Populism Archives - Keeping Democracy Alive: Recent Episodes
Burt Cohen
The status quo is not getting the job done. People want populism and Trump ain’t it. Then again the Democratic establishment isn’t it either. The Trumpists want us to hate and fear those on the FDR left. Is it working?
The post Which Party Do Voters Hate More? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Four out of five voters today live in flyover states, their votes don’t really count, they are mere spectators. But it’s no longer a question of if, but when: whoever wins the popular vote will become president. National Popular Vote
The post Make Every Voter a Battleground Voter appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
The Democratic establishment doesn’t get that people vote their morals. So says our guest David Fenton, successful public relations veteran of fifty years. Civil rights, wars, climate change: he says these are moral issues and people vote with their hearts
The post PR Professional of the Left: Win by Touching People’s Morals appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
The Constitution itself is divisive. There wasn’t much America’s Founders agreed on, but one thing they did agree on was no kings; legislative over any executive power. On this, the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence, historian Thomas Richards
The post The Unfinished Business of 1776: It Goes On. appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
They feel betrayed. What used to be a dependable advocate for working families has, over the last two decades, morphed into being a second party of the interests of the wealthy. From his own experience, our guest author Les Leopold
The post Why the Working Class Has Given Up on the Liberal Establishment appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
It’s a long term necessity, but tragically, short term policy-makers put off a solution essential to a strong economy and restoration of our republican form of government. As of today, both the economy and democracy are in a downward spiral.
The post A Wealth Tax: Boost the Economy and Democracy appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Even Fox News is openly admitting that Donald Trump’s policies are destroying the American farm industry. The agricultural heartland has been solidly ruby red for Trump but, as farmer and advocate Anthony Flaccavento writes in The Nation, there’s a Farmer’s
The post Trump’s “Farms First” Now Beginning to Revolt appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
You’ve seen the ads on network TV:Huge data centers bringing life to hollowed out communities. But the reality is these huge projects suck electricity and water and provide virtually no lasting jobs. Not just people on the left but people
The post Risings All Over The Country Against Data Centers appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
At the nearly two hundred fifty year mark, we’ve already lasted longer than most great nations. As with others which declined and fell, a loss of confidence led to anxiety and the impulse for a strong man to protect us
The post Is America on an Irreversible Path to Decline and Fall? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
There is in fact a lush garden of American greatness and it is not MAGA. Though less well known, there is a proud history of successful dissent which does make America great. Military power and straight white male domination is
The post Historian Michael Kazin on America’s Enduring Actual Greatness appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
England’s Labour Party is a lot like America’s Democratic Party: all over the map. Both used to be the party of laboring people. The UK’s current PM Kier Starmer won claiming to be of the left. Now he’s pushing an
The post Rising in the UK and the US: A Democratic Left appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
After 2024, the mainstream of the Democratic Party is in the wilderness, but Zohran Mamdani may lead a way out. This week’s guest Fred Glass, talks about what early 20th century California history can teach us about the 2025 New
The post Why Mamdani May Revitalize the Democratic Party: 1911 CA Precedent appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
What mainstream Democrats don’t understand is that anti-elites are economically progressive, while the elites are economically conservative. NYCs Mamdani won the primary by building an economic coalition. On this show, Joan C. Williams talks about her important new book, Outclassed.
