#1221 Strategies to take back power for the left
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 23 October 2018
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date: 10/23/2018
Today we take a look at various strategies, some institutional and some organizational, for the left to take back power and steer the country back toward small D democracy
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SHOW NOTES
As mid-term elections near, Nina Turner talks with actress and activist Susan Surrandon, political leader Kimberly Ellis and political activist Jim Hightower about what actually makes America great, and what we can change to improve it.
Ch. 2: Should Blue States Make Voting Mandatory? - Majority Report (@MajorityFM) - Air Date: 01-03-17
Author and labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan joins the show and discusses the notion of compulsory voting.
Take action! Click the title and/or scroll down for quick links and resources from this segment.
Ch. 4: Ranked Choice Voting vs The Corrupt Establishment - @RepresentUs - Air Date 3-14-17
What if you never had to vote for the lesser of two evils again? Ranked Choice Voting is a small tweak that would be a huge step towards fixing our broken elections.
Ch. 5: Why ranked-choice voting is a terrible idea - Bradcast from @TheBradBlog - Air Date 6-13-18
Brad discusses why, although he is sympathetic to the reasoning behind ranked-choice voting, he prefers the alternative of approval voting for the sake of simplicity.
Ch. 6: Outvote - Getting Dem Friends to Vote: There's an App for That - WNYC - Air Date 8-28-2018
Two Boston-based engineers developed an app that enables people to nudge their friends by text to tell them to go vote. With Outvote, the text comes from someone you know instead of someone you don't.
Ch. 7: David Faris on how and why to fight dirty - Chapo Trap House - Air Date 5-27-18
Political scientist David Faris discusses his book “It’s Time To Fight Dirty”. Faris outlines all the ways a slim democratic majority could and should shortcut norms and the constitution to build enduring power.
Joe Dinkin, of the Working Families Party, discusses the promise and pitfalls of fighting within the Democratic Party.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 9: Thoughts on Choice as a litmus test - Matthew from Central Valley of Northern California
Ch. 10: Final comments on how to be pro-choice without moralizing and the need to add vote-by-mail to our list of progressive demands
THE MIDTERMS MINUTE
REGISTER TO VOTE: RocktheVote.org/register-to-vote/
CONFIRM VOTER REGISTRATION: HeadCount.org/verify-voter-registration/
CHECK VOTING DATES & POLICIES: RocktheVote.org/voting-information/
VOTER ID INFO/HELP: VoteRiders & 866ourvote.org
All Battleground Info/Resources: THE MIDTERMS MINUTE H.Q.
Early Voting Information by State
TOSS UP BATTLEGROUND HOUSE SEATS (part 2)
North Carolina
NC-09: Dan McCready
NC-13:Kathy Manning
Texas
TX-07: Lizzie Pannill Fletcher
TX-32: Colin Allred
Virginia
VA-02: Elaine Luria
VA-07: Abigail Spanberger
Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
MUSIC:
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- UpUpUp and Over - The Balloonist (Blue Dot Sessions)
- Parade Shoes - Arc and Crecent (Blue Dot Sessions)
- Great Great Lengths - The Balloonist (Blue Dot Sessions)
- PolyCoat - The Cabinetmaker (Blue Dot Sessions)
- Waterbourne - Algea Fields (Blue Dot Sessions)
- The Wooden Platform - The Bulwark (Blue Dot Sessions)
- Skyway - The Balloonist (Blue Dot Sessions)
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This program is made possible by the members and donors to the show. |
| 0:06.0 | To support the work we do, two bucks a month gets you an ad-free version of the show, plus |
| 0:10.2 | the chance to vote each week on upcoming topics, while full membership gets all that plus |
| 0:15.2 | members' only bonus content. |
| 0:17.1 | Sign up at patreon.com slash best of left, or visit the contribute tab at bestofleft.com. |
| 0:23.4 | Now looking to this episode of the award-winning best of left podcast in which we shall learn |
| 0:28.0 | about various strategies, some institutional and some organizational for the left to take |
| 0:33.7 | back power and steer the country back towards small D democracy. |
| 0:37.9 | Clips today come from We The People with Need A Turner, the majority report, represent.us, |
| 0:44.0 | the Bradcast, a report from WNYC, Chapo Trap House, and The Dig. |
| 0:58.0 | It is absolutely rigged that we do need leaders in either one of these party structures, but |
| 1:08.8 | we need leaders who are willing to give of themselves and call out the system and say that |
| 1:13.2 | I stand here before you to reveal that the system is imperfect, it is rigged, but that |
| 1:19.0 | I as a servant, the first among equals, I'm going to try to make some crooked past straight. |
| 1:24.4 | That's what your candidacy did, Kimberly, you shook the foundation. |
| 1:29.3 | Some people just don't have their hands and they said really they held with the Democratic |
| 1:32.9 | Party because the corporations have two parties and the people have none. |
| 1:37.6 | What we were able to do in California is something special. |
| 1:40.2 | This didn't happen overnight. |
| 1:43.0 | We had to convince people who were not within the structure of the Democratic Party here |
| 1:48.4 | in California to run in their precincts so that they can have a voice inside. |
| 1:54.4 | So what do you say to both sides? |
... |
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