Our mythic history suggests America was created by God and is therefore unique among nations. We have a higher moral standing and it is right, therefore,  for us to share our benificence. Lately the term American Exceptionalism is being used by th…

The war against secession began in the spring of 1861. What was won and what was lost? Historian Kirkpatrick Sale takes an alternative look at what was changed by the victory of the North.

Up to now, the far right has suceesfully claimed the mantle of the values of America’s founders. Even Glenn Beck has stolen the title of Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet Common Sense as the title of his own book. In this interview, Montana author and radio…

Other countries do it, not America, right? Our freedom requires the ability of teachers to teach, without government dictating content. Today there is a new concerted assault on what teachers may teach, and on college professors ability to be active ci…

Resolved: America is a republic. But are we a democracy? In this discussion historian Willam Hogeland addresses the existential conflicts inherent in the creation of our Constitution: protect the rich from dangerous democracy, or create a new-style gov…

How do self-identified conservatives feel about the positions of the Tea Party? University of Washington Professor Christopher Parker discusses findings of a recent poll he conducted of 1500 Republicans in 13 states. There is much dividing them, and mu…

Why has what used to be considered the fringe right wing taken hold with so many Americans, particularly those who least benefit? Nationally featured blogger Chauncey DeVega (a pseudonym) delves in to what the recent polling data reveals. The bad ne…

Burt talks with University of Western Kentucky Professor of Civil War History Glenn LaFantasie about his paper: The Erosion of the Civil War Consensus. And just as violence resulted in 1861 from the hot button issues of state versus federal sovereig…

What’s left of the middle class is being forced to bear major cuts. Working families are under attack as never before. Meanwhile there is plenty of money…hiding in Cayman Islands corporate tax dodges. Guests today are Chuck Collins, senior scholar at…

Owsley, the man who provided high quality LSD to the Grateful Dead and untold thousands of others, recently died in a car crash. Today, some 45 years after its then-legal popularization, there is renewed interest in what today’s guest psychiatris…

As Japan struggles to bring its nuclear catastrophe under control. the focus of today’s show is nuclear power itself. One the first half, guest is Diane D’Arrigo of the Nuclear Information Resource Service to explain what is happening at the Fukushima …

Recently hundreds of homeowners and community leaders targetted a Bank of America branch in Washington. Why? Keya Hicks, of the Alliance to Develop Power, an affiliate of National Peoples Action, explains they may have been too big to fail, but should …

Recently hundreds of homeowners and community leaders targetted a Bank of America branch in Washington. Why? Keya Hicks, of the Alliance to Develop Power, an affiliate of National Peoples Action, explains they may have been too big to fail, but should …

The Republicans in power are terrified. Their deep fear of female sexuality is what’s really behind their attacks on Planned Parenthood and marriage equality. They actually see feamle sexuality as a subversive force that needs to be strictly controlled…

So the Obama budget is less bad than the Republican proposal. But according to today’s guest Kevin Zeese, executive director of Voters for Peace, it is still dominated by the untouchable Security Budget. Democrat or Republican, the combined powers of t…

Since Hollywood began making movies, right wingers have blasted movie makers for ever including any liberal themes in their art. The 1950s blacklists were just one example. Problem is, thinking and caring artists think and care. We all know about the O…

The movement started in Tunisia, spread to Egypt and then much of the middle east. Now thousands in Wisconsin are rising up, angry at attempts by government to take away rights. And the uprising may be spreading into other states. Why have Americans fo…

From privatizing water to spreading toxic sludge, when it comes to the regulatory process, it’s not a level playing field; corporate interests almost always beat local popular resistance. But there’s a new legal tool coming into being that can give …

February 6th was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan. No doubt, he lifted American spirits. Guest on this show is Robert Parry, who broke a number of Iran-Contra stories while at the Associate Press and Newsweek in the Reagan era. There…

What is a corporate person, and how has if affected our democracy? About a hundred years before the crucial Citizens United decision, a legal fiction was created called corporate personhood. And it’s caused great harm to our democratic system. Now V…

For about forty years, there have been attempts to turn NH into a “Right to Work” state. With nearly half of the House of Representatives being new members in 2011, there’s concern this year the bill has a better chance. But if you’re not a union membe…

 There’s one set of economic rules for big finance and another set for the rest of us. Our tax dollars are subsidizing non-productive gambling by the “too big to fail” finance houses, while everyone else in capitalism has to follow  the hard …

With the FCC approval of the Comcast takeover of NBC-Universal, there is a new, unprecedented consolidation of media and internet power in the hands of one company. As Sen. Al Franken puts it: “When the same compnay owns the content and the pipes that …

Some of America’s top income earners understand that it’s in their interest to pay more taxes. Our country’s economic stability is at stake and, as Thomas Jefferson understood, the survival of a democracy depends on a strong middle class, which has bee…

Many Americans dismiss the charge that the right-wing talk of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Bill O’Reilly contributed significantly to the Tucson massacre, insisting, “Oh, they all do it.” But is this true? And what happens if the hard right does not…

Young Afghans are leading the way for leaders to follow. On this segment, the guest is Uzayr Humkar, an Afghan living in Los Angeles who serves on the steering committee of the new international group Afghans for Peace. They oppose both the Taliban and…

Are We Too Dumb for Democracy? The first guest is U Michigan researcher Brendan Nyhan whose recent study shows that beliefs determine which facts we accept, perhaps rendering democracy unworkable.
Along similar lines of thought, on the second half of …

Dan Ellsberg says,”If I put out the Pentagon Papers in every detail, same as before, I would now be called a terrorist.” Jason Ditz of antiwar.com is guest on this show. What is truly frightening, he argues, is the lack of reaction to the truths which …

U of Wisconsin-Madison History Professor Alfred McCoy knows quite a bit about empire. He’s written many books on America’s empire, and recently convened a group of 140 international historians to examine empires in transition. His latest article is Fou…

As we head in to 2011, we face a deeply divided, crumbling America: red and blue, super rich and a beaten down middle class. Federal Reserve policies threaten the stability of the dollar. Some say the alternative to chaos between left and right, rich a…