Jim Hightower's Lowdown
457 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★★ - 303 ratingsNews and shows about the progressive, democratic populist rebellion from former Texas Ag Commissioner and NYT best-selling author Jim Hightower.
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Episodes
Why “Supreme Court Ethics” is an Oxymoron
November 21, 2023 17:00Let me be blunt: The problem with today’s Supreme Court is that it consists of too many 5-watt bulbs sitting in 100-watt sockets. While most of the nine members are assumed to be brilliant, “smart” is as smart does, and this court’s right-wing majority wallows in stupid, consistently pushing plutocracy, autocracy, and theocracy over the democratic will of the people. Compounding this stupidity, many of the judges have flagrantly accepted “gifts” of cash, luxury vacations, and other freebies f...
Friday Signpost: Thanksgiving Recipes from Our Houses to Yours
November 17, 2023 20:20 image/jpegOne of our favorite obsessions here at Hightower HQ is, quite naturally, food. Whenever we used to gather for board meetings in the past, we’d organize the agenda first around the reservations that Hightower was able to secure at restaurants he wanted to share with us— looking at you,
Astonishing: A Trailer Park Story with a Happy Ending!
November 16, 2023 17:00For people who live in trailer parks, can anything be scarier than the sound of a roaring tornado? Yes: Most frightening is seeing slick real-estate gentrifiers prowling around. For some 20 million lo…
Blast from the past: Hightower, Reagan Brown, Fire Ants, Willie Nelson and Turning Over Power to the People
November 15, 2023 17:00 image/jpeg"If you eat, you're involved in agriculture."
The Humanities Humanize Our Society. So “Kill ‘Em,” say Right-Wingers
November 14, 2023 18:29 image/jpegThe far-out right-wing’s latest political ploy takes extremism to the extreme. Escalating their divisive series of “culture wars” (banning books, suppressing women’s rights, whitewashing history, demonizing teachers, etc.) – their current idea is to declare war on ideas! Specifically, they’re going after state university programs that teach creative arts and social studies, including history, languages, music, civics, literature, economics, theology, and other courses in the humanities that e...
Friday Signpost: Do You Hear What I Hear?
November 10, 2023 17:00 image/jpegQuestion: What politically radical, bad-ass band defied then-mayor Rudy Giuliani and filmed an anti-capitalist video on Wall Street, successfully shutting down trading on the stock exchange for two hours?
How Things Work: Congress’s Revolving Door
November 09, 2023 17:38Hear it? What’s that sound? “Whoop-whoop-whoop.” Oooo, it’s Washington’s revolving door, allowing corporate interests to come directly inside Congress to pervert public policy. That door is now spinning fast, because there’s a new boss operator in Congress. He’s Mike Johnson, who was recently unanimously chosen by Republicans to be their Speaker of the House. He’s a corporate wet dream – an affable ultra-conservative from Shreveport, who consistently backs the plutocratic agenda of Big Busine...
Readers Respond: Populist Museums and Monuments Across America
November 08, 2023 17:08 image/jpegAfter our post about Hightower’s trip to Oklahoma, we got a bunch of wonderful suggestions for other populist sites around the country for folks to visit. We wanted to make sure they get seen, and also, we want to keep hearing more! Maybe we’ll make a map and share it if we get enough together. Leave your suggestions in the comments!
The Billionaires Behind School Privatization
November 07, 2023 17:00If you’re trying to enact an extremist right-wing policy, but the public keeps rejecting it – what do you do? You could try blatant deception, giving the same old policy a new coat of paint, a euphemistic name, and a multimillion-dollar political shove. That’s the dark path now being taken by the clique of plutocrats and theocrats who’re determined to privatize America’s public schools.
On the Road with Hightower: Oklahoma!
