I can’t get Plato’s Paradox out of my head: Democracy inevitably leads to tyranny. The rich always want to get richer and the poor will follow demagogues who promise to overthrow the rich.I first learned of Plato’s pessimistic prophesy  In ASTRA TAYLOR’S documentary WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? and her companion book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone.  Here’s our 2020 conversation. We explore democracy’s early roots as well as its current embattled state. Next week I’ll respond to the election with Rob Johnson of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

November 8th is the last day to vote in the current elections. Our democracy is under threat as is the availability, validity, accuracy, and reliability of voting and vote-counting. Between closing poll sites, purging voter rolls, and putting obstacles in the way of voting by mail, some states are going to great lengths to keep you from voting. I talk with DAVID DALEY, senior fellow at FairVote.org, author of RATF**KED (gerrymandering) and UNRIGGED (electoral reforms) re the good news and bad news regarding our upcoming mid—terms.

The final day to vote – what used to be Election Day – is just over a week away. Here’s my conversation with investigative journalist GREG PALAST recorded prior to election day 2020. He laid out voter suppression efforts – closing poll sites, purging voter rolls, manipulating voting machines, and putting obstacles in the way of voting by mail – that The Trump administration and many state governments used to keep Americans from voting. Yet turnout broke records. Sadly Republican tactics are the same this year and we assume they’ve learned from their mistakes. We won’t know how well till the votes are counted – and certified.