Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Benjamin Franklin was not exactly a gambling man. But he wagered 2,000 pounds, at the end of his illustrious life, on the survival of the United States. Franklin's bet was that, if the trustees of his legacy funds lent it out over the next 200 years to Boston and Philadelphia tradesmen to jump-start their careers, the U.S. economy would flourish. Each loan was to be repaid with interest over 10 years, and if all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would prove to be a windfall.

Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Franklin’s wager on this early version of microfinancing was misused, neglected, and contested—but never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklin’s stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play to this day, and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

SPEAKERS

Michael Meyer

Professor of English, University of Pittsburgh; Author, Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet

In Conversation with George Hammond

Author, Conversations With Socrates

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 19th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In a day and age where politics can take any form from protesting to posting, it can be hard for students to navigate the many, often divisive political situations they find themselves in. Though politics are certainly an important part of our curriculums, learning how to discuss politics civilly has not been. Now, many organizations are stepping up to fill this gap. In doing so, they are providing students and future generations alike with the tools necessary to navigate a polarized political scene while also paving a path to minimize the partisan division altogether.

This student-led program will empower students to face political conversations head on, with both confidence and courtesy. Coming from diverse perspectives, the speakers will model the very conversations they seek to instigate and will guide students in how to build the bridges we so desperately need.

Program lead Raquel Kunugi is a graduating senior in political science at the University of California Berkeley and an Education intern at The Commonwealth Club. Hailing from a rural, conservative town and a politically purple family, and now attending a famously liberal school, she has experienced the range of political beliefs and has made friends all along the political spectrum. She hopes this program will empower her fellow students to challenge themselves by challenging the growing norm of polarization.

NOTES

Creating Citizens, The Commonwealth Club’s K-12 civics education initiative, is supported by the Koret Foundation.

SPEAKERS

Justine Lee

Executive Director, Living Room Conversations

John Wood, Jr.

National Ambassador, Braver Angels

Alice Siu

Associate Director, Center for Deliberative Democracy, Stanford University—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 19th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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A fundamental injustice of the climate crisis is that those who have contributed to it least are already bearing the brunt of the impacts, and that will continue as global temperatures rise. Like many other environmental and societal challenges, we can’t make real progress if certain groups are left behind. How might a new model for working together to solve interconnected crises, by tracing the origins of ecofeminism, environmental justice and other movements that center the voices and experiences of Black, Indigenous and people of color, work?

Guests:

Leah Thomas, author, Founder, The Intersectional Environmentalist 

Hop Hopkins, Director of Organizational Transformation, The Sierra Club

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Information technology has fundamentally changed the daily lives of Americans - crunching years of data in seconds and automating seemingly infinitely complex tasks. Yet, as congressman Ro Khanna warns, technological progress has great power to either hurt or heal the country—creating division and furthering inequality if left unchecked, or creating opportunity and healing fractures if carefully directed. It is by keeping an eye on the least fortunate while channeling digital innovation, he argues, that we can create positive change.

In his latest book, Dignity in the Digital Age, congressman Khanna explains how democratic access to technology can strengthen every sector of the economy, create more inclusive communities and mend a fractured country. Using “progressive capitalism” to create jobs and opportunities for all Americans, especially the least fortunate, he gives a blueprint of how to direct the future of the tech industry to be a powerful agent for positive change.

Congressman Ro Khanna has represented California's Silicon Valley in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2016 and serves as chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment. Before his time in Congress, he served as the deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Commerce in the Obama administration and has taught economics and law at Stanford University. In the House of Representatives, Rep. Khanna has been a leading voice for tech equality, climate change accountability and the social responsibility of corporations.

Join us, as Rep. Khanna explains how the digital revolution got us to where we are now—and explains where it can take us from here at this critical time in American history.

SPEAKERS

Ro Khanna

U.S. Representative (D-CA, District 17); Author, Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us; Twitter @RepRoKhanna

Ahmad Thomas

President & CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 20th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Demographic changes at both the national and local levels continue to have tremendous impacts on America's political system. As diversity in the United States continues to flourish, the United States is evolving into a true multi-racial society. Yet the country remains deeply divided. What roles are demographic changes and a backlash to those shifts playing in shaping America's civic life? Leading demographer and political commentator Justin Gest believes he has some answers to these questions as the country 's citizens continue to grapple with what happens to the country when there is no longer a majority demographic group.

In his new pathbreaking book Majority Minority, Dr. Gest uses the case studies of six societies that have undergone the majority-minority transition to reveal insights as to the role of government in tempering nationalist sentiment and allowing diversity to flourish. He argues that the state and politicians can be powerful actors to help groups integrate and form a common identity for the benefit of all, while still respecting and celebrating the differences between them. Supplementing his analysis with surveys, studies and careful analysis of trends in the United States, Gest explains that the coming years will be formative in how diversity lives on in America, and how our society can gracefully transition into a majority-minority country.

The 2022 elections and, of course, the 2024 presidential election will be shaped by the impact of America's demographic changes. To help put these issues into context, Gest has invited former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and political journalist Molly Ball to discuss his new book and the critical moment in which the United States finds itself as its future as a cohesive multiracial democracy is regularly called into question.

