Approach the Bench

Approach the Bench

Two Christian Conservative Bachelors at Harvard Law take on the world's most difficult problems — on a bench. New episodes every Thursday. Send in your questions to approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com or record a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench. You can also submit anonymous questions and comments through https://forms.gle/qxmFi2y5DAnsbnBv8.

  1. 2d ago

    Teddy Roosevelt's Comeback: Inside His New Presidential Library | ATB S2 E3

    Will heads out to the Badlands for this one — to Medora, North Dakota, where the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opened its doors on July 4, 2026, America's 250th birthday. He's joined by historian Matt Briney to walk through the newest presidential library in the country and the man it was built for. They start with the library itself: why it sits in a town of about 160 people, hours by car from Bismarck and Fargo, and why that's exactly the point. Roosevelt came to Medora in 1884 after his wife and mother died on the same day, and the Dakota Territory is where a grieving New York politician became the rancher, conservationist, and Rough Rider the country remembers. From there they get into the bigger questions — what TR actually believed about citizenship and character, how his faith and his politics fit together, and what a president from a century ago still has to say to an America marking its 250th year. Got a question for a future episode? Send it to approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com, leave a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench, or submit anonymously via the Google Form: https://forms.gle/9Zjxzkpwajivx19z8

  2. Oct 1

    Our Struggles as Christian Guys | ATB S2 E2.5

    Most Christian guys won't say this out loud. Mason and Will get honest about where their faith actually feels hard. Mason admits he keeps treating grace like a scorecard, quietly measuring his standing with God by how well he's performing, even though he knows better. Will talks about running into a wall with friends who are "spiritual but not religious" or think every path leads to the same place, and why the usual approaches to sharing the gospel don't seem to land with them. It's a conversation about the distance between what you believe and how you live, and what to do about it. Email approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com with your questions/comments or submit a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench for a chance to be featured on the show! You can also submit anonymous comments through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/9Zjxzkpwajivx19z8

  3. Sep 24

    We went to Europe. It's Bad. | ATB S2 E2

    Mason just got back from the ARC conference in London, where he spent a week at a summit about rebuilding Western civilization and came home mostly annoyed about the plumbing. Will just walked 500 miles across northern Spain on the Camino — the Norte and the Primitivo — through villages with no children in them. So we asked the question everyone on the American right has already answered: has Europe fallen? We get into mass migration and the collapse nobody noticed, the rise of Reform and whether it's a realignment or a protest vote, the murder of Henry Nowak and what his father asked of us, a continent at 1.34 children per woman, and the revival statistic we all repeated because we wanted it to be true — until the Bible Society withdrew it. One hour. One question underneath all of it: does Europe still want to exist? Email approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com with your questions/comments or submit a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench for a chance to be featured on the show! You can also submit anonymous comments through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/9Zjxzkpwajivx19z8

  4. Sep 17

    When and How to Ask a Girl Out | ATB S2 E1.5

    We sat down to give some practical advice to our fellow men on this SPECIAL episode of Approach the Bench. If you’ve ever wondered, how should I ask a girl out? Is a girl worth it? When do I know?? Well, well, well, you’ve come to the right place. Two Harvard Bachelors are here to help.And Mason and Will certainly won’t give bad advice here…Email approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com with your questions/comments or submit a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench for a chance to be featured on the show! You can also submit anonymous comments through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/9Zjxzkpwajivx19z8

