Can you imagine telling many of the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court that you were interviewing them for a book that was focused on their overreach on many issues that should be resolved by the people’s representatives and not these unelected, lifetime appointees?  David Kaplan, author of ‘The Most Dangerous Branch’, did just that and sub-titled the book, ‘Inside the Supreme Court’s Assault on the Constitution’. That’s chutzpah! And yet, in private, some of his subjects agree. According to Kaplan, an enfeebled Congress has ceded authority to these judges to make many of the hard calls in our society.  Wasn’t it meant to be this way? The answer is ‘no’ and he’ll explain. He will also describe how the Supreme Court selection process has begun to distort presidential campaigns and which recent Court decision the body is still having a hard time recovering from. There’s some dishing in his book and on this podcast, as well. Find out who he believes is the smartest member of the U.S. Supreme Court.  His presentation is lively, engaging and insightful. Have fun with it.

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Is your job making you sick?  There seems to be an epidemic of bad practices in the modern American workplace that, quite literally, may be killing people.  And don’t think you have to be a coal miner or work on an oil rig in the middle of the Atlantic to find those conditions. Through OSHA regulations, we might have made the physical environments in which we work safer, but that doesn’t account for the toxicity of overwork, stress, decrease in health benefits and the resulting conditions brought on by many employers who think that doing well and doing good are mutually exclusive.  According to Stanford business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, the opposite is true. In his book, ‘Dying for a Paycheck’ he reveals stunning truths about today’s office and offers approaches employers can take to care for their workforce and increase profitability. Hint: the answer is not a gym or workplace wellness program alone.

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While smoking is at an all time low in America, many are concerned that nicotine addiction through vaping and e-cigarettes may provide a gateway for a new generation of puffers.  Dr. Joel Nitzkin is a strong advocate for tobacco harm reduction and a Senior Fellow for tobacco policy at the R Street Institute and feels that the growing concerns about e-cigarettes don’t take into account the salubrious impact it may be having on the decrease in cigarette smoking.  He comes armed with many statistics and studies to buttress his case. He also discusses how far we have come in the public health battle against smoking and concerns yet to be addressed among certain populations.

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We hear it all the time.  The disruption of this digital age is the greatest in history.  And, perhaps, we take comfort in knowing that the obstacles we face are not of our own making.  Tom Wheeler, of the Brookings Institution, and former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, argues through the lens of history that previous eras of change, based on new communications networks, have been even more disruptive to the established order. We are on the threshold of even more convulsive change as this is the beginning of the process and we must manage the transition in a smart way in order to harness it for good. His book is the title of this podcast and he offers some of the most compelling thinking and clear eyed assessments of these times that you will hear on any podcast.  It’s as if you are attending a seminar on your future

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Americans may have thought that we discarded a class system when we threw a tea party in Boston many years back.  If we did, Joan Williams is here to report–it’s back. And much of it revolves around the fact that our self image as a country with a large and growing middle class, with steady jobs and decent benefits, is all but gone.  In its place, those somewhere in the middle have felt a level of anxiety about the future and a certain resentment about how they are treated and represented. in her book, ‘White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America’, Professor Williams tries to explain to her fellow professional-managerial elite what they don’t understand about this large group in the sinking middle.  It’s a compelling read and listen.

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Was America really ever supposed to have parties, or factions, as some called them at the founding of the republic?  Yale political scientist, Ian Shapiro, first answers that question as a predicate to making the case that what our democracy really needs are stronger parties, primarily with more cohesion in Congress.  Parties are designed for the long game. However, when they lack the ability to ‘whip’ their members into a agreement on core values then we flail away sending one party to the back bench, calling on the other and getting the same results–not much. The irony is that the more we democratize the party process, with primaries and caucuses, or end around it with single question referenda, the less happy we are with the results.  Shapiro and co-author, Frances McCall Rosenbluth make a compelling argument for greater party discipline in the book, ‘Responsible Parties’.

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The United States of Fast Food might be an apt description of our culture.  And it’s now verifiable. The Centers for Disease Control study reveals a startling statistic: 40% of Americans eat fast food every day.  Really? Come to think about it, if we add processed foods and quickie meals made at home, it might be an even higher number. Another surprise in the study is that folks with money might rely upon it more than folks with fewer means.  Well, fast food is on the menu in this episode with Dr. Elaina George, author of ‘Big Medicine: The Cost of Corporate Control and How Doctors and Patients Working Together Can Rebuild a Better System’. That’s a mouthful and so is the amount of McDonald’s we’re consuming.   

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The numbers are startling.  Our faith in government was once very strong.  It, and many other institutions, have fallen sharply in our estimation, if you believe the numbers.  Or, just ask a friend. How did we get to this place where we have such disdain for the institution meant to maintain ‘the common good’ and, more importantly, how do we reverse this trend?  Professor Donald Kettl, of the University of Texas, in his book ‘Can Governments Earn Our Trust’ explains how we got here and, perhaps, how we reclaim that trust. It’s a long road back, but the frustrations we have with government are, like some many other issues, nuanced and not easily reduced to a sound bite.  So we will take our time to understand in this episode.

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It is worse, so much worse, than you think’.  And that’s just the first line of David Wallace-Wells’ book, ‘The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming’.  So, you read on to be reminded that much of what we have to fear about the new climate reality is already upon us.  Yet, failure to push back against it in a herculean way, worldwide, will all but insure hundreds of million more deaths and still more living of us living in a ‘degraded muddle’ which would be ‘merely grim, rather than apocalyptic’.  In beautiful prose, he helps us visualize the wildfires, plagues, flooded cities and dying oceans that await us. Much of the messaging about climate change has not been effective in communicating the stark reality that’s upon us. He’s hoping through this powerful book he can break through the delusional thinking that it’s not going to happen here, with force, anytime soon.  Think again. Listen up!

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How quickly social mores change.  For some of us of a certain age, it’s hard to look back at shows like ‘Friend’s’ and label them homophobic or purveying stereotypes..  In the case of ‘Seinfeld’, in its day it won a media award from GLAAD, a defender of gay rights(not that there’s anything wrong with that).  Yet, many millennial’s look back at these shows and consider their jokes tone deaf and distasteful. Is it fair to put a 2019 lens on classic material written more that 20 years ago?  And how ironic it is to be having this debate on social media today when it seems that Archie Bunker simply moved his comfy chair into the Oval Office? It’s a highly entertaining exchange we had with Kristin Sunanta-Walker, CEO of the Mental Health News Radio Network.  Listen in.

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