Jay, Justin, and Mike open the preview of this supporters’ midweek episode with a discussion of the recent economic speeches by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Jay is unhappy with what he’s hearing from both sides, and Mike makes the case that if you like Biden’s policies, you’ll like Harris’ even more. Justin points out that much of what we’re hearing from Trump isn’t new, but it’s the first major policy speech from Harris. As such, they spend some time debating her plans to combat ‘price gougi...
Aug 26, 2024•15 min•Ep. 347
Barbara McQuade is a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, co-host of the podcast #SistersinLaw, and a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. Her first book is Attack From Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. We discuss the dangers of disinformation and how we can defeat it. Democracy depends on truth, and as Americans we should prize truth over tribe. A lot of disinformation is hiding behind the First Amendment – telling lies as a right to free speech. We are overrun w...
Aug 21, 2024•46 min•Ep. 346
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee discusses the history of primary elections and options for reform with Robert Boatright. Boatright is professor of political science at Clark University and the world’s leading expert on the American primary system. He is also the director of research for the National Institute of Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. His most recent book is Reform and Retrenchment: A Century of Efforts to Fix Primary Elections (Oxford University Press...
Aug 19, 2024•44 min•Ep. 345
Toxic polarization is "the problem that eats all other problems... It's the sludge at the base of everything else," says our guest Mónica Guzmán . Think how much progress could be made on the great problems of today if politics were much more about discovering nuance than shouting slogans. This show is our second episode on the work, people, and ideas of the volunteer-led cross-partisan campaign, Braver Angels . In the coming months, we'll report on their initiatives and projects. Americans who ...
Aug 14, 2024•25 min•Ep. 344
In this week’s episode, host Ryan Coonerty sits down with Representative Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, the youngest member of the Oklahoma legislature. Instead of pursuing a high-paying job as a mechanical engineer, Alonso-Sandoval decided to run for office during his senior year of college to serve the community where he grew up. Rep. Alonso-Sandoval talks about his motivation for getting into politics, ideas for drawing more young people to elected office, his advocacy for underserved communities, h...
Aug 12, 2024•39 min•Ep. 343
What are some of the weakest arguments against Kamala Harris's candidacy for president? As our brilliant guest Jonathan Rauch put it, "There's some really stupid sh!t." At the same time, there are some more justified concerns. Let's talk about all of it! We also get into rank prognostication on who the Democratic VP pick will be, as well as how we think the 2024 presidential election will end up. But before we get into all that, we dive into Jon's two most recent pieces in THE ATLANTIC : One fro...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 342
Mike, Ken, and Trey open with a discussion of President Biden’s decision to leave the race and the potential running mates and policies for presumptive nominee Kamala Harris. Ken argues that Biden would have done just fine against Trump and that Harris will also win in November, whereas Trey and Mike are far less bullish on her chances. They all agree that a potential Harris administration would be somewhat to the left of what we’ve seen from Joe Biden. They close the episode by looking at the S...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 341
A.J. Jacobs is a journalist and author. His most recent book is The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning. We discuss how the Founding Fathers prized humility, experimentation, and a willingness to change their own minds. The heart of our democracy is for the community to come together and cooperate. One example is to advocate for democratic reforms, which are nonpartisan. Being apathetic or cynical helps the slide into autocracy. R...
Jul 31, 2024•46 min•Ep. 340
Jeremy Smith returns to The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about Civitech's new product, RunningMate, software for running a political campaign and what he thinks we need to do to fix the ongoing voter registration deficit. Additional Information The Democracy Group listener survey The Great Battlefield Podcast More shows from The Democracy Group...
Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 339
Content note: This episode discusses suicide and sexual violence. After a years-long legal fight from the Department of Homeland Security, a court order finally gave Nick and other investigators access to 33 reports detailing conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. The documents showed a disturbing pattern of abuse that extended far beyond the gates of Adelanto Detention Center, spreading throughout ICE detention facilities across the United States. In this ...
