The County Line Ep 5: Trust Lost, Community Found: A Localist Revival

Trust Lost, Community Found: A Localist Revival

Welcome to The County Line Podcast, where we learn and live liberty from the kitchen table to the county line!

If you like the podcast, please SUBSCRIBE & SHARE!
If you value the message and want to hear more DONATE by visiting WWW.FREESPEECHAMERICA.ORG

SUMMARY
In this episode of the County Line podcast, hosts Garth, Kris Ranney, and Kevin Virgil welcome Adam Smith, a political philosophy professor from Dubuque and associate editor at Front Porch Republic, to explore localism’s core tenets: place, limits, and liberty. Adam shares his journey from an Indiana farm to academia, emphasizing how tangible places ground us amidst abstract societal shifts. The discussion delves into the loss of trust in institutions—federal, educational, and religious—contrasting this with the virtues cultivated in local communities. Kris reflects on her acreage as a personal anchor, while Kevin ties America’s success to high-trust societies, eroded by centralized control like the Department of Education. Adam advocates for focusing on what’s within reach, like his efforts to reshape his university’s honors program for local citizenship. Practical examples—like county overreach on chickens and dog breeding—highlight the need for innovative local solutions, not just nostalgia. The episode ends with a call to action for community engagement, paired with Kris’s book recommendation on feminism’s occult roots.

CHAPTERS
00:00
Introduction: Free Speech and Local Liberty
Garth opens, thanking supporters of Free Speech America and introducing guest Adam Smith from Front Porch Republic.
01:54
Guest Spotlight: Adam Smith’s Journey
Adam shares his Midwest roots, academic path, and role at Front Porch Republic, blending localism with a global past.
03:09
Place, Limits, Liberty: Defining Localism
Adam unpacks Front Porch Republic’s tagline, contrasting concrete “place” with abstract “space” and linking liberty to limits.
09:18
Kris’s Place: Solace Amid Chaos
Kris describes her acreage as a refuge, despite a tornado’s lesson in limits, tying it to localism’s grounding power.
12:42
Safe Spaces vs. Real Places
Kevin probes Adam on academia’s shift from challenge to comfort; Adam sees hope in his seminar-style classes.
16:49
Virtue as a Local Limit
Garth and Adam discuss virtue’s role in society, pushing back against liberalism’s trust in structures over people.
21:20
Neutrality’s Myth in Education
Kris recalls Girl Scouts banning values, sparking a critique of imposed neutrality in institutions.
25:48
Trust, Community, and Centralization
Kevin links America’s high-trust culture to local virtue, decrying federal overreach like the Department of Education.
31:27
From Charity to Bureaucracy
Kris cites the New Deal’s shift from local aid to faceless welfare, eroding accountability and trust.
33:19
Loss of Faith in Institutions
Kris shares her post-2019 disillusionment with health, electoral, and faith institutions, favoring local reliance.
35:22
Localism’s Scale: Focus, Not Just Power
Adam redefines localism as limiting attention to what’s actionable, urging less fixation on national noise.
38:56
Stoicism and Control
Kevin connects localism to stoicism, citing Man’s Search for Meaning as a guide to inner focus.
41:56
Practical Localism: Real Examples
Kris seeks concrete applications; Adam highlights his campus efforts to foster local citizenship.
47:25
Non-Ideological Localism
Adam stresses localism’s big tent, from crunchy conservatives to local socialists, united by community commitment.
50:27
Lost Local Justice: People’s Panels
Garth raises the grand jury’s decline; Kris adds examples of county overreach on chickens and dogs.
55:38
Beyond Nostalgia: Innovative Localism
Adam calls for creative responses to local failures, not just devolution from federal control.
58:09
Wrap-Up and Book Recommendation
The hosts thank Adam; Kris suggests Occult Feminism by Rachel Wilson for a future book club.
1:00:18
Closing Call to Local Action
Garth and Kris urge listeners to engage locally, pitching Free Speech America’s mission and support.

KEYWORDS
localism, liberty, place, limits, virtue, trust, community, institutions, education, philosophy, Front Porch Republic, Iowa, high-trust society, decentralization, stoicism, accountability, citizenship, conservatism, socialism, grand jury
#liberty #local #freespeech #iowa #Localism #TrustCrisis #Conservative #CommunityFirst #Philosophy #Virtue #grandjury