November 04, 2023 17:44 image/jpegEvery once in a while, Hightower gets himself out of Texas and into the great blue yonder—and this past weekend, he was in Oklahoma, meeting up with Senator Fred Harris, New Mexico Democratic Party rabble rouser Marg Elliston, and artist Alan Stone. With Martin Scorcese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” having just been released a couple weeks ago, a lot of eyes are on Oklahoma right now, and rightfully so.
Instead of Utility Greed – How About Some Energy Sanity?
November 02, 2023 16:00Which is the “greenest” state in America? You might think California, or maybe Oregon. But go 3,000 miles east, and you’ll come upon the physical beauty and ecological vitality of the Green Mountain State: Vermont. Indeed, its very name is derived from the French term for green mountains:
How the right wing captured the Supreme Court
November 01, 2023 16:00 image/jpegEditor’s note: Our article on Leonard Leo was so popular, we’re offering this excerpt of part one from the article in that series, from the Lowdown’s archives in March 2022. How did this happen to us, this installation of a rabidly partisan judicial oligarchy over America's democratic values and aspirations? I hate to sound conspiratorial, but ... this is, in fact, the product of a long-term, right-wing political conspiracy--and there's even a smoking gun revealing the origins of the plot. It...
A Supreme Court of Ethical Weasels
October 31, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Wow! A couple of Supreme Court justices say they’re now starting to think that maybe the Court should sorta start thinking about possibly, perhaps, someday adopting some sort of anti-corruption reforms.
Chap Ambrose Vs. Elon Musk: I’m Betting on Chap
October 26, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | There is nothing quite as pitiful as whiny billionaires. And the whiniest of all is the richest – Elon Musk. This self-entitled bully runs over anyone in his way, then whines when they protest. Elon’s latest high-pitched screech was prompted by public demands that his profiteering schemes obey clean-water and safety regulations. He owns a corporation named (believe it or not) the Boring Company – an underground tunnelling venture based in Bastrop, Texas, digging out tons...
Blast from the past: Bill Moyers & Jim Hightower
October 25, 2023 16:01Listen now (24 mins) | Editors’ note: Back in 2010, Hightower appeared on Bill Moyers’ much-beloved (and much missed!) PBS show. They covered so much ground together that applies to today’s politics that we thought our sub…
The Secretive Presidential Primary That Excludes You
October 24, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Are you excited by – or do you dread – the upcoming presidential election season? Either way, buckle up, for it’s only 12 weeks ‘til the Iowa caucuses, and then (Zoom!) there’s non-stop voting across America for the rest of 2024. Democracy at work!
Friday Signpost: Fire-Breathing Lesbians Edition
October 20, 2023 16:57 image/jpegJust when you thought Christian nationalists couldn’t get any more outrageous, they go and outdo themselves again. This time, a bunch of wackadoodles in Colorado are on a book-banning tear, and messages from a their group chat server leaked to the public
Trucking Industry Wails About Its Labor Shortage. Here’s a Solution.
October 19, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Seemingly intractable problems sometimes have an obvious solution standing right in front of them. Our nation’s dire shortage of long-haul truck drivers, for example. Wrangling big rigs across the country is difficult and dangerous work, and the corporate giants that dominate the industry have long been wailing that they can’t find people willing to do the job. Their lobbyists have even pleaded with regulators to lower the age requirement so they can hire teenagers to dr...
Meet Leonard Leo: The capo behind the Supreme Court coup
October 18, 2023 16:00 image/jpegWith so much focus on the corruption of the Supreme Court lately, we thought our readers would like a little bit of background on just how this happened— and who’s driving it. Here’s our issue of the Hightower Lowdown on Leonard Leo, the man behind the curtain who you may have never heard of. — Ed.
Did You Vote for Six Judicial Elites to Rule Over You?
October 17, 2023 16:01Listen now (2 mins) | If the Democratic Party wants a big, hot issue that would force the GOP to admit its disdain for democracy – how about those Supremes? The Supreme Court, intended to be an apolitical, neutral arbiter of legal cases brought before it, has been elevated to a supreme
Friday Signpost: Can you repair what you own?
