The Democracy Group

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Miles Taylor joins Julia and Lee to talk about the resistance to Donald Trump when he was president. Taylor is the author of Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump . He served in the Trump administration as the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Before that, Taylor worked in Congress and served...

The United States has one of the highest news avoidance rates in the world. Tens of millions of Americans don’t read, watch or listen to the news each day. The media is generally held in low regard. So, is there a better way to report and analyze current events that will satisfy readers’ interests? In this repeat episode, we hear from Mark Sappenfield, Editor of  The Christian Science Monitor,  an...

In this FREE training you'll learn:  How to find shows with your target audience using secret podcast industry techniques.  How to prepare for an interview and have the best possible answer for any question.  Common conversational challenges every guest makes and how to overcome them.  A powerful storytelling technique to spice up any interview and get listeners engaged.  How to pitch a book, caus...

Marc Plattner is the founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy and the founding codirector of the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies . Until 2016, he also served as NED’s vice president for research and studies, and from 1984 to 1989 he was NED’s director of program.  He is the author of Democracy Without Borders? Global Challenges to Liberal Democrac...

Anat Shenker-Osorio, Founder and Principal at ASO Communications, joins The Great Battlefield to discuss how her background in linguistics informs her work as a political messaging consultant. She shares what her research and campaign experience has taught her about how to re-frame the debate to give progressives the advantage. Additional Information The Democracy Group listener survey The Great B...

When public officials embark on efforts to incorporate more civic input in city decisions, they are often hamstrung by inefficient means that favor the loudest voices in a room. But more people want a say in their local government; they just need the right opportunity.  For Petaluma, California, it was something called the "democracy lottery." In this episode, we explore what that is and the power...

Will Saletan returns to discuss his book, The Corruption of Lindsey Graham: A Case Study in the Rise of Authoritarianism . It's a fascinating, well-sourced study on the public record of Lindsey Graham since 2015 that helps us better understand what's happened to the Republican Party since the rise of Trump. When and why did many Republicans start capitulating to Donald Trump? We discussed how it's...

Globalization, technology, devastating impacts from the foreclosure crisis and the opioid addiction have wreaked havoc on communities left behind by the modern economy. Some of these discarded places are rural. Others are cities or suburbs. Some vote blue, others red. Some are the most diverse communities in America, while others are nearly all white, all Latino, or all Black.  In this episode we...

Landon Mascareñaz and Doannie Tran are co-authors of The Open System: Redesigning Education and Reigniting Democracy. Education is our greatest democracy-building endeavor. We discuss rebuilding trust in public education and marshaling the public will to do something great together. The democratic act is in the spark of everyday interactions with our community, such as in schools. Families and com...

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Kevin Elliott joins Lee and James to talk about how busy people can make democracy work for them. Elliott is a political scientist and Lecturer in Ethics, Politics, and Economics (EP&E) at Yale University. His main research interests are in political theory, particularly democratic theory, and focus on the ethics of democratic citizenship, political...

Americans want electoral reforms so that they can have more choice in elections. Recent surveys show that 20 to 50 percent of Americans are open to a new electoral system, while demand for a third party has crept upward since Gallup began asking in 2003. More Americans now call themselves "independent" than identify with either of the major parties, but what happens when Americans try to reform th...

When Linda Harris began working at city hall in her hometown of Decatur, Georgia, she noticed that the relationship between local government leaders and their constituents was often tense, or nonexistent. City workers were used to residents interacting with them when they had a complaint, for example. She came up with an idea: a straightforward class open to anyone in Decatur to learn about how th...

Why do we connect emotionally with some places and not others? Why does that matter? What does loving the place you live in have to do with healing the partisan divide? We explore these questions and hear about solutions from author, researcher and speaker  Peter Kageyama . This shared episode is an edited version of a podcast released earlier this year by " Village Squarecast ". Our show includes...

First, can we talk about polling? Todd Rose can! Todd and his team at Populace are figuring out how to do better surveys to get more accurate information. No, really. It’s all about methodology. And wow, do they have some surprising and encouraging takeaways! In particular, WE’RE NOT REALLY AS DIVIDED SO MUCH AS WE THINK WE’RE DIVIDED. So how much are the loudest, most extreme voices driving the c...

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the coauthor (with Michael Beckley) of Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China and the author of The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today . Key Highlights Introduction - 0:43 Peaking Power Theory - 3:12 Th...

Dr. Richard Haass is the President of the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Bill of Obligations: Ten Habits of Good Citizens. We discuss how we, as citizens, can fulfill our role in the social contract. The United States is a country founded on an idea about equality, about opportunity, and about freedom. Rights alone will not guarantee the smooth functioning of a society, but mus...

Working across party divides is the best way to bring people together and make progress, says our guest, Tulsa Mayor, G.T. Bynum. But he also points out that common ground is “the least valued political real estate in America today”. Overwhelmingly reelected to office as a nonpartisan in a deep-red state, Mayor Bynum calls himself a moderate and tells us that his administration is a test case for...

Transgender rights are increasingly under attack in the United States, despite studies showing that the majority of Americans don’t want laws limiting transgender rights. But politicians on the right, who have long used gender and family issues to appeal to conservative voters, are now trying to reach broader audiences with anti-trans rhetoric. In this episode of “Our Body Politic,” guest host Ima...

Jonathan Rauch and Pete Wehner both return to the TP&R pod. Only this time we get them together! For a little background, Jon and Pete have a number of fundamental differences (eg. Jon is an atheist and Pete is a devout Christian); yet, they also happen to be good friends. So the conversation was flowing before we even hit record. We were discussing Pete's recent essay in THE ATLANTIC "Morality Is...

In response to a false narrative perpetuated by mainstream media suggesting that Congress has yet to propose legislation “to protect individuals or thwart the development of A.I.’s potentially dangerous aspects,” Anna Lenhart shows in a new report that Congress is working to address the harms of Artificial Intelligence. She joins us to discuss A.I., data, privacy, transparency and accountability,...

Crystal Patterson joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about her career in politics, working at Facebook's political arm, working on the internet presence of Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, and her current role at FSB Public Affairs. Additional Information The Democracy Group listener survey The Great Battlefield Podcast More shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz...

In this week’s episode, Mila Atmos joins Julia and James to discuss how podcasts can save American politics. Atmos is the producer and host of Future Hindsight , a weekly podcast that aims to spark civic engagement through in-depth conversations with citizen change-makers. She combines life experiences from living in multiple cultures ranging from Indonesia to Germany to the rural U.S., with her k...

Isabel Kershner is a reporter at The New York Times and the author of a new book called The Land of Hope and Fear: Israel's Battle for Its Inner Soul . Key Highlights Introduction - 0:37 Mizrahi and Askenazi - 5:31 Immigration - 18:08 Ultra-Orthodox - 28:12 Netanyahu's Judiciary Proposal - 39:27 Key Links The Land of Hope and Fear: Israel's Battle for Its Inner Soul by Isabel Kershner Read more fr...

Between layoffs, show cancellations, downsizing and network shut-downs, some are calling the recent news about the news an all out “media massacre.” Will this disintegration of outlets cause increased polarization? The people who get the platform to tell the news – and how they tell it – will matter more than ever before. Additional Information The Democracy Group listener survey Our Body Politic...

Journalistic integrity. How can individual reporters and news outlets uphold their professional ethics? Is it possible in today's environment? How can a journalist get a coveted interview, yet be fair without it becoming a hit job or a puff piece? Is it any different now than 5 or 10 or 25+ years ago, when our guest Bob Cusack of THE HILL first entered the business? What is it like interviewing Do...