Can the Reagan Revolution Be Undone?

12/13/23 • 53 min

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The Reagan Revolution and “greed is good” remain in full swing, ushering in a level of wealth inequality that surpasses the Gilded Age.

"Progressives, especially, must recognize that pres erving constitutional freedoms depends on winning the fight for economic liberties. Treating them as separate goals will ultimately mean losing out on both," writes Caroline Fredrickson, the former president of the American Constitution Society, the Democrats' answer to Leonard Leo's Federalist Society and his $1.6 billion war chest. You've probably never heard of the American Constitution Society, because they haven't been as effective.

In September, Fredrickson wrote a damning piece for The Atlantic explaining why, taking herself and other Democrats to task for packing our courts with corporate-friendly judges under recent Democratic administrations, including the current one. It seemed enough for Democrats that a judge was a woman, nonwhite, and cared about protecting reproductive healthcare. As a result, for decades, our courts have become a rubber stamp for rolling back regulations and defying antitrust laws. Even the Biden-appointed antitrust Elizabeth Warren protégé Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, has been powerless against the corporate defenders packed on our courts.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, author of The Chicken Shit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives, explains that to undo the Reagan Revolution, prioritize appointing judges who will uphold antitrust laws and protect unions. To be true allies to women and nonwhite people, who are harder hit by economic downturns, fight for economic justice as the foundation for social justice. The Democrats need to get clear on that and respond with a robust judicial appointment strategy immediately, while there’s still time.

This week’s bonus show, available for our listeners at the Truth-tell level and higher, will feature questions and comments from our listeners at the Democracy Defender level and higher. Exclusively for our Patroen community at the Truth-teller level and higher, mark your calendars for the January 18th 8pm ET social media workshop to be held over Zoom–on how to kick our Twitter habit and use our social media voices for good in the world in 2024 and beyond–with organizer Rachel Brody of the movement to Replace Jay Jacobs, the disastrous chair of the New York state Democrats who cost us the House. We look forward to seeing you there! Thank you to everyone who supports the show -- we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

To join the conversation and get your questions answered, as well as receive all episodes, including bonus shows, ad-free, sign up at the Democracy Defender level or higher on Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

Brexit and Trump are the Same Crime: The Carole Cadwalladr Interview https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2019/4/15/brexit-and-trump-are-the-same-crime-the-carole-cadwalladr-interview

Arron Banks may have been ‘used and exploited’ by Russia, court hears This article is more than 1 year old Journalist Carole Cadwalladr gives evidence as she defends her reporting on multimillionaire Brexit backer https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/17/arron-banks-used-and-exploited-by-russia-court-hears

Try the Yuka App: Scan Your Shopping Cart With Yuka and Make Healthier Choices Are there carcinogenic red dyes in your canned soup, or is it just a little too salty? Yuka can tell you, but you may not like what you find. https://www.wired.com/story/yuka-app/

E.U. Reaches Deal on World’s First Comprehensive AI Rules https://time.com/6344628/eu-ai-rules-deal/

What I Most Regret About My Decades of Legal Activism By focusing on civil liberties but ignoring economic issues, liberals like me got defeated on both. By Caroline Fredrickson https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/federal-judiciary-biden-court-appointments/675336/

Republicans to meet allies of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán on ending Ukraine aid Hungarian appearance at two-day event part of Orbán’s transatlantic attempt to bolster Russia’s war https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/10/hungary-viktor-orban-republicans-ukraine-aid

Want to Tax the Rich for Real? Pay Attention to This Supreme Court Case.

The Reagan Revolution and “greed is good” remain in full swing, ushering in a level of wealth inequality that surpasses the Gilded Age.

To join the conversation and get your questions answered, as well as receive all episodes, including bonus shows, ad-free, sign up at the Democracy Defender level or higher on Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

E.U. Reaches Deal on World’s First Comprehensive AI Rules https://time.com/6344628/eu-ai-rules-deal/

Want to Tax the Rich for Real? Pay Attention to This Supreme Court Case.

