The January assault on the U.S. Capitol and the depth of toxic partisanship lead us to question our past assumptions about the American electorate and its relationship with the government.

This episode features two experts who have spent many years trying to understand us. Frank Luntz is one of the best-known pollsters and political communications experts in America today. We hear edited extracts from a recent interview he recorded with Harvard Law School Professor and attorney, Lawrence Lessig, on the podcast, "Another Way by Lawrence Lessig".

Ethan Porter is an assistant professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, and the author of the new book "The Consumer Citizen" He investigates how voters' everyday experiences as shoppers and consumers influence their political behavior. We hear extracts from his interview on the podcast, "Politics in Question".

Even before the alarming and violent January 6 assault on the Capitol, American politics was in danger of spinning out of control— bumping up against the guardrails of our democratic institutions.

On social media and in the civic square, many have separated into two camps that seem to hate the other side. We have become estranged from family and friends over politics.

More than ever, we need nuance.

In this episode, our guest is a liberal writer and feminist, Meghan Daum, who is increasingly critical of her own side: the left. Meghan wrote the book, “The Problem With Everything. My Journey Through The New Culture Wars.” She’s also the host of “The Unspeakable”, a podcast that celebrates disagreement and encourages guests to speak uncomfortable truths.

More than 10% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but injection rates are lower in black and brown communities, and many people express doubts about the shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Vaccine hesitancy presents a barrier in the fight against coronavirus.

A recent poll by Pew Research Center found that "Black Americans continue to stand out as less inclined to get vaccinated than other racial and ethnic groups: 42% would do so, compared with 63% of Hispanic and 61% of White adults."

Our guest, Dr. Wrenetha Julion, professor and department chair at Rush University College of Nursing, discusses causes of vaccine hesitancy and how to encourage more people to take a high-effective vaccine against the virus.

Even before coronavirus led to social distancing, widespread working from home, and lockdown restrictions, loneliness was becoming a defining condition of the twenty-first century. Today, this pandemic of pain and isolation is far worse.

One of many recent polls found that more than three in five Americans say they are lonely, with more and more people reporting feeling like they are left out, poorly understood, and lacking companionship. Other surveys overseas have similar findings.

Our guest, the British economist, Noreena Hertz, is the author of "The Lonely Century: How to Restore Human Connection in a World Pulling Apart." Her new book, published February 2, is a personal and deeply-researched investigation into the roots of the loneliness epidemic, how the pandemic and the 2020 election exacerbated the problem, and what we can do to come together.

We are in a stunning moment for our country. A hoard of rioters invaded our nation’s seat of government to try to overturn an election. Many of them appear to have been motivated by false and inflammatory statements by President Trump, and under the sway of wild online conspiracy theories. In response, our leading tech platforms have tried to silence Trump and shut down many of the channels where his most extreme supporters communicate.

Is this the correct approach? Should Congress and the Biden Administration impose new regulations on big tech companies? How should free speech be protected?

We discuss these questions and more with Nadine Strossen, who has written, taught, and advocated extensively in areas of constitutional law and civil liberties. From 1991 to 2008, she was President of the ACLU— the nation's largest and oldest civil liberties organization.

Just before the 2020 election, pundits predicted that Latino Americans would overwhelmingly vote for Joe Biden. And it’s true—Latino voters do tilt Democratic. But Donald Trump won a greater share of Latino votes in some states and large cities than he did in 2016. Because of decades of investment and political courtship, as well as a nuanced and varied cultural identity, the Republican party has had a much longer and stronger bond with Hispanics than many political commentators realize.

In this episode, we speak with historian and Latino and Latina studies professor Geraldo Cadava about the findings of his recent book, "The Hispanic Republican".

At the start of 2020, the world first became aware of COVID-19. This show looks at what we have learned about the global pandemic since then.

In early February, Richard spoke face-to-face with epidemiologist Kylie Carlville of Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, during a visit to Melbourne, Australia. In the spring , we interviewed Samson Ellis of Bloomberg News about Taiwan's remarkable success in fighting the spread of the virus. In June, oncologist, bioethicist, and healthcare expert, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel explained global lessons learned from the crisis. He wrote a new book called “Which Country Has the World’s Best Healthcare?”

This episode also includes practical lessons about public healthcare from physician and CEO Doctor Vivian Lee. And we went in pursuit of wisdom and discovery with journalist and author Eric Weiner, author of the new book, “The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons From Dead Philosophers". We discuss what ancient philosophy can teach about living in a time hardship.

