Does Congress promote partisan gridlock?
Some of the most talked-about issues in Congress these days are not about the substance of policies or bills being debated on the floor. Instead, the focus is on the partisan conflict between the part...
17 Feb 202040min
How states are working to keep your vote safe
Elections are the bedrock of any democracy. Without confidence in the process or the results, confidence in democracy itself is vulnerable. With the primary season underway and the general election ju...
10 Feb 202036min
Primaries, parties, and the public
The 2020 primary season officially begins today with the Iowa caucuses, followed by the New Hampshire primary on February 11 and Nevada and South Carolina later this month. It’s easy to forget that th...
3 Feb 202040min
The connective tissue of democracy
The Women’s March 2020 was held in cities across the country on January 18. What began as a conversation on social media has evolved into a network of groups and organizations that are united in oppos...
27 Jan 202036min
How the Tea Party and the Resistance are upending politics
Since 2008, the Tea Party and the Resistance have caused some major shake-ups for the Republican and Democratic parties. The changes fall outside the scope of traditional party politics, and outside t...
20 Jan 202041min
A 2020 preview
This week, we begin a new year and a new season with a look ahead what 2020 will mean for democracy in the United States and around the world. We know that there will be a Census and an election, but ...
13 Jan 202035min
Grassroots organizing to “reboot” democracy [rebroadcast]
Happy New Year! Our winter break continues with a rebroadcast from fall 2018 with Lara Putnam on grassroots organizing in suburban America. This episode was recorded before the 2018 midterms, but man...
6 Jan 202036min
E.J. Dionne on making America empathetic again [rebroadcast]
While we enjoy a holiday break, we are rebroadcasting an episode with E.J. Dionne that was recorded in March 2019. The McCourtney Institute for Democracy brought Dionne to Penn State for a talk on “pr...
30 Des 201935min
