Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

By Burt CohenSociety & CultureNewsPolitics
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Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen episodes

  • “As If We Were Trash.” A Woman’s Memoir of Prison
    The intent is humiliation, eating away at one’s humanity. How can that make one a better person? Former figure skater Keri Blakinger’s new book Corrections In Ink tells the story from the inside and asks:  does locking up groups of troubled people together really serve to make us safer?
    1 hr
  • Today’s Supreme Court: Not All May Participate in Democracy
    Justice Scalia claimed to be an Originalist: did he mean only propertied white Christian men have rights? Perhaps the actual intent is still consent of all the governed. In the 21st century, are we not all entitled to participate in democracy? On this show, Professor David Schultz argues the current Supreme Court ignores and abuses history to erase our traditional rights. “We the people” clearly means more than rich white men, so despite today’s Supreme Court’s intended erosion of rights, the future is up to us.
    1 hr
  • Sex Classifications Are There to Serve The State
    In theory, the state in a republic serves its citizens. Traditional conservatives insist they want government out of such things as sex. Our guest today Professor Paisley Currah in his new book Sex is as Sex Does, Governing Transgender Identity points out that there is a real “democratic deficit” between the needs of the state and the freedom the public wants. One might think conservatives would seek less state control. But as he notes, transgender is the right’s new version of a Red Flag to crush. Progress is happening anyway.
    59 min
  • Suburban High Schools Race At the Top; Between White and Asian Kids
    America’s suburbs came into being as a way to keep white school kids at the top. But what’s happening with Asian-Americans in upscale places like the sample “Woodcrest” High School? Asian American kids are catapulting to the top. Should teachers assign less homework because white kids keep busy in extracurricular? Today’s guest Sociology Professor Natasha Warikoo puts this in focus in her new book, Race at the Top; Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools.

     
     
    50 min
  • We Know the Religious Right: Where is the Christian Left?
    Though the angry white supremacist right grabs today’s news, the truth is the Christian Left has much deeper roots in American history. According to the Reverend Quadricos Bernard Driskell, the religious left has always been part of the fabric of America. Jesus was about justice, compassion, and empathy. Driskell argues now “We need a bombastic counter-narrative, a politically engaged movement harkening back to the glory days of social gospel.” As the intolerant right chases away believers, more young people are choosing the religious left: reasons for optimism.
    1 hr 1 min
  • The Prescience and Vision of Rosa Luxemburg. Who?
    Pre-capitalist indigenous cultures have a lot to offer us today for a better, greener future. And socialism is not how its pictured. Neglected by the Great Men study of history, Rosa Luxemburg, a 4′ 11″ disabled young woman from what’s now Poland, grew to lead the socialist movement in Europe until she was murdered in 1919. Her vision requires real democracy and development of the full and free individual. As Luxemburg scholar Peter Hudis reveals, much of her brave vision is more applicable than ever in this world so threatened by climate crisis.
    59 min
  • The Queen and BoJo: The UK From Here
    A glorious celebration of a great state symbol: the Queen, who’s been through so much in her 70 year reign. Nostalgia for an imperial glorious past only goes so far. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was booed by his own party at the jubilee. The unified reassuring power of the Crown, the Church, and the Tory Party is crumbling. So says Duke Professor Emeritus Kenneth Surin. Brexit was sold as a way to “Make Britain Great Again.” Sound familiar? What next for the Tories, the Labour Party, and the unity of Britain?
    1 hr
  • The “Moms For Liberty” Nightmare for American Schools
    Of course all parents want to protect their children from inappropriate material. But when “parental rights” mean teachers are forbidden from mentioning homosexuality or racism because that means teachers are “grooming” kids for pedophilia or Chinese communism, liberty is under threat. Hypocritically enough, the vanguard of this threat is from something called Moms For Liberty. On this show, from her writing in The New Republic, Laura Jedeed  examines the serious chilling effect on teachers and education. And how social media has encouraged people to believe what they want. Elections coming up!
    56 min
  • Sister Resisters
    Rather than just keeping one’s head down and staying safe, addressing that which is uncomfortable can bring new insight and a more complete sense of being. The often rigid structure of colleges is not enough, mentoring: listening, respecting is a proven way to overcome what is often silence surrounding race. On this show, authors Janie Victoria Ward and Tracy L. Robinson-Wood discuss their new book Sister Resisters, Mentoring Black Women on Campus. They find that mentoring helps break down self censorship and liberates both mentor and mentee.
    59 min
  • To Win: Listen to and Respect Voiceless Rural People
    When national Democrats acted as if “we” need to educate “them,” someone who at least pretends to listen and respect wins. They have fear that what little they have may be taken away. The real change comes not from mere electoral politics but in connecting with people where they are. And out of this two years of pandemic isolation, it’s community that keeps us going. How is it that Democratic reactions after 9/11 led to quiescence? On this show author Beverly Gologorsky talks about how passion, noise from the streets, is essential. Her new book: Can You See the Wind? is about invisible but real change.
    1 hr

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