make him the seventh prime minister in a decade. He'll lay out his economic vision in a speech soon. At the moment, Andy Burnham is being almost hailed as held up as a folk hero. That will save British politics, said Matthew Flinders, politics professor at the University of Sheffield. The tide is changing. And the big issue for Andy Burnham is that when the world suddenly moves against him and he becomes a folk devil, how will he sustain the pressure? He is genuinely and generally understood to be to the left of Keir Starmer, which is not hard to be in the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. That means to me he's bound to fail. But what's it mean to you, Dr. Arn?

[Larry Arnn]

Well, he's, I don't know much about him, of course, but I've been reading up and hearing all the time because, you know, my wife is English and she follows the British press and I do some. First of all, he's probably formidable. He's a serious man. You know, he's a worker. He, he's from the north where he actually, his constituency is 30 miles from where my wife grew up. Manchester is one of the great cities in the north. He just won a parliamentary by election there and Labor's not doing well in those by elections generally. He's a socialist. He calls himself a business friendly socialist.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Yes,

[Larry Arnn]

he's made some important part of his career fighting for the north of England and against the south of England, where all the people live and where all the money is. And so he's, he's got some folk hero chops because of that. By all accounts, he's energetic. Starmer is mostly just seemed confused and I think it'll be different that he doesn't seem confused all the time now. The Guardian is very right. They're broke and you know, and they, they need, they had resignations. One of the immediate provocations of Starmer's fall was that the defense minister and a couple of senior defense officials resigned because labor made a commitment to spend 3% of gross domestic product on defense. And they're coming in at 2.6 and they have no track toward 3% right now. And Starmer has warned Burnham in public not to borrow any money for defense. It's not easy for Britain to borrow money. We're the only ones in the world that can borrow more, more money than we ought to, but we really do. And so Burnham has mentioned war bonds they had, when they were in the transition to net zero, which has been disastrous for Britain, in which they're. They've. They've incurred enormous cost and they're not going to get there by the deadline, which was 2030, I think. And so they did some green bonds to help pay for that, and now they're talking about war bonds. But I'll mention it's, you know, it's sad, right, that they've got an immigration problem. And what the problem is is that there's lots of people in the country who don't feel themselves British or respect its laws. And then some of the members of the Starmer Cabinet are very violently green. And so they found a bunch of natural gas up in Lancashire. Manchester is in Lancashire. My wife grew up in Lancashire in the north, famous county where the War of the Roses was heavily fought with Yorkshire. They found a bunch of natural gas there and they had a bunch of wells, and year ago or so, they poured concrete down those wells.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Oh, my gosh, they're not gonna.

[Larry Arnn]

So. And, you know, energy costs are the highest in Europe, in Britain, so they're, you know, it's. It's a mess and it's sad. But I have to say, good work for them, too, because I did go to a conference, Heritage and Claremont Institute put it on. And I was asked to be the keynote speaker because I happen to be in town and there's a guy named Danny Keegan, Danny Krueger is his name, and I didn't know anything about him, but he has left the Tory Party and joined the Reform Party. And he gave a simply beautiful speech. And he said, we haven't had a strategy in Britain since suez crisis in 56, I think it was, where we, by the way, thwarted them in an attack on Nasser, who was in the grip of the Soviet Union at the time, and we got to make one. And what should it be? He said, britain is still Britain and it can recover. And if it recovers, it's not a rival to the United States, but it can be the most important nation in Europe if we are the indispensable partner to the United States, because the United States has to look east toward China, and we in Europe have to handle Russia. And if we do that with that division of labor, we can do both at a manageable cost. And I just thought the speech was just lovely. I just.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Right. I'm glad to hear that there's optimism. I always remind myself, when Thatcher took over, it was very bleak after the Heath years and the Conservative Party and then it just was bleak. And now I'm of the opinion that it doesn't have to be bleak. Maybe they can turn it around, but they can't turn it around if they don't send us any ships when we're in a fight with Iran. If they simply declare neutrality. You can't turn it around if you're a neutral.