Despite the tragedy, suffering and economic losses of COVID, there are silver linings for many families in the current crisis. Recent lockdowns have a bright side for teens: A new survey says they're spending more time with their parents, getting extra sleep, and suffering from lower levels of clinical depression.

Our guest, New York psychoanalyst, parent coach, and author Erica Komisar, wrote in The Wall Street Journal "it has taken a pandemic to prove that it's possible to integrate work into our personal lives, as many millions of parents are now working from home. "Everyone wins— maternity-leave advocates who have been fighting for this arrangement for years, employers, mothers and children most of all."

In lockdowns, Erica tells us, "children are getting a great deal more of their parents' time and attention and energy than they have previously.'

Days after the historic 2020 election, final results were still coming in. But some lessons of the vote are becoming clear. On this episode, our hosts, Richard and Jim, discuss the five lessons they learned.

1. The system is working - so far. Despite the slow pace of counting, election day was met with massive enthusiasm by voters from all sides.

2. Reform opinion polls - They were wrong again. Polls in Florida, Texas and Wisconsin are among the worst examples. Many polls under-counted Trump voters.

3. Stop Generalizing! The Latino vote is much more complex than many assume. Faulty generalizations are also made about the influence of money in campaigns.

4. The Woke Counter Rebellion Has Begun. Despite Trump’s unpopularity with moderates, he did better than expected. Many voters may be put off by violence in Portland, progressive calls to defund the police, and higher taxes.

5. Character Counts. Joe Biden made this an election about character and decency. He understood the electorate better than most politicians.
Jim and Richard have some lively disagreements, but they find common ground on some big election controversies.

One of the biggest surprises of the 2020 election may turn out to be turnout. Traditionally, a smaller percentage of American voters participate in elections than in many other democracies around the world. But this year, early voting hit a record high, with tens of millions of mail-in ballots, and very long lines at many polling places.

In this episode, we look at a highly innovative, successful initiative to use the internet to boost the number of voters in elections. "Our mission" says the non-profit group Democracy Works "is to make voting a simple, seamless experience for all Americans, so that no one misses an election."

Democracy Works CEO and co-founder. Seth Flaxman is our guest. "At the end of the day, we think every American is going to want a sort of service, like a concierge, helping them to vote in the election," he says. "Even people who say they never miss elections sign up to get the reminders."

If the Covid pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the government's response to a global health emergency can mean the difference between living and dying.

America's woeful performance in recent months has exposed how far we have fallen behind public health systems in much of Asia. While China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore combined have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases per day since September, the U.S. is reporting over 60,000 daily cases.

Our guest is Adrian Wooldridge of The Economist, and co-author of "The Wake Up Call: Why the Pandemic Has Exposed the Weakness of the West and How to Fix It."

How do you get supporters of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the same room at the same time working together on something political? It sounds almost impossible, but even at a time of hyper-partisan division, progress and trust can be achieved on a local level.

In this episode, we look at the groundbreaking work of CivicLex, a non-profit civic education and solutions journalism group based in Lexington, a Kentucky city of nearly 400,000 people. Civic Lex has three main goals: Improve access to information, Change the processes that govern how the city interacts with residents, and Democratize political power.

Our CivicLex guests are: Executive Director, Richard Young, who has worked on civic engagement and community development projects for almost a decade, and Director of Programs, Megan Gulla, who has worked and volunteered in a variety of fields, including creative, local journalism.

How does your career stay on track at a time of very high unemployment, great technological change and enormous uncertainty? We explore these questions and much more with one of the advertising industry's most successful commercial directors.

When he was 23, Bruce Van Dusen was desperate for a job. For the next 40 years, he thought that every commercial that he made would be his last. With a mix of audacity, determination, and hard work, plus a dash of personal insecurity, Bruce developed a remarkable knack for crafting stories that could be told in 30 seconds.

His wise and highly entertaining new book is "60 Stories About 30 Seconds: How I Got Away With Being a Pretty Big Commercial Director Without Losing My Soul (Or Maybe Just Part of It)."

Anger, fear and loathing cut across our deeply divided, hyper-partisan political divide. From The White House and the streets of cities, to furious posts on social media, many of us objectify others. Those belong to the wrong tribe are often the objects of personal scorn.

In a recent Twitter post, our guest, Chloé Valdary, says: "if you do not possess the power to love, and especially love your enemies, then you don't really have the power.

In this episode, Chloé talks about her antiracism program, Theory of Enchantment, which uses pop culture as an educational tool, teaching social and emotional learning in schools, and diversity and inclusion in companies and government agencies.