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

  • Meanness and Hatred Can’t Be Blamed on Trump: It’s Always Been There
    It may be out in the open now, and it is disconcerting to see and feel the blatant racism and hatred across America now. But maybe the ugly spirit of white supremacy may have been hidden from white people before  Trump but it has not been hidden from black Americans. Journalist William Hawes talks about historic factors that got us to the open hatred we see today. He even points out that mass killers like Timothy McVeigh and Norway’s Anders Breivik were ” violent thugs who saw themselves as victims.” He argues that part of the problem is the widespread belief in scarcity, when it’s time to reconsider that old notion.
    1 hr
  • Trump Weaponizing the Courts Without Our Consent
    No matter how soon Trump goes away, all Americans will feel the effects of his judicial appointments for decades to come. He’s going around legislatures and using the power of the presidency to undo hard fought battles for reproductive, sexual orientation, immigrant, and even racial rights. The Guardian’s David Smith observes that there’s a clear pattern of appointing right wing judges who are eager to revive arguments that “we had hoped were consigned to the dustbin of history (are) being dusted off and used again in the hope of turning back the clock on the way we treat all Americans.” Even racial segregation may make a legal comeback. So while Trump’s latest shiny thing captures our attention, Smith says it may be like the frog in the water that comes to a boil. Is it too late?
    1 hr
  • Fighting Voter Suppression
    We need a photo ID to buy liquor or fly on an airplane, so what’s the big deal about needing one to vote? Don’t we need to stop voter fraud? Actually voter ID is a solution in search of a problem, according to Tova Andrea Wang, author of a new book: The Politics of Voter Suppression: Defending and Expanding Americans Right to Vote. Wang explains that the new efforts are part of a long history of the intentional suppression of certain segments of American society. Voting is a right, not a privilege. She urges us to not let them scare you, it is still easy to exercise that right. And we must keep it easy, to keep America a republic.
    1 hr
  • Regime Change: It Never, Ever Works
    We all hate it when other countries meddle with our elections. Yet we do it more than any other. And it never works. From Iran in 1953 to Iraq in 2003, the US has employed a policy of regime change. If the goal is to replace bad guys with governments that are our friends, if the goal is to increase our national security, it always fails, each and every time. So why do both Republicans and Democrats in Washington keep doing it again and again? US Army strategist and former instructor at West Point Major Danny Sjursen,who lost men serving under him in Iraq and Afghanistan, talks about The Tragic Record of American Regime Change.
    1 hr
  • For Democrats, Centrism Is Not Pragmatism
    The party establishment doesn’t understand that chasing the “centrist” rabbit down the rabbit hole makes no sense anymore. The rabbit isn’t there. That according to Robert Borosage who created the Campaign for America’s Future among other organizations. The focus of this discussion is the Washington-based Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) which has a lot of money to help candidates who meet their standard. Unfortunately, they require so-called centrist candidates in a year when, as Borosage points out, the voter base is expanding by the infusion of many newly active progressives. Passion is there andmustbe tapped. Either way, the party must unite for the general election, because the stakes are so historically great. Our democracy itself is threatened.
    1 hr
  • Democrats Wrestling With Messaging for This Year’s Elections
    Democrats are taking nothing for granted as they gear up for the November elections. Presenting a clear message is vital. Trump’s was Make America Great Again and it worked. So what is both inspiring and vague enough to win over people who voted for Obama and then for Trump? Is the conventional wisdom of pragmatic centrism the way to go this year? According to The Hill’s congressional reporter Mike Lillis, the process of messaging is many faceted and there is so much at stake. Campaigns are pushed and pulled at both the national and local levels, and between the old Hillary wing and the rising insurgents. Neither too much vagueness nor specificity. An interesting and important process.
    1 hr
  • Progressive Populist Potential in Texas. Yes, Texas
    What’s the way to win in 2018? More of the same or real change? The structure of the Democratic Party itself is being tested in Texas. The Washington insiders have come down to make their picks,but what about the actual voters in the Lone Star state? Writing in The Nation, DD Guttenplan hit the ground in three congressional district races and reports back that something new is happening there. Despite being absurdly outspent, insurgent populist progressives are really connecting with voters. Often to the chagrin of Washington establishment groups like the DCCC, which insist on middle of the road candidates. The article is called Texas Showdown: Inside the Battle for the Democratic Party. We are learning the lessons of the Tea Party, finally.
    1 hr
  • Screwnomics: The Economy Minus Earth and Women
    What kind of economics leaves out essential factors? One that is not sustainable. So says Rickey Gard Diamond, author of the new book Screwnomics: How The Economy Works Against Women and Real Ways to Make Lasting Change. She points out that, as biologists now recognize, survival depends on collaboration not warfare. And as women seldom organize into gun-toting armies, they are the most likely to successfully negotiate the economic changes needed for a sustainable future. It’s a very different book in many ways.
    1 hr
  • A Scientist Runs for Congress. What, Facts Matter?
    Part of any Blue Wave has to be concern for the safety of drinking water. The Trump Republicans may see Americans as existing to generate profits for private interests, but others see safe drinking water as a right, that government actually is supposed to serve the common good and what is more common than water for all? One Democrat running for congress is Mindi Messmer from New Hampshire’s first district. She happens to be a scientist and to her facts matter a lot. On this show she talks about her values and what is at stake in November. This may be a model for other candidates to follow.
    1 hr
  • Out of the Closet to Be Policed?
    Watch TV and see the roles we’re all supposed to play. Since 2015, marriage equality has been the law of the land but the characters portrayed on TV shows actually serve as law enforcement, limiting freedom in a very real sense. In his new book,  A Perfect Union?  Television and the Winning of Same Sex Marriage, author and Smith College lecturer of sociology Cory Albertson shows there are still “right ways to be” in the American order of things. It’s certainly better but the approved roles are still limiting and oppressive.


    1 hr

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