In a democratic society, like ours, how easy or hard is it to upend
power and economic disparities, when those who have the most to lose
also have the most power?  It’s a tricky question which Professor Paul
Starr, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, attempts to answer in his new
book, ‘Entrenchment’.  Let’s be honest, it’s not easy and can literally
take centuries.  In America, the results of The Civil War were
remarkable, but still leave behind a legacy of injustice against black
people in our society which are persistent and pernicious.  So, we ask
our guest whether the process of change or turning over the old order
was envisioned by the framers to be a difficult process, given how
daunting a task it is to amend the Constitution.  Hint: we haven’t had
an amendment in a long time.  And when we do look to right wrongs or
address imbalances and bend them in a more just way, while hard won, are
they forever?  This notion of entrenchment will get you thinking about
change and the forces that often stand in the way.

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  If you listen to President Trump this is the best economy in years,
perhaps, ever. We have low unemployment numbers and a great uptick on
Wall Street.  If that’s the case, why does he keep pressuring the
Federal Reserve to lower interest rates in what the Fed Chairman, Jerome
Powell, says is not such a hot jobs market. David Blanchflower, a labor
economics professor at Dartmouth University and author of ‘Not
Working’, joins us to explain what the discrepancy is between what we
are told by officials and what we see and sense from our own lives.  He
says that economists, policy makers and bankers need to practice the
‘economics of walking about’.  By that he means, look at real lives and
make a judgment as to how things are going, because the published
unemployment rate today is an unreliable measure of the economy’s
performance.  Perhaps, the participation rate is a better indicator.  Or
the quality of the jobs available or ‘labor market slack’.  Whether you
like economics, or consider it the dismal science, Professor
Blanchflower explains it all in very understandable terms and helps
guide you to becoming your own economist as you sift through the ways
politicians will use the numbers to convince you of their positions in
2020.  Become better prepared, as well as entertained, on this episode.

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There are alarming reports from all over the country about the demise
of local newspapers and the sprouting up of local ‘news deserts’, where
finding out about what’s going on in your town or city is becoming
increasingly more difficult.  With it comes a lack of accountability on
the part of local officials as there’s no one watching(even taxes
increases may occur more easily without the media watchman in place). 
So, we turned to Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor from Northeastern
University, and author of two books on the the state of play for
journalism, to help us sort things out.  It’s a round discussion that
touches on many factors changing how and where we get our news.  Will
the on-line alternatives fill the breach, many of which operate because
of the generosity of community foundations?  Are daily newspapers
figuring out ways to monetize their on-line content?  Can TV news be an
adequate substitute for a local newspaper?  And what about weekly
papers? For old-timers, reading the newspaper every day is as natural as
taking their next breath, and as necessary, while most young people
have never had that attachment.  So where do we go from here?  Listen in
to find out.

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Frustrated and feeling betrayed, Americans have come to loathe politics–assuring more disastrous results. In his well researched book, ‘The Death of Politics’, Peter Wehner reminds us that politics can, and should, be about the noble pursuit of justice. To give up on politics means giving up on making America a more just society. The sense of the importance of politics in a democratic society requires a healthy respect for opposing opinions and an ability to find common ground. That foundation is crumbling in America and Donald Trump’s presidency is an outsized, and virulent, manifestation of this trend. As a devout Christian and conservative, Mr. Wehner is appalled at what co-religionists and former political allies have done to abandon their principles to serve the interests of this president. Having served in three previous Republican administrations, he has thought long and hard about where our politics is going and is troubled. His articulate expression of concern is something worth listening to given his unique vantage point. Since he ended the book on a cautious note of hope based upon the premise that the people will make a course correction, I ask him what he would say if the country signed on for four more years of this. You will find his answer quite interesting.

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  Humans have the capacity to be caring and show empathy toward total
strangers, even risk our lives on their behalf, yet, in contrast, we
also have the ability to dehumanize others thus opening the door to
shocking aggression and brutality.  Since our podcast likes to look at
trajectory, we were curious in what direction the pendulum was
swinging.  We turned to Adam Waytz, author of ‘The Power of Human’, for
the answer.  In a world of increasing pace, speed and human connection
of a secondary nature, by way of social media, we explore the impacts of
growing research on loneliness and social isolation, as major
contributors to declining health for many in our society.  We are in the
midst of a ‘dehumanizing shift’ and we’re growing less interested in
entering into meaningful relationships and conversations.  So, the next
time you’re across from someone at a table, rather than better dealing
them by looking for an ‘outer ring’ friend to connect with on line, pay
them some real attention.  Our society will be better for it.

