In a recently revealed document, Hillary Clinton said to a group of real estate investors, "you need both a public and private position." Earlier in the year, during a highly paid speech for executives at Deutsche Bank, Hillary Clinton said that she dreams of a "hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders." Just last week, speaking to unemployed and marginalized American workers, Hillary Clinton said that she opposes the Trans Pacific Partnership (hemispheric common market with free trade and open borders), and she will protect American manufacturing and jobs. In order to understand this, we situate HRC's Public/Private views in the historical and deeper theoretical context of Machiavelli's "The Prince." Caution: this is dark stuff. You may not like what you hear. Enjoy.

Two years ago DSU did a podcast called "Life as Art." In this episode we explored the philosophical foundations and implications of thinking about our identities as works of art. The response to the episode was so overwhelming that we decided to turn the "Life as Art" theme into a series. Each month we will interview individuals who are putting the ideas we discussed in the episode to work. For our inaugural episode, we interview Graham Elwood, a comedian and documentary film maker who pioneered the podcast field for comedians and who has recently released a documentary film about the power of podcasts to enable individual artists to carve out their own aesthetic and professional paths.

In our most recent episode, Walker and Professor Dungey wade into the emotionally charged and highly "political" issue of "Money in Politics."  It is often argued that "money" has corrupted "politics," and that if we could just get "money" out of "politics," we would be much better off. While these are important and legitimate observations, what are the historical and philosophical influences that have led us to where we are?  A clearer understanding of our modern, Liberal political-phiosophical heritage will shed light on the co-extensive relationship between the economic and the political.

In last week's podcast, we examined the deeper philosophical and historical origins of the very idea of the political "outsider." in this episode we examine the specific characteristics of modern politics and reveal why significant numbers of Americans are exhausted with mainstream politicians and the American political process. You want to know 'why" Americans are tired of being lied to, and "why" they know their interests are being sacrificed for corporate and economic power and wealth, listen to this show! 

With only 90 days until the presidential primaries, two political "outsiders," Ben Carson and Donald Trump, continue to dominate the Republican party nomination contest. By the term political "outsider," people typically mean a candidate who has no significant, or any, political experience and is not part of the political establishment. America has a long history of political "outsiders," but is there a deeper philosophical and historical story behind all of this? In this podcast, we examine the theoretical and historical context of the political "outsider." 

In this episode, Walker and Professor Dungey discuss the current religious, philosophical, and political drama surrounding Kim Davis' assertion that she will obey "God's authority," and resist Federal law and authority. We will examine Davis' view from the perspective of the Theologico-political crisis, Liberal Political theory as a response to the potential social and political conflict that derives from debates about "what God wants," and why this is potentially so dangerous.

Nick and Walker continue the Brian Williams discussion and dive into the deeper implications of the news as entertainment from a Machiavellian perspective.

Freedom of religion or a gross misinterpretation of the Constitution? In this episode of Deeper Dive Nick and Walker discuss where the Indian state legislators went wrong and what critical piece of the founding of the country they got wrong.

Nick and Walker discuss the Brian Williams debacle as they take an opposing view of the incident that got the newscaster suspended.

On January 19, Oxfam, the British Non-Profit Agency that tracks global poverty, released a report that shocked the world: 85 of the wealthiest people in the world own more wealth than 50% of the world's population.  Put another way: 85 individuals own more wealth than 3.5 billion people.  How is this possible? What does it mean? And, where is this leading? In this podcast Walker and Professor Dungey discuss the Oxfam report and put it in the context of our previous podcasts on wealth and Elite influence on public policy. 

http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2015-01-19/richest-1-will-own-more-all-rest-2016

Greece is running out of money. Will Tsipras keep his election promises to end austerity? Or, is Germany really prepared to let Greece leave the Euro zone. In our most recent podcast, Walker and Professor Dungey discuss the possible end of the road of one of Modernity's most grand economic, social, and political experiments.

Obama promises a middle class tax cut in the State of the Union but his idea is “dead on arrival”. Without a strong economy there can be no tax cut and while the President boosts about the strength of the American economy, Nick and Walker think differently.

In this episode we look at the Jan 25^th Greek elections and what they mean to the E.U. and the course of finance in Europe in the short term.

While in the what is not news section: the new Republican congress and is Jeb Bush running for president?

As 2014 draws to a close Professor Nick Dungey and host Walker Uhl check in on some prediction they made earlier in the year. In this episode the DSU gang revisits the March 25^th 2014 podcast “Ukraine and the Post-revolutionary society”. Give a listen to how Nick’s analysis of the situation is playing out today. This is the 1st in a 3 part year end wrap-up so stay turned for more.

