America's Democrats

Why workers rights’ is an issue for all of us. And Bill Press on what it took to finally pass an infrastructure bill

Terri Gerstein on how better conditions for workers can make life better for all of us. Plus Bill Press with Representative Don Beyer (D VA) on what’s actually in the recently passed infrastructure bill. 

The pandemic is advancing our understanding that when workers are subjected to poor working conditions, we are all less safe.

Terri Gerstein says a broad based investment in workers’ rights is an investment in our collective well being and security. 

Bill Press talks  with Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) about the recently passed infrastructure bill. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com. 

Why Did the Democrat Lose Virginia’s Gubernatorial Race?

Here they come again – That gaggle of Washington politicos and pundits who keep assailing Joe Biden’s package of FDRish proposals that, at long last, would begin lifting up America’s infrastructure and working class.

“Too big,” screech these small thinkers and servants of the plutocratic order, “too costly, and … well, too democratic.” You would expect such adamant minginess from anti-everything Republicans – but these are Democrats!

Protecting Remote Workers.  Rethinking the Alamo.  And Bill Press on the crisis at the NRA.

Stephen Hill on labor standards in the remote working world. Jason Stanford on the myths and realities of the Texas origin story. Plus Bill Press with Tim Mak on his new book Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA 

The pandemic is transforming the way we work. Stephen Hill says the shift to remote work can come at a cost to workers unless new protections are put in place.

Almost 200 years after the battle of the Alamo, a new book aims to correct the historical record. Co-author Jason Stanford explains how the myth of the Alamo continues to be used to advance political agendas and encourage racism.

Bill Press talks Tim Mak, Washington investigative correspondent for NPR and author of Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com. 

Repair Your Own Products? Corporations Say No!

America’s economic and political inequality has led workaday Americans to exclaim: “The system is broken. Let’s fix it!”

But there’s another version of this protest that I’m hearing more frequently these days: “The system is fixed. Let’s break it!”

How Republicans undermine government to help themselves.  Fighting for progressive power at the state level.  And Bill Press with California Congressman Adam Schiff on why no one should be above the law when it comes to January 6.

Amy Fried, author of At War With Government: How Conservatives Weaponized Distrust from Goldwater to Trump. Gaby Goldstein on why building a progressive future begins with state legislatures. Bill Press with Adam Schiff on his new book "Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could."

Polling shows that Americans’ trust in government sits near a historic low. In her newest book, Amy Fried reveals that this is no accident, but rather a conservative political strategy that 

goes back decades. 

Republicans have made the control of state legislatures a priority, and it’s working.  Gaby Goldstein says it’s time for Democrats to catch up, and that’s why she co-founded a project to help them do just that.

Bill Press talks with Congressman Adam Schiff on why we can’t ignore the crimes that happened on January 6. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com. 

The Republican Supremes Are Defrocking Themselves

What is so supreme about the Supreme Court?

I mean besides being housed in an imposing marble building, being the final stop on America’s judicial train, and having its nine members look photogenically authoritarian in those full-body black robes. And, yes, its existence is written into the Constitution – but so is Congress, and no one thinks of it as anything supreme.

How redistricting reform is being co-opted.  Why Democrats need to rethink their campaign ground game. And Bill Press on Republican support for Democratic candidates.

David Daley on how independent redistricting commissions are being undermined by partisan pressures. Peter Fenn on why Democratic campaigning needs to move out of the past. Plus Bill Press with former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman on when it makes sense for Republican voters to back Democrats.

Discussions on gerrymandering often call for the creation of independent redistricting commissions to draw electoral maps and keep partisan politics out of the process. But as national gerrymandering expert David Daley explains, true independence is proving harder to achieve than expected. 

Peter Fenn has been helping Democrats win elections for decades. In a recent oped, he makes the case that changes in the media landscape demand a shift in focus from paid advertising to hardcore political organizing.

Bill Press talks with former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman about why she believes electing moderate Democrats could be critical to saving the Republican Party, and democracy itself. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.

