American Seances

Hugo Grotius, the 17th‑century founder of modern international law, would assess U.S. attacks on drug‑running boats by applying the principles of Mare Liberum and De Iure Belli ac Pacis: the freedom of the seas, the universality of natural law, and strict limits on the use of force.He would offer a cautious endorsement only if actions met proper authority, just cause, right intention, proportionality, and due process, and he would insist on clear legal authorization, transparency, and international norms to prevent powerful states from bending rules for convenience.

This episode imagines how Chief Justice John Marshall and the early Supreme Court would have handled the Affordable Care Act, arguing they would have upheld it as an ordinary exercise of national power. It explains Marshall’s nation-building approach, emphasizing federal supremacy, the Commerce and Necessary and Proper Clauses, and the taxing power as tools to preserve union-wide economic stability.The episode contrasts early republic pragmatism with modern doctrinal hair-splitting and shows how Marshall’s lived experience with disunion and weak government shaped a confident, functionalist constitutional vision.

Alexander Hamilton would view the Affordable Care Act as a legitimate expression of national power: a practical, strategic effort to protect economic productivity, military readiness, and social cohesion. He would endorse its goals while demanding stronger fiscal discipline, administrative unity, and institutional durability.Hamilton would reframe subsidies as infrastructure investments, defend a mandate as necessary to prevent free riders, and push for a more centralized, competent system to ensure long-term national strength.

This episode imagines Thomas Jefferson reading the Affordable Care Act and reacting with constitutional and moral alarm: he sees mandates, subsidies, and federal regulation as extensions of concentrated power and a threat to republican independence.Contrasting Jefferson's preference for local, voluntary solutions and negative liberty with progressive arguments for health care as a positive right, the episode probes how Obamacare blends government authority and private interests, risking dependence and reduced civic virtue.

This episode imagines how John Stuart Mill would evaluate the Affordable Care Act, arguing that genuine liberty depends on access to health care. It traces Mill’s biography, his harm principle and utilitarianism, and explains how health insurance preserves the conditions for real freedom.Through clear historical and philosophical analysis, the episode shows Mill viewing the ACA as an experiment in protecting positive liberty, reducing harm, and enabling citizens to flourish rather than merely survive.

This episode imagines James Monroe watching today’s geopolitics and revisiting the principles of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. It traces parallels between post‑Napoleonic Europe and modern imperial ambitions, arguing Monroe would defend national self‑determination while urging restraint.Monroe’s likely response: firm support for sanctions, military aid, and allied diplomacy, but caution against direct U.S. military intervention—upholding sovereignty without reckless entanglement.

This episode imagines early 19th-century Warhawks like Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun transported to the present and reacting to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.It contrasts their honor-driven, force-first foreign policy with the restraint of leaders like Washington and Monroe, showing how they would push immediate military aid, strong deterrence, and public calls to defend sovereignty.The episode frames Ukraine as a test of national resolve and liberty, arguing the Warhawks would favor action over appeasement to protect international honor and independence.

This episode opens a new Ukraine thread focused on the Founding Fathers, starting with George Washington. It explores how Washington's temperament—discipline, neutrality, fiscal caution, and avoidance of entangling alliances—would shape a modern U.S. response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.The episode argues Washington would sympathize with Ukrainian resistance and support defensive aid, diplomacy, and targeted sanctions while opposing U.S. combat deployments, open-ended commitments, and unchecked borrowing; overall urging prudent, interest-based policy rather than passionate crusades.

In this episode we explore the Chase Court (1864–1873) as the interpreter of a Constitution remade by war, emancipation, and the Reconstruction Amendments. The Court announced a new national guarantee of rights while remaining divided over how far liberty should extend, especially for women.Through cases like Texas v. White, Ray Turner, Hepburn v. Griswold, the Slaughterhouse Cases, and Bradwell v. Illinois, the episode considers how the Court’s shifting balance between expansive ideals and retrenchment shaped the limits of federal protection—and how those tensions would affect hypothetical rulings on issues like abortion.

This episode imagines John Stuart Mill encountering modern vaccine debates, contrasting clear scientific evidence in a pharmacy with the confusion of online anti-vax threads.It explores Mill’s views on liberty, responsibility, expertise, and when society may rightly limit personal freedom to prevent harm to others, arguing that vaccination is both a medical and civic duty.