142 – Jiving with Jaffa with Seth Root

While Leo Strauss was famous for influencing men and women who became intellectual heavyweights in the conservative movement—names like Allan Bloom, Irving Kristol, Harvey Mansfield, Thomas Pangle barely scratch the surface—few stand as tall as Harry Jaffa.  A cantankerous and quarrelsome debater to some and a beloved architect of restoring conservatism to a more American-focused and principled-based approach to others, Jaffa lived a remarkably long and productive life.  His writings persuaded William F. Buckley, Jr. away from a more sympathetically Southern conservatism and, with it, the whole of the conservative movement.   Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to explore the legacy of Harry Jaffa is returning guest Seth Root, who was last seen in episode 83 discussing the virtues of Straussianism.   About Seth Root Seth Root is a self-described Claremont Institute hack who doesn't care for Edmund Burke, but we love him anyway.  He was the cohost of the tragically defunct In The Trenches Podcast, a show for conversations with people that are right in the middle of the war of ideas.  Seth was a fellow at Conservative Partnership Institute and an intern at the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding.  He currently works for the Oregon State Senate.  You can follow Seth on Twitter @SethRoot1