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    • MARSHALL GANZ-PEOPLE, POWER, CHANGE: Organizing for Democratic Renewal-lessons of MLK, UFW, Obama ’08

      MARSHALL GANZ worked on organizing campaigns with Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964 and Cesar Chavez and UFW for 16 years, helped devise the grass-roots organizing model for Obama’s 2008 campaign, and teaches organizing and public narrative at Harvard. We talk about his life’s work and his new book PEOPLE, POWER, CHANGE: Organizing for Democratic Renewal. You can learn more at marshallganz.com, hks.harvard.edu, or leadingchangenetwork.org 

      Transcript – Ganz 11.19.2024

       

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    • Good News on the Menu-PAULA DANIELS (2019)-Transforming our food system one county, one school district at a time

      I talk with  PAULA DANIELS, Co-Founder, Chair of the Board of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, and recently announced initial director of the Los Angeles County Office of Food Equity, which aims to address the root causes of food-system problems in the region. We talk about what it takes to pull together elements of business, entrepreneurism, politics, government, science, and more to move the needle on a huge and complex system. The Center uses the power of procurement to create a food system that prioritizes the health and well-being of people, animals, and the environment. As its goals and standards are adopted by a growing national network of major food purchasers such as school districts, the program exerts growing leverage on the larger food system in America. You can learn more at GoodFoodPurchasing.org 

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    • THOM HARTMANN-HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN DREAM: The Demise of the Middle Class & the Roots of MAGA

      In 2024, Republicans won the popular vote for only the second time since 1980. After the worst four years of his life, Trump, running against the best administration for labor in years, won bigger numbers than 2020 among working class voters – including Blacks & Latinos. Hartmann’s new book, THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN DREAM: The Demise of the Middle Class – and How to Rescue Our Future, supplies the backstory to that damaging development. Biden finally dumped neo-liberalsim but voters didn’t know.

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    • ROB JOHNSON & I RESPOND TO ELECTION-Every election now a vote for change. Seeds sown for last 40 years.

      As we have for the last few elections, ROB JOHNSON – Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and host of podcast ECONOMICS & BEYOND – and I offer our post-mortems. Biden’s late withdrawal meant the Dems skipped primaries, debates, and a convention that would have tested candidates and messages. 2024 was another “change” election and they didn’t get the memo. Bad time to be an incumbent. Trump’s message: If you’re angry, vote for me. Turns out a lot of voters were angry. 

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    • She got Alito to confess his politics-LAUREN WINDSOR-new doc-GONZO FOR DEMOCRACY

      LAUREN WINDSOR calls herself an “advocacy journalist”. Her biggest scoops usually come when she goes undercover among right-wing pols and donors to secretly record things they don’t want us to hear. Her accidental truth-tellers include Sam Alito, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, John Eastman, and Ted Cruz. Executive producer of The Undercurrent and executive director of American Family Voices, we talk about her new documentary, GONZO FOR DEMOCRACY. You can learn more at laurenwindsor.com

      Windsor Lauren-10-23-2024-transcript

       

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    • STEVE UJLAKI-Must See Doc-BAD FAITH: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy

      STEPHEN UJLAKI’s documentary BAD FAITH opens with the following text: “Christian Nationalism is a political movement that believes America was founded as a Christian nation privileging Christianity over all other faiths. Masquerading as religion, this ideology exploits scripture and sacred symbols to achieve extremist objectives.” The film lays out the timeline, connects the dots, and makes clear that 1) Christian Nationalism is a political movement first, not a religious one. 2) Since the 1970s, it has been relentless, well funded, absolutely cynical, and frighteningly successful. 3) Christian Nationalists have achieved much of what they set out to do, and, if Trump wins again, have dark plans for more.

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    • GREG PALAST-VIGILANTES INC-GOP takes voter suppression & election theft to next level

      I’ve been talking about voter suppression with GREG PALAST since 2002. Known for his investigative reports for BBC, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone, his new documentary, VIGILANTES INC: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen, narrated by Rosario Dawson and produced by Martin Sheen, reveals that in 43 states individual citizens are able to challenge and remove fellow citizens from voter rolls. You can donate to watch it at gregpalast.com where you can also find Greg’s other documentaries, and his articles and books, including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy – or stream it for free at saveyourvote.org.

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    • WENDELL POTTER-Health Insurance Whistle-Blower-Profits over patients and only getting worse

      I get the dirt from WENDELL POTTER about our broken healthcare system, especially the role of insurance companies, who consistently put profit above the health and lives of patients. Potter walked away from his job at one of the country’s largest health insurers to emerge as a critic of the industry and an advocate of reform. He’s a best-selling author (DEADLY SPIN  and NATION ON THE TAKE), leads the Center for Health and Democracyand publishes HealthCareUncovered on Substack. You can learn more at wendellpotter.com

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    • KEVIN BOYLE, THE SHATTERING: America in the 60s-Are the Silent Majority today’s undecided MidWest voters?

      Here’s my 2022 conversation with National Book Award winner, KEVIN BOYLE, about his book, THE SHATTERING: AMERICA IN THE 1960s. He reminds us that, after the Depression and two World Wars, the Silent Majority craved security not change. I suspect this history lesson offers us a window into the minds and the worldviews of many of the crucial undecided MidWest and Sunbelt voters upon whom this election and our future depends. You can learn more at kevinboylehistory.com
       

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    • ARLIE HOCHSCHILD-STOLEN PRIDE: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right

      ARLIE HOCHSCHILD is the author of best-seller, STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND: Anger & Mourning on the American Right. Five years talking with folks in Southern Louisiana revealed a “deep story” that holds their political contradictions together – they’re waiting in line for the American Dream and Democrats help others – Blacks, Latinos, LGBTQ – cut in front of them. In her new book, STOLEN PRIDE: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, she takes readers to Pike County, Kentucky. In the nation’s whitest and second poorest congressional district , she looks again at the intersection of jobs, culture, emotion, and politics. 

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