Culture Archives - Keeping Democracy Alive: Recent Episodes
Burt Cohen
I may have multiple myeloma but I am not multiple myeloma. Same is true for people with Alzheimer’s. On this slightly shortened show our guests are Dr. Anthony Goodman and his wife Meredith who helps him out. Tony is a
The post June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month; Time to Destigmatize appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
In a world of smart homes and cities, data is the coin of the realm. Everyone is vulnerable, nothing is too private. We consumers are unintentionally paying for our own surveillance. The fourth amendment is taking a beating in the
The post With Smart Everything, Your Data Will be Used Against You appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
While the hard right has had significant success in rallying young people (mostly males), the anger at ICE and a desire for a sense of belonging is moving more and more kids to the populist left. Look how many high
The post The Kids Are Alright 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.
Under Trump 2.0, we adults are taught to fear The Other, we must become a monolinguistic culture: English over all. But during this week of Jewish high holy days, we ask what is this ancient language of Yiddish? It is
The post Justice and Peace: What Teaching Yiddish Literature to Kids Offers appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
When America was indeed great, the federal government brought theater to all people. Free. In a mirror opposite of Trump 2.0, under FDR there was the Federal Theater project in which one quarter of the nation’s population saw free performances
The post Public Theater: A Way to Measure Democracy appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Researchers are beginning to understand why some of us demonstrate what is called “moral courage” and others do not. In fact, most of us actually have a warped sense of our own moral courage. We like to think nothing would
The post The Trump Era and the Psychology of Moral Courage appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
It’s not just politics but arts and a free culture that makes real change. Sure there are the leaders we all know, MLK and Malcolm X, but in his new paperback edition of The Jazz Men: How Duke Ellington, Louis
The post How Their Music Toppled Jim Crow appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
May is Mental Health Month, and the Trump/Musk regime is pouring gasoline on our already widespread national crisis. The police-state ICE raids are indicative of a strategy to create fear. On this show Mattea Kramer and Dr. Sean Fogler share
The post Mental Health Essential for National Security appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
To normalize the horrific, it takes lots of people going along. From the history of leaders lying, the current regime has learned that spewing new lies many times a day works to make reality conform to the lies. On this
The post Mindless Banality Spreads Quickly. And It’s Evil. appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Locking people up and deporting immigrants is on the rise. The adults face punishment (as if that works) and their children hide from the judgement and stigma of other kids and school administrators. They are of course totally innocent and
The post Addressing the Unique Stigma on Youth Impacted by Incarceration, Detention, and Deportation appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
We think of it as pure fun but the reality is great pressure and there are overtraining injuries. Coaches often lack crucial training. Non-athlete kids feeling less-than. And since kids don’t have a voice in the matter, the only option
The post More Than Play: What’s Wrong With American Youth Sport appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
What we’re seeing today is a far cry from justice. Today’s policy of cruelty toward immigrants is an abject failure, yet it’s impractical to have a totally open border with Mexico. As with most solutions, the answer has to involve
The post Immigration Justice: Is it Even Possible? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
In her new book titled Is It Racist? Is It Sexist? Why Red and Blue White People Disagree, and How to Decide in the Gray Areas co-author Betsy Leondar-Wright, through remarkable research, found Trumpists are not all racist and sexist
The post We Thought We Knew Racism and Sexism 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.
Oppression and mass murder did not defeat a culture; the Nazis tried but did not erase peoplehood. They certainly destroyed millions of Jews and others, but they did not destroy Yiddish. On this Keeping Democracy Alive, talking about her new
The post Under the Noses of the Nazis, Yiddish Thrived appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
Some might call it “cruel and unusual punishment,” arresting, sweeping the parks, bulldozing homeless encampments. Others believe if people are poor it’s their own fault. On this show, the Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis of The Kairos Center discusses an essay
The post Criminalizing The Unhoused Gets Us Nowhere 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.
