Are We a Democracy? with Astra Taylor

Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

MS NOW, Chris Hayes

News, Versant Media, Versant, Ms Now, Nbcnews, Why Is This Happening?, The Chris Hayes Podcast, Chris Hayes, Politics, Government, Society & Culture, Msnbc, Withpod

4.6 • 8.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2019

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is democracy doomed? Actually, let’s take one step back: what came to your mind when you read the word ‘democracy’? It’s one of those words that on first glance seems easy enough to define but can trip you up as you get deeper in parsing it. Luckily, filmmaker Astra Taylor has a new documentary out conveniently titled “What is Democracy?” It’s a movie that traffics less in trying to answer the title’s question and more in figuring out the right questions to ask about this big flawed experiment. Questions about who truly has the power in a democratic society, how the concept has changed over time, and how a person who lost by three million votes became President of the United States. Email us at [email protected] Tweet using #WITHpod Read more at nbcnews.com/whyisthishappening RELATED READING: The People’s Platform Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think the consensus, which I just took to be this unbreakable consensus.
0:04.4	This was what we were told.
0:06.1	You and I were told and we were going up.
0:07.5	It was like capitalism and democracy go together and they're married.
0:12.4	It's liberal democracy.
0:13.4	That's the recipe for liberal democracy.
0:14.8	That's how it is.
0:15.5	Like burgers and fries.
0:16.6	Burgers and fries.
0:17.5	You know, we're seeing a messy divorce and we're seeing people sort of go into one camp or the other.
0:24.1	Hello and welcome to Why is this happening with me?
0:30.3	Your host, Chris Hayes.
0:32.5	So there's been a conversation recently, which is part of a longer conversation,
0:36.3	which actually stretches back to the founding of the American Republic,
0:39.1	which is about how we elect our president.
0:41.1	And the latest round of this conversation was kicked off by Elizabeth Warren,
0:45.3	who came out and called for the abolition of the Electoral College.
0:48.6	And that got a lot of people talking.
0:52.2	In an interesting way, it sort of has cut across, I think, largely kind of ideological and part of the
0:57.0	lines.
0:57.9	Conservatives and Republicans saying, how dare you talk about eliminating the Electoral College?
1:03.3	Look at this map.
	...

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