The soul of democracy
As we've heard from Carol Anderson and others on this show, the fight for voting rights often breaks down along racial and partisan lines. Desmond Meade saw that as a problem and set out to change it ...
22 Nov 202137min
Jonathan Haidt on democracy's moral foundations [rebroadcast]
Jonathan Haidt is part of the newly-announced University of Austin, created in response to what its founders deem a lack of viewpoint diversity among college faculty. Haidt was beginning to explore th...
15 Nov 202141min
Why social media is so polarizing — and what we can do about it
In an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. We use social media as a mirror to decipher our place...
8 Nov 202144min
What makes a campaign deplorable?
Political campaigns in the United States, especially those for the presidency, can be nasty—very nasty. And while we would like to believe that the 2020 election was an aberration, insults, invective,...
1 Nov 202142min
Fighting for democracy in the GOP
As another election cycle approaches, moderates in the Republican Party have some choices to make. Will they continue to fight Trumpism from within? Or break out to form a new political party, perhaps...
25 Okt 202135min
Tom Nichols on democracy's worst enemy
Over the past 30 years, citizens of democracies who claim to value freedom, tolerance, and the rule of law have increasingly embraced illiberal politicians and platforms on both the right and the left...
18 Okt 202144min
Independent commissions alone can't create fair maps
Gerrymandering is one of the topics we've discussed most on this show, with good reason. But those conversations mostly stopped at the solution of creating independent redistricting commissions to dra...
11 Okt 202144min
Voter suppression doesn't repeat, but it rhymes
Carol Anderson's book One Person, No Vote was written before COVID-19, but many of the patterns she discussed are more salient than ever as states enact new voting restrictions ahead of the 2022 midte...
4 Okt 202144min
