Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen


Latest Episodes

PBS Vietnam Series: False Balance; Resorting to Old Familiar Stereotypes
September 26, 2017

It’s what our guest, Vietnam historian Jerry Lembcke argues is a false balancing, leaving things where they were before we started watching it. America’s war in Vietnam was not as Ken Burns claims: begun in good faith by decent people.

2018 Chances for Democrats//Carpe Diem Politics
September 19, 2017

“Based on everything, it appears Democrats will most likely make gains in congress in 2018.” Do you think most likely is good enough? Being risk-averse weakens our chances. Author of The Great Divide: Story of the 2016 US Presidential Race

The Opioid Crisis: Blaming the Victims When Greed is the Problem
September 14, 2017

Follow the money. We’ve heard this so often and it remains the best way to discover the source of social problems. Too often, we blame the victims, the people who through no fault of their own, become addicted to pain

North Korea: Peace Is Possible//Revival of Karl Marx
September 12, 2017

Fire and fury. Crazy Kim Jong Un. Crazy Trump. Mutual threats of mass destruction. Is there a way out? Of course. Korea scholar Tim Shorrock writes in The Nation that not only did Obama make the situation worse, but that

Daughter Killed in ’95 OK City Bombing Now Fights to End Death Penalty
September 07, 2017

On April 19, 1995 Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols killed Bud Welch’s 23 year old daughter Julie and 167 others in that infamous bombing. At first he wanted revenge, then he actually met with McVeigh’s father. Welch calls him the

The Decline of America’s Power: How Did We Get Here, How Rough a Landing?
September 05, 2017

Announced with boundless optimism in 1941, “the American Century” is nearing its end. Since WWII, America has taken over from Britain as the leading empire.  So what caused this decline, what must we learn, and what about America may survive

What is the World Bank Doing?/Self-Blame In Economic Difficulty
September 01, 2017

Their mission is to help the developing world but Bruce Rich, author of the new book Foreclosing the Future reveals they may still be profiting but the World Bank is continuing to worsen poverty and the environment. And on part

The Place for Change: New Governors
August 30, 2017

All the focus seems to be on the Trump presidency, meanwhile the vast majority of  governors in the 50 states are Republican. States have been called the laboratories of democracy. Here’s where we can make a big difference, not just

What America’s Left/Populists Have Won
August 17, 2017

While the left has had very few actual electoral victories, author Michael Kazin argues it has very effectively changed the nation. The author of “A Godly Hero: William Jennings Bryan,” talks about his book “American Dreamers.” What’s gone right and

Use of Fear For Political Gain: Nixon Started It in 1948
August 15, 2017

Careers of good people have been destroyed in the pursuit of political gain. It goes on today but got its real start by the very smart ambitious Congressman Richard Nixon nearly seventy years ago. In her new book Alger Hiss: