Democracy Unchained: A Conversation Series
11 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago -The State of American Democracy initiative began with a conference at Oberlin College in November 2017 featuring 32 speakers and panelists including Jane Mayer, Tim Egan, and William Barber. Our goal was to clarify the historic and institutional origins of the election of 2016 and the breakdown in governance, civility, and fairness that transcends party politics. The second phase of the work through the election of 2020 focuses on repairing and strengthening democratic institutions to serve the aims of justice, fairness, prosperity, and resilience.Today, the State of American Democracy is an ad-hoc group of individuals and organizations from across the country who are passionate about rebuilding politics and government in America for the benefit of all Americans. The book, edited by David W. Orr, Andrew Gumbel, Bakari Kitwana and William S. Becker, brings together more than 30 contributors, and the conversation series brings together more than 100 thought leaders from a variety of disciplines. Today, more than 50 organizations have also partnered and/or sponsored this project, as well.
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Episodes
Our Dual Citizenship: Democracy & Nature
January 29, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 53.8 MBIn this final episode of the Democracy Unchained: A Conversation Series, environmentalists, activists, journalists and scholars come together to discuss ways to repair and rebuild America and the dual citizenship we all hold: in a decent and durable democracy and in a changing global climate. This episode includes conversation with: Bruce Jennings, Senior Fellow, Center for Humans and Nature Ian Bassin, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Protect Democracy Max Stier, President & CEO, Part...
Rebuilding American Democracy
December 12, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 44.3 MBIn this episode, we consider how we can better protect the common good now and for future generations; the importance of fair distribution of wealth fairly within and between generations; how we rebuild our capacity to lead in a troubled world, how to protect our public lands; and how to conduct our public business with integrity and justice. This episode includes conversation with: Thomas Pickering, United States Ambassador, ret. Juliette Kayyem, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard...
Rebuilding Capacity to Protect the Environment
November 19, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 41.5 MBHuman health = environmental health, yet we've seen the rollback of 125 environmental rules and regulations in the last four years. Fifty years ago, however, the U.S. government understood that America must be a nation in harmony in environment—when a bipartisan team created the the National Environmental Policy Act, the EPA and other protections for endangered species, air, water, forests, and more. Now, we must rebuild and expand our capacity to protect the environment. This episode feat...
The Post-Election Path
November 12, 2020 20:00 - 1 hour - 52.5 MBThe November 2020 Presidential Election was one of the most contentious elections that America has faced in more than a century. While the Election proved that democracy can prevail and that the system worked—and that patriotism and the American spirit came forward—it also showcased just how vulnerable our democracy is to latent authoritarianism. The democratic process did work in spite of a pandemic and efforts to undermine the very integrity of the voting process; however there remain la...
Rebuilding Civic Culture
October 29, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 52.3 MBThe 2020 election can be seen as one of the contentious and controversial presidential elections in American history since 1876 – maybe ever. There are threats of violence and the President has not committed to a peaceful transfer of power; however, regardless of the election outcome, America has the urgent task of rejuvenating democracy and has the task of educating and empowering each citizen, regardless of political party, to support the creation of a more competent, fair and transparent ...
Money and Democracy
October 22, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 58.5 MBThrough investigative journalism, it is proven that the U.S. government is now victim to active bribery, foreign interference and the use of power to enrich its office holders. This sixth episode of “Democracy Unchained: A Conversation Series” talks about how we got here—and the remedies that can exist to restrain corruption (and to “unchain democracy”). Nancy MacLean, author of the best-selling title, "Democracy in Chains" joins a list of other scholars, alongside politicians and foundatio...
Democracy v. Fossil Fuels
October 15, 2020 23:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBDemocracy and wealth have a long and troubled relationship. Democracy requires openness, transparency, accountability, and a reasonable level of economic equality. On the other hand, wealth unrestrained, often works in various ways to buy influence, power, and votes. The uneasy relationship between democracy and money became even more troubled with the rise of large corporations, particularly those selling coal and oil.In this episode, we focus on how money undermines democracy and what we c...
Original Sins & Reparations
October 08, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 47.9 MBThis episode in the Democracy Unchained conversation series faces the topic of America’s original sin of slavery—and a discussion about reparations for Black Americans as an important part of rebuilding democracy in the U.S. From Bakari Kitwana: “Amidst the coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd protests, more and more Americans are opening their eyes to racial disparities in policing, incarceration, unemployment, education, health, housing, and more. But none of these are resolved if t...
The Right to Vote
October 01, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 55.6 MBWith so many threats to democracy, there is an existential imperative to simply ensure the 2020 elections are fair and accessible. Paired with this is the need to to mitigate disinformation campaigns waged primarily on ubiquitous social media platforms--this could be its own episode, however. The unalienable right to vote is the bedrock of democracy. The expansion of voting rights is a great achievement of American democracy. It is now threatened by efforts to restrict voting and by unregula...
Unprecedented Challenges
September 24, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 59.6 MBLeading environmentalists and political scientists join together to talk about the democracy of global climate change in Episode Two, "Unprecdented Challenges." Featuring Arizona State University President Michael Crow, environmentalist Bill McKibben, Yale professor and author Timothy D. Snyder, and former Presidential speech writer Peter Wehner, among others. Democracy Unchained: A Conversation Series brings together thought leaders in politics, environmental science, religion, and othe...
The Moral Foundations of Democracy
September 17, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 57.1 MBDemocracy Unchained: A Conversation Series brings together thought leaders in politics, environmental science, religion, and other disciplines to create dialogue about how we rebuild democracy and U.S. government to serve ALL Americans. Hosted by Washington National Cathedral, this first episode answers the question: "What are the moral foundations of democracy?" The episode features: Van Jones, CNN political contributor and host of the Van Jones Show David Brooks, New York Times columni...