Current Affairs17 Huhti 2023

The Dysfunctions of Our "Democracy" and How To Fix Them (w/ Tom Geoghegan)

Thomas Geoghegan is a labor lawyer and writer whose latest book is The History of Democracy Has Yet To Be Written: How We Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again. MSNBC's Chris Hayes says of the book: "This book made me laugh out loud and also gave me glimpses of an entire horizon of possibility I hadn't seen before.” Indeed, while Tom's book examines the hopeless dysfunction of our political system (including amusingly describing his own effort to run for Congress), it's also a look at how we could make a much, much better system of government if we were committed to getting rid of the filibuster, making voting mandatory, restructuring congress, and passing the PRO Act. Even though we often assume that we stand on the cusp of an authoritarian end to democracy, we actually have within our grasp the possibility of making it far more stable and having a Congress that actually represents the people of the country. Today, Tom joins to discuss his book, telling us what it's like to run for Congress in Chicago in a freezing winter (not fun) and why democracy depends on making the labor movement flourish again.

"The labor movement is necessary to pull people into the political process. If it's the right kind of labor movement, it's going to have the goal of all true republican government: to help people govern themselves, to increase people's capacity to be citizens, to increase people's capacity to rule and take responsibility for all aspects of their lives." — Tom Geoghegan

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Democrats Paved the Way for Fascism — Jennifer Welch on MAGA, Socialism, and Political Revolution

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Israel Is Stealing the West Bank in Plain Sight (w/ Jasper Nathaniel)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membershipJasper Nathaniel is an independent journalist who recently returned from reporting in the occupied W...

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How 9/11 Normalized Endless War

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, along with national co-director Danaka Katovi...

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How Trump Made a Broken DOJ Even Worse

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Rachel Cohen is an attorney and organizer who previously resigned from the law firm Skadden Arps a...

9 Syys 31min

MAGA Stole Animal Rights from the Left

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Astra Taylor is a writer, activist, and co-author of End Times Fascism, and Aaron Regunberg is a cl...

2 Syys 49min

Palestinians Shouldn’t Have to Be Perfect Victims (w/ Mohammed el-Kurd)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Mohammed el-Kurd is a Palestinian writer from Jerusalem, The Nation’s Palestine correspondent, and ...

31 Elo 31min

AIPAC Knows Its Money Is Toxic (w/ Track AIPAC)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Track AIPAC is an advocacy and watchdog project that tracks AIPAC and other pro-Israel political sp...

27 Elo 31min

Both Parties Are Failing Working People (w/ Dan Osborn)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Dan Osborn is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska and a former union leader who fi...

25 Elo 19min