Tom Richey's Podcast

Tom Richey

I've been making YouTube videos for years and after some encouragement from friends and fans, I'm going to try my hand at podcasting. I plan to share my thoughts here on how history and philosophy influence my life on a regular basis.

  1. Robert E. Lee and the Courage to Quit (Tom Richey Podcast #19)

    01/07/2021

    Robert E. Lee and the Courage to Quit (Tom Richey Podcast #19)

    Today, someone waved a Confederate flag inside the United States Capitol after storming into the building. Perhaps, this individual should take some advice from Gen. Robert E. Lee, who chose to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia rather than to waste the lives of his men when it was clear that victory would be impossible. "Recollect that we form one country now," Lee wrote to a Southern mother who was holding onto hate from the late war, "Abandon all these local animosities and make your sons Americans.” No matter what one thinks about the outcome of the 2020 election, that election is over, and it's time to do the work of trying to unite the country rather than holding onto the animosities that divide us. Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music

    16 min
  2. Baby Yoda: Beyond Good and Evil (Tom Richey Podcast #18)

    12/28/2019

    Baby Yoda: Beyond Good and Evil (Tom Richey Podcast #18)

    Baby Yoda, known as "the Child" on the Mandalorian, has been an internet sensation and meme powerhouse. Although he's super cute, some of his behavior has prompted fans to wonder whether he is being tempted by the Dark Side (https://screenrant.com/mandalorian-baby-yoda-force-choke-dark-side). This prompted me to examine Baby Yoda's force choke through an existentialist lens of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche wrote, "What is done out of love takes place beyond good and evil." How does this inform how we look at Baby Yoda and the light and dark sides of the Force?Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music

    18 min
  3. Boris Johnson and the Courage to Deliver Brexit (Tom Richey Podcast #17)

    09/08/2019

    Boris Johnson and the Courage to Deliver Brexit (Tom Richey Podcast #17)

    "If he's a clown, he's a clown with courage."Boris Johnson has experienced a string of defeats in his first week in Parliament as prime minister. He's distinguished himself as the only British prime minister to lose his first three votes in Parliament. Although things look grim for Boris, at the very least, he has conducted himself with courage. While Theresa May lacked the courage to deliver Brexit, Boris Johnson has made an effort to deliver Brexit in good faith. He has even urged Parliament to allow for a snap election so that the people, themselves, can have a say in how Brexit proceeds. However, his less courageous opponents will not allow an election to happen.People of courage are known for experiencing great victories but they also experience great defeats, as courage, by its very definition, involves a willingness to take risks.Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford MusicCover Photo Credit: Israeli Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    27 sec
  4. George Washington and the Battle of Long Island (Tom Richey Podcast #16)

    08/31/2019

    George Washington and the Battle of Long Island (Tom Richey Podcast #16)

    George Washington was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," according to Light Horse Harry Lee. In the United States, he is known as the Father of our Country. But Washington was not always victorious. In August of 1776, George Washington suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Long Island. But Washington did not surrender at Long Island; instead, he ordered a strategic retreat and adopted a Fabian strategy for the remainder of the Revolutionary War. It was because George Washington kept his army intact and lived to fight another day that he went on to become such a legend - not because he always had victories from the start. "If you are experiencing defeat today, your defeat is not going to be permanent - unless you let it... Let's let George Washington inspire all of us today to press on to the victories that are to come."Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music

    10 min
  5. The Price of the Horse (Tom Richey Podcast #15)

    06/06/2019

    The Price of the Horse (Tom Richey Podcast #15)

    According to his biographer, Arrian, Alexander the Great "was a man like no other man has ever been." What made Alexander this kind of man? It was a combination of his personal traits, his willingness to take risk, and his way of knowing when a moment of impact was in front of him. In this podcast, I explore the relationship between Alexander and his horse, Bucephalus, and how this winning team conquered the world.Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music

    17 min
  6. The Book of the Courtier (Tom Richey Podcast #14)

    02/10/2019

    The Book of the Courtier (Tom Richey Podcast #14)

    Baldassare Castiglione wrote the Book of the Courtier in order to advise young men how to win the favor of a ruler and become his trusted advisor. He believed that the courtier should be a fighting man, but also one who is well-rounded and learned in the Greek and Roman classics. The Book of the Courtier, like Machiavelli's The Prince, is a work of civic humanism, using the classics to prepare for effective performance in political life.Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music

    29 min
  7. Democracy in America (Tom Richey Podcast #13)

    01/07/2019

    Democracy in America (Tom Richey Podcast #13)

    It's always a pleasure to have Dr. Greg Sadler as a guest on this podcast. In this episode, we discuss the current state of American democracy with recurring references to Alexis de Tocqueville, the nineteenth century French tourist, historian, and philosopher who wrote Democracy in America.Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music

    58 min
  8. The New Authoritarianism (Tom Richey Podcast #12)

    12/29/2018

    The New Authoritarianism (Tom Richey Podcast #12)

    I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Prof. Salvatore Babones of the University of Sydney, who has recently published The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts. While some scholars have raised red flags and compared the rise of Donald Trump to the rise of authoritarian dictators in the twentieth century, Babones contends that the election of Trump was a populist response to a "tyranny of experts" that has dominated American politics in recent decades.Coming from a perspective that is at once conservative, progressive, and liberal, Babones explains in his book how populism can act as a "purgative" that can restore democratic control when the government has become unresponsive to the concerns of large segments of the body politic. His view of the future is optimistic and he sees the current state of American politics as healthy because Americans are more engaged in the political process than they have been in decades.Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music

    1h 1m
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About

I've been making YouTube videos for years and after some encouragement from friends and fans, I'm going to try my hand at podcasting. I plan to share my thoughts here on how history and philosophy influence my life on a regular basis.

Information

  • Creator
    Tom Richey
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2021
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 Tom Richey
  • Show Website
    Tom Richey's Podcast