[Larry Arnn]

Well, you know, and they don't. I mean, if you read the British press, which I do a little, there's a problem. Do they have any ships they can send there? Because a lot of their ships are not in working order. And, you know, you got to have a bunch to keep one on the station all the time. And so it's a sad, you know, they're in a poor state. And the day, you know, I was corresponding over the weekend with my student Gillian Melcher, who writes for the Wall Street Journal. And I can tell you something she wrote to me because she's published it. There's a big sense of danger in Europe, that Russia is aggressive, that they've Ukraine has cost them a lot, but they're still aggressive and they're developing means to attack other countries. And they're not able to do anything about it. They're not doing anything about it, he said, worrying about it. Except if voices like Mr. Krueger get in the majority, then maybe they will do something about it. I hope so.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, when we come back next week to Winston Churchill's World War II memoir, we'll revisit the fact that Britain's been in a bind before and it was able to emerge, but they had an empire then and then they had a commonwealth, and now they're kind of on their own except for us. So let's hope they turn towards us. Don't go anywhere, America. I'll be right back with Dr. Larian, President of Hillsdale College. All things Hillsdale at Hillsdale. Eduardo all of our prior Hillsdale dialogues are [e-mail] Stay tuned.

[Podcast Announcer]

This show is a part of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to your favorite. You'll get brand new episodes of all your favorite shows sent right to your device, and you'll help us know that you're out there listening. Never miss another episode by going to Podcast Hillsdale Edu subscribe. That's Podcast Hillsdale Edu subscribe or click the Follow or Subscribe button on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

[Scott Bertram]

Hey there, it's Scott Bertram, host of the Radio Free Hillsdale. This Week on the program we talk with Professor Evolutionary behavioral scientist and best selling author God Saad and his new book, Suicidal Dying to be Kind. What about the potential dangers of altruism? Can something good be bad if there's simply too much of it? And Dr. Stephen Smith from Hillsdale College discusses the life and teachings of St. Thomas More. His new book, the Last Advice on Living and Dying well from the imprisoned St. Thomas More. All that this week on the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Find it at podcast hillsdale. Edu or wherever you get your audio.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Welcome back, America, to the Hillsdale Dialogue. I'm Hugh Hewitt. My guest is the president of Hillsdale College, Dr. Larry Arn. Now, we're about to talk about the MOU in Iran and the United States, but we are pre taping this a week early because of my and Dr. Ahn's schedules and therefore we're guessing as to what may have happened from the talks underway in Qatar between Wytkoff and Kushner and a variety of different people. Maybe the Iranians, maybe not. But we are guessing on a big subject. Dr. Ahn, you were abroad when the fighting broke out. Again, what do you think is ahead between our country and Iran?

[Larry Arnn]

Yeah, it's the best I can make of it. First of all, it's likely that there's a long road to travel still with Iran. Iran, wouldn't it be a wonderful world if we were in a position to ignore them? And you know, they're dangerous and if they get nuclear weapons and, and a long missile, and they were, their missiles are getting longer now. They can reach, they fired some in this conflict that reached far enough that if they'd gone in a different direction, they could have reached Western Europe. Well, that's a problem, right, because they're intense people and crazy, despotic, zealous. It's a problem. And they're located in that place that means that half the world's oil or something goes through there. So it's a long term problem. What I make of it right now is that the President hoped that he could address it decisively in a few weeks. And he has. You know, Iran is much weaker than it was. You have to call this a victory. I mean, it's amazing how much we've reduced them. We haven't destroyed them. And that means that they may come back and that'll go on for a while. I like it. I said this, you said that. You hadn't heard anybody say it before. So I'll say it again. I like it that when he set out to do it. He justified what he did entirely in the interest of the United States. He didn't say we're going to bring democracy to Iraq, Iran, sorry, you said that about Iraq. And that's a recognition that that's first of all not our job. The Declaration of Independence says government exists to protect our rights and that all governments should exist with the consent of their government. And that's the foreign policy of the American Revolution. And so you act according to your interest. And that's one reason why Trump is able to maneuver, and he does seem to be to be maneuvering a lot. He's looking for a ceasefire, he's looking to calm it down. He's hurt their power a lot. And they hit us and we hit them back. And if that keeps on, that'll keep on. I would guess that there's going to be a lull in a long term conflict here. Right. Soon. But we'll see about that. Guess.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, maybe because we've been reading the Churchill memoirs and we have just finished in recent weeks, the phoney war period that ended, that began after the invasion of Poland was concluded and before the invasion of France by the Nazis had begun a period of indecision, tentativeness, alarm on some parts, defeatism on other parts. I think we're in kind of a phony war, at least until after the election because the president doesn't want to try to contain the Congress, either the House or the Senate majorities with gas prices at $5 a gallon or $6 a gallon. And that's prudent. I think that's prudent. But I have no prediction after the election. Am I over reading the pause there, Dr. Arne?