The post How The Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
In the 90s, the party took a turn to the right, taking the working and middle class base for granted. Instead they went for Trump in 2024. Clinton hurt this former base with austerity, and poorly thought out welfare reform
The post Democrats Can Win Again: If… appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Starting a trade war is just stupid. But maybe Trump simply doesn’t really care about tanking the economy. On this show, Washington Monthly politics editor Bill Scher points out that the current president appears to be trying to steer America
The post Trade Peace Beats Trade War: Where Are the Democrats? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
You may have noticed a continuing trend of Democratic candidates sheepishly rushing to some imaginary center, and how well that hasn’t worked! On this show, Richard Eskow, former head writer for the Bernie 2016 campaign explains how it seems candidates
The post The Time is Now. Left-Populists: Unshackle Your Imaginations appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
When did politics and trash TV become one in the same? According to author Ross Benes, no question: it was the 1990s. As one reviewer said: “this book helps to explain the election of Donald Trump in ways that most
The post The Trashing of Tastes: When Did It Begin? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Democrats seem to always pay attention to the top, the federal races. But what worked for the right wing in 2010 can work for us: Our guest Eric Schmeltzer writes, in The New Republic, that to take power away from
The post Republicans Got It: Bottom Up Works. Wake Up, Democrats! appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Populism is the common language of America. Author and Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin notes people were not inspired by Harris’s “opportunity economy” talk. People feel disconnected and want a sense of membership, a sense of power, which unions used
The post Toward a Revival of Left Populism: What It Takes To WIn appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Playing defense defines the playing field. Shall we just accept a world run by international mega-billionaires? On this show, Sam Pizzigati of Inequality.org argues now is the time to get ready to go on offense against what Trump Musk and
The post To Win, Go on Offense appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
In the wake of the shocking presidential election, we Democrats now have an opportunity and an obligation. Once again, the heartland of America saw the Democratic Party as two-coast elitists. Our guest today, veteran political organizer Bob Creamer says despite
The post “Defending Democracy” is Fighting for You, Not the Status Quo appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
In a democracy, we expect to have our own say over how we are governed. There’s a great grumbling throughout America because many don’t feel listened to. That’s the impetus behind today’s Trumpist populism. This populism is the voice of
The post Heather Cox Richardson: Yes Democracy IS Awakening appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
As Americans, we want what we want right now. But it doesn’t work that way to make real political change. As with any mechanism, there are certain things that must be learned to make it work and achieve our goals.
The post Nuts and Bolts: What Needs to be Learned to Make Our Agenda Reality appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
It may have the word “liberal” in it but it’s anything but. Until the Biden/Harris years, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party had its deserved image of serving the richest among us. Trump understood raw populist anger to win
The post Waving Goodbye to Neoliberalism? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Since at least 2016, the Democratic policy has been driven by big contributors, yielding rural voters to Trump who at least pretended to hear them. With Minnesota Governor Tim Walz nominated as VP for Harris, middle America people who had
The post With Walz, Can Democrats Win Back Rural America? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
There is a palpable movement under Kamala Harris; so why is party leadership still so out of touch with working people as they were in 2016? Our returning guest, veteran party insider Norman Solomon, says the DNC is still top-down
The post Dems Need the Middle Class: Why is the DNC Still So Corporatized? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
As Trump heads into the 2024 campaign, you might wonder who is behind it, who benefits from destroying our republic. Here is the story. The religious nationalists see him as a fierce leader. They believe God sends such kings to
The post What’s Behind Trumpism: The Open Attack on Democracy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
In phase one of French elections, the far right of Marine LePen did very well, winning about a third of the total. The next and crucial vote is July 7. According to on-the-ground reporter, Oliver Haynes, President Macron is likely
The post On the French Election: First Far Right Regime Since WWII? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
In phase one of French elections, the far right of Marine LePen did very well, winning about a third of the total. The next and crucial vote is July 7. According to on-the-ground reporter, Oliver Haynes, President Macron is likely
