Episodes

At the time of this recording in Spring of 2022, Professor Paul Franks, Ph.D. was not yet Vice President of Tyndale University in Toronto, Canada, but as you’ll see in this episode, he brings an authentic, warm, honest, charitable demeanor to our conversation, sprinkled with a delightful sense of humor. And we needed it for such serious topics as firearms over-regulation and the problem of evil.

What I love about this episode is how Paul takes us through, in painstaking detail, the dignity-defying, overly-regulated process of obtaining, owning, and carrying a firearm in Canada (it costs $20,000 to take a pistol outside the home lawfully–not kidding–that’s how corrupt the system is), offering lightheartedly as he does that Canadians think that guns have cooties, which is a word that I last heard for girls in elementary school. He talks about it in as much detail as I asked (and I asked a lot), very minimally critiquing, just describing the process by which one has to ask the sovereign for permission to have a firearm .

He did his graduate work at the University of Oklahoma (studied Philosophy of Religion for his Ph.D. under the famous philosopher Linda Zagzebski) and is from Oklahoma so this kind of thinking is quite foreign, which makes sense, because Canada is almost like a foreign country. (That’s my dry sense of humor). He has wonderful things to say about Canada otherwise, however, and about Tyndale University in Toronto, where he as taught for a long time.

Most crucially, Dr. Franks takes us through The Problem of Evil in an area of Philosophy commonly called “Philosophy of Religion.” How does God fit in a world with evil ? Atheists think there is no fit, so evil must stay and God must go. (It’s an interesting question then, what exactly is the definition of evil , then? Doesn’t evil go, as well ?).

Paul is the editor of “Explaining Evil: Four Views” published by Bloomsbury Academic Press, available in paperback here: https://www.amazon.com/Explaining-Evil-W-Paul-Franks/dp/1501331124/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Explaining+evil+four+views&qid=1657992816&sr=8-1

Join us as we talk through all these things. Maybe have a notepad ready to take notes.

The Republican Professor is a pro-Philosophy-of-Religion, pro-rightly-understanding-the-Problems-of-evil, pro-describing-accurately-the-arduous-dignity-defying-labyrinth-of-firearm-regulation-criminalizing-innocent-conduct, pro-I-need-a-sense-of-humor-to-get-through-this podcast.

Welcome Dr. Paul Franks, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

What an incredible honor to spend this precious time with Samra Dresevic of Maverick Lingo, a small business in based in Lost Angeles, California. She speaks to us in her 4th language. And good luck finding any mistakes in her diction, vocabulary, or grammar. She speaks flawless English.

Samra grew up Muslim in an idyllic, rural childhood only to experience massive trauma as a 10 year old when her youth was shattered by war. Her family immediately became refugees in Europe, and her life was never the same again. In her words, she lost her childhood.

Many, many years later, in her 4th language, she had Professor Mather, the producer and host of The Republican Professor podcast, while a student at Loyola Marymount University in Lost Angeles, California. It was a morning class, Philosophy 160, Philosophy of Human Nature as it was called at the time, that began her friendship with the professor.

[LMU has since dispensed with the course for reasons that utterly baffle all intelligent people].

That was 10 years ago as of the recording of this episode. The lines of communication and dialogue have stayed open throughout the years between Samra and the professor.

Samra is now a successful small business owner, an entrepreneur, related to language learning in Lost Angeles, California, having become an American. Her company is called Maverick Lingo and you can check out her website here : https://www.mavericklingo.com/

The Republican Professor is a pro-staying-in-touch-with-the-best-students, pro-lines-of-communication-open, pro-entrepreneur, pro-small-business-owner, pro-language-learning, pro-intriguing-life-story podcast.

Therefore, welcome dearest Samra Dresevic, one of my very favorite former students ever out of thousands.

The Republican Professor podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

It seems like only 47 years ago that Dr. Ciocchi began teaching Logic, but no: It’s actually been 48. David Ciocchi has nearly half a century of service to Christ, Culture & kids under his belt.

My former boss joins us in this episode of The Republican Professor podcast.

Partial disclosure (people say “full disclosure” but then go on only to partially disclose — *full* disclosure would take a lot of time, wouldn’t it?): I was his Logic Teaching Assistant (TA) for multiple semesters while I was in graduate school studying Philosophy for my Masters at Biola University in Lost Angeles County, California.

I cut my teeth learning from this master how to teach Logic, something I ended up doing myself for 15 years in Lost Angeles and Ventura Counties (So Cal). His name is Dr. David Ciocchi, Ph.D., and Professor Ciocchi has taught for darn near half a dadgum century Introduction to Logic to blurry eyed students and budding citizens of this great Republic.

Dr. Ciocchi is known as a gentle, patient mentor with one of the driest and most pedagogically effective senses of humor known to man. (It’s not on full display here because that was not the purpose of the episode–you’d have to talk to his former students). His classes for decades have been Mon Wed Fri (MWF) starting before 8 am. The co-host for this episode, Kurtis, took his course 3 times at that early schedule, each time faring better than the last, and Dr. Ciocchi’s consistent gentle, patient demeanor is on full display there as those sensitive details come up.

Dr. Ciocchi talks us through what teaching is like, or has been like, including challenges and regrets that he’s come to terms with over those 48 years. He’s seen a lot of changes in California, not all worth celebrating (to say the least). But he’s maintained a faithfulness to the Logic-teaching ministry to Christ and Culture in California by the grace of God, and we are so grateful for God’s grace to us, through him, and for spending time with us today on this episode.

The Republican Professor is a pro-effectively-teaching-Logic-to-the-younger-generation, pro-decades-of-faithful-service, pro-mentoring-new-professors, pro-deadpan-dry-humor-in-the-morning podcast.

Therefore, welcome Dr. David Ciocchi, Ph.D., professor of Logic for 48 years at Biola University, Lost Angeles County, California.

The Republican Professor podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

This episode was co-hosted by TheRepublicanProfessor.com co-founder and former student of Dr. Ciocchi, Kurtis Olson.

Our guest today is Monique Duson. She grew up in South Central Lost Angeles, California and attended Biola University in Lost Angeles County where she majored in Sociology. She spent years in the social services profession. An Obama voter, and pro-choice on abortion, she was a missionary in South Africa for several years, returning in 2018 during the Trump administration.

Monique spends nearly 3 hours with The Republican Professor podcast to talk about her story growing up in LA, about her changing attitudes toward what is sometimes called “Critical Race Theory”. But we discuss as well what she calls the alternative CRT conclusions or assumptions which is Biblical in its explanations, directed toward unity in the image of God, as opposed racial unity. Monique, in her words, has grown in wisdom, has come to change some of her views from years past, and seeks to help others in their journey of discovery, growth, and change centered in how the Bible sees us.

We talk about what is “the black community,” what “representation” is for an individual for a group, how she feels about the US flag, how she feels about America, how she feels about the current Vice President versus how she felt about Senator Obama, and yes, I ask her what she thinks about Trump. We talk about what a “racist” is, what the harm in racism is (many don’t seem to have thought carefully about this, nor seem to be prepared to give a clear, accurate answer to the question), about “Black Lives Matter,” and whether the unborn black human being should have the same value, inherent worth, and dignity in the eyes of the law as George Floyd.

The Center for Biblical Unity is a relatively recently established non-profit devoted to helping shed harmful assumptions or conclusions about race and disparity, and about what real justice is and what it is not.

For more information on the Center and how you can support its mission, check out https://www.centerforbiblicalunity.com/

The Republican Professor is a pro-understanding-so-called-Critical-Race-Theory, pro-unity-in-the-imago-dei-not-race, pro-life-including-of-course-black-life, pro-abolition-of-slavery, pro-black-economic-liberty-as-part-of-the-original-Republican-purpose-of-the-Civil-Rights-Act-of-1866-response-to-Democrat-black-codes, pro-grappling-with-the-implications-of-God’s-Word, pro-acknowledging-and-correcting-American-problems, pro-real-honest-legit-talk-about-race-and-justice podcast.

