Finding Your Spine
In a time when courage feels increasingly rare, Finding Your Spine challenges the status quo. Hosted by Dr. Chase Spears, this weekly podcast explores how Christians—and even secular conservatives—can stand firm in their values amid the pressures of cancel culture. With insightful commentary and bold conversations, Dr. Spears examines the tradeoff many make between conscience and comfort, reminding listeners that true freedom requires the spine to defend it. Tune in each week for thought-provoking discussions that inspire moral courage in an age of compromise.
Finding Your Spine
Fables That Restore American Courage and Imagination
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Dr. Matthew Mehan, associate dean and associate professor of government at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C., discusses The American Book of Fables and why stories still form citizens. A scholar of literature, rhetoric, and civic education, Mehan argues that arguments alone are not enough. People also need images that teach them to love courage, self-government, and the land. He explains how the book weaves fables, nursery rhymes, founding letters, and frontier accounts across 13 American regions, each tied to a phrase from the Declaration of Independence.
The conversation ranges from the New England Primer and the Columbian Orator to Daniel Boone, wagon trains at Council Grove, and the difference between liberty and law on the Great Plains. Mehan warns that cozy, softened children’s literature has drained grit from the American imagination, while rival narratives rush in to replace our history. He calls for gratitude to forebears, discernment about the images we give children, and a frontier spirit aimed not only west, but east—toward recultivating American towns, checking foreign threats, and forming tough citizens for the next three centuries.
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:00:28 – Why Fables Matter
00:02:03 – Literature and Civic Education
00:03:29 – Teaching Mind and Heart
00:04:00 – Stories That Shape Children
00:05:13 – Settlement and Revolution
00:06:02 – Courage at the Backbone
00:07:37 – Primer and Columbian Orator
00:08:50 – Recapturing American Grit
00:10:48 – Declaration as Framework
00:12:08 – Toughness of the Pioneers
00:14:12 – Recapturing Frontier Spirit
00:16:56 – Americanizing the Fable
00:19:35 – Imagination Against Softness
00:21:46 – Daniel Boone’s Sacrifice
00:24:26 – True Stories Versus False Ones
00:25:43 – History Contains a Story
00:28:43 – Hidden Nursery Rhyme Meanings
00:31:26 – Losing Touch With Origins
00:31:33 – Face East and Stay Tough
00:33:58 – Conquer or Be Conquered
00:36:19 – Unchanging Principles of Justice
00:37:26 – War for the Sake of Peace
00:39:33 – Raising the Literary Standard
00:40:25 – Discerning Books and Images
00:42:07 – Wit Married to Wisdom
You can find out more about Dr. Mehan here: https://dc.hillsdale.edu/Profiles/Matthew-Mehan/
You can order The American Book of Fables here: https://www.amazon.com/American-Book-Fables-Matthew-Mehan/dp/B0G1XYVC54
You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going.
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