Did you know the place with the most stringent gun control was the South? Or that alcohol had a lot to do with the creation of the Bill of Rights? Though of course they couldn’t see into the 21st century,

Banishing the Confederate flag from public buildings might make some of us all feel as if we’ve done something to stop racist violence. But given how easy it is for right wing politicians to do it, will the gesture really

Remember the boisterous chants of “We’re Number 1!” and “USA! USA” when Osama binLaden was taken out? Exceptionalism is beyond mere national pride, it is an insistence that we are above the normal rules and that we are God’s gift

It may be the most heated of all disagreements: For decades each side has been locked in bitter conflict, each wanting to obliterate the other. ProVoice: How To Keep Listening When the World Wants A Fight is a new book

http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/www.dropbox.com/s/x8n2agzv9ogjyc5/EcstaticNationKDA.mp3?dl=0The past isn’t even the past: questions and debates from mid 19th century remain fierce today. Such things as the locus of legitimate political power: federal or state sovereignty? Have we really ever faced up to the evils of slavery?

Bernie Sanders campaign is on fire at the moment. But it’s been said that when Americans hear the word Socialism, they stop thinking. Yet a clear majority actually agree with socialist positions on issues. Have we come far enough away

Remember when we thought the internet, being “open,” might be a leveler of power, putting the tools of creation in everybody’s hands equally? The reality is our digital devices are new shackles chaining us to corporate America and to government

Though Iraq is less than 100 years old, it’s just about finished. Twenty Four year State Department veteran Peter Van Buren talks about what he sees as the last throes of what was never a real nation, with optimism for

Marriage and family law used to be so simple: men ruled, period. But with the expansion of what a family means,  a whole world of potential legal issues comes up. There can be friendly, not scary, contracts, explains guest Martha

A huge crowd greeted Bernie Sanders a few days ago. Why is there such widespread enthusiasm? Because Americans on the left and right are fed up with the new status quo: a government owned and controlled by the very richest

Opposition to the so-called Patriot Act has grown so strong that many on both sides of the aisle in Washington would like to take credit for letting it expire. But rather than just letting it die a peaceful death, they

Many remember the Clinton years fondly. But the presidency of Bill Clinton was, on the domestic side, “just as damaging to the nation as George W Bush’s was on the foreign policy side.” This according to guest Dr. Steven Jonas

Did you know the US has some 300 troops on the ground there? That makes Moscow very nervous. Did you know about waves of political assassinations by the government we support? And that the European Union is not happy with

Who cares if the government keeps lying about Vietnam? It was 50 years ago, let’s just forget it. Problem is the effects are very much with us to this day. And the Pentagon is spending $65 million of your money

The government of Spain wants it to all just go away. But over 100,000 civilians were murdered without a trace by the fascist Franco government during and after it’s civil war, and now volunteers are combing through Spanish earth digging

There’s been a concerted and largely successful effort from the right in recent years to steer school children away from critical thinking so essential to a functioning democracy. In the drive toward teaching-to-tests and making schools into places where kids

The title may seem an exaggeration, but it’s not. Republican “solutions” are consistent in their attack not only on the fundamentals which saved capitalism in the New Deal, but also on the very notions of democracy and our republican form

http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/www.dropbox.com/s/wrhqbj533d4gocz/Krause_Turse.mp3?dl=0It was 45 years ago May 4th and the powers that be still have reason to keep the truth about Kent State hidden. One part one, Laurel Krause whose sister Allison was gunned down at age 19. She talks about

Who is really behind ISIS (or ISIL) and who is actually fighting them? It’s not who you’d expect. In this revealing interview, the co-founder of Gulf State Analytics Giorgio Cafiero  explains what’s really going on in Yemen. And you can’t

It’s been with us since before America’s founding. Now, as more and more of us demand a direction different from rule by the wealthiest few, the word populism is coming back into vogue. As Campaign for America’s Future’s Isaiah Poole

You may not love tax day, but for America’s few billionaires, it’s like Christmas and you are Santa Claus. Billionaire Warren Buffett knows it’s wrong that his secretary pays a much higher share of her income than he does. And

One sang about lynchings, the other was lynched by the government. With the 100th anniversary of their births, the linkage between Billie Holiday and Ethel Rosenberg is discussed with Robert Meeropol, who was six when his parents were put to

We’ve all heard the phrase: “Never Again.” Well it did happen again, in Rwanda between 800,000 and one million died in the genocide of 1994. An international conference of world leaders met and just issued their report. Emily Willard, of

When the Soviet Union got bogged down in Afghanistan, it was called Russia’s Vietnam. After the local forces beat them, in 2001 we came in. And again despite massive treasure and blood, we can’t win. So says noted Afghan adviser

No exaggeration: America’s sovereignty, our democracy itself, is under serious jeopardy by the Trans-Pacific Partnership. You haven’t heard of it for good reasons: the supra-national interests who stand to gain tremendous new economic and political power have carefully kept it

Poetry. Music. That’s how legal scholar and author Burt Neuborne describes it in his new book: Madison’s Music: On Reading the First Amendment. It’s only been secure since the 1950s, he points out. And when people pick it apart in

An amazing role model. http://forward.com/articles/217505/danny-schechter-was-an-observant-jew-even-if-he-ra/

No question, Netanyahu skillfully used American fear tactics and political operatives to win re-election. In this highly informative discussion with Michael Winship, senior writer for Moyers & Company, it’s clear the same divide and conquer techniques used by the American

In the face of many wars, the big powers are trying to steer small nations to create their own version of peace. That was the Congress of Vienna 200 years ago and there’s a lot of deja vu, and still