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

  • You Don’t Understand The Second Amendment
    Myths are often more powerful than real history. Consider that for 200 years the meaning of the 2nd Amendment aroused no controversy. It was about both militias and individual rights for self defense. And there were limits. On this show, filmmaker and author Jonathan Hennessey uncovers the reality behind the myths. For example, any artillery could only be in the hands of a genuine militia under the command of the governor. A lynch mob is not a militia. Rights were never meant to be absolute. The large capacity semi-automatics of today would have  been considered heavy artillery at the time of the founders and individuals could not own them. And “the people” is distinct from all “persons.” Hennessey’s film is free to all.
    1 hr
  • Hyper Education: Are We Missing the Point?
    Democracy requires an educated populace. That means more than just pressure and STEM education, not only well qualified and competent, but we need good moral kids. Private tutoring and other franchises are doing quite well, but they are serving to undermine our public schools. Meanwhile kids are feeling stress and anxiety at younger and younger ages. In his new book, Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough, Amherst professor of American Studies author Pawan Dhingra offers parents tips for effectively helping kids during this Covid 19 era and beyond.
    1 hr
  • I) May Day 71 II) Silver Lining of Pandemic
    On part one, Ron Jacobs and MayDay veteran Burt Cohen discuss the virtually unknown MayDay 1971 protest in DC when 13,000 people were arrested. And on part two, five college world security professor Michael Klare examines the significant silver lining of the global pandemic: the beginning of the end for big oil, the major shock which is jump-starting new clean energy and jobs.
    59 min
  • Covid 19 Fuels Far Right Rage
    You’ve seen the pictures: heavily armed angry protesters at state houses demanding an end to stay at home orders. They call such safety measures “medical martial law,” and see it as the start of government tyranny, providing them with a  reason to accelerate the civil war they have long fantasized about.,which they call the “boogaloo.”With us on this show are Cassie Miller and Howard Graves, both senior research analysts for the Southern Poverty Law Center which has been tracking hate groups since 1971 and holding them legally responsible for acts of violence. Clearly Trump is egging them on, moving what used to be on the fringe to mainstream politics. They fear and hate demographic change and blame “The Others” for both the spread of the coronavirus and public safety measures. In the 21st century they’ve given up hiding under sheets and hoods as the internet provides easier anonymity.
    54 min
  • Recognizing Damaged Heritage Brings Real Racial Healing
    You never heard of the Elaine Race Massacre, right? In Arkansas, in the times after World War One, black people wanted to form a union. That did not sit well with the racist culture. In 1919, a massacre of over 100 random black people involved local and state attackers as well as help from the racist President Wilson’s troops. Our guest author J. Chester Johnson learned late in life that his beloved grandfather who had raised him took part in the attacks. In 2014, Johnson befriended a woman whose ancestors had been victims. His new book is Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and A Story of Reconciliation, and he offers ways to achieve real reconciliation, free from our damaged Heritage.
    1 hr
  • Kent State Plus 50: Time to Face The Truth
    On May 4, 1970, Laurel Krause was just 15 years old. That night in a hospital with her parents she identified her 19-year-old sister Allison’s lifeless body. The bullets that killed Kent State University students Allison, Jeff, Sandy and Bill, and injured nine were government issued. The official story is the Ohio National Guardsmen were scared and over reacted. All in unison without commands-to-fire … a story debunked in 2010 at the 40th Kent State. On the 50th anniversary Laurel launches the Kent State 50th #TeachIn. Starting on Monday, May 4, 2020, please WATCH the Kent State 50th #TeachIn on social media and at www.TruthTribunal.org and www.ProjectCensored.org
    1 hr 1 min
  • The System is Sick, More than the Coronavirus
    The novel coronavirus is forcing us to see that the very economic structure of America itself is in ill health. We know more poor Americans are dying, they can’t work from home and stay safe. All of us depend on the jobs they do: produce and factory workers, farmers, people who take care of our rubbish, retail, and food service employees. Too often many of us see poverty as an aberration, with poor people blamed for their condition. The reality is that it is part of our very structure. Our guest Reverend Liz Theoharis co-chair with Rev William Barber of the Poor Peoples Campaign cites the pandemic of inequality for the greater death rates. The stimulus packages recently passed do nothing to address the availability of health care. Hospitals are privatized as the poor suffer and die while the rich and their political allies circle the ruins, seeing opportunities to further enhance their power. We are not powerless. There is an online rally for on June 20th.
    1 hr
  • Thirties Historian: This is Not Depression 2.0
    Both the Great Depression and today’s recession started off in a time of  great economic inequality. Both economic calamities brought to the surface systemic inadequacies. Perhaps the most recognized authority on the history of the Great Depression, Stanford history professor David M. Kennedy sheds needed light on the differences and similarities between the two eras. He points out that one reason we do not have universal health care as do all other industrialized countries is that after the second world war, companies like Kaiser added health benefits to attract workers. Today, he says too much of our thinking has remained stuck in that period. We look at how today’s food lines in cars are like the bread lines of the thirties, and the frustration at food rotting in the fields when many are hungry. And we look at the notably docility of Americans in putting up with economic injustice. But Kennedy does have “cautious optimism” that “this is a pause; it is not broken.”
    56 min
  • Danger of Covid 19 Government Over-Reach ?
    Could the coronavirus-caused sudden disruption of the worldwide economy result in unforeseen exercise of harsh nationalism and extended government emergency powers? The people protesting with AR-15s are of course threatening the rest of us taking appropriate precautions. Meanwhile our guest today, historian Jonathan Rose, worries that if we only rely on medical experts and not experts in the fields of economics and history, we stand a chance of exacerbating the problems.What about related suicides, homicides, and domestic violence? What is emergency power? Can it be reined in? Does reaction to this abrupt crisis give rise to the threat of new nationalism? As has happened before, could it result in crackdowns on freedoms of the press. Will those at the top reap amazing new profits?
    57 min
  • It’s True: Trump Is Making War on the US Postal Service
    Trump as usual: kicking something when it’s down. The Republicans saddled the USPS with a $72 billion burden, now they are going full steam to just eliminate the postal service. After all, if it doesn’t make money, what good can it be? On this podcast Michael Winship, senior writing fellow for CommonDreams.org and Emmy Award winning senior writer for Moyers & Company explains. Never mind that is the only government  agency in the Constitution, never mind that people in rurla areas depend on it for medicine and the ability to vote. If it is privatized, the already poor will pay a poverty tax for sending mail. Of course it’s nuts and we can fight back.
    57 min

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