Suzi talks to Alan Minsky and Harvey Kaye about the 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights, which they see as both a campaign platform and governing program to rescue and renew American democracy. This is more than a to-do or must-do list for progressives, but in their words, a compelling and transformative unifying project, a manifesto to advance democracy. We ask whether they think this program is feasible and realizable given the configuration of our political winner take all system?

We then turn to the recent election in France, where incumbent Emmanuel Macron won with a 17% margin over Marine Le Pen. The period leading up to this election was far more uncertain. The contest had been narrowed from 12 parties in the first round, held April 10th, to the top two vote-getters, the centrist neoliberal Macron, and the far rightist Le Pen. Le Pen edged out the leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon by a very narrow margin. The day before the election, we spoke with Sebastian Budgen, author of a recent article in the New Left Review blog, about the big question leading up to the election: Where would Mélenchon’s votes go in the second round? Though a decisive number seemed to have held their noses to vote for Macron, 26% of the electorate stayed home—in effect abstaining. An insignificant 2% of voters either nullified or turned in a blank ballot. Budgen gives an analysis of the state of the French electorate that holds lessons and warnings for the future.

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