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A new approach to breaking our media silos | Democracy Works Aug 08, 2022

Show notes

It's no secret that there's a partisan divide in the media, but thus far, solutions to bridge that divide have been few and far between. Our guest this week had an idea that seems to be taking hold and building a readership across the political spectrum.

Isaac Saul is the founder and publisher of Tangle, a non-partisan news and politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on one issue each day. He a politics reporter who grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, one of the most politically divided places in the United States. In 2020, he created Tangle in an attempt to get people out of their information bubbles.

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Is it time to rethink how we understand political parties? | Politics in Question Aug 03, 2022

Show notes

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Hans Noel joins Julia and James to talk about political parties. Noel is an associate professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University, where he conducts research on political coalitions, political parties, and ideology. He is the author of Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America, and a co-author of The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform. Noel also blogs on political parties at Mischiefs of Faction and the Monkey Cage.

How have events over the last decade shaped our understanding of political parties? Should we think about parties differently today than how we thought about them ten years ago? Why are the Democratic and Republican parties comprised of certain groups and interests? And does the conventional view of ideological polarization distort political reality when it comes to parties? These are some of the questions Hans, Julia, and James ask in this week’s episode.

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Michael McFaul and Robert Person on Putin, Russia, and the War in Ukraine | Democracy Paradox Aug 01, 2022

Show notes

There are a lot of people quietly who are deeply frustrated with this war. Every rich person in Russia with one or two exceptions are frustrated with this war. I think many of the so-called liberal technocratic elites in the government are frustrated with this war. Lots of regional leaders are frustrated with this war. It's not just the vocal opposition. I think there's a quiet minority and maybe even majority that is exhausted with what Putin has done.

Michael McFaul
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Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, is professor of political science at Stanford University, director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. His most recent book is From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia (2018). Robert Person is associate professor of international relations at the U.S. Military Academy, director of its international affairs curriculum, and faculty affiliate at its Modern War Institute. Their essay "What Putin Fears Most" was published as an online exclusive from the Journal of Democracy in February and was included in the April 2022 issue.
Key Highlights

Introduction 0:48
Personal Account from Michael McFaul 3:16
Putin's Objectives 7:44
What would Russia be like without Putin? 12:22
Challenges for democracy in Ukraine 20:10
Effectiveness of sanctions 24:15
Where is the Russian Revolution going? 27:11

Key Links

Learn more about Michael McFaul

"What Putin Fears Most" by Robert Person and Michael McFaul in the Journal of Democracy

From Cold War To Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia by Michael McFaul

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2022 Primaries and How to Improve Them feat. FairVote | TDG Twitter Spaces Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

A recording from our Twitter Space Event with FairVote

Hosts

Justin Kempf, Host of Democracy Paradox

Guests

David Daley and Deb Otis from FairVote

If you would like to listen and ask questions live, follow us @GroupDemocracy or subscribe to our newsletter are democracygroup.org/newsletter to be the first to know about upcoming events.

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Defunding Disinformation with Claire Atkin of Check My Ads | The Great Battlefield Jul 27, 2022

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Claire Atkin joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about her career and how Check My Ads is working to defund purveyors of disinformation.

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Climate Action: A Progressive and a Conservative Find Common Ground. Bill McKibben and Bob Inglis | Let's Find Common Ground Jul 25, 2022

Show notes

Environmental activist and author Bill McKibben warned the public about the perils of climate change and the damage human activity is causing more than forty years ago. Former South Carolina Republican Congressman Bob Inglis became a climate activist much later, but he is no less passionate. Both differ on politics and who to vote for,

but they agree on the goal of sharply reducing carbon emissions as soon as possible.

Inglis and McKibben join us for this episode of "Let's Find Common Ground". They sound the alarm about the need for urgent action.

Bob Inglis is a conservative Republican and a committed believer in free enterprise capitalism and limited government. He’s executive director of RepublicEN.org, a conservative group that advocates for solutions to climate change.

Bill McKibben is a writer and teacher who has dedicated his life to confronting the climate crisis. He has written a dozen books about the environment, is a distinguished scholar at Middlebury College, and leads the climate campaign group 350.org. Last year Bill launched Third Act, a new campaign aimed at engaging activists over the age of 60

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Inflation! Recession? Untangling the Economy. Megan McArdle | How Do We Fix It? Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

Inflation is through the roof. Stocks are through the floor. Most economists say that a recession is likely to hit soon or is already here. Add to this the economic impact of the Ukraine invasion, an entitlements crisis with the possible bankruptcy of Medicare and Social Security trust funds in the coming years, and today's weird housing market.

In this episode, we discuss all these, plus the tough choices now facing the Federal Reserve, political dysfunction in Washington, disruption of global supply chains, and the roots of the inflation crisis.

Our guest is Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, the author of "The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success."

"The biggest issue is getting the political will to act like grownups," Megan tells us.

"We used to have one party that would try to keep taxes reasonable... and the other party would keep the spending down to match the taxes. Now we're in a situation where everyone gets in and wants to spend all of the money without any regard to discipline."

Also, learn about what Richard's brother knew about Just-in-Time Production, and Jim's Dad understood about monetarism.

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"Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future" with Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns | The Bully Pulpit Jul 18, 2022

Show notes

Center Co-Directors Bob Shrum and Mike Murphy join journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns to discuss their latest book and the degree to which the two-party system has been strained to the point of disintegration.

Featuring:

Jonathan Martin - Co-Author, "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future"; National Political Correspondent, New York Times
Alexander Burns - Co Author, "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future"; National Correspondent, New York Times; Political Analyst, CNN
Bob Shrum - Director, Center for the Political Future; Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics, USC Dornsife
Mike Murphy - Co-Director, Center for the Political Future; NBC Political Analyst

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The Crucial Role of Centrists: Will Hurd | Let's Find Common Ground Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

We live in a world of political extremes, with the far right and far left denigrating each other on a regular basis. But could the future lie with politicians who appeal to everyone else?

Our guest on this show says yes. Former CIA agent and Republican congressman Will Hurd of San Antonio won three terms representing Texas’s 23rd district. He was told he could never it because it was bright blue, while he was red.

Hurd says he succeeded by engaging with everyone, not just voters who shared all his beliefs. “In the media in Washington DC…moderate means middle of the road,” he says. “But in reality, moderates are the ones that do the hard work and get things done because they're the ones that are having to take a philosophy to people that may not identify with it.”

Hurd grew up bi-racial in Texas, which gave him the early experience of finding common ground. In his book American Reboot he outlines how to "get big things done" by focusing on policy, not politics. He also shares his thoughts on what Americans should be worrying about, including losing control of the technology which we use to run our lives.

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How positive and negative freedoms shape democracy | Democracy Works Jul 11, 2022

Show notes

From COVID-19 policies to reproductive rights, conversations about freedom and liberty seem to be front and center in politics and the culture wars. This week, we take a deep dive into the philosophical underpinnings of these concepts and how different interpretations of them impact our ability to sustain a democracy. We also examine how bringing the idea of freedom into political debates can obscure what's really at stake and make it difficult to come to meaningful resolution.

Democracy Works host and McCourtney Institute for Democracy Managing Director Chris Beem talks with John Christman, professor of philosophy, political science, and women's studies at Penn State and director of the Humanities Institute. He is the author of numerous articles and books in social and political philosophy, specializing in topics such as the social conception of the self, theories of justice and oppression, and the idea of freedom.

Christman is the editor of the newly-published Positive Freedom: Past, Present, and Future. The book includes both historical studies of the idea of positive freedom and discussions of its connection to important contemporary issues in social and political philosophy.