Previous Episode

Weapons of Mass Distraction [TEASER]

This experiment brings to mind more recent ones in Russia, where there were deliberate efforts to breed both aggressive and docile rats. One Gaslit Nation listener wondered if Russian botfarms are deliberately "engineering" (inciting) aggressive Americans and also docile ones in their disinformation warfare to further divide us. The theory suggests that docile and distracted Americans would be less likely to resist against the aggressive ones. Research into hybrid warfare points to distraction as a powerful tool of disinformation waged by foreign adversaries. (The West has its own history of this, using CIA-funded art and culture to directly challenge Soviet ideology. There's a great book that captures that time called The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters.)

All that and more, including Venezuela’s threats to annex an oil-rich region of Guyana, which would worsen the refugee crisis on our southern border, is discussed in this week’s bonus episode. If you didn’t hear your question answered this week, look out for it next week as the Gaslit Nation Q&A continues! Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

Under Stalin, in their quest to build a Soviet utopia, the Bolsheviks turned to eugenics. With the goal of breeding humans with apes, they aimed to successfully prove Darwin was right and that religion was indeed the "opium of the masses." Their human-ape hybrids would be engineered to be a super species—communally driven, designed with positive traits to build a flourishing communist society. Needless to say, the experiment failed, and many chimpanzees kidnapped from Africa died in the process.

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Show Notes:

Get your ‘Tis the Season to Prosecute Treason T-shirt featuring an original design by Hamish Smyth! http://tee.pub/lic/_vLBHBoWkeg

Nice Rats, Nasty Rats: Maybe It’s All in the Genes https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/health/nice-rats-nasty-rats-maybe-its-all-in-the-genes.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Israel and Palestine: A Political Solution https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2023/10/18/israel-palestine-political-solution

Kremlin says Putin is healthy, laughs off body double rumours https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-rejects-speculation-that-putin-is-ill-uses-body-doubles-2023-10-24/

The Russian Government Once Funded a Scientist’s Quest To Make an Ape-Human Hybrid In 1926, a famed Russian biologist was “hell-bent” on creating an ape-human hybrid https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-russian-government-once-funded-a-scientists-quest-to-make-an-ape-human-hybrid-5043859/

Venezuela’s threats to annex most of Guyana draw international concern https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/07/venezuela-guyana-esequibo-map-border-dispute/

Distraction Helps Misinformation Spread. Thinking About Accuracy Can Reduce it. https://medium.com/jigsaw/distraction-helps-misinformation-spread-thinking-about-accuracy-can-reduce-it-a4e5d8371a85

Weapons of Mass Distraction https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Weapons-of-Mass-Distraction-Foreign-State-Sponsored-Disinformation-in-the-Digital-Age.pdf

Next Episode

Gareth Jones Reports from Nazi Germany [TEASER]

Sixteen year old Kalief Browder spent 700 days in solitary confinement over a backpack he didn’t steal, and traitor to his country, former FBI agent Charles McGonigal, only got four years in prison for being on the payroll of the Russian mafia. That and Putin’s end-of-the-year speech to Russians, promising to destroy and occupy all of Ukraine, are discussed in this week’s bonus episode.

Joining us for urgent insights into how to navigate this all-to-familiar time of growing fascism is media historian Ray Gamache, a leading biographer of Gareth Jones, the hero of Mr. Jones, the film inspired by Jones’ groundbreaking reporting on Stalin. Jones also reported from Hitler’s Germany, where he warned that Hitler and his “primitive” mobs of supporters were going to transform not just Germany, but the fate of Europe. Gamache is the author of Gareth Jones: Eyewitness to the Holodomor and Gareth Jones: On Assignment in Nazi Germany 1933-34

To our supporters at the Democracy Defender level and higher, send in your questions for our Q&As. We always look forward to hearing from you. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

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Show Notes:

Remembering Kalief Browder a Year After his Suicide and Why Rikers Island Should be Shut Down https://innocenceproject.org/remembering-kalief-browder-year-suicide-rikers-island-shutdown/

Ex-FBI counterintelligence chief sentenced to over four years in prison for work with Russian oligarch https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/14/politics/ex-fbi-counterintelligence-chief-sentenced-to-sentenced-to-over-four-years-in-prison/index.html

US Senate report uncovers Louis Freeh's connections with Russia authorities https://news.err.ee/1125367/us-senate-report-uncovers-louis-freeh-s-connections-with-russia-authorities

Putin says no peace in Ukraine until his goals are achieved https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/putin-year-end-news-conference-ukraine-1.7058841