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

It just sounds so bad: wars for domination. The new and improved justification is “humanitarian intervention” or Responsibility to Protect (R2P). It’s prime advocate is US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, likely to get a prime spot in a

Oscar Meyer was Chuck Collins’ great grandfather. At age 26, he turned aside his inherited fortune. Why would anybody do that? His new book is called Born on Third Base; A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing

Far from the fears right wingers had that same sex marriage would be a threat to the institution, lawyer Elizabeth Schwartz who specializes in the field, argues same sex marriage may actually strengthen the institution. Too many people go into

Prisons are a very old concept and it’s time to ask: Do they still work? Do they accomplish the goals for which they were created? What can we do with dangerous people if we do away with prisons, how can

They mostly came from big cities on the coasts. But why did fourteen young men came from rural New Hampshire in the Fall of 1936 to risk their lives in a foreign war? It was illegal for them to go

Populism has been part of our country’s identity since before the Constitution. It looked like there was a great populist uprising this year. Now, with the scare of Bernie Sanders behind them the corporate-serving Democrats are back to their “happy

The right to organize is a basic human right. So says MIT professor and co-director of the Institute for Work and Employment Tom Kochan. In the face of decades of assaults against workers rights, this election year holds realistic hope

Is the dream over? The socialist democratic Israel our parents generation dreamed of is not the right wing Israel we see today.What’s happening with Jewish Americans who are under 70? Why does the right wing Israel lobby still have so

http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48358971/YoungWarComplete.mp3They call it “youth development programs.” Seven hundred million of our tax dollars are being used to lure kids into the schools-to-soldier pipeline. The mainly poor students are presented the image of exciting video games, which millions of kids love.

With Trump as president, it would be a major effort to just move back to the center. With Hillary Clinton, and sustained  pressure from progressives, forward motion is possible, if difficult. This is for progressives thinking about the election. Michael

How many women do you think have run for president? Of the 200 or so who have done it, there are three before Hillary who made a difference. In her new book, The Highest Glass Ceiling; Women’s Quest for the

From ruthless cold warrior to taking on his nemesis LBJ over the war in Vietnam, was Bobby Kennedy an opportunist? Who was the “runt” of the Kennedy litter?  In this remarkable interview, bestselling author Larry Tye tells us how Bobby’s

On the first half, candidate for NH executive council Joshua Bourdon. Beginning at about 28 minutes, Jared Beck lead lawyer for the class action lawsuit alleging the DNC failed to follow its own rules and tilted the nominating process toward

Independence day: Many Americans see our freedom to choose as consumers as what independence is all about. But recovering corporate CEO and Huffington Post columnist Richard Eskow on this show shines a light on how far we’ve veered from what

This changes everything. “Britons may have made a short term tactical mistake, but the true error is Europe’s” according to Patrick Lawrence, Salon’s foreign affairs columnist. He adds that Bernie Sanders got it right in saying, “Let’s be clear. the