Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen


Latest Episodes

The DNA of Democracy: It’s A Recessive Gene
September 24, 2019

We take democracy for granted, but as author Richard C.Lyons tells it, democracy is a recessive gene. Tyranny is much more able to dominate. Tyranny? What does that ancient word even mean? In his new book: The DNA of Democracy,

Trump and the ‘Gated Communities’ of Afghanistan
September 10, 2019

Could Trump get something right? Retired US Army officer and prolific writer of military policy analysis Danny Sjursen compares how the brass In Washington sees Afghanistan versus the  empirical knowledge from people on the ground.

Not Just “Bread,” To Win Democrats Must Offer “Roses Too,” A Sense of Meaning
September 05, 2019

What keeps Trump was his false version of “Roses.” An uplift from everyday dullness. Looking at the upcoming election, our guest today Professor Ed Simon argues that “those that will be the most successful will be those that speak of

BoJo’s Brexit Helter Skelter
September 03, 2019

He’s often said to be England’s Trump. And many hope his reign as Prime Minister of the UK will be the shortest in British history. How much damage will Boris Johnson do to formerly great Britain? The chaos is astounding.

Climate Change Serves Oil and the Pentagon
August 29, 2019

Melting polar ice caps is great for the rapacious oil and gas industry. Trump denying climate change and wanting to buy Greenland is actually part of the logic of what drives our military policy. Our guest on this show journalist

Evangelicals Quit Nixon: Why Do They Stick With Trump?
August 27, 2019

When Nixon lied, it was an earthquake. Now Trump lies many times a day. Does it matter? Why is it that evangelicals remain solid with Trump? How is it that evangelicals no longer care about his personal immorality? Do Christian

Concentration Camps-Never Again!//Red Summer 100 Years Ago
August 15, 2019

Did you ever imagine we would have actual concentration camps in America? What would you have done in Germany in the 1930s? Never Again means never again. On the first half, Sara Caplan talks about the new grassroots movement called

Woodrow Wilson And Trump: Fanning the Flames of Hate
August 13, 2019

Trump is not the first. Author of many history books Adam Hochschild writes: “The last time we had anything similar from Washington was almost exactly 100 years ago and it, too, involved a flood of angry rhetoric and a fear

The New EuroFascism//Slavery Ended Had Brits Won 1776?
August 08, 2019

On the first half of the podcast, from Barcelona Spain, professor of political philosophy and journalist Santiago Zabala reports on the rise of the new European nationalistic fascism. He answers these questions: What is it? Why is it happening? How

Fault Lines In the Constitution: Unseen Until Too Late?
August 06, 2019

It’s not perfect. Much as we’d prefer to see the 1787 Constitution as a rock solid always-dependable foundation, our guests argue there are fault lines that we can not see but are always there. In their new book Fault Lines