Let’s be honest, it seems to be getting harder and harder to get around in this country.  So much so that the skies above major metropolises like Los Angeles are filled with commuters in helicopters, like the one that went down recently killing Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gigi, and eight other persons.  The situation is bad and there’s no silver bullet answer.  And yet the long awaited infrastructure bill is another hostage of a divided nation.  So our most congested cities, like Boston, New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles, work to find their own blend of tolling, congestion pricing, mass transit and highway and street improvements to patch a surface transportation network which America’s Civil Engineers awarded a grade of D-.  What we are doing, or not doing, is costly, frustrating and inefficient.  And while changes are measured in years and decades, you wonder how long bubble gum and band-aids can keep our daily commutes from sinking our economic fortunes…and ruining our lives.  Nicole Gelinas, of the Manhattan Institute, has been thinking and writing about this issue and joins us on this podcast.

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Tens of millions of us believe that politics is exacting a toll on our social, psychological, emotional and, even, physical health. A study done in late 2019 shows, for example, that over thirty eight percent of the 800 people surveyed nationally said that politics is the root of their stress and that they have become depressed when a preferred candidate loses. Those who’ve lost sleep over it comes in at over 18 percent and over 11 percent attribute failing physical health to their angst over politics. To be clear, the survey explored people’s perceptions of their health, not actual diagnoses. Kevin Smith, lead author of the study and chair of the political science department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, joins us to break down the findings and what he believes underpins some rather dramatic impacts. The findings were published in the journal PLOS One and are corroborated by the American Psychological Association in their annual report titled ‘Stress in America’. As a society consumed by the daily back and forth among national leaders, we explore the impacts on politics downstream. Are we paying enough attention to issues closer to home on the state and local level? And is the national vitriol permeating those politics as well? It’s a revealing conversation and forces each of us to ask what we can do to react to things that disturb us in a more healthy manner. Some might argue getting off the sidelines and involving yourself in the true work of politics might be one answer. The other might be to shut off the TV set and go for a walk.

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The answer to the question is ‘yes’ as long as you understand the limitations of the doctrine of free speech and how its elasticity applies in the case of issues like campus speech, hate speech and fake news. Our guest, Stanley Fish, one of the great public thinkers on the American stage today was dis invited to speak at Seton Hall University. You might think that he would take umbrage at that and consider it an assault on free speech. In fact, he said ‘I have no right to speak at Seton Hall and I have not been silenced because I was dis invited’. In our podcast, the author of many books, including his latest, ‘The First’ goes on to explain his position. While the First Amendment deals with a number of our liberties his primary focus is on free speech which permeates and informs the other First Amendment touchstones. Fish believes that this fundamental right eludes certainty, as it shape shifts to serve the purposes of its advocates. Have you ever heard a First Amendment scholar say that too much speech is not necessarily a good thing or that it relies on censorship as a precondition to its existence? It’s a provocative, thoughtful and reasoned discussion, which, no matter the era, remains the best end result of the protections afforded us by the First Amendment.

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Who better than a forty year veteran of the oil business to guide us through a discussion that ends with a new reliance and confidence that renewable energy sources are viable and poised to fuel our country? That’s what we develop in detail and nuance in a wide-ranging discussion with Jack Kerfoot, author of ‘Fueling America: An Insider’s Journey’. The transition that is going on starts with the diminishing role of coal as a source of energy and leads us off shore to explore new wind technology, on top of our homes to look at the emergence of solar alternatives and under our hoods to explore the electrification of vehicle technology and the enhanced battery capability that makes it feasible. Makings of that future are clear in the numbers. Presently, 23 percent of America’s power is generated from renewable energy, passing coal for the first time ever. We extrapolate from that where we will be in the decades ahead. And while natural gas is the transitional fuel of the moment, solar, wind, hydroelectric, along with a beleaguered nuclear sector, are all playing more of a role as the years go on. if you have 40 minutes to understand what these changes will mean to your life–and your planet–join us.

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While this podcast focuses on the likelihood of the continuing trend of viruses circling the globe, it was recorded just as the impacts of the novel coronavirus were coming into view in the United States. Just in the recent past, we have seen the swine flu, Zika, SARS, Ebola and, most recently, coronavirus. With each new virus and contagion come comparisions with past outbreaks that have devastated mankind. However, in this modern age we have imagined that our sophistication and medical advances would make us able to respond quickly to the danger. While that may be true when public health protocols are quickly put in place, in the recent decades we have developed economies around the world that center on megacities, mass transit and supply chains that wrap us all together. And public health emerges as a priority often only when these situations are close upon us. The question is ‘are we tempting fate believing inordinately in our own ability to quickly respond to any possible pandemic’? Clearly while we are treating the physical contagion we are also having to address the psychological ones that grip societies at warp speed on the other superhighway–that of social media. Yale University, in response to international threats, has recently established an Institute for Global Health. We discuss all these issues with its director, Saad Omer, Ph.D. on this podcast.

