Episodes

Protecting Democracy: Daria Dawson

Daria Dawson is the Executive Director of America Votes, which coordinates more than 400 partners to engage and mobilize voters for elections up and down the ballot across the country. We discuss why 2024 is - yet again - the most important election of our lifetimes.

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Give Up the Bootstrapping Myth!: Alissa Quart

Alissa Quart is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream. We discuss what it really means to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps in America, “the land of the self-made.”

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Living Constitutionally: A.J. Jacobs

A.J. Jacobs is a journalist and author. His most recent book is The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning. We discuss how the Founding Fathers prized humility, experimentation, and a willingness to change their own minds.

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Healthcare for All: Melanie D’Arrigo

Melanie D’Arrigo is the Executive Director of the Campaign for New York Health, which aims to win universal single-payer healthcare for all New Yorkers. We discuss the intersection of democracy and healthcare and what is necessary to create better health outcomes.

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How It Feels to Love America: Wajahat Ali

Wajahat Ali is a Daily Beast columnist and the co-host of Democracy-ish. He's also the author of Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American. Together, Mila and Waj discuss what it means to be American and to love a country that often doesn’t love them back.

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Pursuing Equal Justice: Robert Tsai

Robert L. Tsai is the author of Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer’s Pursuit of Equal Justice for All and Professor of Law and Harry Elwood Warren Memorial Scholar at Boston University School of Law. We discuss the death penalty, legal representation for the indigent, and equality under law.

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Relational Organizing: Rachel Vindman

Rachel Vindman is the co-host of the Suburban Women Problem podcast and she has her finger on the pulse on all things politics for American women. We discuss abortion, Trump's conviction, Ukraine, and relational organizing.

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Take the Constitution Back from Originalism: Madiba Dennie

Madiba Dennie is Deputy Editor and Senior Contributor at the critical legal commentary outlet Balls and Strikes. Her debut book is The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We The People Can Take it Back. We discuss a fresh way to interpret the Constitution.

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Voters Are the Boss: Jessica González-Rojas

Jessica Gonzalez Rojas is the New York State Assembly Member representing the 34th District in New York City. We discuss the New York State budget and how she represents her constituents on housing, food insecurity, and healthcare.

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When Government Works: Debbie Cox Bultan

Debbie Cox Bultan is the CEO of the NewDEAL, a network of 150 rising state and local officials, and the NewDEAL Forum, which identifies and promotes innovative state and local pro-growth progressive policies. We discuss what it means to deliver good governance at the state and local level.

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The Path to Decarbonization: Bill Weir

Bill Weir is CNN’s Chief Climate Correspondent and the author of Life As We Know It (Can Be). We discuss Carbon Godzilla, decarbonization, and the many existing and accessible technologies to mitigate climate change.

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Power to the Polls: Mandela Barnes

Mandela Barnes is the president of Power to the Polls Wisconsin. He also served as Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 2019 to 2023 and is the co-founder of The Long Run PAC. We discuss how grassroots voter outreach connects the dots for the voters on policy that impacts their lives.

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Fixing Immigration: Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is the Policy Director at the American Immigration Council, a non-profit organization that strives to strengthen the United States by shaping immigration policies and practices. We discuss how out-of-date immigration laws are and why the only cure is comprehensive immigration reform from Congress.

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America’s Half a Billion Guns: Jonathan Metzl

Jonathan M. Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry and the Director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. His most recent book is What We’ve Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms. We discuss how lax gun laws and gun ownership as an identity.

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Everyday Freedom: Philip K. Howard

Philip K. Howard is the founder and chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for simplifying government, and has advised both parties on needed reforms. His latest book is Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society.

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Power Sharing Liberalism: Danielle Allen

Danielle Allen is the author of Justice By Means of Democracy. She is also the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. We discuss power sharing liberalism as a new paradigm in the practice of democracy.

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The Founders’ Intentions: Jeffrey Rosen

Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and the author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. We discuss how the Constitution is a framework for a productive conversation for people with fundamentally different points of view.

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Cancel Student Debt: Braxton Brewington

Braxton Brewington is the Press Secretary of the Debt Collective. We discuss the origins of the Debt Collective in the Rolling Jubilee and its history in canceling student debt. Their example is a powerful model for canceling student debt, which continues to be important for all Americans in this election cycle and beyond.

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Employ Negative Partisanship: Rachel Bitecofer

Rachel Bitecofer is a political scientist and election forecaster turned political strategist. Her most recent book is Hit ’Em Where it Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game. We discuss why it's time for Democratic Party candidates to embrace negative partisanship in their campaigns.

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A Real Right to Vote: Richard L. Hasen

Richard L. Hasen is Professor of Law and Political Science at UCLA and director of UCLA Law’s Safeguarding Democracy Project. We discuss his most recent book, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy.

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