  5. Sep 10

    TOTAL BOOMER LUXURY COMMUNISM | ATB Season 2 Ep. 1

    Every few months someone declares that the Baby Boomers ruined America — and every few months someone else points out that most Boomers never sat in Congress, never got rich, and lived through Vietnam, stagflation, and 15% mortgages. So which is it?This week on Approach the Bench, Mason and Will put the question on trial: did the Boomers inherit an unusually prosperous America and preserve it — or consume its advantages, entrench themselves in power, and leave the bill to everyone born after them?The frame is a phrase coined by Russ Greene in a December 2025 essay for The American Mind: "Total Boomer Luxury Communism" — the web of local, state, and federal policies that quietly move wealth, on a multi-trillion-dollar scale, from younger workers to older (and on average richer) retirees. We take the thesis seriously. We take the strongest objections to it just as seriously.A few of the numbers we get into:Boomers hold 51.6% of America's household wealth. Everyone under 40 holds 6.6%.Americans 65+ receive 62% of the federal spending that can be assigned by age — roughly six dollars for every one that goes to someone under 26.The median U.S. senator is nearly 65. The country's median age is 38.A baby born in 1960 came into the world owing about $1,600 in national debt. A baby born today owes about $115,000 — roughly seven times more, even after inflation.Some Medicare Advantage plans have covered golf fees, ski trips, and pet food — on the taxpayer's dime.But we make the other case too: the real divide may be less young-vs-old than asset-owners vs. everyone still trying to buy in — and no generation, handed the same cheap houses and appreciating assets, would have volunteered to give them back. Then the verdict, and the line we keep circling: the Boomer sin may not have been taking everything. It may have been believing they earned everything.00:00 Introduction 04:42 Total Boomer Luxury Communism55:17 Girl Problems

  6. Sep 3

    Feminist AND Christian: Can You Be Both? | ATB Rewind #3

    What does it actually mean to call yourself a feminist in 2026?In this 45-minute, single-shot sit-down on a couch (no bench to be found!)), the three of us - as conservative Christians - have the honest conversation most people avoid. And we recorded it.We trace feminism through all four waves and then ask the question that matters most: Would you - and should you - call yourself a feminist as a Christian?Remember to like and subscribe for more!

  7. Aug 27

    The Disturbing Truth about Dating Apps | ATB Rewind #2

    Hinge, Bumble, Tinder --- they're supposed to help you find a partner. Right? On this segment from Ep. 21 of Approach the Bench, Harvard Business School student Luis Penichet explains how dating apps are designed to keep you single. He also shares his idea for a dating app startup that isn't.Email approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com with your questions/comments or submit a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench for a chance to be featured on the show! You can also submit anonymous comments through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/9Zjxzkpwajivx19z8

  8. Aug 20

    Our Democratic Socialism Rant | ATB #43

    WEEK 43 The Socialists Are Winning. What Do They Actually Want? We're in a fine Utah hotel for this one, and there's no guest — just the two of us and a stack of DSA's own documents. Zohran Mamdani is the mayor of New York. National DSA called it the biggest socialist electoral win in this country in a century, and 2026 kept the streak going: Chris Rabb in Philadelphia, a citywide breakthrough in LA, Janeese Lewis George in DC, more seats in Albany, and Melat Kiros unseating a fifteen-term incumbent in Denver. So we stopped arguing about the label and went to the platform. We start with definitions, because nobody keeps them straight. Socialism versus communism. Democratic socialism versus a bigger welfare state. Then decommodification — DSA wants housing, healthcare, energy, transit, food, and education pulled out of the market — and the question that follows: what exactly is left? Then the part almost nobody talks about. DSA doesn't just want a different economy; its platform calls for a new constitution. Proportional representation, a single federal legislature, no House-Senate split. We take that seriously and ask why an economic movement needs to dismantle federalism to get what it wants. We also get into whether Mamdani won on socialism or on rent, why national DSA pulled its endorsement of the most famous democratic socialist in Congress, whether "anti-imperialism" is a foreign policy or just a posture, and whether this is really a working-class movement or a movement of frustrated college graduates. Will pushes hard on federalism throughout. We disagree in a couple of places. GIRL PROBLEMS rounds us out as always. Email approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com with your questions/comments or submit a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench for a chance to be featured on the show! You can also submit anonymous comments through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/9Zjxzkpwajivx19z8 00:00 Introduction 04:13 Some Basics About DSA 10:32 Our Responses to DSA 55:15 Girl Problems

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4.4
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Two Christian Conservative Bachelors at Harvard Law take on the world's most difficult problems — on a bench. New episodes every Thursday. Send in your questions to approachthebenchquestions@gmail.com or record a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench. You can also submit anonymous questions and comments through https://forms.gle/qxmFi2y5DAnsbnBv8.

Information

  • Creator
    Approach the Bench
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    52
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Approach the Bench
  • Show Website
    Approach the Bench

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