Democracy on the Move

Tara Anura, candidate for Missouri State Senate District 16, discusses the issues that are important to the people living on the Ozark plateau. We last talked with Tara on June 5 of this year, and in this discussion, we catch up on how her campaign is going. We also talk about women’s rights, extremism, education, the Agape Boarding school tragedy and the possibility of rewriting the Missouri Stat...

We see oppression happening in other countries - particularly oppression against women - and we may believe that it can only happen “over there.” But that may be a disastrously bad assumption. We’re already seeing the erosion of women’s rights right here in America, and it may only be the beginning of a far more extensive campaign to destroy our democracy and, along with it, all our human rights.

Senator Josh Hawley has now declared war on history. This podcast is a rebuttal of Hawley’s allegation that our current understanding of history does not give proper credit to the Holy Bible and its effect on the founding of our nation.

Tom Bastian, Deputy Director for Communications at the ACLU of Missouri, drops by to talk about changes in our voting laws and what the ACLU is doing about it. This is a follow-up to the interview we aired a few weeks ago when we talked with the Missouri Secretary of State John “Jay” Ashcroft and the local director of the League of Women Voters, Joan Hubbard regarding changes in our voting laws an...

Adam Sommer drops by to talk about the Heartland Pod , where he co-hosts “A podcast for the rest of us;” that is, a podcast specially made for the American Heartland. The Heartland Pod looks at American politics from a Heartland perspective, focusing on facts and fundamental fairness, yet not afraid to embrace the humorous as well. Overall, the Heartland Pod is dedicated to the quiet heroes of Ame...

Henry Martin, Democratic candidate for Missouri's 6th Congressional District, joins us again on Democracy on the Move to discuss how his campaign is progressing. He won the primary, so now it's on to the general election in November. We discuss the problems facing Missouri as well as the rest of the nation, including the economy, Roe v Wade, January 6, the war in Ukraine and several other hot topi...

In this special Wednesday edition of Democracy on the Move, we talk with the Missouri State Coordinators for the Forward Party, Lisa Douglas and Blake Ashby. Who is the Forward Party? What is their goal? Where do they stand on the issues? What is their political philosophy? If you’re curious about this rapidly growing political party, listen to this podcast for some of the answers. The Forward Par...

Missouri Secretary of State John “Jay” Ashcroft joins us to discuss a new voting law in Missouri and how it impacts upcoming elections. In many ways, voting access has been expanded, though voter identity rules have been tightened. (People can still cast provisional ballots without an ID, BTW.) We then talk with Joan Hubbard, a director of the local League of Women Voters and chair of the League’s...

Not everyone that voted for Trump is in his cult. Very few, actually. But there's enough for Trump to use them as a cudgel to intimidate Republican politicians into his camp. This is a very dangerous turn for America, but there is hope.

Deb Lavender drops by again this week to talk about her campaign for the state house. We discuss all the major topics of the day, including abortion, the Second Amendment, factory farms, initiatives & referendums, healthcare, education, and quite possibly starting our own religion! Deb is a wealth of information on all these topics. Join us for an informative hour on politics with a Midwestern per...

Today we do an on-the-spot interview with Bethany Mann, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the third district in Missouri. In our wide-ranging interview, we talk about the abortion, healthcare, education, voting rights and environmentalism and how all these topics affect people throughout the heartland.

Meet Ray Reed, candidate for the U.S. Congress in the Second Congressional District of Missouri. Ray is ambitious; he studied political science at the University of Central Missouri, worked within the state governor’s office and has already made his rounds in Washington DC. Don’t mistake his young age for inexperience, he comes to this post with more political experience than a majority of first-t...

As we sail the choppy waters in an ocean of information, we look for a safe harbor - someplace where we can surround ourselves with others of like mind. We pledge our loyalty to the harbor in exchange for comfort and security. But when the harbormasters abuse our loyalty, it may be time to head for the open ocean again.

Author and U.S. Congressional candidate John Woodman stops by to talk about his campaign and his book, “How We Fix America.” The book describes how our economic system of capitalism has drifted from what he calls “American Dream Capitalism” to “Vampire Capitalism.” By John’s calculations, Vampire Capitalism steals $24,000 per year or more from the average citizen! He bases this calculation on vari...

Independent Alliance Party candidate Hugh McTavish talks about his run for the governor of Minnesota. Hugh has an idea for a highly participatory form of democracy he calls a “Jury Democracy,” where ordinary citizens - not legislators - vote on bills. We also talk about the destructive effects that the pandemic lock-downs had on widespread depression and suicide, personal liberties, abortion, guns...

In this week’s short solo podcast, I talk about the recent Supreme Court decisions on Abortion and Guns. Is Abortion really about the life of the unborn, or is it simply a politically expedient way to promote a patriarchal government? I argue the latter. Regarding guns, why does the Supreme Court ignore the first four words of the Second Amendment: “A well regulated Militia.” Based on the 2008 dec...

Michael Sinclair drops by to talk about his candidacy for the Missouri State Senate, Second District. This district covers much of St. Charles County, west of St. Louis. It is a heavily Republican district, whereas Michael is running as a Democrat. It may seem like an uphill battle, but Michael believes he can prevail by using his “Positive Politics” approach to bridge the divide by finding common...

Our guest today is Dennis Merritt Jones; Author, keynote speaker, spiritual leader and mentor. We talk about the spiritual and religious side of politics. Many Christians worry that we’re drifting away from God, but the deeper truth may be that our personal beliefs are being diverted toward ungodly concepts like hatred and separation, which is contrary to the teachings of Jesus. Spiritual alignmen...

Tara Anura, candidate for Missouri State Senate District 16, discusses the issues that are important to the people living on the Ozark plateau. We talk about the problems rural people experience with getting proper access to healthcare, educating their children, struggling with the economy, exercising gun safety and the blight of overt racism. Despite adversities, the people of the Ozarks are prou...

Reinette Senum, independent candidate for California State Governor, drops by to discuss her campaign and California politics in general. We discuss how corruption has influenced political decisions, and what ordinary citizens can do about it. The challenges in California are numerous, from homelessness to forestry management, and it is becoming increasingly critical that we address these issues b...

Randi McCallian drops by to talk about her campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 8th District of Missouri. This is a largely rural district that has proven difficult for Democrats in past elections. But why is this so? Randi talks about the issues that rural America faces and what she plans to do to turn this deeply red district blue. We discuss the importance of family,...

Recently the Supreme Court has indicated it will cut back on rights they clarified 50 years prior. The issue today is abortion, but in the long run, all our rights are at risk.

Henry Martin, candidate for U.S. Congress representing the 6th District in Missouri, stops by to update us on his campaign. He was a guest on Democracy on the Move last November, but a lot has changed since that time, giving us a lot to talk about. We discuss a wide range of topics including inflation, the recent SCOTUS leaked document on Roe v Wade, charter schools, the war in Ukraine, the role o...

This week we return to the topic of gun violence prevention in our discussion with Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Dr. Andrews has first-hand experience dealing with child victims of gun violence, and she cares enough about preventing this violence that she is running to represent South Carolina’s 1st congressional district in the U.S. C...

This past week we saw Governor DeSantis punish dissent. Though the legitimacy of the reasons he provided are up for debate, the action of punishing dissent is not in line with the true principles of democracy; rather, they echo motivations of autocracy.