Utterly Moderate Podcast

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American democracy is in serious trouble.

We may be on the verge of the “greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War” and quite possibly the “suspension of American democracy as we have known it,” in the words of Robert Kagan. Michael Gerson laments that recent developments in the U.S. are “revealing the frightening fragility of the American experiment.” And Jonathan Last warns, “America faces an authoritarian peril.”

The problems are numerous, including:

Election subversion efforts by leading political figures, including the attempted coup in 2020, the threat of a coup in 2024, and ongoing anti-democratic trends among elected officials at the state and local levels.

Widespread misinformation/disinformation disseminated by partisan media outlets on television, the internet, and radio.

Erosion of political and popular support for democracy and growing support for authoritarianism.

Deep polarization, negative partisanship, and tribalism.

Government gridlock and dysfunction.

Threats of violence toward elected representatives and election officials.

I asked a friend of mine who worked on Capitol Hill for years the following question: What percentage of members of Congress really have no principles and are just desperate to stay in the thrill of the game, acquire and maintain power and status, and stay relevant, regardless of whether what they did in Congress helped or hurt our democracy?

This person’s honest answer? At least 51% and maybe as high as 80% or more, and an alarmingly high number are probably sociopaths.

There is ample evidence that this may very well be true throughout the recent books by Mark Leibovich and Tim Miller.

Here is a major problem with that: Weaknesses in our system that were exploited for a near coup in 2020 remain unfixed to be exploited by these numerous less-than-honorable people in the future.

As University of Baltimore law professor Kim Wehle explains:

“There are massive holes in the Electoral Count Act. It is stunning that there is nothing requiring states to count the popular vote. . . That is not democracy. If this is not addressed, state legislatures and/or Congress can steal the next election. The future of our republic is at stake.”

Just this week, The New York Times obtained emails showing that those attempting the massive multi-state Electoral College fraud in 2020 knew what they were doing was wrong, unethical, illegal, and “fake,” as one put it in an email. . .

. . . but they did it anyway:

“We would just be sending in ‘fake’ electoral votes to Pence so that ‘someone’ in Congress can make an objection when they start counting votes, and start arguing that the ‘fake’ votes should be counted.”

This is not democracy. Crossing our fingers and hoping is not going to fix this. We must get serious as a people and fix this through reforms to our system.

Yet time is running out. And if American democracy dies, it cannot just be turned back on like a light switch.

I promise that all of us, regardless of political orientation, will miss it when it is gone.

The Bulwark’s Will Saletan writes:

“Americans like to think our country is immune to authoritarianism. We have a culture of freedom, a tradition of elected government, and a Bill of Rights. We’re not like those European countries that fell into fascism. We’d never willingly abandon democracy, liberty, or the rule of law. But that’s not how authoritarianism would come to America. In fact, it’s not how authoritarianism has come to America. The movement to dismantle our democracy is thriving and growing, even after the failure of the Jan. 6th coup attempt, because it isn’t spreading through overt rejection of our system of government. It’s spreading through lies.”

On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast, host Lawrence Eppard is joined by Jonathan Last, editor and writer at The Bulwark, and Tom Nichols, writer at The Atlantic, to discuss whether American democracy is going to survive.

Strap in, this episode gets really dark.

Related links:

The New York Times shows that those coordinating fraudulent Electoral College electors knew it was wrong, unethical, illegal, and fake. They did it anyway.

“A Five-Alarm Fire for American Democracy” by Lawrence M. Eppard.

The Death of Expertise and Our Own Worst Enemy from Tom Nichols as well as his writing at The Atlantic.

Check out Jonathan Last’s writing at The Bulwark.

Why We Did It from The Bulwark’s Tim Miller.

Mark Leibovich article referenced in this episode.

The “independent state legislature theory” explained.

Former President Donald Trump pressures/threatens Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn Georgia’s election results.

The Connors Forum is an independent entity from the institutions that we partner with. The views expressed in our newsletters and podcasts are those of the individual contributors alone and not of our partner institutions.

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On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast, host Lawrence Eppard is joined by longtime MIT professor and current University of Arizona scholar Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky is known around the world for his academic career as a linguist as well as his work as a social commentator and activist. He is the author of many books and you can find his numerous talks and interviews all over the internet.

Eppard and Chomsky cover a variety of topics, including the health of American democracy, free speech on college campuses, government's impact on poverty, misinformation/disinformation, Chomsky's proudest achievements, and more.

To read the Harper's Letter referenced in this episode, click here.

