No one in their right mind would ever think the Soviet Union would suddenly break down into its component parts. Then it did. Clearly America is more divided now than since the 1861 war against Southern independence. Many would argue

LSD has long been feared. No question, it is uniquely powerful. But does it have potentially uniquely powerful benefits as well? On this program, Dr. Phil Wolfson delves into many aspects of the substance; the foolhardiness of the drug war,

Celebrated in 45 states, a lot of people don’t know about Juneteenth. It was the day in 1865 when formerly enslaved people learned of the Emancipation Proclamation. But what kind of freedom was it then and where is it today?

The forces currently in power may actually believe that by killing democracy they are saving America. Or they may just be driven by simple greed. In his new book: Kill It to Save It; An Autopsy of Capitalism’s Triumph Over

He published The Realist from 1958-2001. A magazine of satire that afflicted the powers that were. Paul Krassner along with Abbie Hoffman launched the Yippies to inspire young people in the late 60s, mixing rock and roll with politics. And

How dangerous is it that Americans are adjusting to truths changing by the hour? What is official truth now may not be so tomorrow. It’s all up to Trump’s White House. We mere citizens must accept and believe the dictate

You can’t incarcerate people into mental health. Prisons are a very old concept and it’s time to ask: Do they accomplish the goals for which they were created? What can we do with dangerous people if we do away with

Tax breaks for capital gains are a form of class privilege. So says history of US capitalism professor Julia Ott. It’s better public relations for Southern senators than outright Jim Crow, but taxing capital gains less than ordinary income was

Direct action is successful when it creates a crisis for those in power. It baffles the powers that be because it is truly democratic, merely a movement of movements. So says L.A. Kauffman, organizer of many direct action events, and

The right wing depends for its power on people not reading. Books have always been subversive. They lead to critical thinking. On the first part of this show, Ken Gloss,  proprietor of the internationally renowned Brattle Book Shop talks about

“Just following orders” is no defense. In a democracy we assume that individuals in society will take personal responsibility and disobey immoral commands. But as many experiments have shown, people rarely question orders from authorities. Our guest on this show

http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48358971/LowerEd.mp3At for-profit universities, they’re not admission offices, they’re sales forces. It’s no accident that today for-profit colleges and universities are proliferating. They exist to turn a profit for investors, and that means maintaining a class of low income people. Instead

We’re all familiar with 1776. But before the actual separation from England, there was revolution across the land. The spirit of 1774 was focused on class-blind democracy and a lot of what happened then, with powerful actions from the grassroots

” They didn’t call it fascism. They painted it red, white, and blue, and called it Americanism.” That’s from a 1942 movie with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy called Keeper of the Flame, which imagines a full fledged homegrown American

http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/www.dropbox.com/s/f79eihtv7eu5zse/NeoSlaveryEverGreen1.mp3?dl=0Most of us believe what we were taught in elementary school: that enslaved blacks were freed by the Civil War. The truth is far grimmer. In this gripping discussion (recorded during Obama’s term) Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery by Another

Sometimes citizens must break the law to uphold the law. History shows that sometimes patriotic resisting requires taking personal risks. But how to determine which risks are worth it and will yield the results we want? For a long time,

Over 3,000 prominent scientists, musicians, religious leaders, intellectuals, artists, actors, and others signed on to a full page ad in the January 4 New York Times, with the bold letters, “NO! In the name of humanity, we REFUSE to accept

While some argue Christmas is really a religious Christian holiday, that’s just not the case. The holiday has been with us for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and only morphed into what we see today as Christmas

Indigenous Americans for over 300 years have been treated as invisible; treaties and promises routinely ignored. Mainstream media ignored it as long as they could for fear of upsetting advertisers but pressure kept building and, surprise: the water protectors put

Most of us thought Right to Work was a 20th century scheme to destroy collective bargaining rights. According to Cedric DeLeon, author of The Origins of Right To Work: AntiLabor Democracy in 19th Century Chicago, it started out as a

Trump won’t do it; time now to push Obama to bring justice to a grave injustice. When guest on this show Robert Meeropol was six his mother Ethel Rosenberg was put to death. Knowing she was innocent, our government held

The Vikings were brave explorers and they found wondrous new things. Today Scandinavia holds promise of how America can become happier and more free. George Lakey, author of the new book Viking Economics, talks about struggling toward something rather than

With the election of Donald Trump, there’s talk of secession in California. But have we ever really been one nation? Certainly not.  Colin Woodard, author of the acclaimed book “American Nations,” reveals a history of eleven rival regional nations and

Generally American cites are dumped on: Budgets cut, services eliminated, schools ignored. But 80% of us live in cities and despite the pressure from uncaring financial interests and their politicians, we are close to a tipping point where an urban

It was a disastrous day for Democrats. Senior strategist and media advisor to the Bernie Sanders Campaign Mark Longabaugh (remember that great “America” ad?)talks about opportunities ahead for traditional liberal Democrats. He argues Trump’s victory was less about hate and

Everyone wants it to be over. On November first, the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party sees real weakness in the Republican Party, despite its projection of powerful anger and hate. Raymond Buckley also fills in the blanks as

From the Dadaists through Abbie Hoffman to today, the art of transforming everyday life into theater, challenging and befuddling unjust authority, has unique power to make real change. The unique new book is Tactical Performance: The Theory and Practice of

We’ve already seen the propensity of the angry, pumped up Trumpist mobs to violence. In his final debate performance, Donald Trump warned that his supporters might not abide by the results. Would the defeat of Trump be the end of

Is there a worse crime than child abuse? Is the complicity by knowing adults just as bad? Is there something about the very nature of authoritarianism in schools? Guest on this show is  Amos Kamil, author of Great is the

In addition to the three thousand lives, what else did we lose on 9/11? America’s founders wisdom carries well across a quarter millennium but the mission creep of the National Security State threatens that balance. Some see it as a