Please join us for an important discussion on how we got here, what it means, and where we can go to remain an inclusive society for all Americans, regardless of origin.

SPEAKERS

Justin Gest

Associate Professor of Policy and Government, George Mason University’s Schar School; Author, Majority Minority

Antonio Villaraigosa

Former Mayor, City of Los Angeles

Molly Ball

National Political Correspondent, Time

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 19th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The witty, insightful, and entertaining Dave Pell will discuss his book Please Scream Inside Your Heart, a real-time ride through the maddening hell that was the 2020 news cycle, when turmoil and media mania stretched America's sanity, democracy and toilet paper. Pell, who describes himself as the internet’s managing editor, will discuss how our media consumption got out of hand, what makes lies spread faster than truth, and why his Holocaust-surviving parents found 2020 America to be all-too familiar.

Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language

SPEAKERS

Dave Pell

Journalist; "Internet's Managing Editor"; Publisher, Next Draft Newsletter; Author, Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year that Wouldn't End

In Conversation with DJ Patil

Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 18th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In a time in U.S. history marked by polarization and partisan gridlock, Americans are looking for answers. For former Republican congressman and CIA officer Will Hurd, these questions need answering—fast. As the country faces new challenges and it becomes increasingly difficult for Washington to act amid political divides, Hurd proposes a guide to “reboot” the system and mobilize the country to meet the changes ahead.

Called “the future of the GOP” by Politico and “the Most Interesting Man in Congress” by the Daily Dot in 2017, Will Hurd is a former clandestine CIA Officer with 9 years of service history and a three-times elected congressional representative from Texas’s 23rd District. In Congress, Hurd held multiple committee appointments during his tenure, utilizing his expertise in technology, cybersecurity and national security as a leading Republican voice for bipartisanship.

In his new book, American Reboot: An Idealist's Guide to Getting Big Things Done, Hurd grounds his analysis of the American political system in “pragmatic realism,” offering solutions to a crisis-rocked country based on American values. In it, Hurd walks through the challenges presented by rising income inequality, unprecedented technological changes, dishonest elected officials, the Republican Party’s ailing vision for the future and the shifting balance of global power. There, drawing from personal experience and professional expertise, he draws a path forward amid these uncertainties to a more unified, efficient and equitable America.

Join us as Hurd presents a playbook for America to boldly advance through the challenges ahead and into a new era of bipartisanship, inclusivity and democracy.

SPEAKERS

Will Hurd

Former U.S. Representative (TX-23); Author, American Reboot: An Idealist's Guide to Getting Big Things Done

Melissa Caen

Attorney; Political Analyst—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 18th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Over the last 16 years, as an esteemed anchor of "Good Morning America," Robin Roberts has helped millions of people across the country celebrate each new morning. She has sought to bring a bit of positivity into each day, even in the most trying of times. In doing so, she has enthralled the nation with her grace and humility.

Now, in her new book Brighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams, Roberts provides a guide to instilling hope and optimism into people’s lives to infuse every day with positivity and encouragement. She shares with readers the guidance and profound insight she’s received, along with her own hard-won wisdom that has helped her find the good in the world and usher in light—even on the darkest days. Roberts shares a journey through her lived eye-opening experiences, drawing on the advice and knowledge she’s picked up along the way to teach readers how to feed the mind, spirit and soul and practice optimism—a skill that requires time and dedication.

Join us as Robin Roberts shares her prescription for how to unlock a new mindset to live brighter by the day.

SPEAKERS

Robin Roberts

Anchor, "Good Morning America"; Author, Brighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams

Kumasi Aaron

Anchor, ABC7 News Bay Area Morning; Twitter@KumasiABC7—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 15th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Treva Lindsey is a rising and vibrant voice on gender and racial issues, particularly the portrayal of Black women in the media, news and popular culture. A professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Ohio State, Lindsey has written prominent and much-discussed pieces after the recent police-involved deaths of Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland and Ma’Khia Bryant.

In her new book America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women and the Struggle for Justice, Lindsey takes a deep look into what she considers the violent oppression experienced by Black women and girls in the United States, and that how they are treated is a distinct form of devaluing Black life. Her book touches upon her own sexual assault by a police officer at 17 to underscore and personalize her belief that Black women and girls are subjected to historic abuses and are traditionally told they must suffer silently. Lindsey's book—named after the Nina Simone protest song—is a demand for justice for Black women and girls who are often overlooked in discussions about racial justice. For Lindsey, the discussion on gender and race is one that is essential for true racial justice.

Join us for a powerful conversation.

Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language

SPEAKERS

Treva Lindsey

Assoc. Professor, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, Ohio State University; Founder, Transformative Black Feminism(s) Initiative; Author, America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice; Twitter @divafeminist

In Conversation with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

Co Founder, The Sadie Collective; Author, The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System; Twitter @itsafronomics

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 13th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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We hosted our first Twitter Space discussing inclusivity in civics education and how youth can learn more about the power they hold in our democracy.

@CWCxEDU

Special thanks to

Amber Coleman-Mortley - @MomOfAllCapes

For joining us for this amazing conversation!!! Make sure to check out her education blog, http://MomOfAllCapes.com and her podcast @LetsK12Better

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