Therefore, welcome Monique Duson, of South Central LA, Co-Founder of the Center for Biblical Unity !

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Dr. Glenn Elmers, Ph.D. has written a definitive biography, based on a wide swath of primary sources (innumerable letters, publications, other writings) of the late great Dr. Harry Jaffa, Ph.D.

It’s called “The Soul of Politics: Harry V. Jaffa and the Fight for America.”

Jaffa was a preeminent scholar of the birth of the Republican Party, what that had to do with the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and before that classical philosophy, Jerusalem, the end of slavery in America, as well its enduring relevance to the modern disputes over the nature and size of the administrative state, e.g., during the Republican Convention at Cow Palace, San Fransisco in 1964.

Love him or hate him, it’s impossible to be indifferent to the man and the weighty issues he made the subject of his life’s work.

Dr. Glenn Elmers has done the careful spade work and shares it gladly on this special July 4th episode of The Republican Professor (2022).

Please support your local bookstore. If you must , here is a link to the book on Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Politics-Harry-Jaffa-America/dp/164177200X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+soul+of+politics+harry+v.+jaffa&qid=1656706654&sprefix=the+soul+of+poli%2Caps%2C524&sr=8-1

The Republican Professor is a pro-rightly-contemplating-the-nexus-of-Philosophy-and-American-Politics, pro-correctly-articulating-the-nature-of-the -Constitution-given-the-Declaration, pro-ending-slavery, pro-birth-of-the-Republican-Party, pro-man-myth-legend-Harry-v-Jaffa-warts-and-all podcast.

Therefore, welcome Dr. Glenn Ellmers, Ph.D., Harry V. Jaffa biographer !

The Republican Professor podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

One of America’s newest citizens, Danka Kissell, a proud gun owner (.357 magnum) who was born and raised under Russian sponsored Communism (Slovakia), comes on TRP podcast to talk a bit about what life was like under Communism in her childhood, how America, or the promise of America’s design, is different, what kind of revolver she has now, and more.

For instance, she lives in New Jersey, and she says some things she’s seen on the East Coast give her PTSD by reminding her of the very real Communism of her youth.

The Republican Professor is a pro-new-American-citizen, pro-becoming-a-citizen-the-right-way, pro-taking-the-oath-seriously, pro-learning-the-right-lessons-from-Communism, pro-responsible-gun-ownership podcast.

Therefore, welcome Danka Kissell, newly minted United States citizen, having been born in Communism who now owns a .357 magnum (a Smith & Wesson, I found out shortly after the interview).

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

David McCrery works on an oil rig, but for 23 years he did law enforcement in California, including years with SWAT, violent crime suppression unit, child crimes, and homicide crime scene investigator. He’s seen things no one should have to see as a normal course of his day. And he’s admitted he needs help healing from this, and is getting professional help as well as working toward creating spaces for men to heal.

We do discuss gun control, fyi.

Good police want people to be empowered to defend themselves effectively.

You can reach out to David at dave.mccrery@nationofchampions.org

Their Facebook group is Facebook.com/groups/THVChampions

He also does gold and silver investing at 7kmetals.com/mccrery

The Republican Professor is a pro-manly-man, pro-men-who-are-traumatized-finding-healing, pro-good-law-enforcement, pro-getting-real-about-community, pro-Second-Amendment-and-cops-who-get-the-Second-Amendment podcast.

Therefore, welcome David McCrery, 23 year police veteran.

The Republican Professor podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Maurice & Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia University (New York City) Law School joins The Republican Professor podcast in this episode to alert us to the newest form of regulatory manipulative control used by the federal Administrative State (it’s also at the state and local level), described chillingly yet simply for non-lawyers in his newest book, “Purchasing Submission” (Harvard University Press, 2021).