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On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast, host Lawrence Eppard is joined by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory research astronomer Varoujan Gorjian to discuss the amazing pictures just released by NASA from the James Webb Space Telescope.

See the pics here—and have our favorite research astronomer explain them to you as you listen to this episode!

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The Connors Forum is an independent entity from the institutions that we partner with. The views expressed in our newsletters and podcasts are those of the individual contributors alone and not of our partner institutions.

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This week's newsletter article: “Communities Impact Children’s Lives in Powerful Ways.”

Happy Independence Day everyone!

We know times are tough right now in this country. Mass shootings have rocked us once again. Inflation is high and economic troubles loom. A series of Supreme Court decisions have left you either elated or saddened depending upon your point of view. American democracy faces a five-alarm fire—each passing week we find out just how close we were to losing our democracy, and how little stands in the way of a successful coup in the future.

So what is the path forward?

Do we take all of this as a sign of impending decline and brace ourselves for the end of the great American experiment?

Or do we treat this as an inflection point where we realize what a great country this is, how very much we have to lose, and decide to get back to the basics and ideals that have stood the test of time, such as honesty, truth, civility, democracy, and so forth?

This country has done so many great things and has the potential to do so much more if we can come together, heal what has been damaged, and emerge a stronger society on the other side.

Such a vision should give us hope and optimism this July 4th.

It will not be easy and it will not be quick, but it is necessary and it is achievable.

Now on to the show. . .

Segment 1: We Should Have Paid Attention in Math Class

In segment one of this Utterly Moderate episode, host Lawrence Eppard is joined by James Zimring, a professor in the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, to discuss his new book, Partial Truths: How Fractions Distort Our Thinking. Here is an excerpt from the book’s description:

“A fast-food chain once tried to compete with McDonald’s quarter-pounder by introducing a third-pound hamburger―only for it to flop when consumers thought a third pound was less than a quarter pound because three is less than four. . . James C. Zimring argues that many of the mistakes that the human mind consistently makes boil down to misperceiving fractions. We see slews of statistics that are essentially fractions, such as percentages, probabilities, frequencies, and rates, and we tend to misinterpret them. . . Blending key scientific research in cognitive psychology with accessible real-life examples, Partial Truths helps readers spot the fallacies lurking in everyday information, from politics to the criminal justice system, from religion to science, from business strategies to New Age culture.”

Segment 2: A New Resource for Fighting Misinformation

(segment starts around the 50-minute mark)

In the second segment we are joined by Arjun Moorthy, co-founder of The Factual, a website that uses an innovative method to help determine whether news sources are credible or not: artificial intelligence.

He talks about the work that they do at The Factual and the importance of news literacy in modern America.

Episode Music:

The Connors Forum is an independent entity from the institutions that we partner with. The views expressed on this podcast are those of the host and contributors alone and not of our partner institutions.

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Click here to join the Connors Crew and get our cool newsletter -- it takes only a few seconds! This week's article: What is Causing Inflation?

On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast, host Lawrence Eppard is joined by three meteorologists from the Lee Enterprises Weather Team: Matt Holiner, Joe Martucci, and Sean Sublette.  

They discuss a number of weather-related subjects that people often get wrong, including tornadoes, humidity, heat lightning, interpreting a weather report, and more. And for fun, they reveal their favorite weather-related movies!

Check out this great stuff mentioned in this episode:

The Connors Forum partners with Shippensburg University (SU) but is an independent entity. The views expressed on this podcast are those of the host and contributors and not of SU.

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On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast host Lawrence Eppard is joined by Mona Charen, a nationally syndicated columnist, policy editor at the right-leaning The Bulwark, and host of their Beg to Differ podcast.

Charen joins our show to offer a conservative's perspective on gun control, reducing poverty, the January 6 hearings, decency in American culture, and more.

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On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast host Lawrence Eppard is joined by Jon Marshall, a professor in Northwestern University’s school of journalism and author of the new book, Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis. 

They discuss the role of the press and historical examples of its relationship with different administrations. 

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On This Episode of Utterly Moderate. . . 

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Hate all the bitterness and polarization? JOIN NOW! Become a member of our community of reasonable Americans!

On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast, host Lawrence Eppard is joined by University of Baltimore law professor Kimberly Wehle to discuss her new book, How to Think Like a Lawyer and Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas.

Also, check out the song featured at the end of this episode, “Turning Into You,” by Shippensburg University student Piper Kull!

Episode Music:

“Turning Into You” by Piper Kull (used with artist’s permission)

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