Democracy Nerd

Recorded the day after the 2021 elections, Amy Siskind, founder and author of The Weekly List, joins the podcast to offer her analysis and explains that Trumpism continues to pose a threat and vigilance is needed to protect democracy in the 2022 elections.

1932 saw the election of President Franklin Roosevelt and the ushering in of the New Deal. Eric Rauchway, distinguished professor of history from UC Davis and author of "Why the New Deal Matters" joins the podcast to discuss how this combination of ideology and policies continues to impact American life 90 years later, with a reminder that good policy equals good politics.

Mike Rothschild, the author of "The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, a Cult, and Conspiracy of Everything," joins Democracy Nerd to discuss the core beliefs of QAnon, and what steps to take if a friends and loved ones fall down the QAnon rabbit hole.

Since 1983, the Forbes magazine list of the 50 wealthiest families in the United States have seen their wealth increase by an average of 1000% while the average American household has seen their wealth increase 93% during that same time. What do these wealthy families do with the wealth and power they've amassed during that time? Rig the rules for their own personal benefit. Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute of Policy Studies, returns to Democracy Nerd to discuss the new report "Silver Spoon Oligarchs: How America's 50 Largest Inherited-Wealth Dynasties Accelerate Inequality" and warns about acceding political power to Jeff Bezos' unborn grandchildren.

Does America have "Greek-style democracy" all wrong? Would it be possible to have democracy without holding any elections? Joining the podcast to discuss the idea of sortition--or "democratic lotteries"--are Linn Davis from Healthy Democracy and Madeline McCarren from Democracy Without Elections to explain that not only is sortition is a thing, but it is all ready being used in America and around the world.

Dr. Lawrence Rosenthal, Founder and Chair of UC Berkley's Center for Right Wing Studies, joins Democracy Nerd to discuss the history of right-wing populism in American politics, the Jan. 6th domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his recent book "Empire of Resentment: Populism's Toxic Embrace of Nationalism."

Bucking the trend of other states passing restrictive and repressive voter suppression laws in response to Trump's Big Lie, the commonwealth of Virginia is bucking this trend by passing its Voting Rights Act, with the novel idea that all citizens have the right to vote. What led to the first Southern state--and the first state previously covered by "preclearance" in the 1965 Voting Rights Act--to pass a bill expanding voting rights? Virginia State Sen. Jennifer McClelland and State Del. Cia Price join Jefferson to discuss the passage of the Virginia Voting Rights Act.

Author-journalist David Daley joins the podcast to provide a mid-summer check-in, explaining how New York City's first use of ranked-choice resulted in the most diverse city council in the city's history, attempts to explain Sam Alito's reasoning that "some" disparity in the ability to cast votes n Arizona is okay, and also how--through the magic of gerrymandering--if voters vote the same way in 2022, the Republicans may win back the House despite getting 5 million fewer votes.

Laura Edelson, Director of NYU's Cybersecurity for Democracy, joins Democracy Nerd to discuss the organization's Ad Observer project to track and report online political advertising on Facebook & Twitter, research regarding the "platform effect" that helps the spread of false and misleading political ads, and the circumstances that led to Facebook sending a "cease and desist" letter.

The For the People Act offers to be the most consequential bill to expand voting rights protections and preserve American democracy in recent memory. With action on the bill in the Senate imminent, Democracy Nerd is joined by Maryland's Congressman John Sarbanes, one of the bill's co-authors, who explains the necessity for this bill to pass in this moment of time, his optimism that some form of voting rights protections will pass the Senate, and describes how Joe Manchin can cement his legacy as a voting rights hero.