Guest movement throughout the course of the interview, due to his demand at the time, affected the audio quality of the podcast in limited spots. Please accept our apologies.

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If you’re a person of a certain age, it’s likely that the house you grew up in was much smaller than the one you have today. And the car your family drove then–generally one per household–was a third the size of the one you drive today. How do social mores and expectations change over time? Psychologists for a long time have understood that we influence one another much more strongly than most people realize. Economist Robert H. Frank, of Cornell University, and author of ‘Under the Influence’ seizes on this concept to suggest that behavioral contagion can be harnessed to affect positive societal change. If you think about recent successful movements, whether it’s The Tea Party or #MeToo, can you name a leader in either case? With social media and the rapid transmission of new ideas, things that seemed implausible moments earlier can happen rapidly. Two other momentous examples, in recent history, were the fall of the Berlin Wall ending the Cold War and the rapid adoption of same sex marriage as the law of the land. The concept of behavorial contagion is a powerful one. The effect our friends and neighbors have on our own behavior places social influence in a whole new light. Just consider the example of solar panels going up in your neighborhood. Listen in to find out what we mean.

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Risk-takers, dreamers and idea people in America are hedging their bets on that new business they have been imagining for years and it’s of concern to Congress. Recently, the House and Senate set up entrepreneur caucuses to raise the profile of the issue. Inc. Magazine identified six areas where we may see legislative action for entrepreneurs in 2020. And two senators, a Democrat and a Republican have introduced legislation to study the issue further. Considering the fact that small businesses account for almost 41 percent of private-sector payroll and 65 percent of net new job creation, this issue must be taken seriously. We have seen many start-ups get gobbled up by larger and larger companies in the recent period. Wayne Titus III, author of ‘The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being’, surveys the landscape with us to find out why this trend is occurring. He urges those who have new ideas to reach for their dreams while have the people, systems, advisors and plans in place to execute the vision. He describes concepts like ‘behavorial governance’ and ‘integrative advice’ as being key in this process. If you’re planning to step away from the 9 to 5 work world to run down your dream, please take a listen. Wayne is chock full of good advice.

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The Associated Press headline screamed ‘birth decline gives U.S. slowest population growth rate since 1918’. Wow, that was a long time back. So why is this happening now and what are the implications? Thanks to Dowell Myers, a professor of demography and urban planning at USC, we unpack the many issues surrounding the low birth rate. As this goes on various regions of the country are winning new residents while others, like my beloved Northeast, are losing population. All this becomes very important in 2020, a U.S. Census year, when Congressional representation–and political power–are at stake. And since America has always been a youth dominated culture, what happens when the age pyramid is inverted and the old, not the young, dominate the landscape? We’ve seen it happen in countries like Japan and it’s not healthy, or even normal, for a society. Of course, in this description I’ve begged the question of why with a robust millennial generation, of childbearing age, this is happening. You’ll have to listen as we break down those aspects of the story.

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With the passage of the First Step Act in Congress, then signed into law by President Trump, we see common ground for politicians across the political spectrum to fix a broken criminal justice system. Whether it’s the over criminalization of low level offenses or the tendency to lock more African-Americans up than other populations, states and the federal government are now about the business of looking at the whole system and trying to rectify past abuses. In many cases armed with new studies and a greater understanding of the disparate impacts that ‘tough on crime’ legislation has had, reform is sweeping the country, often led by the states. These reforms touch on not locking people up in the first place and if they have been locked up trying to figure out paths to true rehabilitation and reform. This involves clean slate initiatives so that minor infractions, long past, do not define a person for the rest of their lives to reforms of probation, parole and cash bail. Our guest, Nila Bala, who served as an assistant public defender in Baltimore for years, is now the associate director, criminal justice and civil liberties and resident senior fellow for R Street, a conservative leaning think tank. She writes often for ‘The American Conservative’ describing why these reform initiatives are part of that tradition in America.

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Recently we were reminded of the power of the drone as a weapon of pinpoint accuracy when Iranian General Qassem Suleimani was taken off of the battlefield by a precision strike at the Baghdad Airport. Drones are being used by the military in a host of different ways and, surprisingly, have been for many years. In the modern era America has deployed them in asymmetrical war zones so that we can survive overhead, do reconnaissance and avoid having more boots on the ground. Yet these technological wonders can be deployed remotely or autonomously from land, air and sea. Here at home, there are an array of uses ranging from public safety, geospatial mapping and recreational use of all types. Drones do raise many questions about how they can and should be deployed in battle, particularly in potential high-intensity conflicts with major powers like China and Russia. Back home we must determine how to insure that drones avoid invading personal space, related to privacy concerns, and air space that other vehicles need to occupy for human safety. Joining us to discuss this topic is Dan Gettinger, founder and co-director of the Center for Study of the Drone at Bard College.

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