In this show, Walker and Professor Dungey discuss President Obama's extradorinary challenge to Congress: "I have a pen and I will us it." What can we expect from President Obama's threat to expand Executive Power?  Will the President act on critical economic,social, and legal issues without the authorization of Congress? 

In a recent public interview, Tom Perkins made two extraordinary claims: First, only those who pay taxes should be able to vote. And second, there should be a correlation between the amount of taxes you pay and the number of votes you get.  His comments were received with a combination of outrage and laughter. Outrage because they reject the essential American value of equality, and laughter because no one "in his or her right mind" would ever take it seriously. In this episode, Professor Dungey argues that what Perkins claims is actually taking place, and that it is built into the very logic of modern liberal political and economic theory.  While we at DSU do not advocate Perkin's views, we can identify their operation.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/14/investing/tom-perkins-vote/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

In our most recent podcast, Walker and Professor Dungey return to the world of concrete economic and political events. In this episode, we discuss the philosophical and economic reasons for and implications of the single largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. From a political- philosophical point of view, is Detroit's bankruptcy a unique and singular event? Or, is Detroit an example of what is to come?

Following up on "The Nature of Identity and Self Awareness",  Walker and Professor Dungey dive deeper into the moral and existential implications of our commitment to a metaphysical philosophical or theological discourse.  

In our most recent podcast, Professor Dungey and Walker dive deeper into a postmodern discussion of the nature of identity and the self-awareness. In this show we explore the potentially coercive implications of our belief in a philosophical or theological world view. Following a postmodern line of analysis, Professor Dungey and Walker reveal the ways in which our conception of freedom, individuality, and rights conceal a the fabrication of identity and values.

In our latest podcast, Professor Dungey and Walker travel beyond the modern philosophical account the individual and introduce a "postmodern" account of identity. Here we explore the role of language as a form of power operating in the creation of the self and what this means for an aesthetic view of identity and life. 

In Parts I and II of "The Crisis," Professor Dungey and Walker have argued that a fundamental transformation in the economic and political arenas have had a profound impact on the lives of American citizens. The consequences of this transformation have marginalized the importance of the American citizen and crippled their economic capacity to pursue economic and material well-being. In Part III of "The Crisis," Professor Dungey and Walker explore the philosophical origins of the American preoccupation with vanity and the perception of political importance. 

In Part II of this controversial discussion, Professor Dungey provides an analysis of the economic dimension of the fracturing of the modern liberal philosophical system.  In this discussion Professor Dungey identifies the way the transformation of the traditional liberal economic system has moved us beyond market based economic processes and what this means for the individual and citizen.  

In this "blue-sky" podcast, Professor Dungey provides a totally unique and creative interpretation of the source of the existential crises and conflict now engulfing the individual, economic, and political dimensions of late-modern liberal democracy. Professor Dungey locates the source of this crisis in a fracturing of the tri-partite structure of Liberal Political Philosophy.  This is Part I of a Two Part show.

In a recent, nationally broadcasted speech about the American response to Syria's use of chemical weapons, President Obama said that America is an "exceptional" nation-state. But, what is American Exceptionalism? And, in light of recent foreign events in Egypt and Syria, what is the actual status of American Exceptionalism?

As a follow-up to our discussion about the legality of the NSA spying program, we take a Deeper Dive into the essential and transcendent notion of "executive power" and the critically ambiguous role it plays the creation and maintenance of modern political life. To fully understand the origins and implications of "executive power" we begin with Machiavelli's famous discussion of the Prince who opens and maintains the political space through the terrifying and awe-inspiring "execution." We then trace the way this dark truth of modern political life finds expression in Hobbes, Locke, and the founding fathers. This is a critical discussion for any real understanding of modern power and politics.

Going beyond the ideological blame game over who is responsible for the current government shutdown, Walker and Professor Dungey locate the existential and philosophical dynamics animating the political crisis.

The Legality of the NSA Spying Program

Ever since the disclosure of secret documents detailing the massive and far reaching NSA spy program, especially as it relates to American citizens and domestic channels of communications, a firestorm of controversy has erupted over the legality of the Program. However, this focus on the legality or illegality of the NSA PRISM program is misguidedand for two reasons. 1 - The focus on the question of the legality of the program misdirects our gaze from what is really going. 2 - What is really going on with the debate about the legality and existence of the NSA program is the realization of a dark truth about the theory and operation of MODERN POWER and POLITICAL LIFE.