It’s the United States’ semiquincentennial … and one of us is not feeling it. The other is literally carrying a flag in her bag — and that’s just her road flag. Kathryn Anne Edwards makes her case for optimism right now: The U.S. is undergoing one of the most dramatic demographic and cultural shifts of any industrialized nation. Americans agree that Congress is broken. And the people's agenda on wages, childcare, money in politics, and Social Security polls above 80%. Maybe this isn’t a backslide. It's just what clearing the air looks like.

Chapters:

00:01:21 Announcements

00:04:10 Retcon: More on the national anthem

00:06:36 Terms & Conditions: Origin of "the melting pot"

00:08:01 Big Pilcrow: Make Robin Optimistic about America

00:48:17 Executive Orders: End gerrymandering; mandatory hearings on supermajority issues

00:50:03 Spiritual Sponsors: Knicks celebrations; bourbon in Louisville