The post On the French Election: First Far Right Regime Since WWII? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Across the United States there is tremendous support for a taxing the wealthiest among us. So why doesn’t it happen? Well, in Massachusetts, it has. As Inequality.org’s Sam Pizzigati explains in this segment, there was powerful resistance to the new
The post Inspiration from Massachusetts: A New Wealth Tax Works appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The final chapter in our guest’s new book, Liberalism as a Way of Life asks the question: Requiem for a Liberal Way of Life? Well, is it really over? Reached in Sydney Australia where he’s professor of politics and philosophy
The post Under Attack the World Over, What Is Liberalism? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Wisconsin is a key swing state in the upcoming election, with traditions of both real right and real left. On today’s show on-the-ground journalist Christina Lieffring tells us about realities in that 90% rural state. She says to win voters,
The post Wisconsin Rural Voters: Challenge and Opportunity for Democrats appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Truman was down and nearly out. Then he did a campaign whistle stop tour of America and beat the odds. TV eye candy is one thing but seeing a president in the flesh connects far better, and connection is needed
The post Should Biden Whistle Stop Campaign Across America? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s basic to the very essence of America. On this show Constitutional Law Professor John O. McGinnis argues that commerce was the mother’s milk of the American Revolution and that the virtues of commerce and idealism need not conflict. Listen
The post There’s No Conflict Between Commercialism and Idealism appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Most of us can guess but there’s nothing like serious scientific research when it comes to understanding political change. In her forthcoming book How the Heartland Went Red, Harvard’s Stephanie Termullo shares her findings from extensive field research in three
The post Why Place Supplants Issues in the Heartland appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Politicians know the consequences of voters being ignored.There are tens of millions of people who used to be middle class but a revived Poor People’s Campaign just may connect and inspire. According to today’s guest, campaign policy director Shailly Gupta
The post Waking the Sleeping Giant: 85 Million Americans appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Progressive Americans have looked to Europe for successful building of a strong economy which addresses climate change effectively. But now there is a new rise of a far right throughout Europe, starting with Trump’s buddy Orban in Hungary. As with
The post The End of Europe? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We’re in wars all over the globe; is America more secure now? It’s basically been one war party in Washington for decades. The idea of restraint has been anathema to any member of congress, as every one seeks re-election and
The post Conservatives Emerging Against Perpetual War appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
If the plaintiffs get their way, Moore vs United States could be the wedge that prevents a wealth tax. Guests on this show are law professors and authors Joseph Fishkin and William Forbath whose op-ed in the New York Times
The post The Case Before the SupCo That Could Hjiack a Wealth Tax appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Keeping one ethnicity in control: The Israeli state and Modi’s India. Palestinians and India’s Muslim minority. The chumminess of Bibi and Modi. And in both cases, the oppressors ask: who lit the fire? On this show, Stan Cox explains the
The post Parallels: Israel and India; Bibi and Modi appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The corporate powers in the late sixties were seriously freaked out by the powerful momentum of the left. So along came the 1971 Powell Memo, which was a battle plan to retake power. And it worked. On this show, economist
The post The Left Can Win a Moral Revival appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
In a democracy, we have a right to our own say over how we are governed: that’s what history shows is the impetus behind populism, both right and left. It says: we are experiencing economic injustice; how do we get
The post Heather Cox Richardson: Yes, Democracy Is Awakening appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
In the current American version of capitalism, all of us are “thingified:” our only value being as digits on the way to corporate profits. This reflects a core bias in the system toward serving the very richest. But it doesn’t
The post Wealth Supremacy is On Autopilot: Time to Change appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Liberals usually fail to connect and inspire people of the rural mid-west. And we lose elections. But if we’re true to tradition, we should take the lead in solving rural alienation. Our guest today Jessica Corbett explains a new report
The post How About A Rural New Deal? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Reagan, Clinton, and Obama all boosted neoliberalism. But Biden is showing that he’s on a different track. Democrats in the 90s moved away from FDRs liberalism only to solidify Wall St’s hold on our economic life and political power. In
The post The Demise of Neoliberalism: It’s About Real National Security. appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It took a lot of persistent steady heavy lifting but New York State now has a new democratically run power authority. Instead of the traditional for-profit monopolies, the public good will determine a greener, less expensive supply of electricity.
