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

  • Trump and the ‘Gated Communities’ of Afghanistan
    Could Trump get something right? Retired US Army officer and prolific writer of military policy analysis Danny Sjursen compares how the brass In Washington sees Afghanistan versus the  empirical knowledge from people on the ground. The commanders see Afghanistan as a job with the potential for promotion. And the ideas they come up with, such as building walls around villages, are remarkably counterproductive. Sjursen, who taught history at West Point, says there is no way we can have any sort of victory. Americans have no partners on the ground, the government we support kills more civilians than the Taliban. No supporter of Trump, Sjursen suggests that maybe unlike Bush and Obama who ratcheted up the war,  this bizarre president might be on to something.
    1 hr
  • Not Just “Bread,” To Win Democrats Must Offer “Roses Too,” A Sense of Meaning
    What keeps Trump was his false version of “Roses.” An uplift from everyday dullness. Looking at the upcoming election, our guest today Professor Ed Simon argues that “those that will be the most successful will be those that speak of meaning and purpose in addition to material concerns.” Americans today feel isolated with no sense of belonging or community, what Simon calls “a spiritual malaise” which has led to the opioid crisis. Trump’s revival-like rallies provide a sense of meaning, purpose, and transcendence. Establishment Democrats misdiagnose the problem, clinging to an insistence that neo-liberalism is still the solution, missing the appeal of resistance to globalism and corporate rule: “moderates off a thin gruel” to people starving for a sense of something beyond mere bread.  Trumpism is a kind of religion. The task, Simon says, is to offer a “better religion.” And he says that the mainstream dismissal of candidate Marianne Williamson is unwise. She speaks directly to this unmet need. A whole new perspective here.
    1 hr
  • BoJo’s Brexit Helter Skelter
    He’s often said to be England’s Trump. And many hope his reign as Prime Minister of the UK will be the shortest in British history. How much damage will Boris Johnson do to formerly great Britain? The chaos is astounding. BoJo intends to ram a hard no-deal Brexit down the throats of members of parliament, and many from his own Conservative Party are rebelling. On this show, Duke University Professor Kenneth Surin, who is from the mother country, answers the many questions swirling about. Was the 2016 vote to leave the EU based largely on racism and anti-immigration, or on some fanciful vision of restoring the British Empire? Why did the Queen allow the attack on the democratic sovereignty of Parliament? How about the left? Were they motivated against the neoliberalism and globalism of the EU? Is there a middle ground? And will Jeremy Corbyn rise from the ashes of BoJo’s Brexit? Or could it get worse with Nigel Farage? Listen in!
     
    1 hr
  • Climate Change Serves Oil and the Pentagon
    Melting polar ice caps is great for the rapacious oil and gas industry. Trump denying climate change and wanting to buy Greenland is actually part of the logic of what drives our military policy. Our guest on this show journalist and historian JP Sottile shines a light into this deep rabbit hole. As he explains, climate change is a byproduct of 70 years of empire. It’s no accident that our bases around the world and Central Command (CENTCOM) are in oil rich areas. And melting ice caps mean more access for our military and to more extraction of resources from the arctic including rare earth elements. And as oil is not as commercially viable as it once was, without taxpayers footing the bill, the price would drop and other energy sources would replace it. So while Americans clearly care and are doing what we can to address climate change, it is vital that military policy (which includes tremendous consumption of fuel) must be made to change.
    1 hr
  • Evangelicals Quit Nixon: Why Do They Stick With Trump?
    When Nixon lied, it was an earthquake. Now Trump lies many times a day. Does it matter? Why is it that evangelicals remain solid with Trump? How is it that evangelicals no longer care about his personal immorality? Do Christian values jibe with his policies? In an insightful discussion, Elesha Coffman, assistant professor of History at Baylor University, a Christian evangelical college, answers these puzzling questions. She says evangelicals want a tough guy who will fight for them when they felt victimized by other presidents. And that evangelicals see the government as encroaching on what is rightfully their power. They are economic libertarians with ties to big oil, though some sectors do see their role as being stewards of God’s creation, the earth. Perhaps above all, a priority is restoring the rule of white masculinity. They eventually gave up on Nixon; what about Trump?
    1 hr
  • Concentration Camps-Never Again!//Red Summer 100 Years Ago
    Did you ever imagine we would have actual concentration camps in America? What would you have done in Germany in the 1930s? Never Again means never again. On the first half, Sara Caplan talks about the new grassroots movement called NeverAgainAction. Started by Jewish Americans who learned from history, civil disobedience is happening across America to block ICE operations putting kids in cages, separating families and then losing track of them. It is a mass atrocity creating generational terror. And we are not powerless. And on part two, ever hear of Red Summer? As Abigail Higgins explains, in July and August 1919 white mobs attacked black soldiers just returned from the first world war. Seeing black men in uniforms sparked great anger, as large alcohol-fueled mobs of white men invaded homes and killed many blacks. And the black soldiers, who had fought with great honor still had their guns. Police and President Wilson just let it happen. Hundreds died. It did spark African-American organizing from then on.
     
