Democrats 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.
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.
The far right got a major boost with the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk. What used to be the Republican party is no more. The young man’s appeal to other young men is a major hurdle for traditional patriotic Americans. And
The post Gavin Newsom: Democrats Savior ’28? 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.
There’s a reason the same voters were undecided between Bernie and Trump in 2016. People wanted real change. And in 2024, Democrats walked into a trap. As bad as it looks today, writing in Newsweek, today’s guest Matt Robison argues
The post Under Water Now, Democrats Have to Become the Party of Change appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
No question, it’s all about re-connecting with the working class: People without a college degree, lowering the cost of health care, championing the self-employed, addressing the transportation problems of the heartland. Our guest today Paul Glastris Washington Monthly editor in
The post Time for Democrats to Post a Clear Agenda for America 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.
There’s a mountain of electoral gold which, for the first time, is being mined: graduates of regional public universities. Many of them men. Colleges with “state” in their name. Our guest Washington Monthly editor in chief Paul Glastris talks about
The post Tim Walz’s Unique Appeal to Young Men’s Masculinity 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.
They weren’t there for Biden. A large chunk of young men are for Trump, but with a new presidential candidate, the Democratic Party is connecting with young people. One millennial voice is Josh Lafasan, on today’s show he says the
The post Gen Z, Millennials and The 2024 Presidential Election 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.
Today, more than ever, politics is theater. On today’s big stage we see Biden as an old weakened man, and then we have Trump with blood on his face, standing strong, defiant, fist in the air. National columnist Jill Lawrence
The post After The Shooting of July 13, Is it Over? 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.
Democracy is itself largely improvisation. Pushing back against the powers that be; the mainstream. Our guest Randy Fertel, author of the new book Winging It; Improv’s Power and Peril in the Age of Trump, says rationality alone is not enough;
The post The Power of What Appears to be Improvisation 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.
The Right gets it; where are Democrats? In his new book What it Took to Win, author and history professor Michael Kazin looks at the last hundred or so years and says it’s clear what has and still works. Whether
The post Trumpism is a Movement; Movements Are How Democrats Have Won 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. This fear of popular movements has fed the
The post What it Takes for Democrats to Win: Historian Michael Kazin appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
History moves in many different directions at the same time. On this show author and independent journalist Patrick Lawrence explains how as we begin a new year there is optimism beneath the pessimism. The failure of our many imperial policies
The post 2024: The Positive Breakdown of “Rules Based Order.” 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.
It’s not the way it’s supposed to work. Our founders fought for self-government to replace the distant authoritarian system. As Justice Brandeis said; states are the laboratories of democracy. But they are withering from lack of public awareness of their
The post Who’s Your State Legislator? It Matters More Than You Think. 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.
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.
When Republicans win power, they use it. Obama tried bipartisanship. There was little, if any, perceptible change. In the following campaign in 2016, Trump said “I made a promise to the forgotten men and women of this country that I
The post Michigan Moves Forward, Arkansas Clamps Down on Rights appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The Trumpist right today has had no small success erasing the productive history of liberalism. Today’s guest is author, lecturer, and journalist for The Washington Monthly David Masciotra who in this show talks about the renewed interest in Ted Kennedy,
The post How Ted Kennedy’s Liberalism Strengthened America, And Still Can appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Is the US is merely a procedural, but not a substantive democracy? On part one, Franklin and Marshall history professor Van Gosse asks: what are the factors why we lack more actual democracy? And on part two, The Nation’s national
The post Two Topics: 1) How Real Our Democracy? 2) Who is This Ruben Gallego 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.
It’s echoing everywhere: Trump was the biggest loser of the 2022 elections. Recorded two days after the votes, our guest today, veteran political news person John Kosinski sees what so unexpectedly happened as a wake up call. Could it be
The post Instead of a Red Wave, One of Common Sense? 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.
We’ve won the abortion debate, and had the vote been a few weeks ago… But it’s not until November 8th. Neil Oxman is co-founder of The Campaign Group and on this show he shares his uniquely valuable vantage point. Oxman
The post Should Democrats Be Worried? View from a Pro appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We can’t do it by talking down to middle Americans. If Democrats don’t get that rural Americans have fear that what little they have may be taken away, we stand to lose yet again. Victory comes when we listen, respect
The post Do Democrats Want to Win? Ignoring Voiceless Rural People Is a Sure Way to Lose. 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.
Of course all parents want to protect their children from inappropriate material. But when “parental rights” mean teachers are forbidden from mentioning homosexuality or racism because that means teachers are “grooming” kids for pedophilia or Chinese communism, liberty is under
The post The “Moms For Liberty” Nightmare for American Schools appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
They decided the remedies of the 30s no longer fit the 90s. They talked about expanding opportunities not government. The economy was strong that decade and so they did not worry about inequality. In her new book: Left Behind, The
The post The Price Democrats Pay for the Clinton/DLC Years 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.
As with many success stories, an impoverished, unknown yet powerful woman made it happen. In his new book, The First Kennedys, The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty author Neal Thompson tells us about the Ireland they fled and the
The post How The Kennedys Came to Be Dynasty appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
There used to be a long held American tradition of opposition to colonialism and that government served the common good. FDR’s vice president Henry A Wallace was an outstanding visionary. Then a corrupt political machine performed a bloodless coup at
The post A Successful Coup in 1944 America appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We barely pulled democracy back from the ledge. Now there’s work to be done to make democracy work even better. On this show Kristen Eberhard talks about steps described in her new book “Becoming a Democracy: How We Can Fix
The post Now’s the Time to Make Democracy Better 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.
Everyone who supported him projected what they wanted to see on him in 2008. In his new book He Was Our Man In Washington, A History of the Obama Years, author Owen Symes reveals such little known facts as Obama’s
The post What Was the Obama Presidency Really? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The prospect of losing the power of empire brings out fear which can lead to police states. Or it can be seen as an opportunity for significant improvement. On this show, Matt Wehmeier, who spent recent years in the former
The post Are We There? How Empires Fall appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
They come to us as they were from millions of years ago and today they are vital to fighting Covid and other diseases. On part one, Author William Sargent talks about his new book Crab Wars. The demand is outstripping
The post Horseshoe Crabs and Covid//Biden’s Options for China Policy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Michael Winship writes: “Despite Joe Biden and Kamala Harris being in the White House, we remain in existential peril.” A big step toward tyranny is Senator Joe Manchin who announced he will not support an end to the filibuster which
The post Manchin: Ego Rules Over Patriotism 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.