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no bull and the aftermath.

I don't think MacLikoff's pursuit of the center ever had any adverse effects. And I think

it had mild, limited in the context of extreme polarization, but nephsend effects. So I think

it can never be wrong to pursue intelligent moderation. I don't mean moderation in the

sense of splitting the difference, but well thought out ideas that are promising solutions

to problems.

I'm Benjamin Wittis and this is the LawFair podcast February 24th 2018.

Steven Williams is a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District

of Columbia Circuit. In his spare time, he is a historian of reformist movements in

the Russian pre-revolutionary period. In this latter capacity, he recently published

a book, The Reformer, How One Liberal Fought to Preempt the Russian Revolution, a book

about Vasily Maklakov, a lawyer, Duma member and public intellectual who offered his country

an alternative path from the road it took in 1917. I sat down with Judge Williams to

talk about Maklakov. We talked about Russia's prospects for reform in 1917 and now about

political moderation and about the flight to extremes. It's the LawFair podcast episode

286, Steven Williams on Vasily Maklakov.

Who was Vasily Maklakov and why should we be thinking about him today?

Well if you believe as I do that the greatest challenge posed to humankind is the one

...