    1 hr
  • Woodrow Wilson And Trump: Fanning the Flames of Hate
    Trump is not the first. Author of many history books Adam Hochschild writes: “The last time we had anything similar from Washington was almost exactly 100 years ago and it, too, involved a flood of angry rhetoric and a fear of immigrant.” Unlike the bombastic Trump, Woodrow Wilson managed to always look dignified, tasking his subordinates with directly inflaming the public into anti-immigrant hatred and violence including lynchings. Foreigners were cast as The Other. The administration used taxpayer dollars to intentionally incite rage. Like the 45th, the 28th president also issued edicts which were terrifying. And as Hochschild explains, in both cases maintaining the power of the super rich was the real motive behind the war on immigrants.
    1 hr
  • The New EuroFascism//Slavery Ended Had Brits Won 1776?
    On the first half of the podcast, from Barcelona Spain, professor of political philosophy and journalist Santiago Zabala reports on the rise of the new European nationalistic fascism. He answers these questions: What is it? Why is it happening? How does neo-liberalism contribute to the problem? What is the role of social media? And what’s the best way to defeat it? And on part two, author and historian Keith Brooks asks and answers the question: Was 1776 a real birth of freedom? Since slavery unified the rebellion, would the cruelty have ended in America sooner had the British won the war?  Listen in. Much to learn going forward.
    1 hr
  • Fault Lines In the Constitution: Unseen Until Too Late?
    It’s not perfect. Much as we’d prefer to see the 1787 Constitution as a rock solid always-dependable foundation, our guests argue there are fault lines that we can not see but are always there. In their new book Fault Lines in the Constitution, The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws That Affect Us Today authors Cynthia and Sanford Levinson point out that Trump’s belief in his authoritarian legitimacy doesn’t come out of nowhere. The move toward executive power over the legislative and judicial branches has been constant since WWII. Democracy is highly inefficient and most of us prefer that. Serious problems stand in the way of a genuinely functioning democracy: The structure of the US Senate for one example. We are not powerless, we do have options, challenging though they remain. What we can do now is up for intense debate.
    1 hr
  • Recreating a Democratic Economy: Our Founders Vision
    If America’s founders saw where we are today,thy might have thought King George won the war. Instead of democratic control over the common good, a government of by and for the people, today it’s an 18th century style oligarchy. In his new book: The Making of a Democratic Economy, Building Prosperity For The Many, Not Just the Few, co-author Ted Howard reveals the success of various laboratories of democracy. Municipal banks, affected communities being able to participate in decisions (often times sponsored by Republicans) are just two examples. When we move away from the mindless economics of unlimited extractive expansion and growth, we can address both wealth inequity and the erosion of democracy. Instead of being reduced to helpless consumers, we can act as citizens as our founders intended and realize active participation in the common economy. It’s not a pipe dream, it is happening.
    1 hr

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