The Compass of Power

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is gaining some steam as a challenger to Donald Trump. What is the former South Carolina governor doing that other candidates is not? Acting like she is a member of the ruling class of the South -- which she is.

Did the elites take over social justice movements like MeToo, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street? Not exactly. Those movements were all totally in alignment with elite values in the northern United States. And those elites do control most American media and most of academia. So, to say these "causes" were ever separate from elitism would not be quite right. They we

Where does President Joe Biden’s pro-union, “from-the-bottom-up” economic policy come from? From his roots in Delaware and Pennsylvania, where the original settlers believed in getting an education-- but not too much -- and working hard -- but not too too hard. #Biden2024#bidenomics#quakerlifestyle

The Republican Presidential Candidate is often described as a biotech executive, a Trump wannabe, or just this news cycle’s novelty act. But Ramaswamy’s connection with voters is no pretension -- he hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, making him a member of America’s most populous culture, the Appalachians. And those voters also happen to be the people who put Trump in the White Hou

The song by Oliver Anthony isn’t actually liberal or conservative. It’s Appalachian. It talks about the same things that have animated singers in the Scotch-Irish-settled parts of America for 250 years, and it does it in the same musical style, too. The real scandal is that so many online outlets want to claim some of its fame by shaming or blaming a work of art for being indic

The recent House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAPs) featured seemingly serious people suggesting the federal government has captured the aliens and their spaceship. Was the "tic-tac" covered up? Turns out our conversations about UFOs and national security have not substantially changed since the first "flying sauc

Visiting Deschutes National Forest and Suttle Lodge offered a peak at the future of camping culture in the Pacific Northwest, and at the influx of wealthy people who decided to live in the Cascade Mountains full time. The mountains were once a buffer between the liberal-minded culture of Portland and ranchers of Eastern Oregon, but dry-side Bend and Sisters don't seem that muc

You can find poll numbers and pundits on the other podcasts. But the Compass of Power is the only place to find the candidates ranked by cultural region. In this episode, I’m going through the entire known presidential field. But instead of listing folks as Republicans or Democrats, we’re breaking them down as folks from the Northern coalition – mostly liberals – and the So

The Compass of Power helps you understand the limits of the possible, recognize the goodness in others, and cultivate reasonable expectations of national politics. Unlike the usual lenses for looking at politics, it helps you avoid overidentification with political parties, personalities and paradigms. And by doing that, it can foster civil discourse in society.

Republican presidential candidates Tim Scott and Nikki Haley challenge a lot of our preconceptions about modern politics, but they definitely carry the flame of the South Carolina spirit.