Now with the nomination of not just a woman, but a woman of color, they feel even more threatened. Today’s right encourages and seeks to use men’s anger in the culture war, even though those very policies actually harm working
The post Hawley And the Right: Terrified About Their Manhood appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Colonialism: Now it’s called corporate globalization. As the energy appetite of the west continues to accelerate, so does extractivism, without the consent of the people directly affected. In this revealing discussion, Professor Avi Chomsky explodes the many myths we white
The post Avi Chomsky: 21st Century Colonialism and Extractivism appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We assume our picture of romance and marriage has always been there, but according to our guest author and professor Sabrina Strings, it was invented in the 12th century as a myth about Sir Lancelot. Marriage was about power, domination,
The post White Male Supremacists Fear and Hate it But “Romance” and Nuclear Families Aren’t the Only Option appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Today’s guest is Dr. Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, author of the new book The Chosen We. She’s a professor of Educational Leadership and Policy a U.Wisconsin-Madison. Over a period of ten years she interviewed 105 Black women from five selected cities about
The post How Liberation is Only Found In Community appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
In his new book The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America, prolific author Larry Tye shares what he learned about the lives of the three men, now recognized as great Americans. The racism they faced
The post It Wasn’t Just Politics; The Art of Jazz Integrated America appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
America is an outlier: here it’s commonly accepted that if you succeed or fail you deserve it. We believe we make our own luck. And we blame ourselves for what’s really random bad luck. But that’s counterproductive, according to the
The post Rugged Individualism And The Role of Luck 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.
We’ve built all the dams we need and that nature can handle. Development in flood zones is still happening faster than more sustainable locations. In his new book; Seek Higher Ground, The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis, award
The post Seek Higher Ground: The Laws of Nature are Not Optional 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.
They claim loudly they’re protecting freedom and innocent children, but the truth is the right is oppressing both. On this show psychoanalyst Avgi Saketopoulou, co-author of Gender Without Identity, argues there is not one true and immutable authentic identity with
The post Gender Identity: Is it Fixed or Changeable? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
And what is the effect on democracy? Playing to the camera makes advertisers happy. Truth? How one would govern? Fall by the wayside are how one might govern. On this show associate professor of history Kathryn Cramer Brownell sheds light
The post Must Our Politicians Be TV Stars? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
At this Christmas time of year, we all think about giving. But what are philanthropists all about? To launder a plutocrat’s reputation, preserving great wealth and maintaining dominance and control. Our guest Edgar Villanueva has a new book, a second
The post The Self Serving Purpose of Philanthropy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
You may have heard the story: King Cnut sat on the seashore and tried to command the tide not to touch his feet, yet the sea ignored him. Such may be the case with the right wing’s war against unmarried
The post The Right’s Latest Target: Unmarried Women 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 such incredibly diverse people as
The post The Useful Struggle for American Democracy 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.
The right says let the market be in charge. Privatizing and commodifying our essential human needs is OK with them. Should we just accept the normalization of hundreds of millions of plastic bottles, for corproate controlled water that is no
The post Is Water Not a Human Right? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
So many mass shootings; how did the gun culture become so powerful? Look to the Civil War: Militarily devastated, the angry Confederate culture transformed guns into a totem. In this revealing discussion, U of Wisconsin-Madison professor Nick Buttrick reveals the
The post Today’s Gun Culture: The South Won 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.
The writers and screen actors strike is an example of what’s happening to working people: the rents are too damn high. Housing is at the root of so many issues of the 2020s, including a stagnation in the arts. On
The post Wither American Arts? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Overwork, uniquely stressful conditions, patients suffering. Blaming individual caregivers with personal failures results in fewer and fewer professionals when the need by boomers is growing exponentially. On this show, David Schenck author of two previous books on ethics and healing
The post Blaming Caregivers When It’s the System appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Imagine being a judge and having a mandate to break up families! Today’s guest, noted children and family lawyer Jane Spinak talks about her new book The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and
The post Time to End Family Court? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Many of those of us who have homes wish the homeless were invisible. Unknown, clearly on hard times, why isn’t it done, why is it in all of our interest to prevent homelessness? Noted psychiatrist Dr. Robert Okin lived for
The post Finding Unexpected Bravery and Tenacity Among the Homeless appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Biden’s problem is he’s not a TV star, just a good president. What is the draw of royalty? It’s much less effort than tedious democracy to just accept legitimacy being handed down from above. On this show, from the Brooklyn
The post Biden is Not Royalty. Neither is Democracy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s not just blue vs red, North vs South. There’s us here in Yankeedom, Then there’s New Netherlands, The Midlands, Tidewater, Greater Appalachia, The Deep South (of course), New France, The Far West, El Norte, The Left Coast, and First
The post One Nation Indivisible: Oh Really? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
They claim loudly they’re protecting freedom and innocent children, but the truth is the right is oppressing both. On this show psychoanalyst Avgi Saketopoulou, co-author of Gender Without Identity, argues there is not one true immutable authentic identity with which
The post How Do We Form Our Gender Identity & Can It Change Over Time? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We finally get that can’t have infinite growth on our finite planet. The dominant western approach of treating the earth as our playground isn’t working anymore. It’s late but there are still real opportunities for a partnership between humans and
The post I Want a Better Catastrophe! 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.
