566 | Osita Nwanevu: The Case for a New American Founding: Rethinking Democracy After 2024

The Realignment

Technology, News Commentary, National Security, Marshall Kosloff, International Relations, News, Public Policy, Economics, Politics, Saager Enjeti, U.s. Politics, Policy

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Osita Nwanevu, author of The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Osita discuss a "re-founding" of America at the level of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, why the current political system has left many Americans disillusioned with pro-democracy promises and rhetoric, the failure to leverage the 2008 Financial Crisis and 2020 COVID epidemic to force systemic change, and his case for radical reforms to the legislative branch, elections, the workplace, and Supreme Court.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Marshall here. Welcome back to the realignment. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the show.
0:05.0	So for today's episode, I'm speaking with the Guardian and the new republics, Ossita Winavu, about his new book, The Right of the People, Democracy, and the Case for a New American Founding.
0:15.2	I'm very excited to speak to Ocida, even though we disagree on a lot of political topics, because he's proposing that in the wake of
0:21.0	2024, we shouldn't just think about America in terms of new policies, some new messaging,
0:27.2	some new polls and focus groups. We need to think bigger and we need to think bigger in the sense
0:31.3	of a new founding for the country. What this means is that ever since the 1860s, there's really been this idea that after
0:38.8	the Civil War, America had a second founding with Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
0:45.5	Acida, looking at the wreckage of 2024 after the Biden years and a second Trump presidency,
0:51.5	sees the need to reimagine America at a structural level at a democratic
0:55.6	and economic level.
0:57.2	So even if you don't agree with every single one of his proposals when it comes to increasing
1:02.5	the size of the House of Representatives, abolishing the filibuster, expanding the size of the House
1:07.8	of Representatives, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
1:09.5	You could at least admire the fact that he's thinking big,
1:12.1	and I think everyone, whether you are on the left, right and center,
1:14.8	needs to think similarly.
1:16.4	So hope you all enjoy the conversation.
1:19.9	Osita Wenevu, welcome to the realignment.
1:23.0	Thanks for having me.
1:24.4	I'm really excited to speak with you.
1:26.3	So I'm sure you and I have all sorts of disagreements
1:29.6	about post-2024 American politics, especially as relates to the Democratic Party. But one thing
	...

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