The Power Line Show, Ep. 144: “Guilt Is The Greatest Form of Self-Indulgence”—Breaking Down the 1619 Project, Part 3

“Lucretia,” Power Line’s international woman of mystery, is back with me again this week with the third installment in our special series confronting the pernicious New York Times “1619 Project,” this time taking on the argument that slavery is the central factor in the rise of modern industrial capitalism—a proposal so laughable that we actually spend a lot of our time talking about entirely tangential subjects. (For listeners interested in a serious compilation of the defects of the “slavery=capitalism” line, see Bradley Hansen’s copious blog entry on the issue.)

In addition to the continuing vivisection of the 1619 Project, Lucretia and I spend time discussing my recent LawLiberty essay, “How to Get Through the ‘Nationalism’ Minefield,” which I feared the exacting Lucretia might find suspect for its oblique flirtation with historicism. But no! All was sweetness and light, which means Lucretia is mellowing about my longstanding sentimental weaknesses (as she has always seen them anyway).

But as usual Lucretia gets in the best line of the episode: “Guilt is the greatest form of self-indulgence.” It ought to be the motto of the New York Times editorial page.

As usual, listen here, or download from our hosts at Ricochet.  And if you haven’t already done so, subscribe to Power Line in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!).

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