Most energy arguments start in the wrong place.
They start with identity, not systems. With labels, not failure modes. With confidence about outcomes, without much curiosity about what actually breaks when demand spikes or assumptions fail.
In this episode, Kevin Doffing talks with John Szoka about energy from a less fashionable angle: how power systems really behave under pressure, and what that implies for markets, policy, and leadership.
It’s a conversation that refuses to pretend there are clean answers.
The Throughline
John doesn’t argue that markets solve everything. He argues that badly designed markets fail in predictable ways, and we keep acting surprised when they do.
The discussion circles a few uncomfortable realities:
Power systems don’t care about intent.
Incentives matter more than slogans.
And tradeoffs don’t disappear just because they’re politically inconvenient.
What makes the exchange compelling is how often it runs against familiar talking points. Not by attacking them, but by asking better questions. What happens first when demand grows faster than infrastructure? Where do timelines slip? Who absorbs the risk when policy bets are wrong?
These aren’t abstract questions. They’re operational ones.
Here’s some of what we explore:
• Why reliability isn’t a value statement, it’s an engineering constraint
• How policy often assumes coordination that markets aren’t built to deliver
• Where conservative instincts about markets hold up, and where they don’t
• Why pretending energy transitions are frictionless creates political backlash later
• How ignoring system limits today just defers failure into tomorrow
At one point, John makes a point that quietly reframes the whole discussion: energy policy succeeds or fails at the edges, not in press releases. Truth.
Project Vanguard exists to surface conversations like this. Not to sell certainty, but to sharpen judgment.
This episode isn’t about picking sides. It’s about understanding systems well enough to stop lying to ourselves about how they behave.
If you’re tired of energy debates that feel disconnected from reality, this one is worth your time.
Listen closely. The value is in what doesn’t get oversimplified.
