From the economy and prospects for a Biden vs Trump rematch to the future for global energy and artificial intelligence, Richard and Jim make their forecasts for 2024. And we re-visit our predictions from exactly a year ago and report on precisely how we did. "It's sort of like weather forecasters and opinion pollsters going back and owning up to their mistakes," says Richard. "I mean, who often do we see that!" Once again, Meigs and Davies make their best guesses about what's to come this year....
Jan 12, 2024•26 min
We continue our discussion with Yascha Mounk, one of the leading public intellectuals of our time. The subject is a hugely influential ideology that attempts to put racial, sexual and gender identity at the center of our social, cultural and political life. The "identity synthesis", Mounk argues, denies that members of different groups can truly understand one another and this stifles public discourse. In this podcast episode, we learn why an obsession with identity undermines social justice, fu...
Dec 29, 2023•32 min
Having skewered right-wing populism and its demagogues in his two previous best-selling books, politics professor, writer, and podcaster Yasha Mounk turns now to the threat posed to liberalism from those progressives who champion "woke" identity politics. We discuss his latest, " The Identity Trap : A Story of Ideas and Power In Our Time ." This episode— the first of two with Yasha Mounk — looks at the complex roots of a highly influential ideology based on personal identity— specifically race, ...
Dec 15, 2023•32 min
Yes, it's our 400th episode. But instead of looking back over the past eight-and-a-half years of our podcasts, we consider the future: How collective optimism or pessimism can have a huge impact on the economy, risk taking, and the acceptance of new technologies that spark growth and innovation. Our guest is scholar and journalist James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute, author of " The Conservative Futurist : How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised." In this episode he ar...
Dec 01, 2023•36 min
Affective polarization in America – the gap between voters' positive feelings about their own political party or "side" and negative feelings toward the opposing party – has sharply increased during the past two decades. We speak with two leaders in local government and a nationwide students group about effective ways to bridge divides. Erica Manuel is CEO and Executive Director at the Institute for Local Government in Roseville, California. She has over 20 years of experience helping public, pr...
Nov 17, 2023•30 min
It's easy to look at the impacts of rigid polarization and blame our leaders and political parties, the media, or the education system. In this episode, we hear an argument that the first thing all of us should do is focus on what we can control: ourselves. We discuss how to learn to live with others despite deep divisions. All democracies need protests and debates to flourish. But we also need to respect ourselves and acknowledge the dignity of others. Alexandra Hudson is the author of the new ...
Nov 03, 2023•29 min
Destructive conflict aims to destroy the other side. But constructive conflict can be a force for good. In this episode we learn how good conflict helps move people beyond polarization, slogans, and angry tweets to a place where they can connect and grow— even as they strongly disagree. Hélène Biandudi Hofer says that when we have the vocabulary and basic skills to investigate conflict with curiosity, it can change everything. Journalists Hélène Biandudi Hofer and Amanda Ripley co-founded Good C...
Oct 20, 2023•28 min
Almost everyone has an opinion about the impact of social media on political polarization. Most of us believe that Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube and other sites have made our civic life more angry and divided. But how much of this is true? Are consumers as much to blame as the platforms themselves? 15 years ago, in the very early days of social media, many Americans had a much more positive view of this new technology. It was bringing friends and families together, opening up new sources of...
Oct 06, 2023•34 min
Have you ever been asked by a political opponent to describe what's wrong or weak about your own side's arguments? That's what Richard and Jim do here. This episode could have been ripped from a Braver Angels training seminar, but to our knowledge, no other podcast has tried this before. Liberal-leaning Richard takes on three hot topics, picked by Jim, where the left is wrong. Jim does the same thing for his side, discussing three examples picked by Richard. The ground rules are simple: No "your...
Sep 22, 2023•26 min
Why is American politics so dysfunctional? Is it because we are too polarized or too fragmented? Throughout this fall we will be exploring different aspects of polarization— arguably the most important threat to both effective governance and a stable democracy. This episode includes an edited recording of a lively conversation from the podcast, " Politics In Question ", between Rick Pildes , Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law, and political scientist Lee Drutman , a senior rese...
