Shows / The Living Past: Current events explained through history.
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.
To understand the present, look at the past. The Living Past is a history and current events podcast that connects today’s politics, business, culture, and global events with the historical patterns that came before them. Each episode explores modern issues through historical parallels — not to predict the future, but to give context, perspective, and a clearer way to understand the world we’re living in. Because most things we think are new… aren’t. Current events through the lens of history…
Episodes
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 1: Why Can't America Build Anything Anymore?
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, America built Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in just a few years. A…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Why Can’t America Build Anything Anymore?
America built the transcontinental railroad in six years, Hoover Dam in five, and the Golden Gate Bridge in just over four. Today, major infrastructure…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 17: The Power of Delusion
We usually treat delusion as something dangerous: ignoring reality, overestimating ourselves, refusing to listen when everyone says we’re wrong. And often…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: The Power of Delusion
What if delusion isn’t just a flaw, but one of the engines of human progress? From Raygun to inventors, astronauts, artists, athletes, and Silicon Valley…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 16: Our Strange Relationship With the Truth
We like to think we are truth-seeking creatures. But are we? From the time we are children, we are surrounded by stories that are comforting, useful…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Our Strange Relationship With the Truth
Every Christmas, loving parents deliberately deceive their children. They eat the cookies. Move the presents. Invent the evidence. And everyone calls it magic…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 15: The Maxxing Economy: When Good Enough Is Never Enough
We live in a culture obsessed with improving the final 2% while millions of people still haven't secured the first 80%. From peptides, sleep trackers, greens…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: The Maxxing Economy: When Good Enough Is Never Enough
We’ve somehow reached a point where people worry about sleep scores, peptides, special water, and recovery gadgets while barely sleeping, barely exercising, or…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 14: Why Did American Christianity Change
How did a faith centered on loving your neighbor become so closely associated with political power and cultural conflict? Jesus spoke constantly about caring…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Why Did American Christianity Change
"Love your enemies." "Blessed are the poor." "Judge not." "Sell what you have and give to the poor." Those are some of Jesus' most famous teachings. So how did…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 13: Why America Is So Angry
The working class feels forgotten. The middle class feels squeezed. Young people feel locked out of the future. Older Americans feel like the country they grew…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Why America Is So Angry
Why does it seem like everyone in America is angry? The poor are angry. The middle class is angry. The wealthy are angry. Young people, retirees, immigrants…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 12: Why We Accept Bad Behavior
Why do good people stay silent when they see bad behavior? Why do families excuse the child who keeps crossing the line? Why do companies protect toxic…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Why We Accept Bad Behavior
How does a society go from saying, "That's unacceptable," to "That's just how things are?" It doesn't happen overnight. It happens one excuse at a time. One…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 11: The Human Face of Conflict
In this episode, we explore the provocative argument that modern news has become immersed in the "machinery of conflict," prioritizing market reactions and…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: The Human Face of Conflict
"The Human Face of Conflict: Language, Security, and Storytelling." is focusing on the core tensions explored in your sources: The Weaponization of Words: A…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 10: Why do some stories outlive the facts?
From high school rumors to political parties, California, Cuba, and Vietnam, this episode explores how narratives take on a life of their own. Once a story…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Why do some stories outlive the facts?
From high school rumors to political parties, California, Cuba, and Vietnam, this episode explores how narratives take on a life of their own. Once a story…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 9: When Politics Becomes Identity, Culture Starts to Collapse
Let's explore how we can still value cultural icons who vote differently than we do? This podcast explores the "flattening" of human identity, where icons like…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview Episode: When Politics Becomes Identity, Culture Starts to Collapse
Can we still value cultural icons who vote differently than we do? This podcast explores the "flattening" of human identity, where icons like Hulk Hogan and…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 8: Why are so many visitors surprised by how nice Americans are?
We're back from our short summer break and ready to dive into yet another topic that runs deep in our society. As the World Cup brings millions of people to…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 7: Too Big to Fail: What Happens When the World Depends on One Country
The United States has become the world's functional infrastructure, making it "too big to fail". From the dominance of the U.S. dollar to the global impact of…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Too Big to Fail: What Happens When the World Depends on One Country
Preview of the upcoming episode: The United States has become the world's functional infrastructure, making it "too big to fail". From the dominance of the…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 6: The Only Sin in America
In this episode, we delve into Herman Forwood’s compelling argument that while America claims to value integrity, its actual "social theology" dictates that…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: The Only Sin in America
In this podcast preview, we delve into Herman Forwood’s compelling argument that while America claims to value integrity, its actual "social theology" dictates…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 5: Great Power, Great Responsibility
Anyone can swing a hammer, but it takes true strength to build something durable. This podcast explores the thin line between raw force and true leadership…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Great Power, Great Responsibility
Preview: Anyone can swing a hammer, but it takes true strength to build something durable. This podcast explores the thin line between raw force and true…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 4: Divine Rule: The Historic Fusion of Church and State
In light of the spat between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the upcoming podcast explores the historical reality that, for most of human history, church and…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview - Divine Rule: The Historic Fusion of Church and State
Episode preview: In light of the spat between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the upcoming podcast explores the historical reality that, for most of human…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 3: Scapegoating – The Oldest Trick in the Populist Playbook
In this episode we dive deep into the concept of scapegoating—the populist's tool for simplifying complex crises into a single, convenient culprit. We explain…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview of Charles Lindbergh, National Hero, Nazi Sympathizer, Populist… and Something Darker.
Preview of Charles Lindbergh, National Hero, Nazi Sympathizer, Populist… and Something Darker. Explore the hidden, darker side of the "golden boy of aviation"…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Preview: Scapegoating – The Oldest Trick in the Populist Playbook
This preview introduces the concept of scapegoating—the populist's tool for simplifying complex crises into a single, convenient culpritIt briefly explains how…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 2: Charles Lindbergh, National Hero, Nazi Sympathizer, Populist… and Something Darker
Explore the hidden, darker side of the "golden boy of aviation" This episode reveals how Lindbergh’s populism, Nazi sympathies, and belief in eugenics…
The Living Past: Current events explained through history.Episode 1: The Real Threat Isn’t Left or Right, It’s Populism
Stop asking if you're Left or Right. Writer Herman Forwood argues this framing is "misleading and dangerous". In this episode, we explore Forwood’s "Circle…