On the first half Wellesley Professor of American Studies and author Michael P. Jeffries talks about his new book Black and Queer on Campus, the unexpected possibilities and challenges which remain. And on part two, noted feminist Amanda Marcotte talks
The post Black and Queer on Campus//Still A Ways to Go on Women’s Day appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
So many mass shootings; how did the gun culture become so powerful? Look to the Civil War. Militarily devastated, the Confederate culture transformed guns into a totem. In this revealing discussion, U of Wisconsin-Madison professor Nick Buttrick reveals the roots
The post Slave States and Today’s Gun Culture appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Bradley Onishi is himself a “deconverted” Christian nationalist. His new book is titled Preparing for War; The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism–And What Comes Next. On this show, he answers the puzzling question of why so many who consider
The post Christian Nationalism 2023: Power Not Piety 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.
At this time of year, we all think about giving. But what are philanthropists all about? To launder a plutocrat’s reputation, preserving great wealth and maintaining dominance and control. Our guest Edgar Villanueva has a new book, a second edition
The post The Self-Serving Purpose of Philanthropy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
At the World Cup and other global sporting events, all kinds of workers are exploited. And under the guise of rescue and saving souls involved in the sex trade, evangelical, business interests, politicians, and police make out quite well. Harm
The post Profitable Panic: Busting Sex Workers at Qatar World Cup appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Though the angry white supremacist right grabs today’s news, the truth is the Christian Left has much deeper roots in American history. According to the Reverend Quardricos Bernard Driskell, the religious left has always been part of the fabric of
The post An American Tradition of Christian Left appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The pressure to prevent active curiosity is a curious thing in a democracy. Our guests today are authors Perry Zurin and Dani Bassett whose new book is Curious Minds, The Power of Connection. As they say, acquiring information is insufficient,
The post Why Do They Fear Curiosity? 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.
Author Kathryn Bond Stockton argues in her new book Gender(s) that obvious genital distinctions are in reality incomplete. When children are born, it’s like parents “lower a cone over the baby,” imposing an identity without consent and even ignoring other
The post The Right Fears and Hates the Reality of Non-Binary Gender ID appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Reporters used to report, now there’s virtually no line between media and the national security state. Veteran international journalist Patrick Lawrence on this show notes the big change occurred 9/11; since then we have been subject to an information monoculture.
The post The Collapse of Journalism and the Threat to Democracy appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The new book is Imagining the Heartland; White Supremacy and the American Midwest and it’s about the powerful roots of today’s angry violence against The Others. On this show anthropologist authors Britt Halvorson and Joshua Reno look at the use
The post White Supremacy And A Place You’ve Never Been appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Politicians of both parties buy into American Exceptionalism. But what does it mean to the planet? On this show professor Aviva Chomsky sheds light on the aspects of exceptionalism we don’t want to see. Instead of a good life just
The post The High Price of American Exceptionalism on the Earth appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Even in safe spaces for gay men, there is subtle racism and stratification if one is not white. On this show, Professor Anthony Ocampo talks about his new book Brown and Gay in LA, including pressures from Mexican and Filipino
The post Being Gay, Brown, and Immigrant appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
A consumers republic was born at the end of the second world war. And though it was genuinely intended to be a tide lifting all boats, it has increased economic inequality and created isolation where public space once was central.
