S1E55 - Amichai Magen - Defeating an Ideology
In the wake of Hamas’ unprecedented attack across Israel’s southern border with Gaza, we met with Amichai Magen, Visiting Fellow in Israeli Studies at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies to take stock of the humanitarian and geopolitical dynamics in Israel, Gaza, the Middle East, and the globe writ large. As the chess pieces of this conflict continue to move, the central question is whether pragmatic Islamic states can establish stability by resisting the seeds of chaos sewn by the “Axis of Resistance.” The irony of jihadist terrorism is that Muslims disproportionately bear the brunt. Tectonic plates are shifting. Will Hatikva (The Hope) prevail? Listen for what phoenix might rise from these ashes. Magen quotes Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Guron to say, “If you don’t believe in miracles, you’re not a realist.” Join us.
S1E53 - Norman Solomon - Shining Light on Inconvenient Truths
We met with Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, to shed light on what we are NOT told about our military involvement around the globe. One cannot fathom the human toll of 4.5 million lives lost directly and indirectly from US military action since 9/11. Solomon implicates corporate media and Hollywood in obfuscating the real human cost, especially of innocent non-combatants. To illustrate this point, he explains that for every innocent US life lost in the World Trade Center attack, the US killed 100 innocents in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. Why do we value one human life more than another? While hopeful of a time when humanity can rise above violent conflict, Solomon principally advocates for more truthful and accurate disclosure in place of the terrifyingly efficient propaganda machine that erases this awareness from the public consciousness. The glorification of war and the absence of rigorous discourse before military action all contribute to this. Decentralized non-corporate journalism may hold a key. Newsrooms themselves have become an endangered species. Can we build movements and sensibilities that say “war first” is unacceptable? To quote Antonio Gramsci, “It is time for pessimism of the intellect, and optimism of the will.” Join us.
S1E50 - Sean Walsh - We Must Do Better
We met with Sean Walsh, premier political analysts and former advisor to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Regan, to glean his perspectives on the GOP, its future, pressing political issues, and what is unfolding in the run up to the 2024 elections. A classical conservative and a leading thinker, Walsh shined piercing light on the challenges for both parties and the country as a whole. Geopolitically he views the U.S. as very vulnerable. He sounded a clarion call for taking a sober look in the mirror. We should be preparing for an emboldened China, and tackling the collapse of manufacturing, its workforce, and its supply chains. The American Dream appears to have changed, and seemingly not for the better. Mourning the loss of serious discourse in an age of soundbites and the rise of government and prosecutorial overreach, Walsh sees that we have much catching up to do to become commercially and militarily competitive again. Irrespective of your politics, we think you’ll find that our conversation was the “serious discourse” of which we need more. Join us.
S1E45 - Bruce Cain - Back to Compromise
At the time of our recording, Trump had just received his third indictment for his role in the January 6th insurrection. To give us some greater perspective on the state of politics in our fragile democracy, we turned to Stanford political science professor Bruce Cain who is one of our nation's great political analysts. Cain reflected on Trump’s many self-made challenges, the options before the Republican and Democratic parties, the relevance of polling, the vulnerabilities of our democratic system, and ideas to help us get our system of governance back on track. On top of all that impedes our politics, reacting to changes in the climate heightens our need for timely action. We are in a perfect storm. And yet, there is hope. Cain’s latest book reflects on how we will likely find ways to decarbonize in the long run, even if we don’t move fast enough to avoid the inevitable disruption that climate change will bring in the short run. Cain argues that deniers change their tune when they experience extreme weather effects first hand. He adds that, “...ultimately it is a cultural thing.” Our education, our religions and our journalism will be where we find ways to combat the forces that manipulate us. We’ll have to find our way back to political compromise, for that is how James Madison envisioned our system must function. Join us.
S1E39 - James Fallows - Keeping a Level Head
We met with one of the preeminent figures of American journalism, James Fallows, to discuss equal parts world affairs and the craft of journalism. Fallows brings the perspective of a lengthy and illustrious career covering a vast array of domestic and international issues, including politics, technology, Asia, aviation and hometown America, to name a few. We touch on all of these to get his perspectives on Trump’s presidency and current legal challenges, AI, social media, US/China relations, working as Carter’s speech writer, the news industry in general, and much more. A believer that “transparency is the new objectivity,” Fallows openly acknowledges upfront the aspects of his background that are potentially relevant to his views. While today there are so many things happening at a distance that alarm us, Fallows ends by reminding us that he consistently finds great resilience and possibility when he goes local to get a closer look. His observations are informative and sober, but ultimately optimistic. Join us.
S1E37 - Janine Zacharia - Realpolitik, Media Control and Democracy’s Decline
We met with renowned Middle East correspondent and journalism lecturer, Janine Zacharia to do a round up on Middle East current events. The scorecard is sobering. We are at an inflection point. While popular attention turns to Russia and China, press freedoms across the region continue to decline. The circulation of deliberately false information is a central cause. This fuels rampant political polarization, which in turn helps autocrats win. Violence and oppression against journalists is on the rise. Our own internal political dysfunction makes coherent foreign policy nearly impossible. As America’s standing and influence in the region wanes, China (who requires no standards for human rights or press freedoms) is more than happy to fill in our vacuum. So Zacharia asks an existential question - how might we restore respect for fact-based news? This is the lifeblood of functioning democracy. There are no easy answers, but she helps us see that this one leverage point has implications for the entire globe. Join us.
