Keeping Democracy Alive

The Burt Cohen Show - Why is the TransPacific Partnership Secret?/How Are Drones Affecting National Security? - 03/23/14

There are reasons why you probably never heard of  the TransPacific Partnership. It has been kept secret because the more Americans learn about it, the less we will like it. Some call the TPP the "Sneaky One Percenter Power Tool." Listen in and learn why, and what you can do. And on the second half, Rick Rosoff  Investigative Journalist for Global Research talks about the effects drones are having on America’s national security. Hint: it’s not good. 

The Burt Cohen Show - Bernie Sanders for President: Realistic or Not? - 03/16/14

The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton has the nomination. But can she win? How important is passion to the exceptional vast public momentum needed to achieve victory? Or is it best to stick rigidly to the safe middle? Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders can never be mistaken for a conventional middle of the roader and he has recently said he is "prepared to run for president" in 2016. But is he really just too far left to win? On this examination of the realities of what it takes to win the White House. columnist and political veteran Bill Fletcher Jr makes the case as to why a Bernie Sanders run has a more realistic chance than a run by Hillary.

After 73 Years of Prohibition, an Overnight Shift Toward Legal Cannabis - 02/20/14

Political candidates used to send their checks back to NORML, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws. Now lawmakers and wannabes are beating a path to the door of Executive Director Allen St.Pierre.  Suddenly, after decades of trying, even people like John McCain as well as President Obama are moving toward legalization of recreational use of marijuana. St. Pierre reveals that it's all really in the hands of women; they're the ones who finally got alcohol prohibition removed. And he takes a sharp look at Patrick Kennedy's latest grab for the spotlight, revealing the source of SAM's funding. As St.Pierre says, "marijuana is not going to legalize itself," there's much work to be done.

The Burt Cohen Show - Restoring Opportunity: The Challenge for American Education - 02/07/14

The all-American dream of upward mobility is out of reach for more citizens, and the inequality gap in education is a big part of that. Educator Richard Murnane is co-author of Restoring Opportunity: The Crisis of Inequality and the Challenge for American Education. While there is, of course, no easy "silver bullet," Murnane explains in this discussion that a steady and patient focus on realistic means of addressing the problem can yield positive results, and renew the American dream.

The Burt Cohen Show - 2014: Echoes of 1914? - 01/30/14

Declining super powers, global rebalancing, anbd profound economic inequality. Sounds like 2014. But it is also describing 100 years ago as the world embarked on a horrible world war. Gordon Adams leads the discussion on this show; he is professor of international relations at American University and teaches national security policy and resource planning. He has published widely on defense and national security and defense policy. While there are no exact parallels in history, Adams says we find ourselves in a strange dangerous and oddly familiar era.

The Burt Cohen Show - Hedrick Smith, Author of Who Stole the American Dream - 01/23/14

Most Americans believe the transformation of our republic into a plutocracy started with the Reagan Presidency. On a speaking tour promoting his new book Who Stole The American Dream, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Hedrick Smith says the power shift actually kicked off happened in 1971, with a memo from Lewis Powell, later a Supreme Court justice. In this exceptionally lively interview, Smith insists liberals must move to what he calls the center and ally with billionaire-funded groups called No Labels and The Third Way. It gets lively from there. Some good radio moments await you!

The Burt Cohen Show - World War One Never Ended - 01/16/14

We know it started 100 years ago, and we all thought it ended with the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. But author and columnist Michael Moran argues the conflicts responsible for the horrific bloodletting remain as alive as ever. In the Middle East, in the Balkans, and in India, Pakistan, and Africa as well, top say nothing of the Versailles-created state of Iraq.We know it started 100 years ago, and we all thought it ended with the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. But author and columnist Michael Moran argues the conflicts responsible for the horrific bloodletting remain as alive as ever. In the Middle East, in the Balkans, and in India, Pakistan, and Africa as well, top say nothing of the Versailles-created state of Iraq.

The Burt Cohen Show - 12/19/13

Republicans slam it as "socialism," but the truth is the Affordable Care Act was originally conceived by the Heritage Foundation in 1989 as a "conservative" way to solve what Nixon had called "the healthcare crisis." Detractors trust say the private sector is more efficient, but our guest Jerry Flanagan, lead staff attorney for consumerwatchdog.org knows the new law backward and forward and demonstrates the ACA is far from perfect, as it leaves the insurance industry's power in place, but it is all in all a good first step toward addressing the problems in our current system.

The Burt Cohen Show - The Status of Freedom of the Press - 12/05/13

Freedom of the press was easier to define and protect when quill pens were the mode. Today it's electronic zeroes and ones, and it's a lot more complicated. And the Obama Administration has been aggressively prosecuting journalists; more prosecutions than all prior presidents combined. On this show Michael Winship, senior writer at Moyers and Company, talks about the status of our tradtional freedom in the second decade of the 21st century. There is reason for hope and optimism, thanks largely to internet activism.

The Burt Cohen Show - The Diem Coup After 50 Years - 11/14/13

What did the president know and when did he know it? The president of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, was overthrown in a bloody coup on November 1, 1963. Was it all the Vietnamese generals or how high up did foreknowledge of the coup go? The guest on this show is author John Prados of the National Security Archive. What did the coup indicate about the US role in the war itself?