Is American democracy in crisis? | Politics in Question
07/17/24 • 66 min
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In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Jake Grumbach joins Lee and James to consider whether American democracy is in crisis. Grumbach is an associate professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He studies the political economy of the United States, with interests in democratic institutions, labor, federalism, racial and economic inequality, and statistical methods. And he is the author of Laboratories Against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Politics (Princeton University Press, 2022).
What is the state of American democracy? Are concerns that it is failing overblown? Or are they justified? What is the best standard to evaluate the quality of representation in the United States? How does that standard change based on the different types of democracy? These are some of the questions Jake, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.
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In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Jake Grumbach joins Lee and James to consider whether American democracy is in crisis. Grumbach is an associate professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He studies the political economy of the United States, with interests in democratic institutions, labor, federalism, racial and economic inequality, and statistical methods. And he is the author of Laboratories Against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Politics (Princeton University Press, 2022).
What is the state of American democracy? Are concerns that it is failing overblown? Or are they justified? What is the best standard to evaluate the quality of representation in the United States? How does that standard change based on the different types of democracy? These are some of the questions Jake, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.
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Healthcare for All: Melanie D’Arrigo | Future Hindsight
Melanie D’Arrigo is the Executive Director of the Campaign for New York Health, which aims to win universal single-payer healthcare for all New Yorkers. We discuss the intersection of democracy and healthcare and what is necessary to create better health outcomes.
The New York Health Act is a current bill in the New York State Legislature that would implement a single payer healthcare system in New York, similar to Medicare for All. Instead of accessing health insurance, this bill would provide access to health care without the middleman, which is the insurance industry. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not have universal health care. We spend the most amount of money with worse health outcomes. In addition, we allow millions of Americans to go into medical debt. More information on the Campaign for NY Health is here: https://www.nyhcampaign.org/
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Next Episode
Illinois Representative Bob Morgan on Fostering Hope | An Honorable Profession
In this week’s episode, Ryan Coonerty sits down with Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan. They reflect on the horrific mass shooting in the representative's community of Highland Park during a 4th of July Parade in 2022 – a timely topic as he returns from a visit to the White House, as he co-chairs the Illinois House Firearm Safety Reform Working Group. Morgan shares his experience working on this crucial issue and the personal ties that ignited his passion for combating gun violence. In addition, Ryan and Representative Morgan delve into his highly debated efforts to eliminate junk fees in Illinois, his commitment to reducing healthcare costs, and his approach to building strong relationships within the legislature, as well as his experience as a Jewish leader during a surge of antisemitism across the country. Tune in to learn about his push to end daylight savings time and the obstacles to making this a reality.
IN THIS EPISODE:
• [01:04] Introducing Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan and his efforts to work on gun safety.
• [02:36] The stories of gun violence that ignited his passion for taking this issue seriously.
• [05:23] Prospects for reducing these kinds of incidents in US communities.
• [07:43] Representative Bob’s journey to public service.
• [13:17] Building and maintaining relationships with colleagues by building your understanding of them.
• [14:26] Issues he has worked on and why healthcare is a focus for him.
• [20:04] Why no changes have been made to daylight savings.
• [22:40] Facing the rise of antisemitism as a member of the Jewish caucus.
• [27:26] Predictions for the upcoming convention and the elections to follow.
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