American Angst
American Angst is a podcast where political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey unpacks the founding ideals and present tensions of American democracy with clarity, depth, and concern. Hosted and produced by his longtime friend Dale McConkey, the show blends serious civic reflection with honest, good-humored conversation for anyone trying to make sense of this American moment.
Episodes
26 episodes
Thanksgiving: The Most American Holiday?
It's a special Thanksgiving crossover episode of American Angst and Church Potluck! Dr. Michael Bailey and Dale McConkey start off-topic with a quick overview of 10 dizzying days in American politics. From there,...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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1:04:36
Election Results and Shutdown Breakthrough: Who Won the Week?
In this episode of American Angst, Michael Bailey briefly updates us on the apparent breakthrough in the government shutdown. The deal reopens the government and restores furlough pay, but Bailey emphasizes that
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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58:59
American Dream on Hold: The Rising Barriers to Homeownership for Young Adults
Homeownership used to be the on-ramp to the middle-class American Dream. For many young adults, that on-ramp now feels barricaded—by high prices, high mortgage rates, high rents, and student debt. In this episode, Michael Bailey and Dale McConk...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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53:06
The Government Shutdown: Why Our System Fails on Purpose
Boo! In this Halloween edition of American Angst, political philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey leads a brisk, illuminating tour of the current government shutdown and what it reveals about our constitutional machinery. Michael lays out why...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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1:11:24
Democratic Backsliding: How Democracies Erode (with Dr. Sam Call)
We may begin talking about sweater weather and niceties about upstate New York, but we quickly let the angst flow deep and wide. Join us as Sam Call (comparative politics) joins Michael Bailey (political science and philosophy) an...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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1:06:11
Faith & the Founders, Part 2: The Godless Constitution Thesis
We’re back with another crossover of American Angst and Church Potluck—and it’s the middle slice of a three-part series. In Part 1, we explored evidence for a religious impulse at the founding of the United States. Today, we f...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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1:08:44
Faith & the Founders, Part 1: The Christian Commonwealth Thesis
It’s a crossover feast: American Angst meets Church Potluck for a lively, thoughtful dive into religion, politics, and the Founders—setting the table for an upcoming conversation on Christian nationalism. This one leans a bit more...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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1:04:47
San Francisco De-Angstified: A Father-Daughter Conversation
San Francisco is often painted as a city in crisis by conservative politicians and pundits, but does that picture hold up when you actually live there? In this special episode, political scientist Michael Bailey sits down with his daught...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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1:01:47
Climate Change and Glimmers of Hope: A Conversation with Courtney Cooper
Environmental policy professor Dr. Courtney Cooper joins American Angst to untangle climate science, local vs. federal solutions, and why adaptation and mitigation aren’t either/or options. With Dr. Michael Bailey (our re...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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1:13:20
Trump Loyalty Shakedown: Free Speech’s New Fault Line
Is America’s free-speech problem moving from online pile-ons to state-pressured loyalty tests? Political scientist and philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey makes the case that we’re drifting into a new, internet-era McCarthyism—a “Trump Loyalt...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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51:58
Why Don't We Trust the Experts? Science and the Crisis of Authority
Physicist and astronomer Dr. Todd Timberlake joins the conversation to explore the modern crisis of expertise. What does it mean to trust science when experts sometimes get things wrong? How do peer review, replication, and the broader s...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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49:57
Charlie Kirk's Tragic Death and the Temptation of Collective Blame
Political philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey and host Dale McConkey reflect on the public murder of Charlie Kirk and a week already heavy with 9/11 remembrances. With humility about their limits and the fluid facts, they focus not on speculation bu...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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51:28
Trump Derangement Syndrome: Sincerity, Bulls**t, and the Death of Dialogue
Political philosopher Michael Bailey joins host Dale McConkey to unpack “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a window into America’s fractured political discourse. They begin with how shifting cultural guardrails have normalized dismis...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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45:29
American Inequality: From Gilded Age Tycoons to Tech Oligarchs
In this episode of American Angst 101, host Dale McConkey hands the reins to Michael Bailey, political philosopher at Berry College, for a thoughtful deep dive into the growing problem of inequality in America. With...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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56:19
Campaigns, Congress, and Cattle: A Conversation with Candidate Shawn Harris
In this special episode of American Angst, political scientist Michael Bailey and host Dale McConkey welcome retired Brigadier General Shawn Harris, a Democratic candidate for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. The conversation ran...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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1:06:09
End of an Era? Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 4
In our fourth and final installment of our "Democrats in the Hot Seat" series, political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey shifts the focus squarely onto the Democratic Party—its historic dominance since the New Deal, the vision it set forth,...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:02:50
Patriarchy in the Pulpit and the Pentagon: Pete Hegseth and Doug Wilson
CROSSOVER EPISODE! In this first-ever crossover episode between Church Potluck and American Angst 101, host Dale McConkey, political scientist Michael Bailey, and historian Christy Snider dive into a hot-button political...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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56:35
Limits to Pluralism? Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 3
Political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey leads this episode of American Angst 101 with a sweeping exploration of how the United States’ founding-era vision of a liberal federal government—meaning one grounded in Enlightenment id...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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49:05
Elitism, Crime, and Borders: Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 2
In this follow-up to the previous conversation on MAGA critiques of the Democratic Party, Political Scientist Michael Bailey dives into the final three charges: (1) being elitist cultural snobs, (2) soft on crime, and (3) favoring open borders....
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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58:33
Wokeness, Patriotism, and Religion: Dems in the Hot Seat, Part 1
In this episode of American Angst, political philosopher Michael Bailey analyzes the first three of six major criticisms often leveled against the Democratic Party by conservatives and MAGA supporters: that Democrats are (1) “woke” and...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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50:54
The Phrase That Won’t Die: “We’re a Republic, Not a Democracy"
In this thought-provoking episode of American Angst 101, Michael Bailey and his longtime friend and fellow political scientist Dr. Steven Taylor join forces to examine the phrase “We’re a republic, not a democracy”—a line increasingly ...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:02:19
Why July 4th? The Truest Meaning of Independence Day
In this episode of American Angst 101, political historian and resident expert Michael Bailey takes center stage to explore a deceptively simple question: why do we celebrate Independence Day on July 4th? With Dale McConkey hosting, Ba...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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53:36
The Mandate Mirage: When Presidents Stretch Thin Margins into Sweeping Claims
In this episode of American Angst 101, political scientist Dr. Michael Bailey unpacks one of the most pervasive myths in American politics: the presidential mandate. With insight, clarity, and a touch of dry wit, Bailey walks through w...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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37:38
No Kings, New Terrain? Is Today's Political Climate Unprecedented?
Political scientist Michael Bailey brings his deep knowledge, sharp wit, and characteristic humility to this episode of American Angst 101, hosted by sociologist Dale McConkey. Launching from the massive “No Kings” protest—which coinci...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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56:42
Truth Decay, Part 2: Democracy as Pro Wrestling
In this second episode of American Angst 101, political philosopher Dr. Michael Bailey and host Dale McConkey continue their dig into the nature of political truth in the age of Trump—and what it means for democracy today. Bailey argue...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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46:55