
← ReImagining Liberty24 okt 2025 · 58 min
092: Liberalism's Common Ground (w/ Matt Zwolinski and Matthew McManus)
<html><p>The future of liberalism depends upon the coalitions liberals can build, both to defend institutions now and to reform them when the time comes. As my friend, and <a href="https://pod.link/1614436300/episode/c3Vic3RhY2s6cG9zdDoxMzgzNjM5NTk?view=apps&sort=popularity" target="_blank">past </a><em><a href="https://pod.link/1614436300/episode/c3Vic3RhY2s6cG9zdDoxMzgzNjM5NTk?view=apps&sort=popularity" target="_blank">ReImagining Liberty</a></em><a href="https://pod.link/1614436300/episode/c3Vic3RhY2s6cG9zdDoxMzgzNjM5NTk?view=apps&sort=popularity" target="_blank"> guest</a>, Jason Kuznicki says, "The future is a conversation." So today I've brought on two smart liberals, with very different ideas about what liberalism means in practice, for a conversation about common ground.</p><p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mattpolprof.bsky.social" target="_blank">Matthew McManus</a> is an assistant professor at Spelman College, author of <em><a href="https://amzn.to/47lLr1j" target="_blank">The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism</a></em>, and frequent <em>ReImagining Liberty</em> guest. <a href="https://mzwolinski.com/" target="_blank">Matt Zwolinski</a> is a first time <em>ReImagining Liberty</em> guest, an omission I'm thrilled to rectify. He's a professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego, co-author of <em><a href="https://amzn.to/4qrUiY3" target="_blank">The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism</a></em>, and founder of the seminal—but now sadly defunct—blog <a href="https://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/" target="_blank">Bleeding Heart Libertarians</a>.</p><p>This episode is prompted by <a href="https://www.independent.org/tir/2025-fall/the-political-theory-of-liberal-socialism/" target="_blank">a review Zwolinski wrote of McManus's book</a>, a review that noted their shared values and dug into why, in each of their cases, those values led them to quite distinct policy conclusions. And that's our topic for today. It's a conversation about agreement, disagreement, and how to have productive conversations about liberalism.</p><p><em>Produced by </em><a href="https://landryayres.com/?_bhlid=04c818b8847197e37f2ef125d751d30bc9dc7f56" target="_blank"></a><em><a href="https://landryayres.com/?_bhlid=04c818b8847197e37f2ef125d751d30bc9dc7f56" target="_blank">Landry Ayres</a></em><a href="https://landryayres.com/?_bhlid=04c818b8847197e37f2ef125d751d30bc9dc7f56" target="_blank"></a><em>. Podcast art by </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sergiormduarte/?_bhlid=ea08418d67d4b92e13ee8001fe4b235ec55588ac&hl=en" target="_blank"></a><em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sergiormduarte/?_bhlid=ea08418d67d4b92e13ee8001fe4b235ec55588ac&hl=en" target="_blank">Sergio R. M. Duarte</a></em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sergiormduarte/?_bhlid=ea08418d67d4b92e13ee8001fe4b235ec55588ac&hl=en" target="_blank"></a><em>. Music by </em><a href="https://filmmusic.io/song/3755-finding-the-balance?_bhlid=5fe910376c6711c1d790bea1e179ed78d36ca99c" target="_blank"></a><em><a href="https://filmmusic.io/song/3755-finding-the-balance?_bhlid=5fe910376c6711c1d790bea1e179ed78d36ca99c" target="_blank">Kevin MacLeod</a></em><a href="https://filmmusic.io/song/3755-finding-the-balance?_bhlid=5fe910376c6711c1d790bea1e179ed78d36ca99c" target="_blank"></a><em>.</em></p></html>