The subtitle of the wonderfully clear book is “Conditions, Power, and Freedom.” As the title indicates, the book is about government control by purchased “consent”, often using private actors as third-parties. Is it really consent, and therefore, okay ? As Professor Hamburger so aptly explains in this TRP episode, this form of Administrative control is actually quite harmful and therefore, rightly disturbing. Much of this type of regulation by purchase of consent, moreover, is probably unConstitutional.

In addition to his teaching duties there in New York City at the Law School of Columbia University (Harlem), Professor Hamburger is the Chief Executive Officer of New Civil Liberties Alliance, an organization that engages in healthy, Constitutional resistance to the harmful effects of what passes as Administrative “Law.”

Professor Hamburger told me off camera that they are litigating Second Amendment issues as well, for example, with the bump stock rule-making-based ban. (That criminalized innocent conduct overnight under the guise of administrative “law”). And the organization works on much more besides.

You can find out more information and support this resistance to insidious governmental manipulation and overreach by visiting their website : https://nclalegal.org/

https://nclalegal.org/philip-hamburger/

The book can be found at your local book dealer. Please support community book stores !

If you must use the major River that will go unnamed, you can find the book here : https://www.amazon.com/Purchasing-Submission-Conditions-Power-Freedom/dp/0674258231/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=purchasing+submission&qid=1656099799&s=books&sprefix=purchasing+s%2Cstripbooks%2C179&sr=1-1 .

The Republican Professor is a pro-rightly-understanding-Administrative-“Law”, pro-rightly-contemplating-real-Constitutional-law, anti-criminalization-of-innocent-conduct, pro-healthy-resistance-to-the-harmful-effects-of-the-newest-manipulative-schemes-of-the-Administrative-State podcast.

Therefore, welcome Philip Hamburger, Maurice & Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia University (New York City) Law School !

The Republican Professor podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

“I am the biggest proponent of the Second Amendment there is,” African American leather-jacket-wearing, Harley riding attorney MavEryck Stevenson told me outside of Neptunes Net in Malibu, California on a beautiful spring day in 2022. Cars were buzzing by on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). “The Second Amendment is for EVERYBODY,” he said. He very discreetly showed me his weapon and his permit after I introduced myself to him as the producer and host of The Republican Professor podcast, and asked him to come on. I’d seen his Second Amendment patch on his leather jacket and asked him about it.

A libertarian in political temperament and a Christian by religious heritage, an avid reader, curious about such things as “what is Budapest like this time of year?”, MavEryck Stevenson became an attorney later in life. He sports a distinguished whitish gray beard, but looks as young as Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman, except with the darker complexion of the drill sergeant in that film. A gentle, friendly demeanor, Stevenson is a loquacious raconteur. He’s also an open book, as you’ll see in this episode of The Republican Professor.

MavEryck has the distinct honor, or dishonor (I guess we’ll see) of being the very first guest on TRP podcast that I just randomly went up to in California and asked onto the podcast (and that based little more than on what he was wearing at the time). And I did that as he stood near his Harley at Neptune’s Net in Malibu, California off of PCH across from the beach in April of 2022.

MavEryck discusses many things, including his own involvement in the criminal justice system, his being pulled over in California by the police while armed (and black)(how do deal with that for those similarly situated), and advocates that more people apply, get training, and get approved for conceal carry licenses in California. It’s far too difficult in some jurisdictions–the issuing agency has too much discriminatory discretion. That legal wiggle room for discriminatory discretion by issuing agencies is far too loose. That regulatory environment needs over-hall to bring it in line with shall issue protections for the natural rights of applicants who want to be trained and ready to defend themselves in public, as is their God-given right.

