Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

England’s Labour Party is a lot like America’s Democratic Party: all over the map. Both used to be the party of laboring people. The UK’s current PM Kier Starmer won claiming to be of the left. Now he’s pushing an The post Rising in the UK and the US: A Democratic Left appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Researchers are beginning to understand why some of us demonstrate what is called “moral courage” and others do not. In fact, most of us actually have a warped sense of our own moral courage. We like to think nothing would The post The Trump Era and the Psychology of Moral Courage appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

After 2024, the mainstream of the Democratic Party is in the wilderness, but Zohran Mamdani may lead a way out. This week’s guest Fred Glass, talks about what early 20th century California history can teach us about the 2025 New The post Why Mamdani May Revitalize the Democratic Party: 1911 CA Precedent appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Innumerable people have tried over many years to stop the  forever wars between Israel and Palestine. With the world now horrified by the use of starvation as a weapon, the urgency of a resolution has never been greater. Even if The post A Blueprint for A Future Israel/Palestine appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

American military service members certainly did not sign up to fight the American people. Yet with the massive deployment of national guard and marines to stop protests in Los Angeles, that was indeed their assignment. On this show, Jacobin and The post “Just Following Orders”? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

What mainstream Democrats don’t understand is that anti-elites are economically progressive, while the elites are economically conservative. NYCs Mamdani won the primary by building an economic coalition. On this show, Joan C. Williams talks about her important new book, Outclassed. The post How The Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

It’s called airbrushing history and all dictators do it to erase the truth. Sometimes it can be petty. One example is that Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon deleted photos that were on their website of the first black military pilots during WWII, The post The Power of Photographs and the Truth That Threatens Dictators appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

The appalling criminalization of ordinary people. No charges, no conviction, just sweep up people who, as he said: “look like illegals.” Blatantly circumventing constitutional law. And in the big, ugly bill, passed 7/3, spending for jail space and ICE skyrocketed. The post His Insatiable Appetite for Prisons appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

The right wing is heavily invested in the meat industry. After all, it has the essential components: dominance, violence, destruction of the planet. In his new provocative book: The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong About Meat, Animals, and Ourselves, The post Can One Have Meat and A Conscience Too? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

In the 90s, the party took a turn to the right, taking the working and middle class base for granted. Instead they went for Trump in 2024. Clinton hurt this former base with austerity, and poorly thought out welfare reform The post Democrats Can Win Again: If… appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Why do they feel a need for violence to prove their manhood? What’s the connection between an angry Germany after the First World War and what many young men are feeling in 2025? Why do they see equality as deprivation? The post Young Men Are Drawn to Fascism. Why? What Can We Do? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

There’s a reason the same voters were undecided between Bernie and Trump in 2016. People wanted real change. And in 2024, Democrats walked into a trap. As bad as it looks today, writing in Newsweek, today’s guest Matt Robison argues The post Under Water Now, Democrats Have to Become the Party of Change appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

It’s not just politics but arts and a free culture that makes real change. Sure there are the leaders we all know, MLK and Malcolm X, but in his new paperback edition of The Jazz Men: How Duke Ellington, Louis The post How Their Music Toppled Jim Crow appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Society would rather not see them. Like people in prison, the foster care system makes hundreds of thousands of kids invisible. And the system is doing them great damage for life. On this show, author and foster care, juvenile justice, The post It’s Not the Kids, It’s the Foster Care System That’s Damaged appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.

Starting a trade war is just stupid. But maybe Trump simply doesn’t really care about tanking the economy. On this show, Washington Monthly politics editor Bill Scher points out that the current president appears to be trying to steer America The post Trade Peace Beats Trade War: Where Are the Democrats? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.