As loyal listeners know, yesterday John, Lucretia, and I took over the flagship Ricochet podcast in the absence of both Peter Robinson (still somewhere in the Witness Protection Program) and Rob Long (out walking a Hollywood picket line somewhere), and we made James Lileks’ life completely miserable.

We decided that a couple of issues we brought up deserved some extended discussion in this bonus episode, starting with the “trust” question: why do Americans now hold nearly all major institutions, both public and private, in such low regard? We run through a number of factors, from ideology, competence, and corruption, but also wonder about whether our ruling elites today don’t have the same kind of noblesse oblige that characterized the elites of the 1950s (the Dulles brothers get a special shout-out). Special bonus: learning about John Yoo’s turn in the cab of a long-haul 18-wheeler truck, which may finally explain his fondness for McDonald’s.

Next, we return to the question of “human rights” versus the natural rights of the American Founding, and the mischief that the rise of “human rights” has entailed in modern times. I had intended to nitpick John’s understanding of Thomas Hobbes, but the Learned Lucretia shows up in force, with marvelous renditions of Locke and Hobbes, casting doubt on my proposition that maybe there exists a “Hobbistotle” to go with Tom West’s “Lockistotle.” It’s not as wonky and esoteric as it sounds! Well actually maybe it is, but we think you’ll still enjoy this Trump and Biden-free episode (and ad-free, too!)

Our thanks, by the way, to the Ricochet team for the honor of occupying their show, and to James Lileks for his indulgence.

But because Lucretia and John once again wrongly dismiss my embrace of prog rock (“Rock and roll that went to college,” as Jody Bottum calls it), the exit music for this episode is an excerpt from “The Chamber of 32 Doors,” which is in some passages the Prog Rock version of “Rich Men North of Richmond” which we discuss briefly in this episode:

I’d rather trust a countryman than a townman

You can judge by his eyes, take a look if you can

He’ll smile through his guard, survival trains hard

I’d rather trust a man who works with his hands

He looks at you once, you know he understands

Don’t need any shield, when you’re out in the field. . .

The priest and the magician

Singin’ all the chants that they have ever heard

And they’re all calling out my name

Even academics, searching printed word



Maybe the academics will figure it out someday, but judging by the elite culture’s reaction to “Rich Men North of Richmond,” today is not that day.

So listen here, or over with our gracious hosts at Ricochet.