The post A Revolution in Public Power appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
What passes today for populism is anything but! It’s astounding that the far right calls itself that when they are the total opposite. Labor historian and author Steve Babson on this show clarifies the meaning of the word “populism:” and
The post Trumpism: Opposite of Populism appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Today’s right encourages and seeks to use men’s anger in the culture war, though their policies actually damage working class men. In their fear and rage at the gains for equality, as Washington Monthly editor William Norris notes, Sen. Josh
The post Hawley And the Right: Wrong About Manhood appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The 19th and 20th century systems of control of the earth have failed; there’s a connection between famines and empire. Especially in the face of climate change, we have a lot to learn from indigenous and peasant systems; the idea
The post The Earth for Humanity: A How-To appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s a puzzling mystery why so many working class people in the midwest go for Trumpism. Some answers are in Imagining the Heartland; White Supremacy and the American Midwest by anthropologist authors Britt Halvorson and Joshua Renoit. It examines the
The post The Roots of Anti-Woke appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The unchecked power of the Federal Reserve claims its current, never ending rate hike strategy is about curbing inflation. It is not, according to our guest today, economics professor Clara Mattei. That we have become so used to it we
The post The Real Purpose of The Fed’s Rate Hikes and Austerity appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
How did so many blue collar regions go from Obama 2012 to Trump 2016? Our guest today Robin Johnson, himself of the mid-west, says Thomas Franks was wrong judging and dismissing this demographic; Democrats can win them back if we
The post Yes: Democrats Can Win Back the White Working Class appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
No one likes to be ignored. We saw what happened when the 2016 Democratic nominee skipped those states. The truth is it was a liberal heartland: McGovern, Wellstone, Mondale, etc. Our guest is historian and author of the new book
The post The High Price Paid for Ignoring the Midwest appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Democracy and oligarchy: since our founding it’s been a long balancing act. In his new book Realigners: Partisan Hacks, Political Visionaries, and the Struggle to Rule American Democracy, author historian Timothy Shenk tells of how very diverse people like Mark
The post The Struggle to Rule American Democracy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Thinking with history; on this show political broadcast veteran John Kosinski demonstrates how so many people running just want to be showmen on TeeVee. He explains why so many are drawn to Trumpism: a desire to be heard and respected.
The post This is the Best Analysis of the Coming Election appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
America today is not the America of the past. But in his new book What it Took to Win, author and history professor Michael Kazin, it’s clear what has and still works. Today’s right plays on a sense that it
The post Wake Up Now Democrats! Do What History Shows Works! appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Elitists in Democratic Party bring avoidable disasters. 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
The post How Democrats Can Win Back Working People from the GOP appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
America today is not the America of the past. The Republican Party is unrecognizable. But in his new book What it Took to Win, author and history professor Michael Kazin, discerns a theme that still works as we head into
The post What It Took–and Still Does–For Democrats to Win appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
What had been a strong established left in France has seen much of its support move to the right. People who feel left out and looked down on see a kindred spirit in the far right candidacy of Marine LePen.
The post Will the French Republic (and the EU) Survive? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It was not intended to be this supreme. But since Brown v Board of Education desegregating schools, even Democrats have been complacent and yielded too much authority to the court. America’s founders focused on freeing our government from oligarchs. But
The post Supreme Court Too Supreme appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Clearly not his intention, but with his assault on Ukraine might Putin actually be decapitating his worldwide far right? Guest John Feffer director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies in an article titled “Will Ukraine
The post Is Putin Writing the Far Right’s Epitaph? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
America today is not the America of the past. But in his new book What it Took to Win, author and history professor Michael Kazin, there is a thread that still works. Among the varied demographics, people want the government
The post What it Took For Democrats to Win; Maybe it Still Does appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
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
The post Josh Hawley And The Republican Obsession with Manliness appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
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
The post How To Win Working People Back from the Republicans appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The original “banana republic,” Honduras is the second poorest country in the Caribbean region. A few wealthy and many poor. You know the story. It’s had a right wing government since a US supported coup in 2009, but on November
The post Political Earthquake: Honduras Elects Leftist Woman appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Pat Buchanan was ahead of his time. He used the KKK’s David Duke to breed a new nativist religious nationalism, based on fear of liberalization. On this show political science professor Joseph Lowndes sheds light on how the Republican Party
The post Violent Authoritarianism: How Did This Become the GOP? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The assault on science and reason:we’ve seen it before. In the plagues of the 1300s and in 1918, as well as Covid-19, fear and uncertainty combine to draw out extremism. On this show professor of history at Messiah University (an