Working From Home – While Your Boss Watches You on Video

If you’re a corporate employee, you know that something unpleasant is afoot when top executives are suddenly issuing statements about how committed they are to their employees, making sure that all of them are treated with dignity and respect.

Why we should rethink voting rights. An alternative history of the Constitution. Plus Bill Press on what’s in store in the newest Supreme Court term.

Elections expert Amel Ahmed makes the case for voting as a positive right. Author John F. Kowal on how people have made our Constitution more democratic. Plus Bill Press with NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams.

The passage of H.R.1 would mark a necessary advance in defense of the right to vote.  But does that go far enough? Amel Ahmed says more can be done to go on the offense in the struggle over voting rights. 

In his new book, co-author John F. Kowal tells the story of how 200 years of constitutional amendments have made our founding document more inclusive and more democratic. It’s a history, he says, with great relevance for today.   

Bill Press talks with Pete Williams of NBC News on what to expect as the Supreme Court opens its momentous new term. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com. 

Why Would We Let Wall Street “Care For” Our Pets?

Question: What does a packet of M&M’s and your local veterinarian have in common? Answer: Both are owned by Mars Inc., the global candy monopolist.

Since the 1980s, we’ve seen massive consolidations in industry after industry – from airlines to newspapers, the internet to candy. These monopolists run roughshod over consumers, workers, communities, suppliers, and our nation’s commitment to the Common Good.

Factory towns as political battlegrounds. Growing Black women’s political power. Plus Bill Press on the meaning of “patriotic philanthropy”.

John Pouland on a new report showing big losses for Democrats in factory towns, and why that matters. Glynda Carr on how to get more Black women elected to office. Plus Bill Press with billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein on what it means to give back to our nation.

John Pouland explains a study that details how the conventional political wisdom has completely missed the biggest electoral earthquake of the last decade, specifically highlighting how both Democratic and Republican parties have discounted and misjudged their appeals to voters in manufacturing-heavy working-class towns. 

A record number of Black women ran for Congress in 2020. Political strategist Glynda Carr says that record could be broken again in 2022.   And if Black women win, she says we all stand to gain. 

Bill Press talks with billionaire David Rubenstein on the limits and possibilities of philanthropy. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com. 

America needs a quality child care system

Nearly every nation with an advanced economy (and some not so advanced) treats child care as a fundamental public good essential to nurturing children, families, and the whole society. But not our US of A.

Indeed, our so-called leaders relegate millions of working parents and 21 million kids under 5 to the tender mercies of a for-profit market, with child care facilities ranging from impossibly expensive to helter-skelter, unlicensed Kiddie Korrals.

Farmers on the front lines of climate change.  A Wyoming view on 2022. Plus, Bill Press on the very real threat of election subversion.

Former secretary of agriculture Dan Glickman makes an urgent call for climate smart agriculture. Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Joe Barbuto lays out a plan to prevail in the midterms. And election law expert Rick Hasan tells Bill Press why “election subversion" is the greater threat to American Democracy than voter suppression.

There’s a growing acknowledgment that even as agriculture feels some of the worst impacts of climate change, it also contributes to the crisis. Former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman says farmers can be part of the solution and public policy can help them do that.

Democrats face daunting odds in Wyoming. But, with a midterm election on the horizon, Joe Barbuto says Democrats can beat those odds… with the right strategy.

Coming up, Bill Press talks with national election law expert Rick Hasan on the mounting threat Republicans pose to election integrity. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.

Why Corporations Pay Millions for Executive Mediocrity

Most people believe the American economy is being rigged by and for bankers, CEOs, and other superrich elites, because… well, because it is!

With their hired armies of lawmakers, lobbyists, lawyers, and the like, they fix the economic rules so even-more of society’s money and power flows uphill to them. Take corporate CEOs. While 2020 was somewhere between a downer and devastating for most people, the CEO class made out like bandits, with each of the three top-paid corporate honchos pocketing as much as a billion dollars in personal pay!