The post Why Do Americans Buy So Much Stuff? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s almost time for the start of schools. 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
The post As Schools Open Again: The Moms for Liberty Nightmare appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The comfort of colonial powers relied on them not seeing the damage to exploited nations. So it is with mining and milling the uranium for nuclear power. Victims then as now are people without power, indigenous populations which are health
The post Nuclear Power is Racist, Sexist, and Ageist: You Gotta Listen appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Do liberal women feel that their culture is superior? Among women who feel liberated, what is it about the sight of Muslim women in traditional hijabs that so bothers many? In her new book Unruly Women; Race, Neocolonialism, and the
The post Feminist Prejudice Against Women in Hijabs? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The intent is humiliation, eating away at one’s humanity. How can that make one a better person? Former figure skater Keri Blakinger’s new book Corrections In Ink tells the story from the inside and asks: does locking up groups of
The post “As If We Were Trash.” A Woman’s Memoir of Prison appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
In theory, the state in a republic serves its citizens. Traditional conservatives insist they want government out of such things as sex. Our guest today Professor Paisley Currah in his new book Sex is as Sex Does, Governing Transgender Identity
The post Sex Classifications Are There to Serve The State appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Though the angry white supremacist right grabs today’s news, the truth is the Christian Left has much deeper roots in American history. According to the Reverend Quadricos Bernard Driskell, the religious left has always been part of the fabric of
The post We Know the Religious Right: Where is the Christian Left? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
A glorious celebration of a great state symbol: the Queen, who’s been through so much in her 70 year reign. Nostalgia for an imperial glorious past only goes so far. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was booed by his own party
The post The Queen and BoJo: The UK From Here appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Rather than just keeping one’s head down and staying safe, addressing that which is uncomfortable can bring new insight and a more complete sense of being. The often rigid structure of colleges is not enough, mentoring: listening, respecting is a
The post Sister Resisters appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Here we are well into the 21st century and we’re stuck on imperialism, a 19th century western idea. Meanwhile a new non-western, non-American, nonaligned world is emerging. And perhaps it’s a very good thing. On this show international journalist Patrick
The post Like it or Not:The Emerging Post-American, Non-West Order appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Divide and rule. It’s worked quite well for many decades. When sectors of America are made invisible, behind walls, it takes away the power of democracy. In their new book Standing Up, Tales of Struggle, authors Ellen Bravo and Larry
The post The Unique Success From Undoing Intentional Invisibility appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
“‘Opposite sex’ is a phantom concept—nobody lives it.” So says our guest author Kathryn Bond Stockton. Her new book Gender(s) argues that what seem like obvious genital distinctions are in reality incomplete. When children are born, it’s like parents “lower
The post Simplistic Binary Genders is Oppressive Cultural Fortification appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
One generation held the book and the author in reverence. And with Tom Roston’s new book The Writer’s Crusade and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse Five a new generation is discovering the unique importance of Vonnegut’s vision or war and
The post Horror and Absurdity: Revisiting Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The break in the supply chain feels sudden but it’s been building for some 50 years. And our guest American Prospect Executive Editor David Dayen explains in an special edition of the magazine: “None of the private players involved have
The post The Supply Chain Debacle Explained appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
A consumers republic was born at the end of the second world war. And though it was genuinely intended to be a tide lifting all boats, it has increased economic inequality and created isolation where public space once was central.
The post Why Americans Buy So Much Stuff. 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.
Distrust of the press is hardly a new phenomenon. In the 1920s two American literary luminaries shared a concern about bias in the press. But they offered widely divergent reasons and ways to correct the unfairness. Upton Sinclair insisted the
The post News Media: Commodity or Public Good? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
One hears a cry for “unity” today, but though America is one country, we have always been actually many nations. On this show, author Louis Salome talks about places like Afghanistan, the other “stans,” Iraq, and other countries whose borders
The post Don’t Fight Tribalism, Embrace It appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Unless it’s a spectacle, we don’t see it on screens. But as our guest author Andrea Press spells out in her new co-authored book Media-Ready Feminism and Everyday Sexism, everyday sexism is just accepted. The Me Too movement originated in
The post How TV, Movies, and Social Media Maintain Invisible Sexism appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
“‘Opposite sex’ is a phantom concept—nobody lives it.” So says our guest author Kathryn Bond Stockton. Her new book Gender(s) argues that what seem like obvious genital distinctions are in reality incomplete. When children are born, it’s like parents “lower
The post Simplistic Binary Genders is Cultural Fortification and Wrong 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.
