Original Air Date: 11/10/2020
Today we take a look at the long and shifting history of the myth of democracy in America. We've never had it since the beginning but the reasons have shifted, ebbed and flowed over time. Now, in the midst of an attempted slow-motion coup, we look back at this most central American myth.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
Transcript
BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Clips and Shows + No Ads!)
Join our Discord community!
SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: "Let the People Pick the President" The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College - Democracy Now! - Air Date 10-30-20
Two of the last three presidents — George W. Bush and Donald Trump — came to office after losing the popular vote. "The Framers who met at the Constitutional Convention really had no idea what they were doing when they established how to pick a president"
Ch. 2: The Second Revolution - Scene On Radio - Air Date 2-19-20
After the Civil War, a surprising coalition tried to remake the United States into a real multiracial democracy for the first time. Reconstruction, as the effort was called, brought dramatic change to America. For a while.
Ch. 3: Democracy: Past, Present... and Future? - The Laura Flanders Show - Air Date 6-26-19
Don't remember the past? Does that mean you're condemned to repeat it? What does our country's past tell us about our present— and how can it help us imagine a better future? This week, two leading thinkers on the tricky challenges of democracy.
Ch. 4: More Democracy - Scene on Radio - Air Date 6-10-20
What will it take to make the United States a more fully functioning democracy, and how can we, as citizens, bring about that change?
By host and producer John Biewen, with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika.
SEE FULL SHOW NOTES
TAKE ACTION
GASenate.com
NewGeorgiaProject.org
BlackVotersMatterFund.org
VoteRiders.org
ACLUGA.org
Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com
Bonus Sample #299 Selling Bliss
#1249 Understanding the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians (Throwback)
#1622 Capitalism Culture Catastrophes On Land, Sea, And In The Sky - Baltimore Bridge Collapse, Boeing Blowout, and the Continuing Threat to Railway Workers
#1621 How Democrats Lost Their Way On Economics And Are Starting To Find It Again
Bonus Sample #292 Someone is Wrong on the Internet
#1620 Threatening the 2024 Election to Subvert Democracy, from Legal Maneuvers in Congress and Unconstitutional Congressional Maps to Violent Threats Against Election Workers
Bonus Sample #297 No Laughing Matter
#1619 A Guide to Protests Against Injustice from the Peaceful to the Deadly
Bonus Sample #296 Coping: Magic Mushrooms, Bath Time, Perpetual Therapy, and Pain Killers
#1463 People Are Waking Back Up To The Need For Labor Unions (Throwback)
#1618 Forget Equality, Embrace the Feminism of Freedom - Breaking entirely free from the structures of White supremacy and heteropatriarchy
Bonus Sample #295 Cause it's all about control
#1617 The Profitable and Political Moral Panic Around Trans People: Debunking Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, Groomers, and Detransitioning Misconceptions
#1616 The Party of Putin and the Propaganda Leading the GOP to Trump and the US to Russian-Style Autocracy
Bonus Sample #294 Answering men's cry for help
#1165 To Exist is to Resist: Life and Activism in Occupied Palestine Working Toward Rights and Democracy For All in Israel (Throwback)
#1163 Strange Bedfellows: Looking at why Ethno-Nationalists Admire Israel and the Violence Inflicted on Gaza (Throwback)
Bonus Sample: #293 I love you, man
#1615 Envisioning a Leftisț Economic Future of Postcapitalism, High-Tech Automation, Universal Basic Income and a World (Mostly) Without Work
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Tiny Desk Concerts - Video
60 Minutes
Left, Right & Center
The Axe Files with David Axelrod
Kickass News