Budget reconciliation and the future of health care.  The Black women who fought to vote. Plus, Bill Press on why the Justice Department should begin a criminal investigation of Donald Trump.

Frederick Isasi of Families USA on why now is the time for Congress to take a stand on lowering health care costs. Historian Martha S. Jones on her new book Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. Plus Bill Press with legal analyst Barbara McQuade on holding Donald Trump responsible for his actions leading up to January 6.

As Democrats' reconciliation bill makes its way through Congress, health advocates will be closely watching. Frederick Isasi says this is an opportunity to make a critical and necessary investment in the health of every American.

In her newest book, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones writes about the Black women who fought for the vote, even after the 19th Amendment was passed. It’s a little-known history but one that is essential to understanding the evolution of democracy in America.

Coming up, Bill Press talks with former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade on why a failure to open a criminal investigation into Trump’s role in the January insurrection would undermine democracy. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com 

Let’s Create a Bank System That Serves People, Instead of Bankers

Corporate ideologues never cease blathering that government programs should be run like a business.

Really – what businesses would they choose? Pharmaceutical profiteers? Big Oil? Wall Street money manipulators? High tech billionaires? Airline price gougers?

The populist message progressive voters need to hear. And Bill Press on holding Donald Trump accountable for his role in the January 6 insurrection.

This week, pollster Vic Fingerhut on how progressive populism can win elections. Plus, Bill Press with a timeline of events leading up to January 6, and how they implicate Trump in the effort to overturn an election.

Vic Fingerhut has established an unmatched record of moving millions of votes to the progressive side of the political spectrum. Recently he lent his expertise to Canada’s New Democratic Party as they face a pivotal election.  

Bill Press with the first of his three-part series, “Our Democracy in Peril”, with Ryan Goodman, founding co-editor-in-chief of Just Security. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.

How About an Award for Sleaziest Corporate Profiteering?

We’ve got the Academy Awards, the Emmy’s, and GRAMMYs… but what should we call the award for the most extraordinary performance by a corporate profiteer? How about the “Sleazy,” with winners getting a solid gold sculpture of a middle finger? There were so many worthy contenders, but one corporation exhibited uncommon callousness, so the 2021 Sleazy goes to … Tyson Foods!

The meatpacking giant has regularly run roughshod over workers, farmers, communities, and the environment – not to mention the millions of animals it fattens and slaughters. But the coronavirus pulled out the worst in Tyson’s corporate ethic.

Who does our essential ‘dirty work’, and at what price?  Why prison gerrymandering has to end.  Plus, Bill Press on why California Governor Gavin Newsom is likely to survive the effort to recall him.

Eyal Press, author of Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America. Alec Kajstura on how the prison system distorts legislative redistricting. Plus, Bill Press looks ahead to California’s recall election with Carla Marinucci, Senior Writer for POLITICO’s California Playbook.

In his new book, Eyal Press talks about the overlooked jobs that are dangerous or morally compromising, but essential to our lives. He says it’s time to come to terms with the consequences of this work

 we pay other people to do.

As states begin the process of redistricting, our attention is drawn to the debate over where prisoners are counted as residents.  Alecs Kajstura explains how making the wrong decision can undermine democracy for all of us. 

Bill Press talks with Carla Marinucci, Senior Writer for POLITICO’s California Playbook about California’s gubernatorial recall election and the issue that will decide its outcome. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.

Hey Washington: Follow The People

“Those in the know,” say that We the People should forget any progressive fantasy that – at long last – Washington might finally produce the kind of bold FDR-style agenda that America needs. They smugly lecture us that recalcitrant Republicans in Congress, not to mention a swarm of corporate lobbyists, are opposed to progressive change, so who could get it passed?

Here’s an idea: Try the people themselves. Those in the know don’t seem to know it (or don’t want us to know it), but big majorities across grassroots America are strongly in favor of the fundamental changes that Washington elites are rejecting.