#29 Being a low status conservative on the wrong side of history with Ed West

Professor Bryan Caplan coined the Ideological Turing Test which measures whether a person truly understands an opposing political or ideological viewpoint. To help us pass the test when it comes to conservatism as a school of political thought, Ed West takes us from St Augustine to today whilst making some challenging observations from a position of both deep knowledge and ideological humility. We cover many subjects including:The Broken Age Curve: Why, contrary to historic beliefs, people born from the mid-1970s onward are entering middle age without adopting traditional conservative voting habits or lifestyles.Human Nature & The Blank Slate: Exploring the ultimate divide between the progressive belief in human perfectibility and the darker, Augustinian view of mankind as inherently flawed.The Media, Academia, and Status: How conservatism became a "low-status" viewpoint in the arts, media, and universities, and why academia breeds such bitter ideological battles.The Post-Christian Right: The rise of secular right-wing subcultures, the "Manosphere," and how the collapse of traditional religious frameworks is leading to political sectarianism.Unintended Consequences: A look at how well-meaning regulations—from rent controls to modern slavery legislation—frequently backfire in the real world.Ed's substack, The Wrong Side of History is an entertaining, funny, and educational forum which he describes as "political-commentary-with-history." The latter being his great passion which shines through in his posts.You can find him it here https://www.edwest.co.uk/ or on X https://x.com/edwest.This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music composed by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy).