Jess Piper is the Executive Director of Blue Missouri and the host of the Dirt Road Democrats podcast. We discuss the reality of living in rural Missouri, the state of education, and the dearth of Democratic candidates across the state.

Rural candidates have little to no support from the state party, but Republicans enjoy the support of local churches. One-third of Missouri is rural, but there is not a single elected Democrat representing these areas. Uncontested races are bad for democracy and without Democrats in the race, there is no contest of ideas. In Missouri, for example, multiple school districts only have four days of school, but there have not been elected Democrats who are willing to push back and properly fund these public schools.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Jess Piper

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Ken Harbaugh is the host of the Burn the Boats podcast, a former United States Navy pilot, and executive producer of Against All Enemies, a documentary film that explores the critical role of military veterans in domestic violent extremist groups.

We discuss why veterans are equally sought out to work in Fortune 500 companies and to be in leadership positions of extremist groups. Most veterans make a successful transition to civilian life, but a small minority become radicalized. Anger and resentment is a common through line for them. Fueled by the big lie about the 2020 election, extremists continue to become more popular. In fact, the big lie has torn our country apart. Ken stresses that "fundamentally, our elections are secure and the will of the people will be honored in November of 2024, as it was in November of 2020."

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Ken Harbaugh

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Cynthia Richie Terrell is the founder and executive director of RepresentWomen. We discuss institutional reforms that can reduce the barriers for women to run, win, and govern.

There are approximately 520,000 elected office holders in the U.S., but incumbency is the biggest barrier to electing more women. Term limits make more seats open to competition. In addition, ranked choice voting eliminates vote splitting if there is more than one woman on the ballot. In NYC, for example, the combination of term limits and ranked choice voting has resulted in a city council where 61% of the seats are held by women. Policy solutions that address the structural barriers do work.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Cynthia Richie Terrell

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Anat Shenker-Osorio is the host of the Words to Win By podcast and the Principal of ASO Communications. We discuss the winning messages for 2024 and the importance for pro-democracy voters to turn out on Election Day.

2024 is yet another do-or-die election for American democracy, and thus the first and most important message to Americans is to vote. We need to marshal a sense of defiance to participate because if we don't decide for ourselves, someone else will decide for us. This election is a contest between freedom and fascism. What's at stake is whether the US is going to continue to be a place where citizens have the freedom to cast their votes and have them counted.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Anat Shenker-Osorio

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Marietje Schaake is International Policy Director at Stanford University Cyber Policy Center, International Policy Fellow at Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and also serves on the UN's A.I. Advisory Body. We take a deep dive into how the digital revolution can still fulfill its promise of a democratic revolution. In other words: make A.I. work for democracy.

Over the past 20 years, power became more and more concentrated in the hands of big tech companies, while both Democratic and Republican administrations have chosen to trust market forces, rather than intervening to put on some guardrails. Unsurprisingly, public interest issues are under-addressed. Voluntary commitments by tech companies are often not powerful or enforceable enough to change behavior. But in the last year, more governments and multilateral institutions are recognizing that there are risks with the use of AI. For example, the EU AI Act was just passed to mitigate the risks from the use of AI applications.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Marietje Schaake

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Ryan Busse is a Democratic candidate for governor of Montana and the author of Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry That Radicalized America. We discuss how Montana is a bulwark against anti-democratic forces and how Ryan cuts through the politi-speak on the campaign trail.

It's important for Democrats to identify with the basic democratic freedom values of the vast majority of people, whether that's fair taxes on homeowners or reproductive freedom. Ryan argues that a vibrant democracy depends on both small d democratic values being represented and big D Democratic victories at the ballot box. The stakes are high to elect a pro-democracy governor in Montana. Montana is a bulwark in a sea of red state legislatures. Ryan says, "North Dakota and South Dakota used to have two Democratic senators and Democratic governors. Now there's not a single statewide elected Democrat in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and there's only one left in Montana, Jon Tester."

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Ryan Busse

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Deb Otis is the Director of Research & Policy at FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that researches and advances voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every American. We discuss the benefits of ranked choice voting and the likelihood that it will become more popular after the 2024 presidential election.

Ranked choice voting addresses a variety of problems in "vote one" elections, such as vote splitting among similar candidates; ranking candidates in order of preference; proportional outcomes in multi winner races; more broad based support for the eventual winner; and more successful general election candidates if ranked choice voting is used in the primary. Maine is a state where ranked choice voting will be used in the presidential election. The Fair Representation Act is a bill that would implement ranked choice voting for members of Congress and also make redistricting more proportional and representative for voters.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Deb Otis

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Lala Wu is the co-founder and executive director of Sister District, an organization that works to build enduring progressive power in state legislatures. We discuss how state races will continue to be important during the presidential election cycle and why the battle for redistricting will be center stage.

State legislatures are where a lot of impactful policy is made, such as abortion laws. They're also critical because in most states, state legislatures control redistricting. Building progressive power is about winning elections, passing legislation, and then telling the story about legislative successes so that voters want to keep you in power and continue the work.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Lala Wu

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Over the last several years our politics has been pushed from a place of collaboration to bold faced loyalty tests. In his latest book: Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America, our guest, author and NPR Morning Edition co-host, Steve Inskeep, discusses with Waj and Danielle why dissent necessary and is as American as apple pie!

Listen to Democracy-ish:

https://www.dcpofficial.com/democracy-ish

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Credits:

Hosts: Danielle Moodie & Wajahat Ali

Guests: Steve Inskeep

Executive Producer: Adell Coleman

Senior Producer: Quinton Hill

Distributor: DCP Entertainment

Rich Harwood is the president and founder of The Harwood Institute, who just launched a campaign to reclaim the public square from the most divisive voices and build it into a place that can make hope real for all.

The public square is a noisy and messy place where society disagrees, argues, and also finds solutions. It's through working out expectations, engaging in the work to be on the right path forward, and holding ourselves accountable to our goals that we engender hope. Acknowledging what has already been accomplished, no matter how small, both to yourself and others, makes the work visible to the community. Paying attention to the civic culture of communities is key to success.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Richard Harwood

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis