Air Date 5/9/2023
Today, we take a look at the hyper-polarization of our era and the anti-democratic instincts of the right taking hold in state legislatures. Building on a decade of gerrymandering and voter suppression within a structurally undemocratic American system that has helped Republicans create minority rule in many places and unearned super-majorities in others, they have now turned to simply ejecting their elected political opponents from fully representing their constituents.
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Transcript
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Long division: America’s busy state legislatures - The Intelligence from The Economist - Air Date 2-9-23
America’s Congress may be gridlocked, but its state legislatures certainly aren’t.
Ch. 2: GOP legislatures gaming elections, suppressing voting - The BradCast - Air Date 5-4-23
In Ohio, Republicans are pushing a scheme to raise the qualification threshold for ballot initiatives before voters can mobilize to stop them.
Ch. 3: Banned MT Dem Zooey Zephyr: Silencing me is 'using decorum as a tool of oppression' - The Last Word - Air Date 4-26-23
MSNBC's Ali Velshi reports on the vote Wednesday by Montana House Republicans to ban Democratic State Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is trans, after she spoke out against anti-trans legislation.
Ch. 4: Have State Legislatures Gone Rogue? - The New Yorker Radio Hour - Air Date 5-5-23
The story of two lawmakers expelled from the Tennessee legislature captured headlines across the country.
Ch. 5: Deciding the Fate of Democracy in North Carolina - The Laura Flanders Show - Air Date 5-7-23
So far, 27 people in North Carolina have been indicted in connection with the effort to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th.
Ch. 6: “Courage Is Contagious”: Zooey Zephyr & Justin Jones on the GOP’s Silencing of State Lawmakers - Democracy Now! - Air Date 4-28-23
Tennessee’s Justin Jones and Montana’s Zooey Zephyr, two Democratic state lawmakers who were both punished by their Republican-led legislatures for peaceful protests, say the only way to fight such anti-democratic moves is through broad solidarity.
Ch. 7: North Carolina lawmaker Tricia Cotham switches to GOP, votes to ban abortion - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 5-4-23
"This is a woman who spoke movingly about her own abortion on the floor of the North Carolina statehouse in 2015 when she was arguing against abortion restrictions," says Chris Hayes on State Rep. Tricia Cotham.
Ch. 8: “Rising Tide of Fascism”: Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones Warns of GOP’s Embrace of Authoritarianism - Democracy Now! - Air Date 4-28-23
The largely white Tennessee House of Representatives, with its heavily gerrymandered Republican supermajority, expelled two members, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the two youngest Black representatives in the House.
Ch. 9: Tyranny of the Minority: How American Democracy Came to the Breaking Point - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs - Air Date 5-1-23
Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University.
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 10: The Polarization Of State Legislatures - Not Another Politics Podcast - Air Date 3-1-23
Are state legislatures polarizing as well? And, if they are, what can that tell us about the state of our democracy?
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 11: Thoughts on big ideas to redistribute wealth - Dave from Olympia, WA
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 12: Final comments on an analogy that explains the dangers of poorly framed arguments
SHOW IMAGE
Description: A distorted, high-contrast photo of an American flag on a flag pole against a dark red sky.
Credit: "redflag" by AK Rockerfeller, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped
Bonus Sample #280 Tracking people and animals in order to save them and ourselves
#1593 Beyond Neoliberalism: Dreaming a new economic system into being
#1592 Israel and Palestine are less complicated than you think: Standing for international law while condemning crimes against humanity, war crimes, antisemitism, and apartheid.
#1591 Broken News: Understanding traditional media and social media reporting on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza
#TBT #1510 Avoiding Accountability: How the powerful in the US have almost always been allowed to skate by (Throwback)
#TBT #1507 Installing Loyalists: The Multi-Pronged Destruction of Our Democracy Already in Progress (Throwback)
#1590 Red Caesar and Project 2025: A fascist fever dream being given a vaguely respectable coat of paint by the Claremont Institute and the Heritage Foundation paving the way for an unconstrained, law
Bonus Sample #279 Complainers gonna complain, creepers gonna creep
#1589 War in the Holy Land: Context Behind the Atrocities, Crimes Against Humanity, and the Possible Escalation That Will be Detrimental to All Sides in the Wake of the Hamas Attack Israel is Calling
#1588 The Shutdown That Wasn't And The Chaos That Is: The far-right of the GOP has been intent on not governing for a long time and eating their own, like McCarthy most recently, is their go-to maneuv
#TBT #1545 Agents of Chaos: The New Congress (Throwback)
#1587 What Conservatives Think of When They Think of the Children: Child Labor, Child Brides, Child Mothers, Childhood Poverty, Child Indoctrination
#1586 Cop City is the Backlash to the Backlash Against Police Brutality and Murder, the Atlanta Community is Fighting Back and Creating a Blueprint for Change in the Process
Bonus Edition #278 Obfuscating Reality Through Layers of Fantasy
#1585 Workers Rights Ascendent Amid Writers and Actors Strikes in Hollywood and the UAW Strikes Against the Big 3 US Automakers all While the Sociopathic Reality of Capitalism is Laid Bare by CEOs Exp
#1584 Israel's Political Upheaval, Supreme Court Power Struggle, US Support, and the Normalization of Apartheid
#TBT #1360 Redefine, Unburden and #DefundThePolice: With Copy City renewing debate over policing, we look back at the counterargument (Throwback)
#1583 Alluring Conspiracy Culture vs Capitalism: The Driving Forces that are Attracting People into Conspiratorial Thinking About Trump, COVID, Economics, Military Affairs and More.
#TBT #1190 Island Recovering From Disaster: Hurricane Maria laid bare the colonialism and capitalism in Puerto Rico (Throwback)
#1582 Maui Fire Sale: Hawaiian Colonization, Disaster Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis Fueling Wildfires and Housing Insecurity in Native Hawaiian Communities on Maui and Beyond
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