Jul 24, 2024•45 min•Ep. 338
In this week’s episode, Ryan Coonerty sits down with Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan. They reflect on the horrific mass shooting in the representative's community of Highland Park during a 4th of July Parade in 2022 – a timely topic as he returns from a visit to the White House, as he co-chairs the Illinois House Firearm Safety Reform Working Group. Morgan shares his experience working on this crucial issue and the personal ties that ignited his passion for combating gun violence. In ad...
Jul 22, 2024•34 min•Ep. 337
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Jake Grumbach joins Lee and James to consider whether American democracy is in crisis. Grumbach is an associate professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He studies the political economy of the United States, with interests in democratic institutions, labor, federalism, racial and economic inequality, and statistical methods. And he is the author of Laboratories Against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Polit...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 336
Melanie D’Arrigo is the Executive Director of the Campaign for New York Health, which aims to win universal single-payer healthcare for all New Yorkers. We discuss the intersection of democracy and healthcare and what is necessary to create better health outcomes. The New York Health Act is a current bill in the New York State Legislature that would implement a single payer healthcare system in New York, similar to Medicare for All. Instead of accessing health insurance, this bill would provide ...
Jul 15, 2024•51 min•Ep. 335
At colleges across America this spring, thousands of students and many faculty called on their institutions to recognize Israel’s war in Palestine as a genocide, and to disclose their interests in arms, oil and violence. Administrators did not take kindly to the students’ demands or their tactics, and called in the police instead. Today on the show — our final episode for now — historian Lauren Lassabe Shepherd says these events fit a pattern of campus conflict going back decades to the Vietnam ...
Jul 10, 2024•42 min•Ep. 334
Mike and Jay open with a discussion of President Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate. Mike was actually hoping for a worse outcome that would all but force Biden from the race, which he doesn’t think will happen, despite multiple calls for Biden to step aside. Jay wonders how Biden’s closest confidants and top advisors allowed things to get to this point. Mike suggests that Biden may still be able to handle the non-public-facing parts of the job, which Jay doubts, par...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 333
"Disinformation. Spam and Scams. Trolls." For those of us paying attention, one thing is clear: We got problems! Fortunately, Renée DiResta is helping with exactly that by studying online manipulation, and what we can do about it. And yeah, we get quite a primer on the concept of "bespoke realities." Renée DiResta is the Technical Research Manager at Stanford Internet Observatory. In this conversation we delve into the challenges of misinformation, online manipulation, and the impact of algori...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 332
Established in the wake of September 11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was entrusted with protecting the U.S. from national security threats. Since then, much of the agency’s focus has been on the southern border — with tens of thousands of people held in its detention centers on a daily basis. Host Maren Machles explores how this came to be and delves into what happens to people held in immigration detention centers with the presumption that they may be national security threats. An...
Jul 01, 2024•40 min•Ep. 331
Abortion is one of the most passionate, divisive, and emotional issues in the 2024 election campaign. The debate is often dominated by extremes on both sides. But what if passionate pro-life and pro-choice movement leaders could get together in the same room and learn how to disagree better? That is exactly what happened in Massachusetts, beginning in the mid 1990's. Leaders on both sides held secret discussions over the course of several years . These wrenching conversations began in the mid 19...
Jun 26, 2024•28 min•Ep. 330
In this week’s episode, NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan talks with Newport News, VA’s youngest elected mayor Philip Jones. They discuss his first State of the City Address, where he proclaimed 2024 as the Year of the Youth, thanks to his initiatives like Night Nets and the Summer Youth Employment Program, as well as investments in expanded childcare throughout his city. Debbie and Mayor Jones also talk about his journey to becoming an “Education Mayor,” his work on climate justice, and what has su...
Jun 24, 2024•27 min•Ep. 329
Michael Sifry returns to The Great Battlefield podcast to discuss an article he recently published called "Living with VANxiety: The Present and Future of Progressive Movement Tech". Additional Information The Democracy Group listener survey The Great Battlefield Podcast More shows from The Democracy Group
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 328
Madiba Dennie is Deputy Editor and Senior Contributor at the critical legal commentary outlet Balls and Strikes. Her debut book is The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We The People Can Take it Back. We discuss a fresh way to interpret the Constitution. Inclusive Constitutionalism interprets the Constitution in a way that makes inclusive democracy real. By contrast, originalism interprets the meaning of the Constitution as fixed in time in the 1800s. However, the R...