How can one have optimum performance at your job when you have to hide your identity? There was fear of disruption by having openly trans troops in our military. But the truth is the only disruption was from people in
The post Why the Fear of Trans Troops in the Military? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s been normalized. Americans who are neither Christian nor white may not necessarily feel open discrimination, but privilege underlies everyday life. The starting point is not neutral, as we’d prefer to believe. On this show Dr. Kyati Y Joshi talks
The post Pervasive Yet Invisible White Christian Privilege appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Philanthropies came into being to launder a plutocrat’s reputation. It’s become an industry today whose goal is preserving great wealth and maintaining dominance and control. According to our guest Edgar Villanueva, philanthropy has to be more than a wealth building
The post Decolonize Philanthropy: What Does That Mean? 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.
The dehumanized Amazon warehouse as pictured in the movie Nomadland is more benign than reality. There is an “existential bleakness” where every instant is being watched, humans serve robots, and one can be fired by algorithm. In his powerful new
The post The Biggest, Most Inhuman Power in America: Amazon appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Great stone monuments to the glory of war serve to silence the pain. Currently four times as many troops and veterans die by suicide as in combat. Our guest on today’s show is Moravian University professor of religion Kelly Denton-Borhaug.
The post Veterans and Suicide: The “Moral Injury” We Don’t Want to See 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.
Everyone knows the tax code is there to serve the richest Americans. But when it was created, the tax code was actually intended to tax only the richest. The Progressive era was a way out of the last Gilded Age
The post America Will Be Lots Richer With No Billionaires appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Fear leads to actions people often later regret. Why are people who’ve been against guns now buying them up? The pandemic isolation and fear of shortages is part of the explanation for the current surge. Feeling safer beats actually being
The post Anti-Gun Americans Become a Wave of New Gun Owners: What? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
In the Scopes Trial of 1925, William Jennings Bryan spoke against teaching evolution, saying “I have all the information I need to live and die by.” Today’s intense fight against teaching Critical Race Theory is more of the same. To
The post Critical Race Theory: Scopes Trial Redux? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Like many professionals, doctors and medical providers are uncomfortable with plowing new ground. But that’s what trans medicine is, and there is growing need for best treatment practices. There is very little research or precedent but the needs of trans
The post Trans Medicine: Brave New World? 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.
Fierce nationalism and the insistence that the US is indispensable to organize the world has played itself out. With awareness of climate change, worldwide opposition to racism, and the avoidable persistence of great poverty, could this be the time once
The post Stronger than Ever : The One World Idea is Back appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
American presidents have assumed that our place is at the head of the table with our European counterparts. In his first (virtual) meeting as president with German and French leaders, Biden was met by, what KDA’s most popular guest Patrick
The post We’re Not at the Head of the Table Anymore appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The former president embodied what our guest calls confined masculinity: old cages locking men into highly limited macho roles. January 6th was a prime example of this. In the new book he co-authored Reinventing Masculinity: The Liberating Power of Compassion
The post After the Winter of Trump: A Masculine Spring? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Unlike other industrialized nations, America values celebrity over governing well. FDR was a rare exception,he became a celebrity because he served America so well. Then there was Reagan, who did great lasting damage to our country yet remains revered as
The post The Price of Mythologizing Former Presidents appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The Trumpian mob attack on the Capitol shocked America. We thought “this is not who we are.” But maybe it actually is, more than we’d thought. If we dare to look at our history, it was not such an exception.
The post January 6th: Not Who We Are? 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.
With his gleeful displays of cruelty, is it possible that Donald Trump performed the service of waking us all up to cruelty commonly in national and corporate policy? In his new book, Cruelty or Humanity: Challenges, Opportunities, and Responsibilities Australian
The post The Beginning of the End for National Cruelty? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The threat of deeply dedicated religious nationalists is not about to go away when Trump leaves office. An electoral defeat energizes them. The author of the important book “The Power Worshipers,” Katherine Stewart expounds on her recent NYTimes op-ed, titled
The post The Danger of Trumpism After Trump 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.
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.