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Big Ideas with Ben Weingarten features compelling long-form conversations with exceptional thinkers and doers on the most important ideas and issues of our time, and all time. Discussions focus on topics ranging from national security and foreign affairs, to economics and politics and philosophy and culture with a classical Liberal bent and a grounding in history. Big Ideas with Ben Weingarten challenges the prevailing progressive orthodoxy with a contrarian conservative counter-narrative based in individual liberty, limited government, free enterprise and a strong, national interest-oriented and prudently used defense. Host Ben Weingarten is a Senior Fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, Senior Contributor at The Federalist and Founder & CEO of ChangeUp Media, a conservative media consulting and production company.

May 30, 2018

Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) is a screenwriter, bestselling crime and suspense novelist, contributor to publications such as City Journal and PJ Media and proprietor of “The Andrew Klavan Show,” a video podcast on TheDaily Wire.

Klavan is witty, he’s got a sense of humor and a keen understanding of the importance of narrative and storytelling to culture.

I spoke with him about his intellectual journey from liberal to conservative, the criticality of culture to politics and how conservatives can compete, political correctness, progressivism, Islam, freedom of speech and Silicon Valley and much more.

What We Discussed

  • Klavan’s journey from Hollywood liberal to conservative
  • Why the Left dominates in the arts
  • Idealism versus materialism and liberals versus classical liberals
  • How Klavan would change culture if he had unlimited resources
  • The conservatism of “The Sopranos
  • The importance of saying the unsayable
  • The power of The Power Broker
  • How Hollywood reconciles its progressivism with Chinese funders and Islamic supremacists
  • The tyranny of central planning
  • The wages of political correctness, trigger warnings, safe spaces, multiculturalism and identity politics
  • Donald Trump’s presidency as a product of progressivism
  • George Carlin and Donald Trump
  • Silicon Valley’s ideological discrimination and what to do about it

Further Reading

Thanks for Listening!

Check out other episodes, show notes and transcripts at benweingarten.com/bigideas.

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Backed Vibes (clean) Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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