S1E34 - Orville Schell - The Enigma of Xi
It seems that China is in the news every day. To dig in deeper on this issue, we met with Orville Schell - one of the world’s foremost experts on China and US/Sino relations - to help us understand the Chinese perspective and to learn more about China’s leader, Xi Jinping. We dove deep into China’s radical successes, its challenges, its resilience, its leverage, its sense of grievance and victimization, its anti-Western diplomacy, and its troubling aspirations. It has become the strongest member of an autocratic block of nations positioned to resist liberal democracy throughout the world. Despite this worrying preeminence, we know surprisingly little about China’s enigmatic party leader, Xi Jinping. Not only is saber-rattling bad for business, actual military conflict could blow the global economy to blazes. Schell leaves us with the understanding that now is the time to conjure “Kissinger-esque” creativity, and summon new approaches to preserve the peace with Asia’s Middle Kingdom. Join us to learn more.
S1E29 - Molly Kawahata - Deploying Hope
We met with former White House Climate Advisor to President Obama, Molly Kawahata, to hear her innovative perspectives on how to make a real difference in society and for the planet. She is principally focused on how we mobilize productive human psychology to motivate broad systemic change. Her insights are fascinating, born of her own personal struggles, that society writ large has been brainwashed into paralysis with propaganda from the fossil fuel industry that is designed to rob us of hope. It seems an impossible premise, but she effectively argues her case of how this happened, and what those concerned about the future of the planet can do differently to make concrete progress toward the “zero carbon promised land.” While applauding those who make personal choices and sacrifices to help the environment in their own lives, Kawahata eschews climate shaming of all kinds, and sees no averting climate catastrophe without public policy that decarbonizes our industrial, transportation and energy sectors. It is not our fault that we use these sectors. They are the only ones that those without privilege have available to access. Most importantly, she implores us to change the debate away from “saving the polar bears” that those with “boots on their neck” can’t afford to care about, to a practical discussion about pollution and equitable access to clean air and water. We can all see the impact from reducing pollution, and we can have hope in our personal ability to make a meaningful impact. What can you do? Deploy hope and get out the vote. Join us for an exhilarating discussion.
S1E18 - Angela Glover Blackwell - Realizing the Promise of Equity
We met with Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder-in-Residence of PolicyLink, host of the Radical Imagination Podcast and Professor of Practice at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, to reflect on a career dedicated to building a more equitable society. Blackwell believes that authentically rooting oneself in close proximity to the experience of the most vulnerable populations allows one to see how to improve circumstances for everyone. These are unprecedented times with unprecedented threats, but we also see unprecedented engagement and a novel brand of unprecedented “collective leadership” that fuels today’s powerful social movements and renewal. Join us to understand her passionate optimism, and hear her four key changes that would lead to meaningful progress towards a better world for all.
S1E15 - Ron Elving - A Most Unusual Midterms
We met with Ron Elving, Senior Politics Editor and Correspondent for the Washington Desk at NPR News, on November 11, 2022 to reflect upon the 2022 midterm elections and the state of our democracy. Some of our conversation reflected the specifics of this last week with midterm results still trickling in, but most of what we discussed turned to broader questions of our times: the resilience of democracy, free speech, civic engagement, polling, Russian intervention, disinformation in general, politics discourse, ranked-choice voting, Trump’s influence, and the engagement of rising generations of Americans in the political process overall. America faces many challenges. To help us make sense of them, Ron Elving lent us his measured and sober perspectives. He also graced us with his optimistic disposition, and the sense that clearly understanding our challenges enables us to grow stronger.
S1E9 - Bill McKibben - Renown Environmentalist - Reclaiming the Climate
Bill McKibben is a life-long environmentalist, activist, journalist, and author who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. In our conversation we review the significance of recent climate legislation, the technological alternatives to fossil fuels, and the ways and means currently at work to reclaim the climate – with special focus given to what the Baby Boomers can do.
S1E3 - Dr. Richard Haass - Council on Foreign Relations - Restabilizing The World
Dr. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, will share his sober assessments on the clear and present threats in the world today, the greatest of which are domestic. He will draw from his most recent work, The World: A Brief Introduction, current events, and his upcoming book on American democracy, to illuminate the factors we must address as a nation and a globe on the road ahead in order to preserve our collective civil society.
S1E2 - Larry Diamond, Ph.D - Hoover/Stanford - Saving Democracy
As one the world's leading spokespersons for democracy, Larry Diamond, Ph.D of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, the Journal of Democracy and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), reflects on the threats to global democracy and his proposals for reinstating and reinforcing the health of our own democracy in the United States.