Jun 17, 2024•40 min•Ep. 327
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Congressman John Sarbanes, D-Md., joins Lee to talk about the health of American democracy. Sarbanes has represented Maryland’s third congressional district in the House of Representatives since 2007. He serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and is chair of the Democracy Reform Task Force. Sarbanes was born and raised in Baltimore and has experience working in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. What does it mean to live in a...
Jun 12, 2024•43 min•Ep. 326
We've reached the end of another school year and another season of Democracy Works. Before we go on summer break, Michael Berkman, Chris Beem, and Candis Watts Smith reflect on recent events and what's to come this summer. We do this by taking a look back at some of our previous episodes: The real free speech problem on campus : Penn State's Brad Vivian on the problems with "campus free speech" discourse and media coverage. We discuss how this narrative has been applied to protests about the war...
Jun 10, 2024•37 min•Ep. 325
Simone Leeper litigates a wide range of redistricting-related cases at Campaign Legal Center, challenging gerrymanders and advocating for election systems that guarantee all voters an equal opportunity to influence our democracy. She is the host of Democracy Decoded, a Campaign Legal Center podcast. Liz Joyner is the executive director of the Village Square, a nonprofit dedicated to reviving civic connections across divisions inside American communities. She oversees the Village SquareCast, a Vi...
Jun 07, 2024•15 min•Ep. 324
This week we bring you a special episode from Maggie LeBeau, one of our 2024 Podcast Fellows. Using a solutions-based approach, Uneven Grounds will discuss inequalities in geography and navigate geographic social issues in each episode. Host Maggie LeBeau wants to bring attention to the many problems people across America encounter daily because of where they live with a solution to each of the issues. The first episode explores election inequality and how they are related to geography, such as ...
Jun 05, 2024•25 min•Ep. 323
This week we bring you a special episode from Simran Gupta, one of our 2024 Podcast Fellows. With Simran Gupta’s network of friends from all over the world, Laws Across Borders will explore educational topics like the school systems, technology or academic pressure and how they vary from country to country. The first episode will talk about school environments, touching on both the technological and academic sides.Gupta is a rising high school senior in Georgia She believes that life is all abou...
Jun 03, 2024•49 min•Ep. 322
This week we bring you a special episode from Kayla Anderson, one of our 2024 Podcast Fellows. Make America Great For Everyone will take a deep dive into the American justice system through conversations with policemen, ex-prisoners and people who experienced the injustice firsthand. Host Kayla Anderson will talk about all of the different issues currently plaguing the American system that is supposed to be just, starting with a heartfelt conversation with her brother in the first episode. Ander...
May 31, 2024•43 min•Ep. 321
This week we bring you a special episode from Virginia Jones, one of our 2024 Podcast Fellows. Virginia Jones is a student at the University of South Carolina majoring in Public Relations with a minor in Political Science. A few years ago, she discovered her interest in politics, particularly in political media, and decided to incorporate this passion into her education. When searching for a way to approach political issues, she found podcasts to be the best form because these dialogues helped h...
May 29, 2024•35 min•Ep. 320
This week we bring you a special episode from Aprile Kim, one of our 2024 Podcast Fellows. Drawing from host Aprile Kim’s experience of growing up and living in Guam, Democracy Beyond Borders seeks to explore the complexities of democracy in the modern world and examine the impact of American policies beyond the country's borders. The podcast will take listeners through America's current affairs and political ideas to examine democracy starting with episode 1 where we hear about the contradictor...
May 27, 2024•26 min•Ep. 319
Kelly has worked in nonprofits for many years. She has served in some capacity as a volunteer, board member, or development staff member for over twenty-eight years after teaching middle schoolers in Southern Appalachia. In addition to a BS in education from Appalachian State University, she holds a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University. While new to election administration, she is not new to elections. Kelly served on several local and state election campaigns as a volunteer,...
May 24, 2024•8 min•Ep. 318
