Bill Shireman, founder of In This Together , joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss the divisive political environment within which we find ourselves... and what can be done about it. Mr. Shireman is an author, social entrepreneur, environmental policy innovator, and serial political activist. He is the President and Founder of Future 500 , a non-profit that strives to build trust between companies, advocates, investors, and philanthropists to advance business for the common good... ...
Oct 05, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast State Senator Brian Jones joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss California politics. Senator Jones represents the 38th District that covers the vast majority of San Diego County. He previously served six years in the State Assembly before being term-limited under California law and also served as a member of the Santee City Council both before and after his term in the State Assembly. He currently is the Vice Chair of three Senate committees and sits on four other committees as well...
Sep 21, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and the author of Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government Is Smarter, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to examine the reality, scope, and impact of political ignorance. Professor Somin is a broadly published author and political commentator whose work has been featured by virtually every major media outlet both in print and on the air. His book provides a deep dive into the sad state of voting in the United States a...
Aug 24, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ross C. Anderson, known to most as “Rocky” Anderson, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about politics and the Justice Party . Mr. Anderson served consecutive terms as the 33rd mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, from 2000 to 2008. Upon leaving office, he founded High Road for Human Rights that now functions through the Justice Party, which he helped form in 2011. In 2012, Mr. Anderson served as that Party's presidential candidate, drawing attention to is...
Jul 06, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Scott Greytak, Director of Advocacy for Transparency International U.S. , joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about that organization’s war on corruption. Transparency International U.S. (“TI U.S.”)is part of the world’s oldest and largest coalition against corruption with national chapters in more than 100 countries. Its purpose is to “give voices to victims and witnesses of corruption, and work with governments, businesses, and citizens to stop the abuse of entrusted power.” Mr. Gr...
Jun 08, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brian Mistrot, Founder and President of One Nation Movement , joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about his new political organization. Mr. Mistrot has an interesting background in politics. In 2015, he founded a political Party known as American Moderates. Then, he merged it with other established Parties from across the nation to form the Alliance Party, which is now the fifth largest political Party in the country. After serving as that Party’s National Cha...
May 25, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Maxsenti, co-host of the podcast Front and Center with Steve and Michael and an advisor to the new Common Sense Party of California , joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about the podcast and the novel new party that is trying to shake things up in California. Mr. Maxsenti is a political activist who has been at the forefront of a number of initiatives designed to overcome the political divide. Along with his political interests, he also brings a strong business perspective h...
May 04, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gabe Fleisher, the founder of Wake Up to Politics , joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about delivering political news in a meaningful and unbiased way. Mr. Fleisher is a bit of a political prodigy who became interested in politics during the 2008 presidential campaign at the age of six. Three years later, as a more experienced aficionado of the space, he launched a newsletter that first reached an audience of one (his mother) but now starts the days of over 50,000 subscribers in ev...
Apr 20, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Honorable David M. Walker joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss our country’s foreign and domestic economic challenges and President Biden’s proposed budget, and he certainly has the background to do it. For nearly ten years, Mr. Walker served as Comptroller General of the United States and head of the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) under Presidents Clinton and Bush (43). In addition to serving these appointments for Democratic and Republican...
Apr 06, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Isaac Saul, the founder of Tangle, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about Tangle and media bias. Mr. Saul is an experienced political reporter and an accomplished journalist. In 2016, he was named by Yahoo News as one of the 16 people whose writing shaped the 2016 election, and in 2020, Forbes Magazine recognized him as one of the 1,000 “upstart entrepreneurs redefining the American dream.” His newsletter and podcast, Tangle , is an independent, ad-free, subscriber-supported newsl...
Mar 23, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University, and the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to explore migration between cities, states, countries, and even within the private sector to escape government barriers, overreach, and oppression. Professor Somin is a broadly published author and political commentator whose work has been featured by virtually every major media outlet both in print and on the air. His ne...
Mar 09, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Andy Moore, Executive Director of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR), joins host T. J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss that organization’s progress toward attaining nonpartisan reform. Mr. Moore serves as an entrepreneur-in-residence with Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma, and he is also the founder of Let’s Fix This , which is focused upon building civic engagement and power for political reform. Given Mr. Moore’s diverse educational background (BS...
Feb 23, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shawn Griffiths, National Editor of the IVN Network and the host of Toppling the Duopoly , joins T. J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss voting rights, presidential debates, and electoral reform from a practical perspective. Beyond his responsibilities as IVN’s National Editor, he also is an election reform expert who collaborates with the leaders of related movements from across the nation. After a brief discussion of some of the subjects and guest that have been featured on Toppling the Duopo...
Feb 09, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Renowned democratic strategist Joe Trippi joins host T. J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to explore a variety of critical political issues. Mr. Trippi brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the show. He has worked on many Presidential, Gubernatorial, and United States House and Senate campaigns and has been a regular commentator on a wide variety of network news and opinion shows. He is currently the host of That Trippi Show and recently joined The Lincoln Project, which is usually cast as a c...
Jan 20, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast John Gable, co-founder and CEO of AllSides.com and AllSidesForSchools.org , joins host T. J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss the importance of learning how to reach a factual conclusion rather than a partisan one. In a world in which biased representations often carry the day, these two organizations strive to expose their audiences to a range of opinions. Mr. Gable begins the discussion with a reflection upon his upbringing as a Republican in the blue state of Kentucky (as it is now and was ...
Dec 01, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast John Daniel Hull, IV, founder and partner of the D.C. law firm of Hull McQuire PC, joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to share his political experiences and observations from inside the Beltway. Mr. Hull is a distinguished attorney who, as a Democrat, served as a Legislative Assistant to a congressional Republican before beginning his career as a litigating attorney. In recent years, his political affiliation has shifted to a more conservative point of view, and he explains what drove hi...
