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Hello and welcome to Behind the News, my name is Doug Henwood, two guests today and a little poetry.

Renegade former Republican Mike Lofgren will talk about the severe cultural devolution of the right,

and then two DSA public power advocates Brandon Tizal and Gustavo Gordillo will explain why in the wake of the Texas disaster,

getting control over the utility sector is more urgent than ever.

And finally, we'll hear Lawrence Furland Getty, who died at the age of 101 a few days ago,

read from a Coney Island of the mind.

Mike Lofgren spent 28 years working as a Republican congressional staffer, first for John Kasich,

and then for the House and Senate budget committees.

He retired in 2011 and published a brutal essay on his former party in Truth Out,

which he discussed in this show right effort came out.

He's written two books since then, the party is over in the deep state,

and several more articles cataloging the rot of his former party.

He had a piece about two weeks ago on common dreams, the right devolves from jazz Bach to Skinhead Rock,

which despite my love for Bach is unfair to some forms of Skinhead Rock.

The trace to transformation of the conservative movement from the harpsichord playing days of William F. Buckley

to crude extrusions by the likes of Mel Gibson and Ted Nugent.

What happened here is Mike Lofgren with some answers.

Back when I was in the right in the early 70s, we were all about high culture.

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