[Larry Arnn]

No, I think he's left himself some flexibility and he's using it. And those are part of the reason. Also. It's not, you know, Rome wasn't built in a day and Iran is not going to be reformed in a day. It's a deep problem. And see, Iran by itself is one thing. Iran wedded to China and Russia is a more formidable thing very much. It isn't the end of the world, but it could be. And so he's maneuvering and that's what he should be doing, in my opinion. I don't, you know what I don't like? Let me state a general theory I've been thinking about a lot lately in London, I was asked to give a talk under the title, and I didn't make up the title Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. Washington, Churchill and the Anglo American Alliance. And I got to thinking about that and realized that the immediate effects of the career of George Washington and the immediate effects of the career of Winston Churchill as regards Britain and America are simply opposite.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Yes,

[Larry Arnn]

What George Washington did.

[Hugh Hewitt]

What an odd title.

[Larry Arnn]

Yeah, but I liked it and I made a virtue of it because I actually believe that those two men, roughly speaking, and adjusting for conditions, meant the same thing in the world. What Washington did was deprive Britain of an empire the size of the Roman Empire at its peak and refused to set foot on British soil afterwards. And so he was, you know, and then he was neutral in the wars that followed between Britain and our ally in our revolutionary war, France. So he looked after the interests of the United States. That is also what I think Winston Churchill did. But you have to adjust for some big facts. One of them is Britain is an island, cannot feed itself with its own food, has to trade, built an empire mostly by accident, seldom by conquest. And then he's living in a world that's dominated by amazing achievements in modern science that make the world safer and healthier and more dangerous and deadly and totalitarian nations armed with weapons of mass destruction, totalitarian movements at home. And so what do you do? Well, what he did, and I can, you know, I've written a book that purports to prove this and think it does. What he did was look to the interest of the. Of Britain first. And that required broad thinking. And. And I think that's what we have to do, too. And we have to go in that order all the time. We have to think about the interest of the United States. We have to restrain our enemies when they're dangerous to us. We are not going to try to govern them.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Amen on that. And with that, we will return in a moment. Don't go anywhere, America.

[Larry Arnn]

On the new episode of the Larry Arn Show, Hillsdale College President Larry Arn sits down with former U.S. navy SEAL officer Leif Babin for a one on one conversation, I would say in Iraq, from my experience there, I think we won the war and we lost the peace. I think that's the best way to describe that. And I think that comes from mission creep, because I think you have to define very clearly what are you actually trying to do. And we learned a lot of very tough and humbling leadership lessons on the battlefield in Ramadi. Humility, ownership, teamwork. We learned that leadership is the most important thing on the battlefield. And by leadership, I'm not just talking about the senior person in charge, but by everyone in the organization. Right down to the Frontline Trooper. Listen to this exclusive interview with Leif Babin right now only available on the Larry Arn Show. Find it on the Hillsdale College Podcast Network at Podcast hillsdale. Edu or wherever you get your audio

[Scott Bertram]

and subscribe to receive new episodes delivered right to your device.

[Larry Arnn]

That's Podcast Hillsdale.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Edu.

[Scott Bertram]

Hey there, it's Scott Bertram, host of the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. This week on the program we talk with Professor Evolutionary behavioral scientist and best selling author God Saad and his new book Suicidal Dying to be Kind. What about the potential dangers of altruism? Can something good be bad if there's simply too much of it? And Dr. Stephen Smith from Hillsdale College discusses the life and teachings of St. Thomas More. His new book, the Last Advice on Living and Dying well from the imprisoned St. Thomas More. All that this week on the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Find it at Podcast hillsdale. Edu or wherever you get your audio.

[Hugh Hewitt]

The interests of America. That's where Dr. Arne was when we left off in the last segment of the Hillsdale Dialogue of all things hillsdalesdale.edu all of our prior [e-mail] you leave the country for a couple of weeks, Dr. Arne and three communists get elected as their Democratic nominees in New York. So I really don't think you should leave again. I am using the communist word because our president uses it and I've listened to the three people and for all intents and purposes, the Democratic socialists of America are anti Western, anti American, anti Israel and anti Semitic. That puts them very close, if not actually four square with communists. What do you make of this? Of this? And there may be more in your state, in Minnesota, there may be more radicals nominated by the Democrats before we know it. What do you make of what's going on there?

