Moyers on Democracy

When I first met Richard Painter some months ago, I thought he must be the loneliest man in the Republican Party. He’s a conservative, and of course, I’m not. But he believes, as I do, that there’s too much money in politics. Now, political insiders know Richard Painter well as President George W. Bush’s White House counselor and chief ethical advisor. He’s now teaching law at the University of Minnesota, and he’s causing heads to turn with a book advocating that we reduce the power of big money in politics. Its title is Taxation Only With Representation: The Conservative Conscience and Campaign Finance Reform. There’s a lot to learn from it, and I urge you to read it, because it is rare today to find a conservative who will admit, as Mr. Painter does, that money corrupts politics and then makes his case with so much passion and logic. His book is also timely because the issue has reached a boiling point this year. Thousands of people descended on Washington just last week in a movement they call Democracy Spring, deliberately getting arrested to protest for cleaner politics and for government liberated from Big Money. Every poll I’ve consulted reveals a deep and substantial support in the country for those objectives. Most Americans seem to agree that rich people should be able to buy more houses than anyone else, buy more cars and more clothes and more gizmos, even take more vacations than any one else, but we don’t think they should be able to buy more democracy than anyone else. Richard Painter joins me now to talk about how to rein in the power of big money in politics so that we are indeed, as his book suggests, government of, by, and for the people.

Bill talks to writer Salman Rushdie about the politicization of religion and its implications for artists.

This being the Trump era, we find ourselves once again engulfed in two realities. There’s the reality of a spiraling global challenge from coronavirus, and there’s the ALTERNATE reality created by the president and his political and propaganda empire. They are spreading a virus of their own, lulling true believers into complacent ignorance with lies and misinformation. In this conversation, Bill Moyers talks with psychiatrist and author Robert Jay Lifton about the dueling realities in today's America.

Yes, the Civil War brought an end to the slave order of the South and the rule of the plantation oligarchs who embodied white supremacy. But the Northern victory was short lived -- Southern ideals spread quickly to the West. It's all about America’s ongoing battle between oligarchy and democracy.

We know more now than we knew then, including how the directives of Louis DeJoy have harmed the ability of the Postal Service, including with what they call the on-time departure, meaning on-time departure without your mail. And Louis DeJoy said he didn't forbid overtime, that he just restricted it. Okay. Well, that restriction had a huge impact on the on-time delivery of the mail. And so, the court rulings certainly worked to mitigate that.