MavEryck does disclose what bikes he has , and what he carries exactly (revolver? semi-auto?),

The Law Offices of MavEryck Langford Stevenson, Esq. (https:www.mavlaw911.com) are in Beverly Hills and can be reached at the following phone number: (424) 281-7233 and at the following email address: mavlawforhire@gmail.com .

The Republican Professor is a pro-riding-Harleys-while-black-and-armed, pro-Second-Amendment-correctly-conceived-and-applied, pro-civil-liberties-are-for-everybody, pro-good-self-defense-training, pro-self-care-entails-the-possibility-of-self-defense, pro-non-criminalization-of-innocent-conduct podcast.

Join our warm and timely conversation with the author of the wise and compelling book “The Crisis of the Two Constitutions: The Rise, Decline, and Recovery of American Greatness,” Dr. Charles Kesler, Ph.D.

(A link to that book is available below).

Charles is a Harvard man. He studied at Harvard for all his degrees culminating in the Ph.D. in Government, and serves as the Dengler-Dykema Distinguished Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College, which in my humble view is the best member of the Consortium of The Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California.

His prior books include Saving the Revolution, a Signet Classic edition of The Federalist Papers with his Introduction, and more recently a book on how to understand President Obama within the context of the different epochs of Progressivism/Liberalism called “I am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism.” (Links to these books are available below).

Dr. Kesler also writes a regular editor’s introduction to each issue of The Claremont Review of Books, which comes out four times a year, winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each short essay is beautifully written, often dryly humorous, always insightful and engaging. If you do not yet subscribe to the publication, in my correct view, you’re missing out on delightful substance. For instance, one can read online *if necessary*, but the Review comes out in an attractive physical copy delivered by mail peppered with quality artwork, made of sturdy material, salted with the lighthearted depth that keeps one abreast of the times and yet moves one in deeper understanding and appreciation of truths past, present, and future. It has a timeliness and at the same time a timelessness about it.

In this TRP episode, Charles tells us what he means by “the two Constitutions”: There’s “The Founder’s Constitution,” and by contrast there’s now, also “The Progressive’s Constitution.” They are not the same constitution, and thus must be distinguished. Doing so helps to unpack an explanation for political and cultural phenomena that might otherwise go unnoticed or misunderstood.

We more or less follow the outline of the book. Worth the price of the tome by itself, Dr. Kesler offers “What’s Wrong With Conservativism.” Included are thoughts about Reagan, Bush, and Trump, including an anecdote by your TRP host of sitting in Professor Kesler’s class in Spring of 2016 as he predicted, early in the semester, to every undergraduate’s astonishment, that Trump would beat Hillary (as well as a rationale).

The Republican Professor is a pro-correctly-understanding-American-Politics, pro-coming-to-terms-with-what’s-wrong-with-Conservativism, pro-more-deeply-appreciating-the-design-of-The-Founder’s-Constitution-as-opposed-to-its-“Progressive”-alternative podcast.

Therefore, welcome Charles Kesler !

Though the book is available at your local brick and mortar bookstore, here’s the Amazon link to Dr. Kelser’s book “Crisis of the Two Constitutions”: https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Two-Constitutions-Recovery-Greatness/dp/164177102X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=crisis+of+the+two+constitutions&qid=1655756321&s=books&sprefix=crisis+of+the+two+%2Cstripbooks%2C176&sr=1-1

Here’s a link to Kesler’s Signet Classic edition of The Federalist Papers, with helpful collated notes with the text of the Constitution: https://www.amazon.com/byAlexander-HamiltonThe-Federalist-Papers-Paperback/dp/B003212Y6W/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=the+federalist+papers+charles+kesler&qid=1655759499&s=books&sprefix=the+federa%2Cstripbooks%2C176&sr=1-4

This is the link to Professor Kesler’s important precursor book on President Obama: https://www.amazon.com/Am-Change-Barack-Crisis-Liberalism/dp/006207296X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid&sr

And The Claremont Review of Books awaits your subscription for a modest price (compared to what you get) here: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/

The Republican Professor podcast is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.