In an era of accelerating digital technologies, the jurisprudence of free speech has been utterly transformed. Our ideas about what the right to speech amounts to, what counts as speech, and whether all forms of speech are equally protected are all in flux. The resulting inflation of free-speech law has made it impossible to hold tech companies accountable for obvious misconduct.

Guest John Ehrett joins us to discuss applying a truly originalist understanding of the First Amendment to caselaw and policymaking, returning tech regulation and other policy matters to the democratic process.

John Ehrett is an attorney and writer in Washington, D.C. All views are his own.

This podcast discusses themes from John’s essay, co-authored with Brad Littlejohn in the Winter 2026 issue of National Affairs: “The Post-human First Amendment.”

American society has become radically permissive of some serious vices in the past few years. Drugs, gambling, and pornography are easier to access legally than ever before. A backlash against this permissiveness has clearly begun, but it has yet to find its footing because it tends to be rooted in the language of material or physical harm. Such arguments are a crucial piece of the case for prohibiting vice, but they have to be paired with a more comprehensive and coherent account of why vice is incompatible with human freedom and flourishing.

Guest Charles Lehman joins us to discuss how opponents of vice can build a bipartisan coalition for banning the addictive products that threaten republican self-government.

Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and senior editor of City Journal.

This podcast discusses themes from Charles’s essay in the Winter 2026 issue of National Affairs, “The Case for Prohibiting Vice”

In principle, federal agency missions are set when agencies are created, and so remain rooted in the ambitions of the president and the Congress who decided they were necessary. But in reality, political change tends to transform agencies’ missions in both subject and scope. Understanding how this occurs can clarify the nature of presidential power and the character of constitutional evolution.

Guest Tevi Troy joins us to discuss how agency missions have changed during recent presidential administrations, and how Congress can act to restore the constitutional separation of powers.

Tevi Troy is a senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute, a former deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, and former senior White House aide. He is the author of five books on the presidency, including The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry (Regnery History, 2024).

This podcast discusses themes from Tevi’s essay in the Fall 2025 issue of National Affairs, “Who Gives Federal Agencies Their Purpose?”