Sep 08, 2023•31 min
Toxic polarization is "the problem that eats all other problems... It's the sludge at the base of everything else," our guest Mónica Guzmán tells us. In this really useful repeat episode from 2022, we learn how to fight back against the confusion and heartbreak of living with rigid divides. This show is a curtain raiser for a series we are doing this fall with funding from Solutions Journalism Network . We will be examining threats to our society from polarization and recent efforts to build a n...
Aug 25, 2023•29 min
Why aren’t Democrats doing much better in elections for Congress and also in state races? We explore several reasons. One is that Democrats have been losing the support of many black, white and hispanic working class voters. We heard a forceful argument about that in "How Do We Fix It?" episode #389 with Ruy Teixeira. In this show we expand the argument and look at another group of voters often ignored by Democratic party leaders— Christians and especially Catholics who are among the largest gro...
Aug 11, 2023•28 min
Globalization, technology, devastating impacts from the foreclosure crisis and the opioid addiction have wreaked havoc on communities left behind by the modern economy. Some of these discarded places are rural. Others are cities or suburbs. Some vote blue, others red. Some are the most diverse communities in America, while others are nearly all white, all Latino, or all Black. In this episode we visit four cities and towns with deep poverty and gutted public services— where entire communities ar...
Jul 28, 2023•38 min
Why do we connect emotionally with some places and not others? Why does that matter? What does loving the place you live in have to do with healing the partisan divide? We explore these questions and hear about solutions from author, researcher and speaker Peter Kageyama . This shared episode is an edited version of a podcast released earlier this year by " Village Squarecast ". Our show includes extracts from a speech delivered at a special meeting of The Village Square in Tallahassee, Florida....
Jul 14, 2023•27 min
American politics are evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. But our guest argues that it doesn't have to be this way. He tells fellow Democrats: "Given the problems the Republicans have, why aren't you beating the hell out of these people?" Political scientist and author Ruy Teixeira says that recent election results have been a lost opportunity as the left pursued identity politics instead of focusing on class. While more white college-educated voters have abandoned the Republicans ...
Jun 30, 2023•33 min
Ever since the 2008 financial crisis and recession, central bankers and most economists have agreed that it's good to keep interest rates as low as possible. Making it easy to borrow money very cheaply helps the economy recover from recessions and the COVID pandemic. But what if very cheap money has unintended consequences such as asset bubbles and bank failures, and benefits the haves much more than the have-nots of society? Our guest is financial analyst, journalist, and historian Edward Chanc...
Jun 16, 2023•32 min
"America is rigidly divided between red and blue." That's what we're constantly being told by pundits, politicians and media outlets, both left and right. But what if that wasn't quite true? On a surprisingly large number of issues, Americans agree on the broad outlines of public policy. Author, conflict mediator, and social entrepreneur, Bill Shireman makes the case that the middle 70% of the public should have a much greater say in who gets elected to make laws and decide policy. "All it takes...
Jun 02, 2023•29 min
Generative Artificial Intelligence has the power to transform lives and change our jobs. In this episode, we discuss the potential for good and bad from large, creative AI models such as ChatGPT. Our guest is Nathanael Fast , who serves as Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making and Co-Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute . Professor Fast teaches in the MBA, Ph.D., and Executive Education programs at USC Marshall in Los Angeles. ChatGPT reached over ...
May 18, 2023•29 min•Ep. 386
The Coronation of King Charles III promises to be very big on pomp and circumstance, but it may also play a leading role in healing divisions between post-Brexit Britain and the European Union. Leading EU officials will be in attendance at Westminster Abbey. This podcast shares a personal perspective on some of the momentous changes in the UK over recent years, and includes comparisons between the hot topics on both sides of The Atlantic. Our co-host Richard last lived in London in the 1970's an...
May 04, 2023•29 min•Ep. 385
The news media and journalists themselves are faced with a crisis of confidence and trust. The internet broke the old business model of locally-based newspaper reporting and replaced it with national opinion journalism written by and for well-educated metropolitan elites. Our guest is Nikki Usher , Associate Professor at the University of San Diego, who studies journalism, politics, tech, and power. Nikki's recent book is " News For The Rich, White and Blue : How Place and Power Distort American...