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 There may not be a clash of generations with the newly adult Millennial’s squaring off against their baby boomer parents, but when(and if)they wake up to many decisions that the older set has made, there will be some ‘esplaining to do’.  By all accounts, Millennials’ must contend with the harsh reality of a tough job market, expensive housing in desirable urban areas(where the jobs are)and piles of college debt. Joseph Sternberg, born in 1986 and a millennial, lowers the boom on the boomers for many of the decisions made in the follow up to the great recession in 2008 in his book, ‘The Theft of the Decade’.  He tells us that the jobs ladder effectively collapsed for Millennials’ after the near crash and older folks haven’t even had the courtesy to get out of a rapidly changing workforce in order to make way for their kids. Whatever generation you are, this podcast will get you thinking about the future for a huge generation of young people whose fate is being determined at this moment in time.

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 Religious freedom. Separation of church and state.  Constitutional protections to practice your faith as you wish.  We take these precepts for granted, even as we still debate the founder’s intent in 21st century America. Yet those notions were radically different from what was practiced around the globe at the time these practices were memorialized in the Constitution. Our model of religious freedom is in many ways counter-intuitive.  The underlying principle: leave it alone and it will flourish.  Well, whose idea was that?  We find out thanks to Steven Waldman, author of the new book, ‘Sacred Liberty’s and the co-founder of Belief net, the award-multi faith website. The history we discuss informs the present and ways in which religion and politics cross over in our politics.  This podcast will have you thinking, no matter what religion you are and where you stand on the political spectrum.

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:           National rates of obesity in American youth and adults remain high and yet many societal messages tell us that you should be ashamed of being larger than certain standards suggest.  Studies bear out that this form of discrimination hinders many people’s chances in this society and can result in some very harmful effects, like depression, eating disorders, reduced self esteem and other chronic diseases.  It all points to the fact that ‘fat shaming’ as it’s often called, while intended by parents, for example, to encourage weight loss and certain changes in behavior may have the opposite effect. Weight issues may be the result of genetics or previous life traumas, but the messaging in our culture pays no account and focuses on a thin representation of beauty.  Those messages are often matched or exceeded by the food industry urging us to eat more junk foods which contribute to obesity.  The whole picture is disturbing and confusing.  To help us sort through it all is Rebecca Puhl, PhD, a professor at the University of Connecticut and Deputy Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

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 They are located on the third floor of the Executive Office Building
in Washington, D.C.  Having grown over the years from about a dozen
people to hundreds today, when they were first empowered by President
Harry Truman to take over a major role in developing foreign policy ,
the National Security Council(NSC) has its fingerprints over all aspects
of war and peace.  And, yet, very few Americans understand what they do
and Congress has very little interaction with members of the NSC.  It’s
one of the key reasons we can look to the growing power of the Imperial
Presidency and question whether this amassing of power in the White
House has resulted in better, or worse, policies and outcomes. John
Gans, PhD. is the director of communications and research at Perry World
House, the University of Pennsylvania’s global policy institute and was
a former speechwriter at the Pentagon and is the author of ‘White House
Warriors’.  In this book he explores how the NSC transformed the
American way of war.  No matter the Administration, or the party of the
president, the concentration of power in a few hands continues.  And
considering some of the foreign policy debacles that have ensued in this
period, we discuss whether this approach is really working and what we
can do to change it.

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 Private prisons have been a controversial topic over the recent years,
but some thought that they had been all but set aside as an option for
incarceration at the end of the Obama Administration.  However, the
Trump Administration didn’t feel as unkindly toward them and the talk of
their demise has been exaggerated.  It’s a resilient industry and
looking for new ways to survive in a period when both parties are
looking for ways to limit the use of prisons for many offenses as part
of criminal justice reform.  In this podcast, Brett Burkhardt, Ph.D, a
sociology professor at Oregon State University joins us to discuss the
key elements of the debate over prison privatization: cost, quality and
morality.  To cut to the chase, is a profit driven enterprise truly
interested in rehabilitation when logic would dictate that recidivism is
the way to greater profitability?  And if the administration of
punishment, meted out by public institutions, isn’t the purview of a
public agency of correction, what is?  We explore these points and more
in this podcast.

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