The coronavirus pandemic has lead many to fear, panic, anger, profound loneliness and isolation. Realizing that we are all in this crisis together, how can we cope in a more hopeful and creative way?
"We need to make a fundamental choice that the only way we get through this is if we act and engage as a community together," says Rich Harwood, President and Founder of The Harwood Institute. His group teaches and coaches people in local communities to move forward by bridging divides and creating a culture of shared responsibility.
"The more we step forward to take these kind of actions to reduce polarization and connect with one another, the greater sense of control we will begin to feel again over our ability to shape our lives," says Rich.
The Harwood Institute was called in to help the people of Newtown, Connecticut after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The group says in its mission statement that "we bring people on the front lines of creating change in communities to challenge conventional assumptions, learn together, inspire one another and strengthen our collective ability to be a force for good."
Read moreBernie Sanders is the early frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential nomination. In this episode with economist Emily Chamlee-Wright, we look at why support for socialism is on the rise, and where this ideology comes from. According to recent polls of young Americans, ages 18 to 29, they are more likely to have a positive view of socialism than capitalism.
Despite socialist economic failures in Venezuela, Africa and Eastern Europe, today's promises of free health care, college loan debt forgiveness, mandatory stock ownership for employees, and guaranteed income look increasingly attractive to numbers of voters in the U.S.
"Seriously debating socialism gets us talking about a good society really is and the philosophical, economic and political foundations that underlie it," wrote Emily in The Wall Street Journal.
Read moreIt's rare to meet someone who has re-thought some of his deepest convictions. In this episode, we go on a journey with one of America's leading public intellectuals, Jerry Taylor, President and Founder of the Niskanen Center, who describes himself today as a "radical moderate" who has moved away from the libertarianism of his earlier years.
We focus on climate change. Jerry says he used to be a "lukewarmist", but now sees it as an urgent crisis. "The evidence for climate change as a significant, serious problem that requires really aggressive responses has become stronger and stronger over time," he says.
An announcement: "How Do We Fix It?" is a member of The Democracy Group, a new network of podcasts about democracy, civic engagement, and civil discourse. Visit democracygroup.org to learn more about member shows and to receive updates about new episodes and playlists.
Read moreVoter turnout is much lower in the U.S. than in many other democracies around the world. In this episode, we look at an innovative initiative to use the internet to boost the number of voters in every election.
"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."
A lot of people want to vote but they forget to do it, or they don't get registered to vote. Democracy Works is a team of software developers, policy wonks and civic organizers who say they are working to upgrade the infrastructure of democracy.
In this episode, we speak with the non-profit group's CEO and co-founder. Seth Flaxman.
Read moreThe potentially ugly nature of the presidential election has many people increasingly concerned about a contested result, and disenchanted with the two-party stranglehold on American politics.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. More voters identify as independents than as Republicans or Democrats. Our guest, Lee Drutman, senior fellow at New America and author of “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop”, makes the case for a multiparty system, which, he says, would boost compromise, problem-solving, voter turnout and confidence in the political process.
“To try to shoehorn a country this diverse and sprawling into just two parties to me is insanity,” Lee tells us. “It creates an us-against-them zero-sum mentality every political election."
Read moreWhen Detroit went bust in 2013 it was the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in American history. During the Motor City's fifty years of decline, population fell from nearly 2 million people to just under 700,000.
Today, Motown is on the rebound. Media reports called the restructuring of massive debt by a partnership between city and state government, business leaders and the philanthropic community a "stunning success."
In this episode we look at what still needs to be done to improve the lives of residents who live with high crime rates, under-funded schools, and a devastating landscape of abandoned properties. Jodie Adams Kirshner, author of "Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Dreams" is our guest.
Read moreAll too often news headlines and social media are dominated by disasters, wrongdoing and fear mongering: All the stuff that’s going wrong.
How can we nurture the positive side of human nature? Renewing democracy will be impossible unless we start to rebuild trust in each other.
The Convergence Center for Policy Resolution uses deep knowledge and proven methodology to connect people, policymakers and political organizations from different backgrounds and beliefs, helping them work together and co-operate. Our guest is Rob Fersh, the non-profit group's Founder and President.
Read moreThe U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Suleimani sparked immediate fears of war. The risks of a disastrous miscalculation are obvious, from goading Iran into speeding up its nuclear weapons program, to a forced withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and the re-emergence of ISIS.
But the audacious attack against Iran's most experienced military strategist may weaken the regime and force Iranian leaders to curb their aggression. Both may viewed as significant achievements. "Iran appears to be standing down," said President Trump, five days after the killing.
In this episode, Jim and Richard discuss seven tools that help us understand the significance of what happened. They include: Watch out for scare tactics by both sides of the debate; Don't take mass protests at face value; Read a broad range of opinions from different sources; Beware of simple answers; Understand the wisdom of "I don't know", and just because Trump acted doesn't mean he was wrong.
Read moreIf independent podcasts are to prosper and survive in this era of growing commercialization, big media, and multi-million dollar podcast investments, we need to grow our community: Share, collaborate and promote groups, individuals and podcasters who share many of our goals.
In this first "How Do We Fix It?" episode of 2020, we include recent interviews with leaders and supporters of Bridge Alliance, Civic Hall, Heterodox Academy, Solutions Journalism Network and Listen First Project. We support their efforts to strengthen democracy, boost curiosity, find constructive solutions and emphasize the positive.
We've included clips from our 2019 interviews with Debilyn Molineaux, Arthur Brooks, Micah Sifry, Jodie Jackson and Pearce Godwin.
Read moreLiberal democracy, free speech and freedom of the press are under attack in many parts of the world. Two of the most insidious threats are from conspiracy theories and the growing global reach of China's dictatorship.
In this episode we discuss two interviews from "Democracy Works", a podcast series from The McCourtney Institute at Penn State University about what it means to live in a democracy.
Larry Diamond, author of the 2019 book, "Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition and American Complacency" and Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum authors of the book, "A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy." Jim and Richard discuss the ideas raised in both sets of interviews.
Read moreAnti-semitism is on the rise in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Jews are the targets. Democracy and free speech are also among the casualties.
6 people died this week in Jersey City, New Jersey, in a shootout at a kosher supermarket. The two gunmen appear to have been motivated by anti-semitism and anger against the police. Britain's Labour Party has been rocked by widespread reports of anti-semitism. Labor's second most powerful leader has apologized to the Jewish community and admits the controversy may affect the result of this week's U.K. election.
Our guest in this episode of "How Do We Fix It?" is Bari Weiss, an opinion writer at The New York Times, who covers culture and politics. We discuss her new book, "How to Fight Anti-Semitism."
Read more