Apr 20, 2023•27 min•Ep. 384
In much of the country local news has collapsed, threatening civic pride and a sense of community for countless towns and cities. This dramatic change has also deepened America's divides . As our guest, journalist and public policy researcher Anna Brugmann explains in this episode, "the internet disrupted the local journalism model". Newspaper advertising revenue fell 80% since 2000. Thousands of local and regional publications closed. Most surviving newsrooms faced drastic cutbacks. Coverage of...
Apr 06, 2023•28 min•Ep. 383
Rising interest rates and the end of easy money were two factors in the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and a subsequent stock market run on shares of regional banks. Questions were raised about the safety of the entire U.S. banking industry. We examine risk in banking, investing and the broader economy. Federal regulators faced harsh criticism for the latest bank failures. Progressives blamed politicians who eased regulations on medium-sized and small banks. Some on the right claim...
Mar 23, 2023•30 min•Ep. 382
The people of Ukraine are facing down a military giant. Their unity and bravery in the bloody, cruel year since the Russia invasion are an inspiration to the rest of the world. Instead of talking about politics or the state of the war, we consider the battlefield of ideas. Above all this show is an attempt to put the war into context: What’s at stake for Western democracy, and what space does Ukraine fit in our history? We speak again with Marci Shore , professor of European cultural & intel...
Mar 09, 2023•32 min•Ep. 381
By any measure this has been a momentous week for global politics. President Biden’s surprise trip to Kyiv , his “freedom” speech in Warsaw, the visit of China’s top diplomat to Moscow, and Vladimir Putin’s decision to suspend Russian participation in the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. are all signs of deepening big-power tensions. This coincides with the first anniversary of the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War Two. In the early hours of February 24 last year Putin...
Feb 23, 2023•27 min•Ep. 380
The last time the U.S. faced a major showdown over the debt ceiling was a decade ago. Much like today, House Republicans insisted on spending cuts before they would vote to raise the amount of money the government could borrow. Then-President Obama and now-President Biden said they would not negotiate. Who will blink first? Nearly all economists and financial experts say that a debt default would have extremely serious consequences for the everyday economy and America's place in the world. We lo...
Feb 08, 2023•34 min•Ep. 379
Sixty years ago in his most famous speech , the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of his vision of an America transformed. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," he said. Was this an argument for a color-blind society, or should racism be thought of as structural and systematic? Ibram X. Khendi, author of the best-selling book, " How To Be An AntiRacist ", argues t...
Jan 26, 2023•33 min•Ep. 378
One way to help solve America's polarization crisis is to hang out with someone not like you. Someone who sees the world differently or comes from a cultural background, social class, racial or ethnic group other than your own. While social media, political elites and national news outlets profit from polarization, the rest of us do not. This episode looks at one highly successful local initiative to push back against the conflict entrepreneurs who want to make us angry, fearful and divided. Our...
Jan 12, 2023•34 min•Ep. 377
2022 was another year of COVID-induced anxiety with widespread worries about democracy, polarization, climate change and threats to democracy. But in this new year special Richard and Jim say we have reached peak fear. America may well be calming down and headed towards a new sense of normal. Our co-hosts throw caution to the wind with a series of fresh outside-the-box forecasts for the twelve months to come. We make predictions about the retreat of COVID, the outlook for inflation, and the migr...
Dec 29, 2022•30 min•Ep. 376
In some ways, our culture is less tolerant and more fragile than it once was. The teaching of literature in schools and colleges is often caught in the crossfire of the culture wars. Support for canceling books and authors by the illiberal left and demands to ban books from the reactionary right have led to the removal of important literature from classrooms and libraries. In this episode author and literature professor, Deborah Appleman mounts a rousing case for teaching troubling texts in trou...
Dec 15, 2022•34 min•Ep. 375
Every day Americans take the reliable supply of electricity for granted. Except during severe storms, we rarely, if ever, think that the lights might not turn on in the morning. But in some parts of the country, consumers face the threat of rolling blackouts, and sudden surges in the price of electricity. Nearly two years ago, nearly 300 people died when the Texas power grid partially failed during a winter cold snap. California came close to a grid collapse last summer. And New England might be...
Dec 01, 2022•31 min•Ep. 374
