Should The Free Speech Rights Of Corporations Outweigh

In their new book, Free Speech And Koch Money – Manufacturing A Campus Culture War, authors Isaac Kamola and Ralph Wilson examine the Charles Koch libertarian apparatus and its growing influence on campuses throughout the United States and the rest of the world.

Kamola says, “Essentially their apparatus is trying to

The Koch-led rightwing campus movement stems from Koch’s

To a large extent, Koch and his friends have created a culture

It begs the question: What constitutes free speech? What are

Wilson believes, “Campuses should not be judged just by the

The post Kamola, Wilson Interview – Podcast December 20, 2021 first appeared on .

Defeating Hate. Democratic Perspective welcomes Randy Parraz back to the show to discuss his new book, Dignity by Fire: Dismantling Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Machine. Parraz is the activist who organized the successful effort to recall Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, author of Arizona’s infamous SB-1070 anti-immigrant bill – the so-called “show us your papers” law.

His book is available at www.dignitybyfire.com. It’s not only a great read. It can serve as a roadmap for defeating the most extreme politicians at any level of government.

The post Parraz Interview – Podcast December 13, 2021 first appeared on .

Assessing The Biden Administration. Steve and Karen

“The problem is that so many things that he doesn’t control

As for the future, Singal says, “The positive take is the pandemic

The post Singal Interview – Podcast December 6, 2021 first appeared on .

Drawing A Line Between Private And Public Interests. Steve Williamson welcomes Donald Cohen, co-author of The Privatization of Everything. How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back.

Over a period of decades, special interests have succeeded in demonizing government and increasing the privatization of public resources – roads and bridges, schools, prisons, communications, the Internet, and more. While Cohen recognizes the positive role that corporations can play in our society. He says they need regulation. That’s because corporations do not necessarily operate in the public interest. Their first responsibility is to their bottom lines. They simply see massive spending on such things as infrastructure and education as an opportunity.

Though it’s tempting to think that privatization will save money, Cohen explains that there is only one place to get money to do things – from us. Whether it’s through taxes, tolls, or fees, the public pays for the things we need and use. Moreover, he says the government doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the things it does well, such as ensuring clean water, clean air, safe food and drugs, and developing technology like the Internet and smartphones.

Cohen notes that free market forces have attacked government for forty years. They played the long game. He asks: “For those of us who have a different set of beliefs, what is our long game?”

The post Cohen Interview – Podcast November 29, 2021 first appeared on .

A Warning For Democrats From Flyover Country. The Midwest and rural America are often thought of as unimportant. Yet, thanks to the Electoral College, rural voters have an undue influence on national politics. And, increasingly they vote Republican.

Partly, that’s due to messaging failures by the Democratic party. Partly, it’s due to our generally uniformed and misinformed electorate. It’s also the inevitable result of rightwing media disinformation campaigns. How else could the Republican party – a party responsible for a multitude of lies, a party that allowed a pandemic to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans, a party that has embraced discrimination and cruelty, a party that is intent on banning and burning books, a party that supported and excuses a violent insurrection designed to overthrow the results of a fair and free election – be favored to win the 2022 midterm elections?

The post LaMaster Interview – Podcast November 22, 2021 first appeared on .

Fighting For Freedom of Religion And A More Inclusive America. Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Rachel Laser, CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Laser begins by noting that Americans United has been around for almost 75 years, explaining, “We bring together people of all religions, and none, to protect the right of everyone to believe as they want. And to stop anyone from using their beliefs to harm others.”

In truth, it’s amazing that such an organization is needed given that the freedom of, and freedom from, religion are the first of the freedoms mentioned in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Yet a minority of would-be autocrats continue to claim that the US should be a Christian nation as evidenced by former National Security Advisor and Trump confidant Michael Flynn’s recent rallying cry at a meeting of conservative Christians, “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,” he said. “One nation under God and one religion under God, right? All of us, working together.”

Contrary to Flynn’s statement, Laser says that the Framers of the

The post Laser Interview – Podcast November 15, 2021 first appeared on .

A Golden Age For Our Economy. Steve Williamson welcomes back macroeconomist Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, to discuss the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Build Back Better bill, and their potential impact on inflation.

Baker largely dismisses the threat of inflation while noting: “This is a golden labor market age for a very large segment of the workforce – for probably the bottom 30 to 40 percent of the workforce…they have their choice of jobs. This has not been the case in half a century. As far as inflation, this is what everybody has heard about – the containers piling up at the ports. We know about that. That will pass, though. What’s going to happen…I’m guessing sometime in 2022, we’ll have worked through the backlog and prices in those areas are going to come down. So, I say this is very much a temporary story.”

In fact, Baker is very optimistic about the future, explaining that unemployment is back down to 4.6 percent. “We didn’t get to that following the Great Recession until 2017.” He says, “I think 2022 will be very good. A lot of inflation is going to go in reverse.”

The post Baker Interview – Podcast November 8, 2021 first appeared on .

The Danger Of Online Gossip. Steve Williamson welcomes back Democratic Perspective sponsor and contributor, Steve Segner, to discuss the impact of social media in Sedona. One of the most controversial is Nextdoor which ironically bills itself as “an app to encourage neighborliness.” Valued at $4.5 billion, it has become a controversial player in Sedona politics.

According to Steve, like most social media, it’s short on facts. “I get banned every couple of months,” he says. The reason for the bans, he explains, is that he responds to false or misleading posts with facts. He claims that if you disagree with a post, they kind of gang up on you. “There’s no filter…no facts.” Instead, he says, it’s little more than gossip. “It’s almost always an innuendo. There’s no facts at all.”

The post Segner Interview – Podcast November 1, 2021 first appeared on .

Prioritizing People Over Corporations. Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Lauren Kuby to Democratic Perspective. Kuby is a Tempe City Councilmember who is running for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission along with current incumbent Sandra Kennedy. If elected, the two will join incumbent Anna Tovar to create the first Democratic majority on the powerful five-member board that controls the state’s utilities and corporations.

In addition to her duties as a Tempe Councilmember, Kuby is a

In next year’s general elections. Kuby’s and Kennedy’s opponents

The post Kuby Interview – Podcast October 25, 2021 first appeared on .

The Complexities And Frustrations Of City Management.

She says that the city has been discussing the issue with

The guest and hosts go on to discuss other difficult and controversial issues such as ATVs, music venues, affordable housing, and traffic. The concern is that, without significant change, there is a risk of Sedona losing its sense of community.

The post Keene Interview – Podcast October 18, 2021 first appeared on .