October 13, 2023 16:01 image/jpegYour laptop dies, and you find out the only people who can repair it are the people who made it-- and that'll cost nearly as much as the laptop itself. Your tractor goes belly up, and you find out the only people who can repair it are the people who made it... and... you guessed it, the cost is going to sink you.
The Contemptible Thievery of Gentrification
October 12, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Over time, words with beautiful meanings occasionally get degraded into ugliness. “Gentle,” for example. Originally meaning good natured and kindly, it was twisted into “gentry” in the Middle Ages by very un-gentle land barons seeking a patina of refinement. Then it became a pretentious verb – to “gentrify” – meaning to make something common appear upscale. And now the word has devolved to “gentrification,” describing the greed of developers and speculators who oust midd...
Blast from the past: A Political Dog Tale
October 11, 2023 16:01 image/jpegThe USA’s political story of the day is not the slow-motion wreck of the GOP’s sad attempt to find someone even minimally competent to be Speaker of the House, but the “Saga of Commander.” Yes, Joe Biden’s dog, who has finally been banished from the White House for—either playfully or seriously—biting at least 11 people since moving in.
Let’s Send Hearing Aids to All Right-Wing Officials
October 10, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Here’s my suggestion for stopping the ultra-right-wing loopiness coming out of the mouths of Republican officials: Hearing aids. I’m convinced that the wacko blatherings of Matt Gaetz, the ravings of the Q-anon cult, Trump’s tantrums, and so many others are the result of a tragic neurological disconnect. This affliction lets their tongues wag impulsively, but their ears don’t pick up the noise, so they’re unaware that they are prattling nonsense.
Look Who’s Behind the Know-Nothing “No Labels” Party
October 05, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | In the mid-1800s, a new political party flared up in American politics, posing as an alternative to both the Democratic and Republican parties. Xenophobic and nativist, it was extremely secretive with outsiders about its specific structure, motive, and agenda. Indeed, members were instructed to say “I know nothing” when asked about details – thus it was quickly dubbed the
Friday Signpost: People Literally Delivering Power to the People
September 29, 2023 16:00 image/jpegTed, a Hightower Substack subscriber in New Hampshire, commented on our last Open Thread post with this intriguing and inspiring news about grassroots people in his state creating “utility democracy” to replace profiteering utility monopolies: “So far, approximately 39 towns and cities have joined or are in the process of joining the
Let’s Get Real: Billionaires Are Nuts!
September 28, 2023 16:16Listen now (2 mins) | When megalomanic, multi-billionaire barons of industry suddenly announce that they are boundless geniuses who must remake society, government, and nature – perk up and pay attention! Their grand schemes of social engineering almost always go badly for us non-billionaires.
Blast from the past: Hightower Confronts the 1980s Farm Crisis
September 27, 2023 17:00 image/jpeg"It's the same old story—Reagan helps the rich, and Lord help the rest of us."
A Thundering Herd of Bankers Robbing Oklahoma City Taxpayers
September 26, 2023 16:14Listen now (2 mins) | Oklahoma troubadour Woodie Guthrie wrote a song about outlaws that was right on target: “As through this world I’ve traveled I’ve seen lots of funny men Some’ll rob you with a six gun Some with a fountain pen.”
Friday open thread: Farm Aid live stream
September 22, 2023 14:49 image/jpegWhat are you watching, reading, listening to?
Why Is Ted Cruz Weaker Than Near Beer?
September 21, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Oh, thank God for Ted Cruz! Once again, the far-right-wing US Senator is saving you and me from a political horror that doesn’t exist. This is Ted’s specialty, for he seems unable to deal with the real economic and social problems that workaday people actually have. Thus, he constantly tries to divert attention from his senatorial incompetence by staging embarrassing political stunts, such as his furious fulminations against Big Bird, Mickey Mouse, and other fictional ch...
