Democracy on the Move

More Perfect Union

Max Berger drops by to talk about an organization known as “More Perfect Union.” More Perfect Union seeks to counter the billions of dollars spent on corporate messaging, where these messages work against the interests of average Americans. More perfect union helps working people to be seen and heard. More justice. More accountability. More power for the people. In other words, a More Perfect Union.

Most recently, More Perfect Union has been working on behalf of Amazon employees at the Bessemer, Alabama facility, where they attempt to organize a union and fight for workers rights and worker dignity. It hasn’t been easy, because Amazon, the nation’s second largest employer, has a history of crushing efforts to unionize. Another roadblock is politics: Republicans - who are largely anti-union - control Alabama’s state house, and Alabama itself is a right-to-work state. More Perfect Union nevertheless marches on and continues to stand up for the rights of the average worker by helping them get media attention.

Max Berger, the Editorial Director for More Perfect Union, is not new to political activism. He’s been involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests. He is a cofounder of an organization known as Momentum Trainings - which helps people build socially conscious movements. He also worked at Vice Media Group, which produces over 1700 pieces of news content every day and focuses on the ideas, issues and context that other media outlets mostly ignore. He also co-founded an organization known as “If Not Now,” which seeks to bring attention to the Israeli occupation as a moral crisis to the American Jewish community, end the  weaponization of antisemitism in our political debate over Israel, and create political space for leaders to stand up for the freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians. Max also worked on Senator Elisabeth Warren’s presidential campaign as well as worked on behalf of Cori Bush's 2018 congressional campaign. He has authored numerous articles on such publications as the Daily Beast and the Nation.

You may find more information on More Perfect Union at perfectunion.us.

Paper Ballots a Faux Controversy?

Are paper ballots really all that secure? Or are we being lured into fighting that controversy while our voting rights fade into the noise? This podcast episode discusses the paper ballot controversy in light of what we feel is a far more urgent issue -- voter suppression.

Voting Rights Legislation

This week we continue the discussion about voting rights. Specifically, we talk about the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the “For the People Act,” otherwise known as H.R.1. It’s easy to confuse these two because they serve the same purpose, but they are very different bills. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act seeks to update the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 and addresses the 2013 Supreme Court decision (Shelby County v Holder) that struck down some of its key provisions. The “For the People” act goes much further and addresses the mechanics of voting and, to a large degree, removes local state control over voting rights.

There are good arguments to be had on both sides of the “For the People Act,” and we discuss a few of them here. Republicans accuse the Democrats of using this act to force the Republican Party out of winning any future elections, but reality is often much more nuanced. It will affect both parties, and though the final outcome will benefit all voters, the parties themselves will need to implement some fundamental changes if this act becomes law.

The Ever-Increasing Restriction of Voter Access

The recent 2020 election has sparked a massive movement across state legislatures to further restrict voter access. The purpose is obvious - to reduce the participation of minorities in our democracy. Our nation has a long history of voter suppression, and despite positive developments in the past, voter suppression - through restriction - continues to be an ongoing part of our nation's story.

In this podcast we go over some of the numbers and highlight a few of the bills that will further restrict voter access. And we propose a call to action where every person can - and must - participate to drive our nation back into its ongoing march toward a more perfect union.

Heartland Strong

Sean Diller, Board President of Heartland Strong, drops by to talk about progressive issues from the American heartland.

Is the heartland progressive? As a nation, we’ve been largely misled to think of rural Americans as being socially conservative; on the contrary, rural America has always been progressive when it comes to common-sense good ideas, but politicians have us convinced that the opposite is true. Though they talk a great deal about moral values and freedom, “conservative” politicians often act in ways that profoundly hurt their rural constituents. Specific examples are discussed in this podcast, including public education and healthcare.

Heartland Strong believes in the strength and wisdom of rural Americans, and that these Americans - like all Americans - have the ability to come together to solve the tough problems. It has always been a part of our national identity. Heartland Strong seeks to fortify this strength by actively advocating for common-sense progressive ideas that will prepare us for a challenging future.

Sean Diller is the Board president and a co-founder of Heartland Strong. His original philosophy driving the organization is simple: without effective civic institutions to bring people together around real solutions to a variety of devastatingly harmful national crises, our children and our grandchildren’s lives are absolutely at stake.

Sean is an experienced digital communications consultant, working with numerous progressive advocacy organizations, as well as local, state, and federal candidates around the U.S.

Olayemi Olurin Discusses Systemic Issues in Law Enforcement

Olayemi Olurin, Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society of New York City, talks about how our criminal system is ill-prepared to effectively address the problems of society. Society blindly depends on law enforcement to arrest and incarcerate people, which rarely addresses the real problems. The outcome is a never-ending cycle that traps poor and disadvantaged people in a system of repeated incarceration without hope of eventually recovering. Olayemi provides deep insight into this issue and offers a number of ideas designed to address the root of the problem rather than simply addressing the symptoms. She explains how “Defund the Police” is intended to address systemic issues in society that breaks the incarceration cycle and benefits everyone in the long run.

Olayemi Olurin is a Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society's Criminal Defense Practice in Queens, New York. She is also a writer.

Mike Murphy Talks About FixUS

FixUS, the democracy reform branch of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), engages fellow citizens to better understand and address our nation’s growing divisions, dysfunction, and distrust in our political system. FixUS conducts research projects, public engagement efforts and partnerships, to bring attention and visibility to our nation’s issues, build support for necessary changes, and ultimately help to regain a sense of shared aspirations, values, and a belief that there is more that unites us than divides us.

Mike Murphy, the Director of FixUS, describes FixUS and its objectives. He also talks about how our collective loss of trust in our government has polarized our nation to the point of threatening the foundations of our democracy.

Cancel Culture

In this short podcast, we take a look at "cancel culture" and how people attempt to use it to manipulate others using a "Victimization" argument.

Mitch Randall Discusses National Ranked Choice Voting

Mitch Randall, the chair of National Ranked Choice Voting (NRCV), discusses the problems and issues that the duopoly has foisted upon our nation and how Ranked Choice Voting can fix our broken system.

What is NRCV? It is an organization dedicated to taking back control from a runaway oligarchy. They have a plan for fixing our broken system by starting a nation-wide people’s movement using citizen action to realize a peaceful and constitutional political intervention. The end result will be to reign-in our duopolistic, corrupt, corporate oligarchy and allow truly democratically elected representatives to gain majority control of our government by 2024.

NRCV focuses on the promotion of ranked choice voting because it is a critical first step toward the implementation of a multi-party system. For more information, please see the website at nrcv.org.

State Representative LaDonna Appelbaum

Missouri State Representative LaDonna Appelbaum drops by to talk about Missouri’s performance on Covid vaccine distribution and healthcare in general. Similar to the rest of the country, Missouri struggles to ensure that its residents receive adequate medical attention, and Covid has unfortunately highlighted some shortcomings. But there is good reason to believe things will get better this year.

Representative Appelbaum received a degree in sports medicine from Tulsa University and started her own small business in St. Louis. She represents district 71; a largely suburban area in the western part of St. Louis county. Though she sits on several congressional committees, she has a deep passion for healthcare, and she believes nobody should go without proper medical attention.