[Larry Arnn]

Well, it's dangerous and it's big. Right. There's a lot of causes for it. You have to sort of give a history of the American society since the 60s. Probably. I heard a talk by your friend and mine, Brian Westbury, on the cruise that was simply riveting and it helps to explain young people today. The talk was about the Federal Reserve. And come to find out I didn't know this since in the last 18 years, that's the time period the Federal Reserve has tripled the amount of money in circulation in America. That's unprecedented. We never did anything approaching that before. But the next step is money is only valuable for what it can buy. And so that means money gets Allocated to the goods available, whatever there is to buy. That's where the money has to go, finally. That's why inflation is a monetary phenomenon. Well, all that money got allocated to assets, and it benefited very greatly. People who own assets, which would be boomers, you and me. Right. And our assets have climbed in value greatly, and that hurts people who don't have any, the young. And so what they look out on now is housing prices that are through the roof, and they don't see a future. And look, the government has its hands on half the economy, and so socialism is just. What about the other half? And I think that that's. And he said, Brian Westbury, who's been on your show a lot. Oh, a lot, by the way, he's

[Hugh Hewitt]

a very smart guy.

[Larry Arnn]

He's in really good form these days. It was just a riveting and shocking talk. And he closed it by speaking of his son who graduated a couple of months ago from Hillsdale College. He said, you Gen Z types must hate us boomers. And his son does not hate him. His son's actually going to work for him with him. But he said, you're darn right, dad, we do. So there's something going on there. You know, a lot of this stuff is provoked by dysfunction.

[Hugh Hewitt]

It's interesting to reflect, Larry, on how we would have had that conversation with our fathers. I don't know your dad, but my dad came back from the war and went to school and finished school and got married and bought himself a house for $13,500 and built a life. But a house cost $13,500 when he bought it in 1961. That's different now. And I don't. I think they came back to a land of opportunity, not scarcity, because there were fewer rules and productivity was higher on the basic goods. Is that.

[Larry Arnn]

That's it?

[Hugh Hewitt]

That's it. Yeah.

[Larry Arnn]

My daddy was a schoolteacher. First one in our family to go to college. Went to college on the GI Bill. And he was waiting to go to Japan. He didn't go abroad. He was training to go to Japan if the atomic bomb had not dropped. Well, when my father died, he left an estate of 150 grand. He had a good retirement from 30 years of teaching. And the last. His last mortgage payment, which he had made four or five years before, was $88. And he had nine acres and a fair house in Pocahontas, Arkansas. Right.

[Hugh Hewitt]

So that is remarkably similar, though my dad got to Japan not in time for the war. He loved Truman because he didn't have to invade Japan, but he occupied it. They're probably born in around the same time, 23, a different world because the country was productive and you could build, you could build a life on nine acres in Arkansas or an acre in Ohio. And it was possible. I just don't know if that's. We'll talk about that on the other side. The DSA is tapping into that, but it doesn't work. Their solution does not work. We'll find out what Brian Westbury had to say about that when we come back. Stay tuned.

[Podcast Announcer]

This show is a part of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to your favorite. You'll get brand new episodes of all your favorite shows sent right to your device and you'll help us know that you're out there listening. Never miss another episode by going to Podcast Hillsdale. Edu subscribe. That's Podcast Hillsdale. Edu subscribe or click the Follow or subscribe button on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

[Scott Bertram]

Hey there, it's Scott Bertram, host of the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. This week on the program we talk with professor evolutionary behavioral scientist and best selling author God Saad in his new book, Suicidal Dying to be Kind. What about the potential dangers of altruism? Can something good be bad if there's simply too much of it? And Dr. Stephen Smith from Hillsdale College discusses the life and teachings of St. Thomas More. His new book, the Last Advice on Living and Dying well From the imprisoned St. Thomas More all that this week on the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Find it at Podcast Hillsdale Edu or wherever you get your audio.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. The Hillsdale dialogue is underway. All things Hillsdale at Hillsdale Edu. As I'll tell you after the break after Dr. Orn is gone, but I do want to say to you, doctor, tell us what Brian Westbury's, who is a very brilliant man, recipe for recovery is because it's not envy of generations. In fact, you could change the law to make it easier for the boomers to leave their assets to the gen zers and the millennials. Right now, the government confiscates a lot of that, which is insane. It's absolutely insane.

