How do we resist Minority Rule? STEVEN HILL, DemocracySOS – 10 STEPS TO REPAIR DEMOCRACY
Written on August 9th, 2022Republicans have won the national vote for President only once since 1988, yet they’ve held the White House for 12 of those years and appointed 6 of 9 Supreme Court justices, who have just ruled against the majority of Americans on religion, guns, climate, and women’s rights. Here’s my new conversaiton with STEVEN HILL, author of 10 STEPS TO REPAIR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY and co-founder of FairVote about one of our gravest and most systemic problems, Minority Rule. Learn more at Fairvote.org, steven-hill.com and his frequent newsletters at democracysos.substack.com
Two Black Giants-1) BILL RUSSELL (2010), 2) CORNEL WEST (2009)
Written on August 5th, 2022The greatest winner in the history of team sports, BILL RUSSELL died this week at 88. Russell’s Celtics won 11 NBA championships in his 13 years. He was voted MVP 5 times by his peers, was the first Black head coach in a major US sport, and his legacy as a man of principle may be even greater than as an athlete. Here’s my 2010 conversation with ARAM GOUDSOUZIAN on his book, KING OF THE COURT: BILL RUSSELL AND THE BASKETBALL REVOLUTION. In the second half, you’ll hear my 2009 conversation with CORNEL WEST, teacher, philosopher, author, activist, and public intellectual on his memoir, BROTHER WEST. One of my favorite all-time guests. West entered Harvard College a few months after Russell’s retirement from the NBA.
Can we count on the Dems? MICHAEL KAZIN, WHAT IT TOOK TO WIN: A History of the Democratic Party
Written on July 27th, 2022Former 60s radical and longtime editor of Dissent, MICHAEL KAZIN, has written a history of the Democratic Party. Acknowledging their challenging mix of constituencies and their messaging and policy failures, he believes they are at their best – and the US is the better for it – when they articulate and deliver on what he terms “moral capitalism” – an economy and a society that works for working and middle class Americans. The high point was the New Deal era of the 1930s-1960s. Can they win elections by playing that role again? Can they do it soon enough and well enough to save democracy and deal with the major crises we face?
How can progressives win in rural US? CHLOE MAXMIN & CANYON WOODWARD, DIRT ROAD REVIVAL
Written on July 14th, 2022When the American electoral system was created, over 95% of Americans lived in rural communities. Today fewer than 20% do. The 20 senators from the 10 most populous states – home to half the US population – make up only a fifth of the US Senate. When, the solution to minority rule, exemplified by the Senate filibuster and the radical 6-3 Supreme Court, is to vote – then finding a successful way to connect with, win over, and represent rural voters is more essential than ever. CHLOE MAXMIN, a progressive, has won two elections to the state legislature in rural Maine. In DIRT ROAD REVIVAL, she and campaign manager CANYON WOODWARD share their approach to reversing the slide of rural voters to the GOP.
When the news is fast, furious, stressful-JON KABAT ZINN, COMING TO OUR SENSES: HEALING OURSELVES AND THE WORLD THROUGH MINDFULNESS
Written on July 8th, 2022When the news is fast, furious, and stressful – radically destructive Supreme Court rulings, mass murders, Omicron variants, Russia’s war on Ukraine, inflation, climate crisis, etc. – here’s my 2005 conversation with JON KABAT ZINN, best-selling author of WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE about his book, COMING TO OUR SENSES: HEALING OURSELVES AND THE WORLD THROUGH MINDFULNESS. Kabat-Zinn is as responsible as anyone for mindfulness going mainstream. Over 200 medical centers and clinics nationwide and abroad now use his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
