245: Saving Democracy with David Pepper
The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project
4.6 • 9.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2023
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Host Reed Galen is joined by David Pepper, the Former Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party and author of the new book, Saving Democracy: A User's Manual for Every American. They discuss how gerrymandering not only leads to manipulated representation, but also it leads to poor candidate quality, poor policy outcomes, and rewards extremism. Plus, once Americans understand the threat to their democracy…what can they do to save it? If you’d like to connect with The Lincoln Project, send an email to podcast@lincolnproject.us.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be |
| 0:06.9 | wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you |
| 0:13.8 | to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching their peak in the afternoon. |
| 0:21.3 | Not in the mood for miserable weather. |
| 0:23.5 | Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express. |
| 0:26.3 | Sun Express, nonstop sunshine. |
| 0:29.9 | Hey everyone, before we get started, I just want to point to the wake-up call that the Donald |
| 0:34.6 | Trump CNN Town Hall was for me and I think so many of us. It was a |
| 0:39.5 | reminder of who and what Donald Trump is, why he will never be better, he will always be worse, |
| 0:45.8 | and why we must do everything in our power to ensure that he never becomes president again. |
| 0:51.9 | I'd love it if you go to join the union.us and sign up to join |
| 0:55.9 | our growing army of activists around the country. And now, on with the show. |
| 1:05.0 | Welcome back to the Lincoln Project. |
| 1:13.0 | I'm your host, Reed Galen. |
| 1:18.0 | Today, I'm joined by David Pepper, the former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. |
| 1:22.5 | Before that, he served as a member of the Hamilton County, Ohio Board of Commissioners, |
| 1:24.7 | and as a councilman in the city of Cincinnati. |
| 1:27.7 | He's written quite a few books, including his latest, Saving Democracy, a user's manual for every American, now available wherever fine books are sold. |
| 1:33.6 | Today he's coming to us from the Queen City, Cincinnati, Ohio. David, welcome back. |
| 1:38.5 | Thanks. Great to be with you. |
| 1:40.5 | So since your first book came out, The Laboratories of Autocracy, which really detailed and |
| 1:46.4 | dissected how the Republican Party went through the process in a very efficient and very |
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