#1292 A Republic, If We Can Keep It (Unrigging Gerrymandering)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 July 2019
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date: 7/26/2019
Today we take a look at the fight for free and fair elections in which voters choose their representatives rather than the politicians getting to select their voters to keep themselves in power indefinitely regardless of the will of the people.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 0: Thoughts to take with you on how to find your place in progressive activism and stop feeling overwhelmed
Ch. 1: Ready, set, gerrymander - Amicus - Air Date 6-28-19
A round table round-up of the 2018 Supreme Court term with Dahlia Lithwick, Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, Professor Pam Karlan of Stanford and Professor Leah Litman of the University of Michigan Law School. Analysis of the gerrymandering cases
We get an update from Ari Berman, senior writer at Mother Jones, whose new piece is “Architect of GOP Gerrymandering Was Behind Trump’s Census Citizenship Question.”
Ch. 3: Dave Daley on Gerrymandering - Another Way, by Lawrence Lessig - Air Date 7-3-19
Dave Daley, author of Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, joins Larry Lessig this week to talk about the past, present, and future of gerrymandering. They discuss the nefarious mechanisms and effects of drawing district lines for maximal partisan advantage
Ch. 4: Those Who Draw the Lines…Have the Power - The Takeaway - Air Date 4-4-19
“Slay the Dragon,” chronicles the challenges to congressional maps in several states that have been accused of partisan gerrymandering. In Michigan, voters approved a ballot measure in 2018 to take map-drawing power out of the hands of the legislature
Mark Joseph Stern explains the Court’s 5 -4 partisan split ruling allowing extreme partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts to continue, which he calls a "crushing defeat for voting rights" and a "fiasco for democracy."
Take action! Click the title and/or scroll down for quick links and resources from this segment.
Ch. 7: Ari Berman on The Contentious Right To Vote - Another Way, by Lawrence Lessig - Air Date 7-17-19
Voting rights have always been contentious in America, and our era is no different. Larry Lessig digs deeply into the past and present of voting in America with Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 8: Forcing the Northern narrative onto the back foot - Will from New Jersey
Ch. 9: Our economic message is stronger when it is inclusive - James from Sacramento, CA
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 10: Final comments on putting racists on the back foot
TAKE ACTION!
Join a Common Cause state-level campaign
See how your state does redistricting with Brennan Center's "50 State Guide to Redistricting"
Start your own local campaign with Common Cause's "Redistricting Activist Handbook"
Learn more with Indivisible's Gerrymandering Resource
EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE
How Did Citizen-Led Redistricting Initiatives Fare in the Mid-terms?(Pacific Standard Magazine)
States poised to take up fight over partisan gerrymandering(AP News)
The Supreme Court's Message: Win or Go Home(The Atlantic)
States spend big on make-or-break 2020 census(Roll Call)
Researched and Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
MUSIC(Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Around Plastic Card Tables - Desert Orchard
- Chrome and Wax - Ray Catcher
- The Back Lot - Sunday at Slims
- Tar and Spackle - Plaster
- Gusty Hollow - Migration
- Parade Shoes - Arc and Crecent
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This program is made possible by members and donors, so a huge thanks to everyone who |
| 0:07.5 | signed up at patreon.com slash best of left to support the show. |
| 0:12.8 | And now welcome to this episode of the award-winning best of left podcast in which we shall learn |
| 0:17.7 | about the fight for free and fair elections, in which voters choose their representatives |
| 0:23.4 | rather than the politicians, getting to select their voters, keeping themselves in power |
| 0:27.6 | indefinitely regardless of the will of the people. |
| 0:31.4 | Before we get started though, here are just a couple of thoughts I want you to take with |
| 0:34.2 | you. |
| 0:35.2 | We on the left are dealing with a massive case of overwhelm right now. |
| 0:40.6 | So as a quick example, I thought, you know, 10-15 years ago, it was a really easy question |
| 0:46.4 | to answer if you were to ask me what's the number one topic to deal with. |
| 0:50.7 | I would say climate change, it's earth changing, species threatening, it's the biggest thing |
| 0:58.1 | out there we need to deal with it. |
| 1:00.7 | And so that's what I focused on first, but as you get into that, what you realize pretty |
| 1:05.8 | quickly is that it's really hard to fight something like climate change head on and without |
| 1:13.9 | a more holistic perspective that also includes things like money and politics. |
| 1:20.2 | You can't really focus on climate change without dealing with money and politics. |
| 1:24.1 | So then you focus on money and politics for a little while. |
| 1:27.5 | And then you realize, you know, it's really hard to fight money and politics without realizing |
| 1:34.3 | that the entire system of capitalism is what's at the heart of both of these problems. |
| 1:40.4 | And then there are these other issues that you think are kind of tertiary, but out it |
| 1:46.4 | turns out they're all connected to racism, voter suppression, gerrymandering and all of that. |
... |
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