How Do We Fix It?

One of the biggest surprises of the 2020 election may turn out to be turnout. Traditionally, a smaller percentage of American voters participate in elections than in many other democracies around the world. But this year, early voting hit a record high, with tens of millions of mail-in ballots, and very long lines at many polling places. In this episode, we look at a highly innovative, successful...

If the Covid pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the government's response to a global health emergency can mean the difference between living and dying. America's woeful performance in recent months has exposed how far we have fallen behind public health systems in much of Asia. While China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore combined have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases per day sin...

More than half of American voters expect to see a rise in violence after election day,  according to a recent poll . Only 49% said Americans will largely accept the results. These findings and others suggest that American democracy is facing intense stress. President Trump has repeatedly refused to say whether he would accept the official results. "Trump and Biden supporte...

How do you get supporters of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the same room at the same time working together on something political? It sounds almost impossible, but even at a time of hyper-partisan division, progress and trust can be achieved on a local level.   In this episode, we look at the groundbreaking work of  CivicLex , a non-profit civic education and solutions journalism group b...

How does your career stay on track at a time of very high unemployment, great technological change and enormous uncertainty? We explore these questions and much more with one of the advertising industry's most successful commercial directors.  When he was 23,  Bruce Van Dusen  was desperate for a job. For the next 40 years, he thought that every commercial that he made would be his...

Anger, fear and loathing cut across our deeply divided, hyper-partisan political divide. From The White House and the streets of cities, to furious posts on social media, many of us objectify others. Those belong to the wrong tribe are often the objects of personal scorn. In a recent Twitter post, our guest,  Chloé Valdary , says: "if you do not possess the power to love, and especially...

Massive wildfires in the west have burned through more than five million acres, forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, and spread smoke and air pollution across many states.  This year's historic wildfire season  prompted calls for reforms  of the nation's fire management policies, and are a clear sign that the impacts of climate change are now being felt. Changes...

“Tech For The Public Good” is supported by a grant from Solutions Journalism Network .   Technology is a double-edged sword, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Despite well-publicized threats from bots, hackers, government spooks and huge online firms, tech is often a force for public good.   In this special episode on civic tech, we report on a local effort to promote better he...

Fears about COVID-19 can take an emotional toll, leading to a growing sense of worry and panic. We ask: How can philosophy help us cope with adversity in a pandemic? We go in pursuit of wisdom and discovery with journalist and author  Eric Weiner , author of the new book, " The Socrates Express : In Search of Life Lessons From Dead Philosophers". This episode is a rollicking ri...

The American worker is in crisis and faces a very uncertain future. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a deep recession and millions of layoffs.  Even before coronavirus— despite a decade of continuous economic growth— the percentage of Americans with jobs was well below normal levels. Many people had dropped out of the labor force, and gave up looking for work. For the first time in modern me...

Most people reject facts that cause them discomfort or don't line up with their view of the world. All too often emotion, not reason, informs our beliefs. Despite social media claims that #factsmatter, it's surprisingly difficult to use rational arguments to change minds. "It's surprising how much we still put faith in rational argument," says our guest, Australian writer and philosopher, Eleanor...

Joe Biden's selection of Kamala Harris to be his vice-presidential running mate is a reminder that the fall election season is about to start in earnest. In this episode, we discuss solutions for America's voting crisis. People of all political persuasions have expressed concerns about holding an election in the COVID pandemic. President Trump made unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud.&nb...

At a time of social distancing, limited travel and other restrictions to protect public health, we get a nostalgic reminder of the joy of journeys, and infinite variety of America's small cities and towns. This episode was first published in 2018. Our guest,  Dar Williams , has been called "one of America's very best singer-songwriters " by The New Yorker. A remarkably well-traveled musi...

Climate change is real, but it's not the end of the world, says our guest, science writer,  Michael Shellenberger . He argues in the controversial new book, " Apocalypse Never ", that activists use alarmism to describe threats posed by rising levels of carbon in the atmosphere, and are harming the cause of environmentalism. His proposed solutions include support for carbon-free nucl...

One of the many impacts of COVID-19 is a sharp decline in travel. In many parts of the world, the virus led to a temporary hold on one of the greatest trends of the modern age: the mass movement of people— from tourists to migrants, expats, asylum seekers, refugees, and IDP’s, internally displaced people. An estimated  244 million people , or about 3.3% of the world’s population, were bo...

We’ve all canceled something. Whether it’s a subscription, a vacation, or a date, cancelling or erasing a person? It seems so brutal. So unforgiving and final. It’s no surprise that cancel culture began on social media. Supporters say they are targeting people, companies and institutions for endorsing systems of racism, inequality, and bigotry. Opponents of cancel culture argue that this form of s...

Gerrymandering, the partisan process of redrawing political maps to favor one political party over the opposition, is often used unfairly to take power away from many voters.  Voters Not Politicians  is a highly successful grassroots campaign against gerrymandering in Michigan that began with a simple Facebook post by its young founder,  Katie Fahey.  The group took on par...

America's four most powerful political leaders--President Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell-- are all in their mid-to-late seventies.   In this episode, we hear from four 16 to 18 year-olds about the future of American democracy, and why they're committed to working for positive change.   Zoë Jenkins, Emmy Cho, Th...

The U.S. spends far more money on healthcare than any other nation, but has the most  confirmed COVID-19 cases . The lax response to the coronavirus crisis exposed many  weaknesses in the system , which was less prepared for a pandemic than other nations.   In this episode, we look at what can be learned from other systems around the world. Our guest is the well-known...

"The Covid-19 pandemic reveals that far from living in an age of incessant technological change, we have been neglecting innovation in exactly the areas where we most need it." So writes our podcast guest, best-selling author  Matt Ridley . We discuss the urgent concept raised in his latest book, " How Innovation Works , And Why It Flourishes in Freedom." As Viscount Ridley, Matt was elected...

The massive wave of protests in hundreds of towns and cities across America and in many other countries were sparked by outrage, pain and grief over the killing of George Floyd, and countless incidents of racism against African-Americans. We've all been surprised by the events of the past few weeks. They've forced many of us to question our core beliefs about the political system, public mora...

The nation is again facing the  deep pain  of racial injustice. The recent killings of  George Floyd,   Ahmaud Arbery , and  Breonna Taylor  reverberated across the country, sparking widespread protests in many cities.  These cases were only the latest on a very long list of attacks and murders of African-American men and women. They&nbsp...

The coronavirus crisis has reminded everyone that major reforms are needed to fix the flaws of the U.S. healthcare system. Beyond the huge expense and vast amount of waste, the quality of care varies wildly, and millions of Americans can't get care when they need it.   Physician and health care CEO  Dr. Vivian Lee  draws on her deep experience of the public and private sec...

We look at scientists who learned to manipulate common materials such as steel, glass and silicon, and how their inventions shaped the human experience.  Our guest is scientist, storyteller and science writer,  Ainissa Ramirez,  author of the new book, " The Alchemy of Us , How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another." We discuss the wonder of science, especially material sci...

The Coronavirus pandemic is the 21st century's biggest crisis to date: Worse than either 9/11 or the great recession. Jim and Richard discuss seven surprising things that we didn't know when the lockdowns began in March: 1. Early assessments about coronavirus turned out to be wrong. We now have a much better idea of how COVID-19 is spread and who's at greatest risk. 2. Re-opening the eco...