The Conservative Opinion Podcast

Jordan B. Rickards
  • 5.0 (1)
  • POLITICS

Bringing you sharp, insightful commentary on politics, culture, and current events from a conservative perspective. Join us for thoughtful analysis and unapologetic truth. 

  1. 2D AGO

    Ken Burns is Everything that is Right, and a Little Bit of What is Wrong in America

    In this episode, I react to a recent conversation between Ken Burns and Conan O'Brien, and wrestle with a frustrating contradiction. Ken Burns is, in many ways, everything that is right about America. He is thoughtful, serious, historically grounded, and deeply patriotic without being performative. His documentaries have helped generations of Americans understand their country with honesty and depth. He is the kind of public figure we need more of. And yet, in this interview, he falls into a familiar and revealing trap—one that helps explain why so many Americans feel misunderstood and dismissed by the cultural elite. When Burns suggests that Republican voters have been persuaded to vote against their own interests, he is not just making a political point. He is revealing a deeper assumption: that millions of his fellow citizens cannot be trusted to understand their own lives, values, and priorities. In this episode, I explore why that assumption is not only wrong, but corrosive, and why it represents a broader failure of modern political discourse. I also explain why this matters so much coming from someone like Ken Burns, who, in his own work, consistently treats even controversial historical figures with seriousness and respect. If he can extend that generosity to the past, why not to the present? This is not an attack. It is a disappointment. And it is an invitation—to think more carefully about how we understand one another in a deeply divided country.

    12 min

  2. MAR 6

    Should We Cheer for War?

    In this episode, I wrestle with the moral and strategic unease I’ve felt watching the bombing of Iran unfold — and, more specifically, watching the applause that has followed it. Iran’s regime is brutal. Its nuclear ambitions are dangerous. There is a serious argument that diplomacy reached its limits. But even if military force was necessary, should it be celebrated? I explore the difference between resolve and revelry, why asking about strategy is not disloyalty, and what the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan still have to teach us. War may sometimes be justified. It is never entertainment. A morally serious nation can act with strength — and still take no pleasure in destruction. This is not an argument for pacifism. It’s an argument for sobriety.

    5 min

  3. MAR 3

    Bombing Iran and the Limits of Ballistic Diplomacy

    Is bombing Iran a show of strength — or a symptom of strategic confusion? In this episode, I examine the limits of what I call “ballistic diplomacy” — short bursts of military force launched without sustained follow-through. Iran is not an innocent actor. It sponsors terror, enriches uranium, and aligns itself with powers openly hostile to the United States and Israel. There is a strong case that conflict may be unavoidable, and I am not arguing for pacifism. But force without endurance is not strategy. Drawing on the lessons of Iraq, the concept of gunboat diplomacy, and the constitutional role of Congress in matters of war, I explore why one-night bombing campaigns rarely produce meaningful political change. If Iran truly represents an existential threat, then symbolic strikes are insufficient. And if regime change is the goal, hoping for spontaneous uprisings is not a plan — it’s a superstition. This episode asks a sober question: Are we deterring our enemies, or merely advertising the limits of our own commitment? I hope I’m wrong. But the least likely outcome may be the one many are cheering for — that this achieves anything of lasting substance.

    8 min

  4. JAN 20

    Satan Plays Both Sides

    In this episode, we explore one of the most dangerous illusions in modern politics: the belief that evil only exists on the other side. Drawing on theology, history, and political philosophy, this episode examines how moral certainty — not malice — so often becomes the gateway to corruption. When people become convinced that their cause is righteous, their opponents irredeemable, and their intentions pure, restraint disappears and power begins to justify itself. From cancel culture and political purges to surveillance states and authoritarian impulses, the same pattern emerges again and again: both the Left and the Right fall prey to the same temptation. Each believes that if power must be wielded, it will be wielded responsibly — because it is in the “right” hands. Using biblical imagery, historical examples, and a reflection on the enduring symbolism of Tolkien’s One Ring, this episode argues that the greatest political danger is not evil itself, but the belief that we are immune from it. This is not an argument for moral relativism or political apathy. It is a call for humility, self-examination, and the recognition that no movement, ideology, or party is beyond corruption. Because while God may belong to neither party, the devil has always been willing to play both sides.

