Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Latest Episodes
Powerful Left-Labor Coalition Emerging
Used to be labor unions were seen as being limited to white working class men and as such lacked power to make real change. With the wins by the UAW and writers union, writing in the New Republic auth
Horror and Absurdity: Revisiting Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5
One entire generation held the book and the author in reverence. And with Tom Rostons new book The Writers Crusade and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse Five a new generation is discovering the uniqu
The Right’s Latest Target: Unmarried Women
You may have heard the story: King Cnut sat on the seashore and tried to command the tide not to touch his feet, yet the sea ignored him. Such may be the case with the right wings war against unmarr
The Mystery that is Cuban History
For over 60 years, North Americans have been kept in the dark about our neighbor Cuba. On this show Professor author Lisandro Perez talks about what his new book reveals. In The House on G Street trac
The Useful Struggle for American Democracy
Democracy and oligarchy: since our founding its been a long balancing act. In his new book Realigners: Partisan Hacks, Political Visionaries, and the Struggle to Rule American Democracy, author histo
Racism Built Into America’s Medical System
In his new book The Bodies Keep Coming, author Dr. Brian Williams offers Dispatches from a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, Violence, and How We Heal. As doctors know, treating the underlying causes of
Who’s Your State Legislator? It Matters More Than You Think.
Its not the way its supposed to work. Our founders fought for self-government to replace the distant authoritarian system. As Justice Brandeis said; states are the laboratories of democracy. But the
Is Water Not a Human Right?
The right says let the market be in charge. Privatizing and commodifying our essential human needs is OK with them. Should we just accept the normalization of hundreds of millions of plastic bottles,
Today’s Gun Culture: The South Won
So many mass shootings; how did the gun culture become so powerful? Look to the Civil War: Militarily devastated, the angry Confederate culture transformed guns into a totem. In this revealing discuss
How About A Rural New Deal?
Liberals usually fail to connect and inspire people of the rural mid-west. And we lose elections. But if were true to tradition, we should take the lead in solving rural alienation. Our guest today