How Things Work: Big Pharma Price Gouging
September 20, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Corporate and governmental hucksters intentionally cloak their schemes in convoluted obfuscations… so we commoners can’t really know what they’re saying… or doing to us. That’s why our Hightower Lowdown team takes pride in regularly trying to deconstruct their arcane jargon, translating it into plain language. Recently, for example,
How Biased Is the Corporate Media? Ask Auto Workers
September 19, 2023 17:25 image/jpegHere’s a story about media bias. Not the flagrant, pure propaganda that defines partisan outfits like Fox News, but the daily drip, drip, drip of slanted perspectives and loaded words that lard so many of the reports put out by establishment media outlets.
Blast from the past: Hightower and the organic farming revolution of the 1970s
September 15, 2023 16:26 image/jpegA tidbit from Hightower’s history that we thought you might enjoy: Back in 1973, he and Susan DeMarco published Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times-- a researched-based, scathing dissection of how “the big agriculture and technical universities strayed from their original research mission of aiding consumers and rural communities.” It triggered
How the Right-Wing is Trying to Turn Public Education Into Corporate Obedience Schools
September 14, 2023 15:35Listen now | Back to school! Bright-eyed youngsters are now back in our public classrooms, filled with questions about the world around them. Questions like: What happened to our school library, and where did our librarians go?
The new McCarthyism and what to do about it
September 13, 2023 16:00 image/jpegLittle Kevin McCarthy has again been cowed by his House Caucus of Rabid Hyenas, this time bowing to their squeals to investigate whether there's anything to investigate in Joe Biden's past. In turn, a Democratic lawmaker is shoving McCarthy's wimpyness up his nose by demanding an
Labor Day Is Over, but Labor’s Day Is Just Starting
September 12, 2023 16:12 image/jpegLast week, I wrote about how Labor Day was created in the 1880s by rebellious workers, but I’m celebrating the spirit again this week because a momentous new energy has been building in today’s union movement. Indeed, renewed union rebelliousness has put labor back in Labor Day!
Yes, We Can Stop Drug Price Gouging! Here’s How!
September 07, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | We human beings sometimes do some terrible things in pursuit of the almighty dollar. But to our credit, one moral line we humans don’t cross is to profiteer by gouging sick people on the price of medicines their lives depend on.
Why Are Far-Right-Wing Extremists Worshiping John C. Calhoun?
September 05, 2023 17:35Listen now (2 mins) | A few days ago, the city of Savannah, Georgia took an important symbolic step toward racial inclusiveness, naming one of Savannah’s 23 historic public squares for a Black woman. Susie King Taylor, born in 1848 to enslaved parents, became a renowned educator, setting up schools for emancipated children and adults – a laudable role model in America’s ongoing struggle to extend equal opportunity to all. Before adding Taylor’s name, though, the name that had been plastered o...
The rebellious spirit of Matthew Maguire’s first Labor Day is spreading again across our country. Join the parade.
September 01, 2023 18:52 image/jpegPlus: help flip Texas with an important event next week
The Day the Planet Started to Win
August 31, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | The people are revolting (in the very best meaning of that word)! An inspiring example of people rising up against a trifecta of economic, cultural, and political oppression has just come to us from a community of seemingly-powerless people living in a very of isolated place. Long exploited, lied to, disrespected, and robbed, they revolted, daring to take on the biggest, richest, most-politically-connected industrial power on the globe: BigOil. Astonishingly – after a de...
Speaking Bluntly: Right-Wing’s Racist Rhetoric Is Murdering People of Color
August 30, 2023 22:26 image/jpegJacksonville, Florida: Another overtly-racist slaughter of Black people by a young, radicalized, right-wing white man. He cravenly armed himself with military guns and a perverse self-righteousness, even posing for a TikTok video of himself in military gear just before firing 11 shots into a Black woman sitting in her car outside a Florida Dollar General store. Then, he went into the store and gunned down two totally unsuspecting Black customers and tried to kill several more Black shoppers, ...