The post Plagues and Extremism: The Perfect Storm appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s the ideal fear generator; there’s nothing more awful than child abuse. Intentionally whipping up such fear is a tried and true tool for crushing democracy. Cosmopolitan globalism, the prospect of losing white male hetero dominance has been effectively played
The post The Global Right’s Bizarre Obsession with Pedophilia appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Is it the revenge of the “deplorables?” We’ve seen how a culture of resentment affected Germany in the early 30s, and it has brought us dangerous Trumpism today. On this show, professor of history emeritus Walter Moss looks at the
The post The Power of Resentment and The Threat to Democracy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
As our guest Chuck Collins explains, it’s like one person orders expensive wine for a dinner crowd and sneaks out without paying. His new book is titled The Wealth Hoarders; How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions. What he calls
The post How the Wealth Defense Industry Poisons Democracy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The Electoral College was born in a hasty compromise in the 18th century. Could it finally be about to change and enable more democracy? Though you probably haven’t heard of it, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is moving steadily
The post We Can Make the Popular Vote Rule appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Sure, the south was defeated militarily, but their attitudes remained, as we saw in the January 6th insurrection. What we saw is not a fringe, in fact it has deep roots. Disunity is traditional in American history. People in the
The post One Nation Indivisible: Really? Forever? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Why should population density continue to determine Democrat or Republican wins? How is it that the Democratic Party seems to have given up on what used to be our working class farm/labor base? In his new book Rural Rebellion, our
The post Why Democrats Should Listen to Deep Red Nebraska appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It didn’t start with Trump and it won’t end when he leaves office. There is an historic pattern to strongmen and he fit the playbook perfectly. In her new book, Strongmen From Mussolini to the Present, historian of authoritarian governments
The post Strongmen: From Mussolini to Trump’s Republicans appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The parties have flipped: It used to be that Republicans were for Wall Street, Democrats were for Main Street. Now the Democrats are seen as the party of the elitists, Republicans are for the common people. On this show Thomas
The post Thomas Frank’s New Book On Elitist Anti-Populism: “The People, NO” appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
As Americans were dancing in the streets with the ousting of Trump, so the people of Bolivia celebrated the return of Evo Morales, first indigenous president after a coup forced him to flee. The new president is Luis Arce, former
The post After A Right Wing Coup, Social Democracy Makes a Comeback appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Former presidential candidate best selling author Marianne Williamson talks about why Trumpism arose, and what opportunities the Democratic Party now has. Will Biden be yet another neoliberal or will he listen to the very real causes of chronic despair which
The post We Beat Trump, Now the Battle for the Soul of the Democratic Party appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Even in a minority, fighting back carries a number of positives. On issues that matter to average Americans, Democrats have been pushed off course. Some thought the way to attract independents was timidity. As our guest Eleanor Eagan of the
The post What A Defiant and Bold Democratic Party Looks Like appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The often successful tactics and techniques of America’s crime syndicate have not gone unnoticed by Trump and his gangs. In his new article: “The Mobster in Chief: Will the November Election be Decided in the Streets?” returning guest John Feffer
The post Trump: Mobster in Chief appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Populism is a legitimate form of anger at perceived elites dismissing everyday people. There are indeed real reasons for today’s populist anger. On this show Rutgers Law School professor Dennis M.Patterson explains why we need to take populism seriously. It
The post Can Democrats Address What Fuels Angry Populism? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The standard picture we northerners have of The South may no longer be accurate. Average working people are starting to see that the anti-union governments there are really just serving the rich. The long-thought-dormant left populist tradition of people like
The post The Pandemic is Boosting Unions in the South appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
As Trump kicks off his fall campaign, and we wonder who is behind it, who benefits from destroying our republic, here is the story. The religious nationalists see him as a fierce leader. They believe God sends such kings to
The post The Attack on Democracy: What’s Behind Trumpism appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Donald Trump IS the Republican Party of 2020. So what of the future of the party; is there one? According to David Smith, Washington Bureau chief for The Guardian, some party members quietly hope for a Democratic landslide so they
The post What If Trump Loses? A Future for the Republican Party? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
As John Kerry said: “To understand Donald Trump, you have to understand Joe McCarthy first.” Though his name is only mentioned at the start and end of his new book, Larry Tye says Trump is there on every page of
The post Joe McCarthy: Prelude to Trumpism appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Why did so many Obama voters go for Trump in 2016? What happens when party elites don’t know how to react to changes of popular opinion at the ground level? While they may try to do both: keep the elite
