James Fishkin is a political scientist and director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford, and he joins us to explain the process of deliberative democracy – and demonstrate successes it’s already produced around the world.
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Rights Shouldn’t Be A Zero-Sum Game
Columbia Law professor Jamal Greene joins us to talk about why courts have an outsized role in determining what Americans fight for and against, a method he says is out of line with what the framers of the Constitution envisioned.
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Yes, Immigration Courts Are Political
Alison Peck, a law professor at the University of West Virginia, joins us to talk about how we might remove politics from the immigration court system so that they can better serve both Americans and people looking to live here.
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How Political Myths Derail Progress
Nesrine Malik is a columnist and features writer for the Guardian, and she joins us to talk about how “wokeness,” “political correctness,” “free speech,” “cancel culture” and other shorthand terms are used to both drive and tamp down social justice movements.
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In Texas Politics, It’s No Holds Barred
Journalist Bill Minutaglio joins us to talk about the state’s long history of conflict, violence, backroom deals, and bravado that’s created its political framework.
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Rethinking What Is Critical Infrastructure
Adie Tomer joins us to discuss the details of the bill, the politics behind its contents, and how its being received beyond Capitol Hill.
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Could The CDC Have Shielded Us From The Pandemic?
Author Michael Lewis joins us to tell the stories of a biochemist, a public health worker and a federal government employee who worked in the White House during the early days of trying to contain the coronavirus.
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The Limits Of Identity Politics
University of Manchester sociology professor Gary Younge joins us to talk about how societies operate based on assumptions and privileges granted to people based on their identities.
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A 50-Year Look At American Immigration
Sarah R. Coleman, assistant professor of history at Texas State University, joins us to work through near-term policy options and to talk about ideas for improving the conditions in the countries migrants are fleeing.
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The Problem With Creating Our Own Truth
University of Connecticut philosophy professor Michael Patrick Lynch joins us to talk about how people come to believe what they think they know, and why shared foundations of knowledge are crucial to the health of a democracy.
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Is Appropriation In Art Always Wrong?
Paisley Rekdal, Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Utah and the state’s poet laureate, joins us to discuss the places where identity intersects with politics, and why it’s important to confront the language we use when defining cultures.
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American Populism, Post Trump
MIT professor Daron Acemoglu joins us to make the case that the American political landscape is deeply fractured, and that the nation’s unequal social classes add fuel to that fire.
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