Nov 17, 2021•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pearce Godwin, founder and CEO of the Listen First Project and the #ListenFirst Coalition , joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss what is driving the political divide and how to fix it. After working for the United States Senate and serving as a national political consultant for presidential and statewide campaigns, Mr. Godwin traveled to Africa with a relief organization to gain a fresh perspective. On a late-night bus trip between Uganda and Kenya, he reflected upon the politic...
Nov 03, 2021•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jeanne Sheehan Zaino, Ph.D., joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss the structural challenges of the Constitution that have contributed to the growing political stalemate in our Nation’s capital. Dr. Sheehan Zaino is a Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Iona College and a regular contributor to Bloomberg Television and Radio. She is also the author of several books, including her latest, American Democracy in Crisis: The Case for Rethinking Mad...
Oct 13, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Honorable David M. Walker joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss a myriad of issues that are impacting the United States’ economy. Mr. Walker is the former Comptroller General of the United States and CEO of the United States Government Accountability Office under Presidents Clinton and Bush (43). Most recently, he served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Economics at the United States Naval Academy. Having worked for presidents of both major parties, Mr. Walker i...
Sep 29, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Nevins, co-founder and chair of the Bridge Alliance , joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss the Bridge Alliance and two of its most ambitious new initiatives: Citizen Connect and The Fulcrum . Mr. Nevins is a very successful businessperson who has always been interested in leadership. That latter passion attracted him to the world of politics, which often fell short in that area. He recognized the need to bring people together and became a strong advocate for closing the po...
Sep 15, 2021•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast John Cox, Republican candidate for Governor of California, joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss the importance of the upcoming gubernatorial recall vote in California. Mr. Cox was the Republican nominee and runner-up for governor in 2018. He now is involved in a two-step process in pursuit of that same office: (1) Will the current governor, Gavin Newsom, be recalled; and (2) If so, will Mr. Cox be able to defeat the other 45 candidates running for Governor? Mr. Cox provides the ...
Sep 08, 2021•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Aaron Hamlin, Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Center for Election Science , joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss Approval Voting as an alternative to traditional Plurality Voting and the emerging Ranked Choice Voting system. Mr. Hamlin is a strong proponent of Approval Voting and offers research conducted by the Center along with examples of how it has fared in real world applications. Mr. Hamlin is an attorney with two additional graduate degrees in the social sciences...
Sep 01, 2021•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Allman and Ty Humes join T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss their experiences serving on the San Dieguito Union High School District’s Board of Trustees. Mr. Allman is an elected Trustee while Mr. Humes was unanimously approved to serve as a provisional appointee to complete the term of a Trustee who had resigned. Within months of the start of their service, both were challenged by the San Dieguito Faculty Association (a.k.a. the Teachers’ Union) – Mr. Allman by recall and M...
Aug 11, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Laurence Kotlikoff, a Professor of Economics at Boston University, joins T. J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to examine the past and present economic policies of our Nation. Dr. Kotlikoff is the author of 18 books on economics and is an active columnist for a myriad of publications including Bloomberg, The Economist, the Financial Times, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. He is extremely knowledgeable in the area of political economics having run for president in 2012 and 2016 as well as hav...
Jul 28, 2021•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael O'Neil, U.S. Communications Manager for the Green Party, joins T.J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss the Party’s past, present, and future. Mr. O’Neil has over 15 years of political communications experience and has served the Green Party in a variety of capacities for the past 12 years, including roles as Assistant to the Campaign Manager for Dr. Jill Stein’s 2016 presidential campaign and co-manager of that campaign's Brooklyn, NY Office. He also performed significant roles f...
Jul 07, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jeff Rasley, a committed philanthropist and social activist, joins T. J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss his new book, America’s Existential Crisis: Our Inherited Obligation to Native Nations . Mr. Rasley, the author of 11 books, describes how he was drawn to examine the plight of Native Americans through two unique family ties as well as a visit to the Black Hills. Mr. Rasley’s ancestry includes a relative who was in command of K Troop for the 7th Cavalry the day it participate...
Jun 23, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast United States Postal Service Governor Amber McReynolds joins T. J. O’Hara to discuss the challenges of the Postal Service, its role in facilitating in-home voting, and the 2020 election in general. As a former Director of Elections for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and the CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, Ms. McReynolds is one of our Nation’s leading experts on election policy and administration. She now turns her sights on restoring the USPS to its former level of excellen...
Jun 09, 2021•30 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Nick Brana, Founder and National Coordinator of the Movement for a People’s Party , joins T. J. O’Hara, host of Deconstructed , to discuss the organization’s evolving platform and the progress it is making. The movement seeks to create a major new progressive populist political party in the United States. Mr. Brana talks about the genesis of the movement and its ties to frustrations that began to arise during Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign; a campaign for which he served as i...
May 26, 2021•29 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Shawn Griffiths joins host T. J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss Georgia’s controversial new election law. Mr. Griffiths is a nationally recognized expert in political reform and voting rights and the host of Toppling the Duopoly , a show that follows the historic movement to give power to all voters, including at the ballot box and in the court room. He is also the editor of the IVN Network where, over the past nine years, he’s covered and published breaking news stories related to refo...
Apr 21, 2021•31 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast County Commissioner Mark Jerrell joins host T. J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss the challenges elected officials face as they try to expand voter participation, address social issues, and deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two also explore what true political leadership requires and how critical conversations need be entertained to address complex issues like race. Mr. Jerrell currently represents District 4 on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners in North Carol...
Mar 24, 2021•28 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast 
