Democracy Nerd

Dan Bouk, Chair of History at Colgate University, provides insights of the 1940 U.S. census from his book "Democracy's Data: The Hidden Stories in the U.S. Census and How to Read Them" Plus: an emergency NBA trade deadline podcast.

Politicians aren't exactly known to be a paragon of virtue and honesty. Chances are, if they don't lie at least a little bit they don't stand a good chance of getting elected. But does this mean everyone running for office needs to go full-blown George Santos? What if honesty is used to extract negative cost to lying politicians? That is the noble idea proposed by Professors Sarah Croco, Jared McDonald, and Candace Turitto, co-authors of a paper on the topic.

For the first episode of 2023, the podcast is joined by Rick Hasen--operator of the Election Law Blog and one of the top current democracy nerds--who explains why the Supreme Court needs to re-examine its decisions in the need to balance free speech interests with the need to have free & fair elections.

In this excerpt while filling in as guest host of the Thom Hartmann Program, Jefferson speaks with Peter MacLeod, a principal from Toronto-based MASS LBP, who assists the Canadian government with the recruitment and running of citizens' assemblies, allowing members of the public to weigh in on policy decisions. Sometimes the best way to make sure democracy works is to have even more democracy.

Should everything be privatized? What goods or services should be the responsibility of the private sector? What is the proper role of government oversight? In this excerpt from The Thom Hartmann program, Jefferson fills in as host and discusses these issues with Donald Cohen, Founder and Executive Director of In the Public Interest, and author of "The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back."

In this excerpt while filling in as guest host of The Thom Hartmann Program, Jefferson speaks with Grace Adcox, polling analyst for Data for Progress who helps explain the circumstances and variables that helped turn the expected "Red Wave" in the 2022 midterm elections into a "Red Ripple."

September 15, 2022 was the first-ever "Democracy Day," a collaboration with newsrooms across the country in which journalists and opinion writers focused on the current threats facing American democracy. This effort was spearheaded by the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University in New Jersey. The podcast is joined Joe Amditis, the Center's Assistant Director, who describes the various steps needed to turn Democracy Day from an idea to reality, and what to expect from future Democracy Days.

What role does education play when democracy is under attack? How important is it to teach controversial issues when elected officials would prefer to prohibit such discussion? What steps should educators to consider discussing these issues, both inside the classroom and beyond? A panel of guests including Judy Pace from the University of San Francisco, Eric Soto-Shed from Harvard University, and Elizabeth Yeager Washington from University of Florida join the podcast to provide answers to these questions.

Keith Boykin--regular contributor to CNN and CNBC and the co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition--joins Democracy Nerd to discuss his recent book "Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America," inspired by the 2020 George Floyd / Black Lives Matter protests, and provides a sneak peek of his upcoming book "Quitting: Why I Left My Job to Live a Life of Freedom"

As the Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Desmond Meade helped lead the successful passage of Florida's Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to over a million returning citizens who had completed prison sentences yet were unable to participate in society. Desmond joins the podcast to explain how this Amendment received far-reaching bipartisan support, and why it matters so much to democracy to have voting rights restored.