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

  • Josh Hawley And The Republican Obsession with Manliness
    He voted against one thing that can actually address what he says is the problem. Where once men felt pride in what they contributed to family and community as sole breadwinners, that is gone. The anxiety is real.  In her New York Times essay, guest Liza Featherstone takes on Hawley’s myths. Nostalgia for a mythical order seems to calm the fear many feel in a changing world.  Where there is greater freedom for all genders to be who they are, many straight men feel insecurity. Right wing senator Josh Hawley is using this for political gain, when his “solution” is just a myth.  FDR brought new pride to the men in things like the Civilian Conservation Corps and Biden’s Build Back Better would do the same. What can progressives do? Lots.
    1 hr
  • “Skilled/Unskilled” New Political Categories
    The words seem so obviously neutral and just technical. In her new book “Does Skill Make US Human?” author Natasha Iskander reveals that the language of skill versus unskilled is being used to justify dehumanizing workers in Qatar, much the same as “merit based” immigration gates are being used in the United States. There as here, migrant rights are intentionally limited. The men who built the dazzling futuristic Qatari infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup are without rights. Forced to live in miserable camps with no access to even public access sites. It’s a creative, scientific way to discriminate against certain groups of people. Coming to a town near you!
    1 hr
  • Now’s the Time to Make Democracy Better
    We barely pulled democracy back from the ledge. Now there’s work to be done to make democracy work even better. On this show Kristen Eberhard talks about steps described in her new book “Becoming a Democracy: How We Can Fix The Electoral College, Gerrymandering, and Our Elections.” For example there’s an easy 21st century fix: ballot tracking. Proportional representation as in many other countries, and “Democracy Vouchers,” by which each voter is given $100 to invest in the candidate of his or her choice. And despite concerns, eliminating the Electoral College and going to popular vote actually advantages neither party. Many solutions are at the state level. Many reasons for optimism.
    1 hr
  • The Emerging Post-American Non-West Order
    Here we are well into the 21st century and we’re stuck on imperialism, a 19th century western idea. Meanwhile a new non-western, non-American, nonaligned world is emerging. And perhaps it’s a very good thing. On this show international journalist Patrick Lawrence argues that this is a uniquely important moment in history. In many nations this notion of real independence, envisioned by many inspirational leaders of the mid twentieth century, is at last renewing itself. In Africa, Asia, South America, and elsewhere, new leaders look outside the Cold War definition.  The age of imperialism really is over, and as the world changes, it is important that we discern the new directions.
    1 hr
  • News Media: Commodity or Public Good?
    Distrust of the press is hardly a new phenomenon. In the 1920s two American literary luminaries shared a concern about bias in the press. But they offered widely divergent reasons and ways to correct the unfairness. Upton Sinclair insisted the concentrated ownership was to blame while Walter Lippmann argued that human nature is responsible for press inadequacies. Are owners of newspapers just like other bosses? Is the news just another commodity? What about untethered social media today? What will it take to address media bias? Our guest on this show is Maia Silber, author of an article in Psyche magazine titled “What History Tells Us About the Dangers of Media Ownership,” and she is optimistic.
    59 min
  • The 1914 Christmas Truce: Powerful, Brave, and Not So Isolated
    You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems anyone with a uniform is dubbed a hero, but what about the peacemakers? On this show Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost, To End All Wars, and Spain in Our Hearts talks about those heroes who risked all to oppose that insane first world war, and the relevance to today’s acceptance of permanent war and near silence of calls for peace.
    59 min
  • The Christmas Truce of 1914: Powerful, Brave, Not So Isolated
    You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems anyone with a uniform is dubbed a hero, but what about the peacemakers? On this show Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost, To End All Wars, Spain in Our Hearts, and Rebel Cinderella talks about those heroes who risked all to oppose that insane first world war, and the relevance to today’s acceptance of permanent war and near silence of calls for peace.
    59 min
  • What Are the Rights of Human Subjects of Science Experiments?
    In the name of advancing the public good, protecting Americans from dangerous diseases, in the mid twentieth century, certain humans became guinea pigs. It used largely marginalized groups like people in mental institutions, often times children, who became subjects of science experiments. In her new book Dangerous Medicine: The Story Behind Human Experiments with Hepatitis, Sydney A. Halpern reveals the inner workings of the experiment involving some 3700 subjects, many of whom experienced ill effects of the disease. It was framed as serving the greater good, invoking patriotism and national defense. Instead of hiding their research as was done, Halpern suggests scientists rely on transparency for the future.
     
    1 hr
  • How To Win Working People Back from the Republicans
    It was “the best and the brightest” who brought us the disaster of Vietnam. And such elitists in Democratic Party still bring avoidable disaster. From northern Iowa, Professor Wallace Hettle sees how the power of big money over the Democratic Party pushes away working people, farmers, and others in the hollowed-out heartland. Terry McAullife’s loss in Virginia came from projecting elitism. Enough. The answer is right in front of us: listen and respect, don’t talk down.  Hettle sees hope in the rise of unions, a movement much stronger than merely looking for votes eight weeks before an election. When Democrats have courageously  connected with movements, we win. And when we remind voters that “saving democracy” means taking power back from the moneyed interests, that also connects with now-alienated working people.
    1 hr
  • Don’t Fight Tribalism, Embrace It
    One hears a cry for “unity” today, but though America is one country, we have always been actually many nations. On this show, author Louis Salome talks about places like Afghanistan, the other “stans,” Iraq, and other countries whose borders have been artificially imposed. His book is titled Violence, Veils, and Bloodlines. Nationalism is an ugly twist of tribalism, which an essential and timeless part of us as humans. Salome posits that tribalism is a universal need throughout all cultures and history. It can not be defeated, perhaps its time to embrace this basic reality.
    1 hr

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