[Larry Arnn]

Yeah, well, the prescription is the old homespun prescription. We have to work our way out of this. Brian likes the Fed. Chairman Warsh thinks that he's got the root of the matter in him and he thinks that we need solid money and we need to a revival of work and effort and innovation. You know what I believe is the like. I've been thinking a lot about China and its military and stuff like that. And I think we have an asset that China cannot duplicate. And the asset has a name. Name three. Palmer Lucky. Elon Musk. Alex Karp. Peter Thiel. People like them, yeah, they just think of ways that are, you know, and, and you don't know where they're coming from. And so the trouble with socialism is it conscripts all that and thereby stifles it. So we have to produce and grow and young people need work. Right? Like what, you know, the kids who graduate from Hillsdale College do pretty well when they leave, right? Well, one reason for that, I mean, they're smart and they're, you know, all that, that's very important. They're used to working. You got to work and, and you got to, you know, you got to work. And so we, we. There's no question that we can work ourselves out of this mess and even rapidly, but we can't do it by that path because that path is more of what's killing us.

[Hugh Hewitt]

That path being we cannot gift ourselves out of this as Mayor Mamdani is attempting to do in New York with his promise of free buses and city run grocery stores. Well, we remember what was in the stores in the Soviet Union. More importantly, he just imposed rent control on a million plus units. And you and I know from our California days when we were opining and arguing against rent control in Santa Monica and other places, it never does anything except destroy the existing housing stock as landlords will not invest in what they cannot control. It's like rule number one. But can the Democratic Party be reawakened to what it believed in even as recently as Jack Kennedy? Because that's not that long ago.

[Larry Arnn]

Well, events and persuasion and votes, right? In other words, I mean, look, we're in a mess in the west and in America and maybe we won't get out of this mess. We just sort of know how. Right. And will we do that? I think that's up to us. And as for predicting the future of the Democratic Party, when, you know, we're old now, right? So we've watched Ronald Reagan get elected when we were young and we watched two guys named Bush get elected. And both times there were a plethora of articles saying now the Democratic Party will reform. They took a beating. Now they'll reform. They don't. And the reason is they're gripped in it. Some of them, right, are gripped in an ideology and it gets Fuel in part by dysfunction in society. And there's always dysfunction in society. And my own view is that it's made worse by the government and its consumption and its regulation and its interference. And we need a people that work and support themselves and feel like they ought to do that. I mean, goodness, if you worry about the national debt, add to that the problem of babies. You know, we need to form Gen Z. Apparently they're not dating and let alone getting married and having babies and, and that's, you know, I end up talking to students a lot about marriage because I have a good marriage and it's sort of visible in the town and they always want to talk about that. How does that work? Right. Well, it's a partnership and it completes the members of it and they both have to value it like that. And then they have to think of the responsibilities that come from. Because there is this one high, sacred, difficult responsibility that's available to every human being and that is have a child and raise it. Have a bunch better, right? And then what will happen? You know, I know all about your children and your grandchildren and your noble military offspring and in laws, right? And I know all about that because that's important to you, Mrs. Hewitt, and very. My wife and I. What is, you know, what is our relationship? 46 years of marriage. Now today, after I do this, I'm going to complete building a mud kitchen in my workshop for my two grandchildren. And then I'm making picture frames to frame some drawings that our wonderful daughter Alice, the architect who just had a child, her first. We got to put them up on the wall, right? That's our marriage after 46 years. It's about children and grandchildren and we have work to do in common too, because, you know, we. I run the college and we have 2000 something guests a year over here. And she deals with all that and without pay. And everybody loves her. She's great. But the main thing is our family. That's our relationship. And then it's our responsibility to help them and tend them. We brought them into the world. And so that, you see, that's life. That's human life. And we can't abandon that. It was a great. Churchill was an antisocialist all his life and he knew the inventors of Fabian socialism. He was elected to Parliament the first year that any socialist was elected to parliament in 1900. And he gave a wonderful speech one time. And it's about the many, many things we do in common that are naturally socialized and then the many, many things we do not do in common, like, for example, marry our spouses and raise our children and live in our homes. Right. And we need that. And you need to produce that to have a human life.

[Hugh Hewitt]

And that is, that is the secret. Though next week you're gonna have to tell me what a mud kitchen is. We don't have time today, but that is it. No wonder Hilltail College students are not only successful, but they marry at a higher rate and have more children than does the average college student in America. That's a guess, but I'm pretty much willing to wager a lot on that guess. Dr. Laran of Hillsdale College, thank you. Next week, back to Churchill.

[Scott Bertram]

Thanks for listening to the Hillsdale Dialogues, part of the Hillsdale College Podcast network. More episodes at podcast hillsdale. Edu or wherever you find your audio. For more information about Hillsdale College, head to Hillsdale.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Eduardo.