Daniel Alvarenga is a journalist who covers issues pertaining to immigration, racial equity, and Latinx cultures – with a special emphasis on Central America and its diasporas. He’s also the English language podcast host of Humo: Murder and Silence in El Salvador. We discuss the intersection of foreign policy, immigration policy, and democracy. US foreign interference in Central America has had a huge impact on destabilizing the region. During the civil war in El Salvador between 1980 and 1992, ...
Aug 15, 2024•26 min•Ep 307•Transcript available on Metacast 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 08, 2024•46 min•Ep 306•Transcript available on Metacast Daria Dawson is the Executive Director of America Votes, which coordinates more than 400 partners to engage and mobilize voters for elections up and down the ballot across the country. We discuss why 2024 is - yet again - the most important election of our lifetimes. The biggest threat to American democracy is fascism and thus the most important issue in this election is preserving our democracy. Of course, democracy and protecting democracy is a process and never just one election. The top prio...
Aug 01, 2024•39 min•Ep 305•Transcript available on Metacast Alissa Quart is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream. We discuss what it really means to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps in America, “the land of the self-made.” Humans are biologically wired to be interdependent. In fact, achievement is often accompanied with isolation and loneliness. Alissa reminds us that “People who are fighting for democracy shouldn't be leaning into their own s...
Jul 25, 2024•41 min•Ep 304•Transcript available on Metacast 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 18, 2024•46 min•Ep 303•Transcript available on Metacast Nationly is a limited election series podcast by Immigrantly Media. Join hosts Sara Sadhwani and Juan Diego Ramirez as they offer their unique perspectives on swing states pivotal in determining the 2024 election outcomes. Focusing on minority communities—specifically, immigrants and communities of color—'Nationly' uncovers the issues that truly matter to these voters, ranging from global events like the situation in Gaza to local races such as the showdown between Kari Lake v. Ruben Gallego. Th...
Jul 10, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 04, 2024•51 min•Ep 302•Transcript available on Metacast Wajahat Ali is a Daily Beast columnist and the co-host of Democracy-ish. He's also the author of Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American . Together, Mila and Waj discuss what it means to be American and to love a country that often doesn’t love them back. Defense of democracy continues to resonate as a kitchen table issue for all Americans. Mainstream media is not properly serving the public, whether that’s about fully informing the public on t...
Jun 27, 2024•59 min•Ep 301•Transcript available on Metacast Robert L. Tsai is the author of Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer’s Pursuit of Equal Justice for All and Professor of Law and Harry Elwood Warren Memorial Scholar at Boston University School of Law. We discuss the death penalty, legal representation for the indigent, and equality under law. People do see the flaws in the criminal justice system. They are often aware that aside from major metropolitan areas, public defenders are not well funded. Elsewhere, there is a patchwork of sub-par solution...
Jun 20, 2024•45 min•Ep 300•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel Vindman is the co-host of the Suburban Women Problem podcast and she has her finger on the pulse on all things politics for American women. We discuss abortion, Trump's conviction, Ukraine, and relational organizing. The goal in this year’s election is maintaining American democracy. Relational organizing is about talking to people about what's going on, making sure they know and understand. Being a reliable source of good information and then sharing it is very powerful — and should not ...
Jun 13, 2024•53 min•Ep 299•Transcript available on Metacast 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 06, 2024•40 min•Ep 298•Transcript available on Metacast Jessica González-Rojas is the New York State Assembly Member representing the 34th District in New York City. We discuss the New York State budget and how she represents her constituents on housing, food insecurity, and healthcare. The number one issue for constituents is housing, ranging from vermin problems and bad landlords to high rents. Food insecurity became more apparent during the pandemic and continues to be rampant. Access to healthcare is still uneven and passing the New York Health A...
May 30, 2024•46 min•Ep 297•Transcript available on Metacast Debbie Cox Bultan is the CEO of the NewDEAL, a network of 150 rising state and local officials, and the NewDEAL Forum, which identifies and promotes innovative state and local pro-growth progressive policies. We discuss what it means to deliver good governance at the state and local level. We have a big problem with our democracy right now, and it stems from people believing that the government is to blame for all of our problems. In 24-hour media cycles that fill airtime with the loudest voices...
May 23, 2024•40 min•Ep 296•Transcript available on Metacast Bill Weir is CNN’s Chief Climate Correspondent and the author of Life As We Know It (Can Be). We discuss Carbon Godzilla, decarbonization, and the many existing and accessible technologies to mitigate climate change. Decarbonization must start with big industry, but there are many ways for individuals to make a difference, too. Clean energy can be had with tax incentives, reducing costs for consumers. Energy efficient homes – passive houses and innovations in heating and cooling – reduce or even...
May 16, 2024•44 min•Ep 295•Transcript available on Metacast Mandela Barnes is the president of Power to the Polls Wisconsin. He also served as Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 2019 to 2023 and is the co-founder of The Long Run PAC. We discuss how grassroots voter outreach connects the dots for the voters on policy that impacts their lives. Voters need to know what politicians have done for their constituents and why it is worth their time to vote. In order to be a part of the democratic process and to make things better, citizens need to show up on ...
May 09, 2024•43 min•Ep 294•Transcript available on Metacast Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is the Policy Director at the American Immigration Council, a non-profit organization that strives to strengthen the United States by shaping immigration policies and practices. We discuss how out-of-date immigration laws are and why the only cure is comprehensive immigration reform from Congress. US immigration laws have not changed since the 1990s. The current border enforcement and asylum system dates back to 1996, and in fact, one of the reasons that asylum seekers are...
