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

  • Behind the Neat Myth of the American Revolution
    It’s the bedrock of who we are today. But to believe there was agreement among the “Founding Fathers” to replace plutocracy with democracy is just wrong. A lot of the answers as to where we find ourselves today, good and not so good, are there behind the reassuring simplistic myths. In this lively interview, historian Woody Holton reveals fascinating little-known facts from his new book Liberty is Sweet. For example the issue of slavery was a factor used by both sides. And people of color were the worst victims of the revolution.  Some of our “Great Men” vehemently opposed democracy which threatened to undermine their power. He says toxic masculinity almost lost the war. And our amazing founding mothers, from Abigail Adams to the heroic laundresses. It all goes on today.
    1 hr
  • Organized to Destroy Democracy
    They hide under the cover of academia. They claim to be local grassroots. But behind the faces we see on the news, there is an interconnected network of fossil fuel and evangelical interests in a very efficient soup-to-nuts approach to destroying American democracy. In her article in The New Republic, Anne Nelson lifts the rocks to shine a light on what’s hiding underneath. From making up “news,” to getting misinformation believed, to suppressing voters, and replacing presidential electors, unlike Democrats they don’t wait till three weeks before the elections.
    1 hr
  • How We Passively Enable Tyranny
    Since Plato’s allegory of the cave, tyrants have successfully manipulated the projected images the public sees. On January 6th, Trump told the insurrectionists they were being patriots. And they believe him. On this show, philosophy professor Andrew Fiala talks about his new book Tyranny from Plato to Trump: Fools, Sycophants, and Citizens. The discussion looks behind the veneer of legitimacy of tyrannical power and sees that people who feel powerless seek the love of a father figure. A worship of celebrity and wealth bolster the acceptance of American tyranny. Our founders knew an educated public was essential to having a democracy. A challenge.
    1 hr
  • Will the French Republic (and the EU) Survive?
    What had been a strong established left in France has seen much of its support move to the right. People who feel left out and looked down on see a kindred spirit in the far right candidacy of Marine LePen. She and centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron are headed to the final vote April 24th. And it matters a lot for the EU, NATO, Ukraine, and the long French tradition of republican government. On this show French politics expert Arthur Goldhammer explains why he says we should be worried.
    1 hr
  • We Missed it: An Opportunity For a Stable Russia
    Shock Therapy. That was the US policy toward Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. That brought economic anarchy, a real depression, and the clamoring for a strongman government. And today we see the results. According to our guest Professor Robert Toplin, in the 1990s, Russians were actually hopeful. A gradual shift with help toward democracy from the west might have avoided the predatory oligarchs. And the fearsome dictatorship of Putin.
    1 hr
  • Biden’s Billionaire Tax: The Image and the Reality
    Yes, it’s that time of year again. Taxes. Working people have been subsidizing the rich for far too long. All polls show that support for finally taxing the richest is hugely popular. Of course the Republicans openly serve that top percent, but why are the Democrats so timid? On this show The New Republic’s Timothy Noah looks at why Biden’s Billionaire Tax is not a full tilt effort. And Noah points out that at least one Republican who was far better on taxing the rich than Clinton and other bourgeois Democrats. And the economy is not weaker but is stronger when the rich pay their fair share. Noah also says the key to enacting a progressive agenda is unions.
    1 hr
  • The High Price of American Exceptionalism on the Earth
    Do you buy into American Exceptionalism? Politicians of both parties do. But what does it mean to the planet? On this show professor Aviva Chomsky sheds light on the aspects of exceptionalism we don’t want to see. Technical tweaks alone are not going to address our carbon debt which the less wealthy nations are now forced to bear. Instead of a good life just for the top few percent, if we decide to do it, we can have a good life for all within global boundaries. It can be done.
    1 hr
  • Supreme Court Too Supreme
    It was not intended to be this supreme. But since Brown v Board of Education desegregating schools, even Democrats have been complacent and yielded too much authority to the court. America’s founders focused on freeing our government from oligarchs. But the current Supreme Court has usurped what is supposed to be legislative power, congress is obligated to protect the general welfare, not serve the aristocrats as the court currently does. On this show Georgetown Law visiting professor and member of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court Caroline Frederickson reveals how far off course the court has gotten.
    1 hr
  • Is Putin Writing the Far Right’s Epitaph?
    Clearly not his intention, but with his assault on Ukraine might Putin actually be decapitating his worldwide far right? Guest John Feffer director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies  in an article titled “Will Ukraine Write the Alt-Right’s Epitaph?” examines the draw of people to the world wide far right. More of an anti-liberal force than pro-authoritarianism, people in Europe, South America, Asia, and America are angry that globalism has not helped them. But the shock of Ukraine undercuts that dynamic.
    58 min
  • What it Took For Democrats to Win; Maybe it Still Does
    America today is not the America of the past. But in his new book What it Took to Win, author and history professor  Michael Kazin, there is a thread that still works. Among the varied demographics, people want the government to work for them. Today’s right plays on a sense that it works for “those people,” not “us.” This fear of insecurity has fed the right wing culture war. Americans are against corporate greed; but can there be social movements which make it safe for politicians to say that? Kazin says there can be and that thread is what he calls Moral Capitalism. Give a listen!
    59 min

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