Bad Liberals

Justin Ahn and Darrius Tan

These two Stanford students have your best interests at heart. Sometimes your rights, too. Rarely your feelings. Listen as a technocrat and a populist duke it out over global issues as their guests provide much-needed facts and evidence. Produced by Darrius Tan and Justin Ahn.

Episodes

  1. 2h ago

    Isaac Bakare: Africa's search for a modern identity

    Who better to comment on Africa's search for a modern identity amidst a world that ceaselessly disrespects it than Isaac Bakare, a Columbia junior studying chemistry who has lived in Nigeria and South Africa and studied the continent's intellectual heritage? Listen as we discuss the contributions and shortcomings of Black internationalism, pan-Africanism, and other major influences, and hear Isaac's ambivalent reflections on where Africa might be able to go next.

    Isaac Bakare: Africa's search for a modern identity

  2. Jul 21

    Medha Shridharan: Singapore's effort to preserve upward mobility

    In this episode, two Singaporeans—Medha Shridharan, a Stanford sophomore studying computer science and, of course, co-host Darrius Tan, a police officer—bond over their homeland, one that continues to defy simple characterizations as liberal or illiberal. We discuss Singapore's struggles with issues that are strikingly similar to America's biggest challenges: government accountability, affordability, anti-immigrant sentiment, and class inequality. We explore topics from social and cultural capital, where knowledge about problems has transferred across the Pacific, to education, where approaches remain more rooted in Singaporean values. In the process, we touch on our personal experiences and deepest-held values: what a just allocation of opportunities requires and why we are attached to our country.

    Medha Shridharan: Singapore's effort to preserve upward mobility

  3. Jul 7

    Kshitij Kant: India's global strategy, domestic reform, and (hopefully) growth

    As bad liberals ourselves, we venture to explore a country oh-so-close to being labeled a liberal regime: India, the world's largest democracy. Alongside Kshitij Kant, a Stanford sophomore and research assistant at the Hoover Institution on India's foreign relations, we take on a wide-ranging conversation, from the BJP's dominance to prospects for economic growth to why India is reluctant to play along with the United States. Kshitij shares an understated perspective on India's role in the global order: possibly the next dragon in the waiting.

    Kshitij Kant: India's global strategy, domestic reform, and (hopefully) growth

  4. Jul 7

    Victoria Ren: The Abundance movement and policy entrepreneurship

    Welcome to Bad Liberals! As our first guest, we have a very good liberal, in fact someone on the front lines working to revitalize liberalism itself: Victoria Ren, a recent Stanford graduate and co-founder of Students for Abundance, a campus advocacy group supporting supply-side progressivism—that is, more houses, more roads, more energy, more healthcare. Together, we tackle the big questions in American politics: hope, change, community, action, strategy, and ideology. Because big policy action starts with a big ponder.

    Victoria Ren: The Abundance movement and policy entrepreneurship
  • 4 Episodes

About

These two Stanford students have your best interests at heart. Sometimes your rights, too. Rarely your feelings. Listen as a technocrat and a populist duke it out over global issues as their guests provide much-needed facts and evidence. Produced by Darrius Tan and Justin Ahn.

Information

  • Creator
    Justin Ahn and Darrius Tan
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    Bad Liberals