The post Is Freedom of the Press Doomed? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

The post The Time is Now. Left-Populists: Unshackle Your Imaginations appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

The post Trump Wants to Abolish the Past. Historians Won’t Let Him. appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

The politicization of the FBI and police is hardly new. The foundation of the law is protecting property not people. Enforcing a racial caste system. Himself a former FBI agent, our guest Mike German in his new book Policing White

The post The Origin of American Police Was As Enforcers of Slave Laws appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

With freedom comes responsibility. And not just the driver, but America’s roads have been littered with bodies of passengers who failed to speak up. Guest today is Candace Lightner was one of the founders of Mothers Against Drink Driving and

The post They’re Not Accidents; They’re Deadly Crashes Which Passengers Can Prevent. 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.

More and more women are steering great philanthropies. In the current Chronicle of Philanthropy, Christine Ahn is co-author of this article: To Fight Growing Militarism, Philanthpy Should Embrace a Feminist Playbook. The subtitle is  Around the world, feminist activists have

The post Feminism and Philanthropy: Powerful Combination 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.

The reason we have minimum wage laws is to ensure a basic standard of living. But in America, the federal minimum wage is still what it was in 2009: $7.25. And in developing nations to which big corporations outsource jobs,

The post A Global Minimum Wage = a Stronger Worldwide Economy 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.

    You’ve probably heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations.

The post Christmas Truce of WWI: Not So Isolated, Really appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

It may not be as it looks. For decades, millions of Americans have urgently sought to bring sanity to the defense budget. They propose a new  nongovernmental “Dept of Government Efficiency.” And military waste is the low hanging fruit. On

The post Could These Guys Actually Cut Military Waste? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Just the threat of prosecution can be a violation of our First Amendment rights. Look for the fascistic right under Trump to try to impose by force what they failed to win in the culture war. On this show, investigative

The post Will There Be A Way to Stop Him? 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.

Just as it is with inflation, some immigration is good for the economy. It strengthens the economy and helps rural America. But as with inflation, immigration has to be kept under control. On this show Washington Monthly politics editor Bill

The post Immigration Was Played Dishonestly. The Truth is It’s Like Inflation appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Storytelling is a venerable and often the most accurate way to teach history. Our guest co-author of the new A Line In the Sand, Miles Spencer, traveled with his partner along the 1100 mile trail of clues left by TE

The post One Eternally Explosive Line in the Sand 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.

From the proposed Department of Government Efficiency to possible invocation of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to the Espionage Act of 1917 to the proposal to take away the non-profit status of organizations alleged to have ties to terrorists, there

The post The Many All-American Tools Trump Can Use To Chill Freedom 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.

Can we ever learn from history?  November 11 is celebrated as the end of “the war to end all wars.” But in reality it was a peace that ended peace. Listen in as eminent historian Adam Hochschild cuts through the

The post 11/11 Armistice: The Germans Were Ambushed, A Peace That Ended Peace appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

You remember: “that’s not who we are,” related to January 6, 2021? Turns out, maybe it is who we are. Was this too an outlier: Greensboro North Carolina November 1979 when the KKK shot and killed five people demonstrating for

The post Greensboro ’79: “White Supremacy Done Correctly” appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

You know the saying “hurt people hurt people.” Well, our guest argues “healed people heal people.” Most of us look away from the terribly failed system of justice, but Notre Dame Professor Jason Springs offers us a new path that

The post Restorative Justice Works Where Retribution Fails 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.

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.

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 if Neoliberalism. At Last 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.

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 KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Many Americans were appalled at the violent January 6th assault on the capitol. The thought was: “That’s not who we are.” But in truth, throughout our history, a great number of Americans have supported hierarchies and authoritarianism; freedom for us

The post The Deep Roots of American Illiberalism,Yes Illiberalism appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

In light of the Israeli state’s massive assault on Gaza, and now Lebanon, the question comes up: What does it mean to be a Jew? Our guest veteran New York Times sportswriter Robert Lipsyte says being a Jew entails certain

The post On Rosh Hashanah: Netanyahu, The Israeli Right, and Jewish Identity appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Corporations have their own interests at heart. From post-Civil War America through to Germany in 1933 to America today. And knowing public image counts, many try to have it both ways: bragging that they support reproductive and LGBTQ rights as

The post Is Corporatocracy Unstoppable? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

“People think of Nelson Rockefeller as the epitome of moderate Republicanism.” But what appears to be a clean break from this tradition is really an evolution. Author Professor Marsha E. Barrett explains how the shift to the right was something

The post From Rockefeller Republicanism to Trumpism: How Did We Get Here? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

It was only discovered in an architectural trade journal: Netanyahu’s “Gaza 2035.” Architects were hired to provide models of a new Gaza , the old one having been flattened. Steel and glass high risers being erected where once a people

The post Architecture as the Ultimate Expression of Power: Gaza 2035 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.

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 love to say America has the strongest military of any nation ever. But boasting usually leads to disaster. On this show, we hear from William J. Astore,  a retired lieutenant colonel of the US Air Force and professor of

The post A Military Security State and the Erosion of Freedom appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

History professor Matt Warshauer argues in his new book that the 9/11 generation is the most unique in American history, and he explains how. The title is Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation. This generation has seen a nonfunctional government,

The post What is the 9/11 Generation? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

He got 81% of the evangelical vote in key swing states in 2016. Our guest today the Reverend Doug Pagitt is exceptionally familiar with what goes on with evangelical Christians, and he says he expects Trump to get less than

The post Evangelicals Souring on Trump: Why It Took So Long. 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.

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 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.

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 KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

The ideal breeding ground for the Covid virus: A place where people were forced to have constant close contact with each other and with the wider community. In other words: prisons. You know how awful it was for us on

The post Jails and Prisons Were a Hotbed of Covid. Needlessly. appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

The post Make the Winner of the Popular Vote President appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Make America great “again?” What does that phrase assume? Our guest today, retired Lt Col. William Astore served 20 years in the military. No, he’s not a stereotypical macho militarist, far from it. He says our “full spectrum global empire”

The post The Term “MAGA” Acknowledges US Empire is Over appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

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 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 KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

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 KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

It’s not high on people’s reason to choose a president, but the power of pardons today is often corrupt and the promise of a pardon has been known to encourage crimes. In this discussion of her forthcoming book, Law Professor

The post The Power of Pardons and Democracy appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.