Pluralist Points with Ben Klutsey

Feb 28 2025 13 ep. 43 mins 16

Pluralist Points with Ben Klutsey Podcast artwork

Ben Klutsey of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University engages in thought-provoking conversations with experts in the field of civil discourse. Klutsey facilitates discussions that explore ideas and practices essential for maintaining a free and open society, providing listeners with valuable insights and perspectives on this crucial topic.

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Kurt Weyland on Populism vs. Pluralism

Feb 28 2025 45 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Kurt Weyland, the Mike Hogg Professor in Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, about the rise of populism. They discuss what factors contribute to populism, how worried we should be about its rise, why populism leads to aut

Kurt Gray on Moving Beyond Moral Outrage

Jan 31 2025 39 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Kurt Gray, a psychology and neuroscience professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, about our moral understanding and how we react to perceived threats. They discuss why a “protection” narrative is better than a “d

Shira Hoffer on Curious Disagreement

Dec 20 2024 38 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Shira Hoffer, the founder and executive director of the Institute for Multipartisan Education, about her work as a mediator and the importance of curious disagreement. They discuss self-censorship among college students, how to develop

Daryl Davis on How to Fight Hatred

Nov 22 2024 43 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with author, activist and musician Daryl Davis, who is known for his work confronting racism through dialogue. They discuss Davis’ first encounter with a member of the Ku Klux Klan, his determination to discover the “why” behind racism

Corey Brettschneider on Citizen Checks on Presidential Power

Oct 25 2024 42 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Corey Brettschneider, a professor of political science at Brown University, about his new book, “The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought To Defend It.” They discuss the early

Musa al-Gharbi on Symbolic Capital and Social Justice

Sep 27 2024 71 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Musa al-Gharbi, an assistant professor of journalism, communication and sociology at Stony Brook University, about his forthcoming book, “We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite.” They discuss the evoluti

Ilana Redstone on Escaping the Certainty Trap

Sep 06 2024 36 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Ilana Redstone, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, about her new book, “The Certainty Trap: Why We Need To Question Ourselves More—and How We Can Judge Others Less.” They discuss why we as

Joshua Cherniss on Cultivating an Ethos of Tempered Liberalism

Aug 02 2024 62 mins

In this re-release of an installment of a series on liberalism, Benjamin Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, talks with Joshua Cherniss, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University, about challenges to liberalism in the mid-20th century, the current liberal predicament, the thinkers who exemplify a spirit of tempered

Yuval Levin on Acting Together While Thinking Differently

Jul 26 2024 47 mins

In this episode of the Pluralist Points podcast, Ben Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, speaks with Yuval Levin, editor-in-chief of National Affairs magazine and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, about the Constitution as a unity document, the relationship between liberalism and republicanism, the benefits of congr

Amanda Ripley on High Conflict to Good Conflict

Jul 19 2024 51 mins

In this re-release of an installment of a series on liberalism, Benjamin Klutsey, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, talks with Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist and author, about the benefits of not watching the news, the conflict industrial complex, whether divisions in the U.S. are getting worse, the importance of positive interact