Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America (Guest: Philip K. Howard)
Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Philip K. Howard, Chair of Common Good, to discuss his latest book, Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America. They chat about how nothing works as it should because red tape has strangled common sense, how bureaucracy makes people go brain dead, how the United States is flailing in legal quicksand, and what we can do about it.
Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Can-Do-Revive-Spirit-America/dp/1957588403 (https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Can-Do-Revive-Spirit-America/dp/1957588403)
Show Notes:
The Atlantic: Philip K. Howard – “Americans Are Afraid of Authority” (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/human-authority-government-effectiveness-abundance/685540/)
Law & Liberty: Philip K. Howard – “The Need for Judgment” (https://lawliberty.org/the-need-for-judgment/)
Law & Liberty: Mark Pulliam – “A Post-Trump Era Common Sense?” (https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-post-trump-era-common-sense/)
The Wall Street Journal: Yuval Levin – “‘Saving Can-Do’ Review: How to Stop Dragging Feet” (https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/saving-can-do-review-how-to-stop-dragging-feet-930a118c?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqf6906BAR6L-BNcsDB0-M_5DYJ6-39E4jSpH_gRBeEYpkRYJRr33h_klwUZlVs%3D&gaa_ts=69b024da&gaa_sig=fqJ4oeCWXjsmkglzp6KKNj6SlBLJzMgW77Ll93KyX68tdVnyKinG9nDk04d3S7qczuz70N2wJLC0vLIxLvHmqA%3D%3D)
The Washington Post: George F. Will – “America’s can-do spirit needs liberation from can’t-do regulation” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/01/regulation-invention-philip-howard/)
3 Feb 2026
The Persistence of the Ideological Lie (Guest: Daniel J. Mahoney)
Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined once again by Daniel J. Mahoney, professor emeritus at Assumption University and senior fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, to discuss his latest book, The Persistence of the Ideological Lie: The Totalitarian Impulse Then and Now. They chat about what is the “Ideological Lie,” how the totalitarians from the Jacobins onward have relied on it, and how our failure to learn from the totalitarian tragedy of the twentieth century allowed the ideological virus to metastasize in new and alarming ways.
Get the book here: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/persistence-ideological-lie/ (https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/persistence-ideological-lie/)
Show Notes:
The American Mind: Daniel J. Mahoney – “Fighting the Ideological Lie”
https://americanmind.org/salvo/fighting-the-ideological-lie/ (https://americanmind.org/salvo/fighting-the-ideological-lie/)
City Journal: Daniel DiSalvo – “The Destructiveness of Ideological Thinking”
https://www.city-journal.org/article/daniel-j-mahoney-persistence-ideological-lie (https://www.city-journal.org/article/daniel-j-mahoney-persistence-ideological-lie)
Fusion: Juliana Geran Pilon – “To Lie or Not to Lie”
https://fusionaier.org/2025/to-lie-or-not-to-lie/ (https://fusionaier.org/2025/to-lie-or-not-to-lie/)
Law & Liberty: Theodore Dalrymple – “Diagnosing the Ideological Mind”
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/diagnosing-the-ideological-mind/ (https://lawliberty.org/book-review/diagnosing-the-ideological-mind/)
Law & Liberty: Daniel J. Mahoney – “The Persistence of the Lie”
https://lawliberty.org/the-persistence-of-the-lie/ (https://lawliberty.org/the-persistence-of-the-lie/)
National Review: John O’Sullivan – “Lies, Damned Lies, and Ideology”
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2025/06/lies-damned-lies-and-ideology/ (https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2025/06/lies-damned-lies-and-ideology/)
The University Bookman: Jeffrey Folks – “Unmasking the Ideological Lie”
https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/unmasking-the-ideological-lie/ (https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/unmasking-the-ideological-lie/)
27 Nov 2025
Ill Literacy, Episode 182: Measuring the Man (Guest: Jonathan W. White)
In Episode 182 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Jonathan W. White, co-editor of Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln.
Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined once again by Jonathan W. White, Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, to discuss his latest book, co-edited with Lucas E. Morel, Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln. They chat about how White discovered a cache of unknown, insightful letters in England by Douglass on Lincoln, the distrust and vitriol Douglass directed at Lincoln as he moved slowly and methodically toward emancipation, how three personal interactions between the two led to powerful feelings of friendship and mutual admiration, and how, after Lincoln’s assassination, Douglass expressed greater appreciation for Lincoln’s statesmanship during the Civil War and praised him as a model for postwar America.
Get the book here: https://reedypress.com/shop/measuring-the-man/ (https://reedypress.com/shop/measuring-the-man/)
Show Notes:
Smithsonian Magazine: Lucas E. Morel & Jonathan W. White – “When Historians Rediscovered These Frederick Douglass Letters, They Were Surprised by His Candid Opinions About Abraham Lincoln”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/historians-rediscovered-frederick-douglass-letters-surprised-candid-opinions-abraham-lincoln-180987175/ (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/historians-rediscovered-frederick-douglass-letters-surprised-candid-opinions-abraham-lincoln-180987175/)
The Wall Street Journal: David S. Reynolds – “‘Measuring the Man’ Review: Partners in Their Time”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/measuring-the-man-review-partners-in-their-time-2a96aff1?mod=books_more_article_pos114 (https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/measuring-the-man-review-partners-in-their-time-2a96aff1?mod=books_more_article_pos114)
Who has been a guest on Ill Literacy: Books with Benson
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Jonathan W White
David Zweig
Frank Trentmann
David L Roll
Harold Holzer
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6 ratings
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Tim Benson host the show. Published by The Heartland Institute.
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