It's a special Thanksgiving crossover episode of American Angst and Church Potluck! Dr. Michael Bailey and Dale McConkey start off-topic with a quick overview of 10 dizzying days in American politics. From there, they pivot to something far older, quieter, and deeper: Thanksgiving! Michael makes a bold claim—that Thanksgiving is the most American of all holidays—and builds his case like a true political theorist, tracing four different “foundings” of America (Puritan, Revolutionary, Civil War, and New Deal) and showing how Thanksgiving brushes up against each one. Along the way, they talk football and Black Friday, parades and turkey pardons, Friendsgiving and “family plus,” Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, and why humility and gratitude might be our best hope in an anxious age.

The episode is equal parts engaging civics lesson and cozy kitchen-table conversation. Dale and Michael swap their favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving traditions (including Dale’s “House of Dreams” potlucks and Michael’s annual Birmingham adventure day), lament the commercialization creeping into the holiday, and still find reasons to be stubbornly hopeful about America also previews an upcoming Church Potluck plan: an audio Advent & Christmas "calendar," inviting listeners to share their favorite Advent traditions from around the world. It’s politics and prayer, football and philosophy, social critique and sincere gratitude—seasoned with humor, affection, and a genuine desire to live more thoughtfully in a messy country they still love.

The views expressed on American Angst are solely those of the participants and do not represent any organization.

In this episode of American Angst, Michael Bailey briefly updates us on the apparent breakthrough in the government shutdown. The deal reopens the government and restores furlough pay, but Bailey emphasizes that the underlying fight—especially over Affordable Care Act subsidies—remains unresolved. In his view, the shutdown ended without Democrats gaining meaningful policy concessions, making this more of a pause than a resolution.

The primary focus of the episode, however, is the recent off-year elections. Bailey notes that Democrats performed well in several key statewide and local contests, but he cautions against over-interpreting the results. Rather than signaling a grand defense of democracy, he argues the outcomes likely reflect everyday affordability pressures—housing, groceries, healthcare—more than ideological alignment.

Bailey highlights a divide within the Democratic wins: moderates gaining ground in statewide races and a democratic socialist gaining momentum in a major city. He sees this as a strategic crossroads. While the moral concerns behind social-democratic policy are real, he warns that leaning too far into ideological purity may be risky in a culturally center-right nation. He argues that pragmatic centrism may remain the most broadly viable approach.

Finally, Bailey raises a concern about political character and restraint. In resisting authoritarian tendencies on the right, he stresses that Democrats must avoid mirroring the same “win-at-all-costs” approach. The challenge, he suggests, is to protect democratic norms without becoming what one opposes.

The views expressed on American Angst are solely those of the participants and do not represent any organization.

Homeownership used to be the on-ramp to the middle-class American Dream. For many young adults, that on-ramp now feels barricaded—by high prices, high mortgage rates, high rents, and student debt. In this episode, Michael Bailey and Dale McConkey trace how the starter-home drought ripples outward, negatively affecting:

• Wealth-building: Years of renting replace decades of equity, widening generational gaps.
• Life milestones: Delayed ownership nudges later marriages, fewer or later kids, and less geographic mobility.
• Community & civic life: Fewer roots can mean lower local engagement and turnout, thinner neighborhood ties, and more loneliness.
• Culture & politics: Rising cynicism (“the game is rigged”) meets nostalgia (“we’ve lost something essential”), fueling new coalitions and tensions.

Michael also proposed some possible solutions: zoning reform (more duplexes, ADUs, mid-rise), YIMBY approaches to mixed-income neighborhoods, right-sized incentives for first-time buyers, and pragmatic “yes-and” policies that different ideologies can actually share. Maybe, just maybe, we can find new pathways to the American Dream.

The views expressed on American Angst are solely those of the participants and do not represent any organization.