Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen
Latest Episodes
Celebrated To Death: Afghan Vet on Memorial Day
Memorial Day 2020. In 2009 at age 23 Erik Edstrom went to Afghanistan as an infantry officer, Army Ranger, and became a Bronze Star Medal recipient. In this Memorial Day of the Covid 19 era, he dug up his journal
Industrial Strength Denial: Is the Truth Still Powerful?
Ever since slave traders insisted the kidnapped people were enthusiastic about coming to America, many big businesses have thrived on lies. Remember doctors saying cigarettes were OK? Industrial Strength Denial is the name of a new book by former envir...
You Don’t Understand The Second Amendment
Myths are often more powerful than real history. Consider that for 200 years the meaning of the 2nd Amendment aroused no controversy. It was about both militias and individual rights for self defense. And there were limits. On this show,
Hyper Education: Are We Missing the Point?
Democracy requires an educated populace. That means more than just pressure and STEM education, not only well qualified and competent, but we need good moral kids. Private tutoring and other franchises are doing quite well, but they are serving to
I) May Day 71 II) Silver Lining of Pandemic
On part one, Ron Jacobs and MayDay veteran Burt Cohen discuss the virtually unknown MayDay 1971 protest in DC when 13,000 people were arrested. And on part two, five college world security professor Michael Klare examines the significant silver lining
Covid 19 Fuels Far Right Rage
You’ve seen the pictures: heavily armed angry protesters at state houses demanding an end to stay at home orders. They call such safety measures “medical martial law,” and see it as the start of government tyranny, providing them with a
Recognizing Damaged Heritage Brings Real Racial Healing
You never heard of the Elaine Race Massacre, right? In Arkansas, in the times after World War One, black people wanted to form a union. That did not sit well with the racist culture. In 1919, a massacre of over
Kent State Plus 50: Time to Face The Truth
On May 4, 1970, Laurel Krause was just 15 years old. That night in a hospital with her parents she identified her 19-year-old sister Allison’s lifeless body. The bullets that killed Kent State University students Allison, Jeff, Sandy and Bill,
The System is Sick, More than the Coronavirus
The novel coronavirus is forcing us to see that the very economic structure of America itself is in ill health. We know more poor Americans are dying, they can’t work from home and stay safe. All of us depend on
Thirties Historian: This is Not Depression 2.0
Both the Great Depression and today’s recession started off in a time of great economic inequality. Both economic calamities brought to the surface systemic inadequacies. Perhaps the most recognized authority on the history of the Great Depression,