    8 min

  5. JAN 18

    Why Hitler Hated Christianity, But Not Atheism

    Why did Adolf Hitler despise Christianity but tolerate — and even benefit from — atheism? In this episode, we explore the historical and philosophical reasons behind Hitler’s hostility toward the Christian faith, and why Christianity posed a far greater threat to Nazi ideology than unbelief ever did. Drawing on historical records, speeches, and Nazi policy, this episode explains: Why Christianity threatened Hitler’s vision of absolute state powerHow Nazi ideology sought to replace Christian morality with racial and political loyaltyWhy atheism posed no obstacle to authoritarian ruleWhat this reveals about the relationship between faith, freedom, and tyrannyHow these lessons still matter in modern political debatesThis episode challenges the lazy assumption that religion is inherently dangerous to society and instead argues that Christianity, in particular, has historically been one of the strongest barriers to totalitarianism. 🔗 Read the full essay: https://conservativeopinion.com/why-hitler-hated-christianity-but-not-atheism/

    10 min

  6. JAN 11

    What Atheists Can Learn From Lawyers

    In this episode, we explore what atheists can learn from the way lawyers and jurors actually reason about evidence. Drawing on a real murder trial, we explain how rational judgment is rarely about scientific certainty and almost always about weighing cumulative evidence. Courts do not demand laboratory proof; they demand reasonable conclusions. Yet when the question turns to God, many atheists suddenly impose a standard of certainty that no courtroom—and no human life—could ever meet. We examine how evidence really works, why dismissing individual facts in isolation is a category error, and how the legal concept of burden of proof exposes a fundamental weakness in modern atheistic arguments. We also clarify the persistent confusion between belief and faith, showing that Christianity does not ask us to believe without evidence, but to follow evidence to its conclusion—and then decide whether we are willing to trust what that conclusion implies. This is not an argument against reason or science. It is an argument for using them honestly. Faith, properly understood, does not begin where evidence ends; it begins where trust becomes necessary.

    21 min

  7. JAN 5

    On Venezuela: Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and the Return of American Hegemony

    In this episode, we examine the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and the predictable outrage that followed—outrage framed around sovereignty, regime change, and accusations of American overreach. Beneath those slogans, however, lies a far more serious set of questions. What does sovereignty actually mean when a regime actively facilitates transnational crime? Can a government that voids legitimate elections, harbors criminal networks, and functions as a narco-state still claim the moral protections of international law? And should this moment be understood not as imperial adventurism, but as the reassertion of American influence in a world where rival powers are consolidating and aligning? In this episode, we argue that Venezuela is not Iraq, that “regime change” did not begin with the United States, and that democracy can fail from within when institutions are hollowed out and economic power is centralized in the state. We also explore the legal authority behind the action, why the ultimate judgment depends on what happens next, and how this episode fits into a broader strategic contest involving China, Russia, Iran, and the Western Hemisphere. Finally, we note an often-ignored disconnect: the loudest condemnations tend to come from Western commentators speaking on behalf of Venezuelans, while many Venezuelan-Americans—especially those who fled the regime—appear far less troubled. This is not a defense of force for its own sake. It is an examination of legitimacy, accountability, and whether American retreat leaves a vacuum filled by far worse actors.

    8 min

  8. JAN 4

    The Warmth of Collectivism, and Other Socialist Absurdities

    Socialism loves to sneer at “trickle-down economics,” promising instead warmth, equality, and fairness through collectivism. But everywhere it has been tried, socialism has produced the very system it claims to oppose: centralized power, rationed scarcity, and resources trickling down from the state to the people by permission rather than right. In this episode, we examine what might best be called trickle-down socialism—an economic and political model that condemns hierarchy while requiring it, denounces concentrated power while perfecting it, and promises compassion while delivering coercion. From the myth of government accountability to the contradictions surrounding banks, corporations, and central planning, this episode explores why socialism cannot escape its own logic. We also confront the familiar accusation that conservatives want to “go back to the 1950s,” and ask the obvious question: which 1950s? The America of growth, opportunity, and abundance—or the gray world of ration cards, queues, and enforced equality? This is not a defense of capitalism without conscience. It is a critique of an ideology that survives by forgetting its own history, dismissing its failures, and presenting itself as eternally new despite a legacy of scarcity, repression, and human cost.

    8 min
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Bringing you sharp, insightful commentary on politics, culture, and current events from a conservative perspective. Join us for thoughtful analysis and unapologetic truth. 

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