The post When Political Parties Lose the Consent of the Governed: The Civil War and Donald Trump appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Pure individualism is not conservatism, much as though people who call themselves conservatives like to think it is. They’ll tell you the American Dream is individuals becoming super rich. But the more traditional definition is one of equal opportunity and
The post “Conservatives” Not At All Conservative appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
From the Covid stay-at-home greatest hits: Patriotic Americans were shocked by the outcome of the 2016 election. As they were in 1920 when Republicans put up Warren Harding, a big business Republican who campaigned and won on an America First
The post Out of Disaster A Liberal Renaissance in the 1920s: House of Truth appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Creeping centralization. Tax dollars are being used to prop up bigness. Well there may be an answer. While I’m on vacation, enjoy this 2009 show with author Paul Starobin whose article “Divided We Stand” appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
The post Is Smaller Better? Devolution Considered. appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Iowa and New Hampshire’s results are in. What’s the best way for Democrats to beat Trump? On this show former Oklahoma Senator DNC chair and presidential candidate Fred Harris, who embraced populism in the 1970s, talks about different approaches: going
The post After NH, Now What for the Democratic Candidates? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Populism is defined as “a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.” We never hear of the grassroots Tea Party any more because they won. The took
The post From The Bottom Up: Real Change, Right and Left appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Hard to imagine but the mainstream media has it wrong. What has been pictured as a crushing blow was actually a victory for progressive politics in the UK. Across Europe and Britain, working people are standing up against what our
The post Brit Election Was Actually a Win for Anti-Globalist Left–Really! appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Consumed with Brexit, the old upper and lower class divisions are themselves divided. According to professor Kenneth Surin, a Brit teaching at Duke, the decision made by voters in the upcoming general election will be of major importance. On one
The post The Crucial December 12th British Election Explained appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Why did so many Obama voters go for Trump in 2016? What happens when party elites don’t know how to react to changes of popular opinion at the ground level? While they may try to do both: keep the elite
The post When Political Parties Lose the Consent of the Governed: The Civil War and Donald Trump appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The New Deal aspect of the Green New Deal often gets forgotten. The goal now as in the 1930s is to make the state the instrument of the popular will. Democratizing the economy, making it work for the common good,
The post A New Deal That’s Also Green appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Conventional Democratic Party wisdom is that McGovern lost to Nixon because he was too liberal, and as a result of that belief, ever since that loss party insiders have trended steadily to the right. But if today’s measuring tools had
The post Democrats Took The Wrong Lessons from McGovern 1972 appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
No question: today’s biggest unsolved problems came at the hands of the so-called centrists of both parties. Historian and author Professor Andrew Bacevich argues that while of course Trump must be removed, the constant focus of impeachment is a way
The post Impeachment: Restore Entitled “Centrist” Ds and Rs to Power? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
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
The post Not Just “Bread,” To Win Democrats Must Offer “Roses Too,” A Sense of Meaning appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
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.
The post BoJo’s Brexit Helter Skelter appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
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
The post Recreating a Democratic Economy: Our Founders Vision appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s a long and oscillating history: America welcoming immigrants and telling them to go home. As Washington Post senior editor Marc Fisher explains, it didn’t start with Trump: “there’s a long history of rejecting “different” Americans:” Eastern European, Irish, German,
The post “Go Home” Rhetoric is as American as Immigration Itself appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The middle fiddled and the right has risen. With the European Union elections fast approaching (May 23-26) the ascendancy of the racist right and the demise of the traditional mainstream left will be tested. On this show, Foreign Policy In
The post Europe at Cliff’s Edge appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The hugely successful Broadway does a service: igniting the relevance of history to today. Of course it is largely fiction. As author and historian William Hogeland tells it, Hamilton saw his job as just making America a good investment. He
The post Hamilton Against Democracy, Struggle Still Unresolved appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
What is “populism?” It sure is not Donald Trump. Our guest today former Oklahoma Senator and chair of the DNC, Fred Harris, who ran for president in 1976, says of the media “to call Trump populist is complicity in a
The post Great American Populism for 2020 Wins appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Neither the traditional French Socialist Party nor the right wing National Front, the yellow vest movement sweeping across France is something new, leaving the political powers including President Macron befuddled. With about 70% public support, the people on the streets
The post France’s Yellow Vest Movement Explained appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Conventional Democratic Party wisdom is that McGovern lost to Nixon because he was too liberal, and as a result of that belief, ever since that loss party insiders have trended steadily to the right. But if today’s measuring tools had
The post Democrats Took The Wrong Lessons From McGovern ’72 appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.