Lenten Season
Fasting, Podcasting, and Traveling
Welcome to another edition of The Mueller Report!
Updates
I’ll be the first to admit: it’s been a challenge to keep up with the newsletter over the last month or two. Life moves fast, and between a heavy travel schedule and varying levels of family life chaos, I haven’t sat down to write this newsletter in a while.
And the travel isn’t letting up just yet, either. I’ve already logged five trips this year—four of them to the East Coast—and I have three more trips to D.C. on the books through April and May.
Here in Leadville, the snow continues to be abysmal. This week we have temperatures hitting 60 degrees and tons of sunshine. Great for walks but bad news for the slopes that have gotten very little snow this year. At least the trails have been relatively uncrowded! Despite the poor snow, we’ve managed to get out and ski a number of times.
My mother-in-law has been living with us since Thanksgiving. She has been a sweet addition to our household. While she’s needed some physical therapy and a hand getting around, she’s showing great signs of improvement and interacting wonderfully with the kids. I’m sure I’ve mused on this before, but it’s unsurprising and surprising that so few people have their parents living with them.
It’s unsurprising because such arrangements involve work and inconvenience - even in good circumstances. You share space and time, you have added logistics for meals and travel. In short, it adds layers of responsibility and complexity. Most people are understandably hesitant to take this on. Elderly parents, too, often resist the idea of living with their children either because they don’t want to be a burden or they don’t want the associated commitments or to give up some of their independence. And so it’s rare to find elderly parents living with their children and grandchildren.
But it’s also surprising that this is the case because it is such a natural way to care for elderly family members. It is far more personal and relational. And it brings blessings unlooked for and unexpected. Besides daily opportunities for kindness and encouragement, living with someone is one of the best ways to build relationships - and this is true for grandparents and grandchildren too! Christians especially should think hard about making room in their lives to care for their parents.
Recent Writing
Since I haven’t written in a while, I’ve got several articles to share:
The Venture Capitalist State: My latest for the Civitas Institute on The Trump Administration’s Venture Capitalist State.
Adam Smith at 250: Here are two essays exploring Smith’s enduring relevance on the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations. The Year of Adam Smith at The Daily Economy and an Essay on the Wealth of Nations at the Reading Wheel
Downsizing the Federal Reserve: Today I have a piece in The Daily Economy about how Bigger is Not Better when it comes to the Fed.
Thinking Through AI
Lately, AI has been a frequent topic of conversation in my circles. I’ve even spent time building my own agent—it’s a fascinating project that does some impressive things, even if the current limitations are still quite apparent. I’m planning to write more in the future about how we should think about AI from a theological perspective, particularly how our church might navigate and utilize these tools. I may record a podcast episode about AI Doomerism soon.
The Economist Next Door Podcast
Speaking of the podcast, it’s humming right along! We’ve released eight episodes so far. I’m sitting down with a Nobel Laureate in economics next week to record an episode with him. If you’ve missed the last few, you can catch up here:
How did a once-small federal government come to control a third of state budgets and shape everyday life across the country? Host Paul Mueller talks with AIER scholars Tom Savidge and Dave Hebert about the history of federal funding to states—from the Founding through the Great Society—and how Washington gradually became the dominant force in American governance.
As the saying goes, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Listen in to discover the real impact of federal dollars on state decision-making.
On the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations, host Paul Mueller sits down with economists Dan Klein, professor at George Mason University and chief editor of Econ Journal Watch, and Eric Matson, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and lecturer at Catholic University, to explore Adam Smith’s enduring impact.
They discuss Smith as both an academic and a moral authority, the lessons of The Wealth of Nations for modern economics and public policy, the invisible hand, the limits of government intervention, and why Smith’s insights on markets, human behavior, and social coordination still matter today.
Along the way, the thinkers break down the real Adam Smith—not the caricature or “free-market fundamentalist” often invoked in modern debates, but a nuanced and deeply thoughtful observer of human nature and human action.
Host Paul Mueller interviews AIER President Dr. Sam Gregg and AIER scholar Dr. Dave Hebert on a landmark Supreme Court decision that reshapes presidential tariff authority. Will the Supreme Court’s ruling prove to be a constitutional reset or just a minor hurdle to the president’s trade agenda?
In Learning Resources v. Trump, the Court ruled 6–3 that the president cannot use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as a blank check to impose tariffs. Paul and his guests break down why the ruling is a win for the rule of law, explore whether tariffs are better seen as foreign policy or taxation, and explain what the “major questions doctrine” really means. They also discuss trade deficits and possible legal workarounds.
Please subscribe, like the podcast episodes, and share with your friends!
Book of the Week: Eat Fast Feast
I recently re-read Jay Richards’ Eat, Fast, Feast book. Every Christian should read this to better understand fasting as both a physical and spiritual discipline.
The book is far more than just a diet guide. It is a deep dive into how our modern “grazing” culture has detached us from the ancient Christian rhythms of fasting and feasting. Richards expertly bridges the gap between nutritional science—explaining how metabolic flexibility and fat-burning (ketosis) can clear mental fog—and historical theology, showing how these physical states actually prime our souls for deeper prayer and discipline.
For me, this re-read underscored how essential fasting is to the Lenten season. Moving beyond mere “abstinence” from a specific luxury into true physical fasting has made me far more aware of the season and of my eating habits. It makes feast days all the more striking. This Lenten season and last Lenten season have been vivid experiences because I have been applying some of Jay’s suggestions and have begun taking fasting seriously. Fasting is a tool for reclaiming self-sovereignty in a world that wants us perpetually satiated and distracted.
Enjoy the weekend!
Paul
You can also watch my short video review of Eat, Fast, Feast below!