Vapid GOP “Debate” Reveals Why Big Money Politics Sucks
August 29, 2023 18:57Listen now (2 mins) | Peggy Lee struck a mournful chord with her hit song, “Is That All There Is?” It was about the vapidity of life, and I found myself subconsciously singing along last week as I pondered the GOP presidential debate. Of course, these made-for-TV spectacles are more akin to mud-wrestling than actual policy debates. Still, I dared hope for some tiny element of civic seriousness. After all, the eight aspirants were auditioning to be (“Oh, say can you see…”) the next President o...
Special Preview: People and the Planet Win Big Victory Over Big Oil!
August 25, 2023 16:00 image/jpegOne of my personal gripes about the media establishment is that it discounts the importance of grassroots movements and progress. Thus, the media consistently looks up to power centers as the source of “news,” failing to see and understand (much less cover) consequential democratic developments at ground level. This fosters a debilitating climate of negative news, ingraining a public myth that “little people” can’t make a difference.
How Things Work: Turning Good Legislation Bad
August 24, 2023 20:00 image/jpegAfter Norfolk Southern’s 2-mile long freight train derailed in February, dumping toxic chemicals and exploding in an Ohio town, its corporate PR machine zoomed into panic mode. Facing nationwide condemnation, lawsuits, and political outrage—the $12.7-billion-a-year giant suddenly embraced a congressional package of safety reforms that it had vehemently been fighting right up to the day of its disastrous derailment. Yes, that’s pure self-serving corporate cynicism, but we have to grab progress...
Consumer Alert: Your Phone Company Wants Into Your Bank Account!
August 24, 2023 14:42Listen now (2 mins) | Last week, T-Mobile (my cell phone provider) pinged me with a rude message: Henceforth we will screw you out of an extra $5 a month. WHAT?! Had I done something wrong? No. Would I be getting some added benefit for my five bucks? No. It seems that T-Mobile bean counters have just arbitrarily decided that we customers who use credit cards to pay our phone bills online must pay an extra fiver each month as a payment processing fee. Yes, we’re to pay them to take our money. ...
Jesse James Now Wears Guccis
August 22, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | Today’s train robbers don’t need masks or guns, for they are railroad executives wearing $3,000 suits and robbing us by railroading the political system. With their gangs of lobbyists and hopper cars of campaign cash, they get Congress to do their dirty work, gutting public safety protections and muting railway unions. Thus, rich investors get richer, while regular people are hit by an astonishing level of derailments, injuries, destruction… and death.
Why Democrats Should Help Republicans Publicize “Project 2025”
August 17, 2023 16:00Listen now (2 mins) | When your political opponents push extremist public policies that would be disastrous for America, should you wring your hands in dread… or applaud? Consider “Project 2025,” put together by former Trump officials and the Koch brothers’ network of billionaire plutocrats. Their strategy is to win the presidency next year by demonizing all environmental protections and promising to halt all national efforts to cope with the obvious crises of climate change. Their proposals ...
Three Mavericks
August 16, 2023 16:00 image/jpegWhen I met Sen. John McCain a decade ago, his first words to me were: “You are the very personification of a maverick.” I’m pretty sure he meant that as a compliment. And I certainly took it as such, for the people I most admire are mavericks—the free spirits who defy the corporate order and carve out a new path, not just for their own gain, but for the common good.
Why the GOP Is Becoming a Clique of Rabid Political Veterinarians
August 15, 2023 16:01Listen now (2 mins) | Quick announcement: Drop Your Lawsuits, Drop Your Prices! Hightower is joining Public Citizen Texas, the Texas Organizing Project, Families USA and many more organizations on Wednesday, August 16th at the Federal Courthouse in Austin to demonstrate against Big Pharma’s greed. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association sued to prevent the Inflation Reduction Act from taking effect; many cities around the country are holding a series of actions calling on ph...