Democracy Nerd

Ira Shapiro, a longtime Capitol Hill staffer and Senate historian, joins the podcast to provide the current pulse of the U.S. Senate, touching on whether any GOP Senators will challenge Donald Trump in the Republican primary; the role age plays in determining a Senator's effectiveness; and whether the current Senate can continue last session's "comeback."

In the 1980s, noted classicist Maurice Pope wrote a manuscript about how sortition--or lottery-based democracy--should be implemented for a more fair and representative society. This manuscript proceeded to be rejected by each publishing house that had the chance. Decades later, this manuscript, titled "The Keys to Democracy: Sortition as a New Model For Citizen Power," is now seeing the light of...

Can an unhealthy and unequal democracy meet the needs of its people? The COVID pandemic exacerbated inequality in the United States, reaching levels not seen in a century. Not only do high levels of inequality pose a threat to democracy, but an unequal society is also an unhealthy society. Or so argues Dr. Stephen Bezruchka , faculty member of the University of Washington's School of Public Health...

Dan Bouk, Chair of History at Colgate University, provides insights of the 1940 U.S. census from his book "Democracy's Data: The Hidden Stories in the U.S. Census and How to Read Them" Plus: an emergency NBA trade deadline podcast.

Politicians aren't exactly known to be a paragon of virtue and honesty. Chances are, if they don't lie at least a little bit they don't stand a good chance of getting elected. But does this mean everyone running for office needs to go full-blown George Santos? What if honesty is used to extract negative cost to lying politicians? That is the noble idea proposed by Professors Sarah Croco, Jared McD...

For the first episode of 2023, the podcast is joined by Rick Hasen--operator of the Election Law Blog and one of the top current democracy nerds--who explains why the Supreme Court needs to re-examine its decisions in the need to balance free speech interests with the need to have free & fair elections.

In this excerpt while filling in as guest host of the Thom Hartmann Program, Jefferson speaks with Peter MacLeod, a principal from Toronto-based MASS LBP, who assists the Canadian government with the recruitment and running of citizens' assemblies, allowing members of the public to weigh in on policy decisions. Sometimes the best way to make sure democracy works is to have even more democracy.

Should everything be privatized? What goods or services should be the responsibility of the private sector? What is the proper role of government oversight? In this excerpt from The Thom Hartmann program, Jefferson fills in as host and discusses these issues with Donald Cohen, Founder and Executive Director of In the Public Interest, and author of "The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder...

In this excerpt while filling in as guest host of The Thom Hartmann Program, Jefferson speaks with Grace Adcox, polling analyst for Data for Progress who helps explain the circumstances and variables that helped turn the expected "Red Wave" in the 2022 midterm elections into a "Red Ripple."

September 15, 2022 was the first-ever "Democracy Day," a collaboration with newsrooms across the country in which journalists and opinion writers focused on the current threats facing American democracy. This effort was spearheaded by the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University in New Jersey. The podcast is joined Joe Amditis, the Center's Assistant Director, who describes the v...

What role does education play when democracy is under attack? How important is it to teach controversial issues when elected officials would prefer to prohibit such discussion? What steps should educators to consider discussing these issues, both inside the classroom and beyond? A panel of guests including Judy Pace from the University of San Francisco, Eric Soto-Shed from Harvard University, and...

Keith Boykin--regular contributor to CNN and CNBC and the co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition--joins Democracy Nerd to discuss his recent book "Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America," inspired by the 2020 George Floyd / Black Lives Matter protests, and provides a sneak peek of his upcoming book "Quitting: Why I Left My Job to Live a Life of Freedom"

As the Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Desmond Meade helped lead the successful passage of Florida's Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to over a million returning citizens who had completed prison sentences yet were unable to participate in society. Desmond joins the podcast to explain how this Amendment received far-reaching bipartisan support, and why it matter...

There are potential democracy reform models that exist which would be more representative than our current "winner takes all" approach. As the Executive Director for the Center of Election Science, Aaron Hamlin is an advocate for "approval voting." Aaron joins Democracy Nerd to explain approval voting, and how it measures up to compare and contrast against other models of democracy reform.

Congressional party cohesion--on both sides of the aisle--is at its highest level in decades. Does this have any impact Congress's ability to pass legislation, or have no impact at all? Professors James Curry and Frances E. Lee join Democracy Nerd to discuss their book "The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era," pointing out that contrary to popular belief, Congress actually...

The Supreme Court ended its term with a series of radical decisions with cataclysmic consequences, including the rolling back of rights enjoyed by previous generations. Law professor Andrew Koppelman discusses the various decisions on abortion rights, guns, and public prayer, explaining how the Roberts Court is the most activist court in the 230+ year history of the Supreme Court.

Longtime Capitol Hill vet and author Ira Shapiro joins the podcast to discuss how Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans have thumbed their nose at institutional norms and reneged on their duty as public servants to help create our current bitterly divided United States of America.

With electoral rights and bodily autonomy being degraded, democracy is experiencing a backsliding in the United States. How can organizations push back against this backsliding? After leading a campaign to pass independent redistricting in the state of Michigan, Katie Fahey is the Executive Director of The People, an organization committed to the pursuit of shared American values. Katie joins the...

If a country backslides from democracy, is there no future hope for democracy. Lee Drutman from New America believes it's possible for democracy to revive itself in countries that otherwise preferred authoritarianism. Drutman describes what a potential revival of American democracy would look like, and also offers his policy proposal to save American democracy.

Billionaires increasingly control online shopping, access to news, and even "the world's town square" with Elon Musk's recent purchase of Twitter. Is there any other way to push back against this amassed capital--and its influence on our daily lives--then with a countervailing pushback from other capital? Morris Pearl is the chair of Patriotic Millionaires, formed in 2010 to roll back George W. Bu...

Episode 54 - Justin Kempf, host of the "Democracy Paradox" podcast joins Democracy Nerd to discuss various theories about democracy, how to make democracy more engaging, and practical efforts to prevent the backsliding of global democracy.

At a time when global democracy is backsliding into authoritarianism, Chile is currently engaged in the process to draft a new constitution, one that is more representative of indigenous people and other marginalized communities. Very rarely do we get to see "democracy operate in real time." Returning to the podcast to provide an update on the drafting of Chile's new Constitution are noted Latin A...

Democracy Book Club! Thomas Main, Professor of Politics at Baruch College, joins Democracy Nerd to discuss his new book "The Rise of Illiberalism." Professor Main describes the defining characteristics of various illiberal movements, explains how illiberal ideology drives mainstream politics, and shows how when the mask of illiberalism is revealed, actions such as the January 6th insurrection and...

100 years ago, the United States was reeling from the Spanish Flu and World War I. Similar circumstances fact the country today. How did American Presidents respond to the adversity they face? Which Presidents did the most to expand democracy, both home and abroad? Ronald Gruner, author of "We the Presidents: How American Presidents Shaped the Last Century" joins the podcast to discuss the last 10...

Heading into the second decade of wide-spread use of social media, and its impact on democracy is less than ideal. Originally applauded as a way around legacy media "gate keepers" but instead acts as an amplifier of extremist voices. Jonathan Nagler, co-director of NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics joins the podcast to discuss social media's impact on democracy, the fallout of the Faceboo...