May 02, 2024•45 min•Ep 293•Transcript available on Metacast Jonathan M. Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry and the Director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. His most recent book is What We’ve Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms. We discuss lax gun laws and gun ownership as an identity. The public health narrative is about how guns pose a health risk, a threat to mortality to our bodies. Those who vote based on guns see guns as symbols of power or protection. ...
Apr 25, 2024•52 min•Ep 292•Transcript available on Metacast Philip K. Howard is the founder and chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for simplifying government, and has advised both parties on needed reforms. His latest book is Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society. Every community depends on democracy to deliver, whether that’s government services, schools, hospitals, or housing. Howard argues that a democracy depends on people being able to take responsibility, to interpret guidelines ...
Apr 18, 2024•39 min•Ep 291•Transcript available on Metacast Danielle Allen is the author of Justice by Means of Democracy . She is also the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. We discuss power sharing liberalism as a new paradigm in the practice of democracy. Whether it’s through ballot measures to introduce ranked choice voting or open primaries, we are experiencing great innovation in democra...
Apr 11, 2024•38 min•Ep 290•Transcript available on Metacast Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and the author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. We discuss how the Constitution is a framework for a productive conversation for people with fundamentally different points of view. For the Founders, personal self government was a pre-requisite for political self government. In order to deliberate with fellow citizens and vote wisely, citiz...
Apr 04, 2024•39 min•Ep 289•Transcript available on Metacast Braxton Brewington is the Press Secretary of the Debt Collective. We discuss the origins of the Debt Collective in the Rolling Jubilee and its history in canceling student debt. Their example is a powerful model for canceling student debt, which continues to be important for all Americans in this election cycle and beyond. Education is a public good, yet the cost of college over the past couple of decades has risen eight times faster than the average wages. The average student debt is $30,000-$3...
Mar 28, 2024•46 min•Ep 288•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel Bitecofer is a political scientist and election forecaster turned political strategist. Her most recent book is Hit ’Em Where it Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game. We discuss why it's time for Democratic Party candidates to embrace negative partisanship in their campaigns. Half of America’s electorate doesn't vote – even in the most consequential elections – because they aren't interested in politics. The Knight Foundation took a very large sample surve...
Mar 21, 2024•49 min•Ep 287•Transcript available on Metacast Richard L. Hasen is Professor of Law and Political Science at UCLA and director of UCLA Law’s Safeguarding Democracy Project. We discuss his most recent book, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy. A country that believes that its people are equal should ensure equal voting rights. However, the US Constitution does not currently protect the right to vote. All adult non-felon citizens should have a constitutional right to vote where they reside. Tha...
Mar 14, 2024•48 min•Ep 286•Transcript available on Metacast Phillip Atiba Solomon is the chair and Carl I. Hovland Professor of African American Studies, Professor of Psychology at Yale University, and co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity. We discuss policing equity, investing in communities, and taking police out of the mental health crisis business. Policing equity is multi-faceted and requires collaboration with communities. Proven solutions to reduce violence include anti-poverty investments, stopping low level traffic stops, sending non-poli...
Mar 07, 2024•49 min•Ep 285•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Wang is the Director of the Electoral Innovation Lab and a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University. We discuss how we can better understand the current state of district maps across the US, and how they can be made more fair and representative of their constituents. Gerrymandering is not only unfair but also anti-democratic. It favors one party over another, effectively shutting out the possibility of accurate representation in a legislative body. The current electoral system force...
Feb 29, 2024•40 min•Ep 284•Transcript available on Metacast Jess Piper is the Executive Director of Blue Missouri and the host of the Dirt Road Democrats podcast. We discuss the reality of living in rural Missouri, the state of education, and the dearth of Democratic candidates across the state. Rural candidates have little to no support from the state party, but Republicans enjoy the support of local churches. One-third of Missouri is rural, but there is not a single elected Democrat representing these areas. Uncontested races are bad for democracy and ...
Feb 22, 2024•40 min•Ep 283•Transcript available on Metacast Ken Harbaugh is the host of the Burn the Boats podcast, a former United States Navy pilot, and executive producer of Against All Enemies, a documentary film that explores the critical role of military veterans in domestic violent extremist groups. We discuss why veterans are equally sought out to work in Fortune 500 companies and to be in leadership positions of extremist groups. Most veterans make a successful transition to civilian life, but a small minority become radicalized. Anger and resen...
Feb 15, 2024•37 min•Ep 282•Transcript available on Metacast Cynthia Richie Terrell is the founder and executive director of RepresentWomen. We discuss institutional reforms that can reduce the barriers for women to run, win, and govern. There are approximately 520,000 elected office holders in the U.S., but incumbency is the biggest barrier to electing more women. Term limits make more seats open to competition. In addition, ranked choice voting eliminates vote splitting if there is more than one woman on the ballot. In NYC, for example, the combination ...
Feb 08, 2024•41 min•Ep 281•Transcript available on Metacast Anat Shenker-Osorio is the host of the Words to Win By podcast and the Principal of ASO Communications. We discuss the winning messages for 2024 and the importance for pro-democracy voters to turn out on Election Day. 2024 is yet another do-or-die election for American democracy, and thus the first and most important message to Americans is to vote. We need to marshal a sense of defiance to participate because if we don’t decide for ourselves, someone else will decide for us. This election is a ...
Feb 01, 2024•53 min•Ep 280•Transcript available on Metacast Marietje Schaake is International Policy Director at Stanford University Cyber Policy Center, International Policy Fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and also serves on the UN’s A.I. Advisory Body. We take a deep dive into how the digital revolution can still fulfill its promise of a democratic revolution. In other words: make A.I. work for democracy. Over the past 20 years, power became more and more concentrated in the hands of big tech companies, while ...
Jan 25, 2024•43 min•Ep 279•Transcript available on Metacast 
