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Hillsdale professor Kevin Slack says America was founded by settlers, not immigrants. He and Nick trace how the Progressive Era and the New Deal moved power from Congress and the states to an unelected bureaucracy, why the income tax made it possible, and why he says the founders never saw diversity as a strength. Then Nick asks the question hanging over all of it: can the Constitution, as it stands today, still protect the Republic?
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00:00 – What makes the U.S. Constitution actually work?
02:55 – Was America ever a nation of immigrants?
08:06 – How the Progressive Era built the administrative state
10:20 – Why Dr. Slack says the founders didn’t see diversity as a strength
12:41 – How progressive presidents turned against the founding
14:31 – Why Congress hands its lawmaking power to bureaucrats
20:06 – Which Constitution are conservatives trying to defend?
23:15 – How the general welfare and commerce clauses grew Washington
25:33 – Did the incorporation doctrine help or hurt the states?
29:14 – How the income tax made big government possible
32:52 – Are we headed toward a constitutional crisis?
40:35 – Should Republicans get rid of the filibuster?
49:19 – Will more states stand up to the federal government?
52:51 – How Dr. Slack would fix Washington
This is Episode 619 of Making the Argument, published November 10, 2026.
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