Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with a follow-up from a recent Harvard Youth Poll that found only 13% of Americans between 18 and 29, say the US is heading in the right direction, with only 39% supporting capitalism.

We'll discuss whether this generation embracing social democracy that also

feels capitalism is failing them will move the American electorate to the left, since the

Democrat's left wing is now the principal source of the party's energy and ideas.

Joining us at John Judas, editor-at-large at Talking Point's Memo, and the author of many books, including The Politics of Our Time, Populism, Nationalism, and Socialism.

He's written for numerous publications, including The New Republic, the National Journal, the New York Times Magazine, and the Washington Post magazine.

And his latest book, co-written with Rui Texera is, Where Have All the Democrats

Gone, the Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes?

And he has an article we will discuss at Compact Magazine.

The Left's Project has just begun.

Then we'll look into today's introduction of the Ranked Choice Voting Act by Congressman

Jamie Raskin and Don Byer and Senator Peter Welsh, which would require ranked choice

voting in all congressional primaries and general elections beginning in 2030.

Joining us is Deb Otis, the Director of Research and Policy at Fair Vote, who has over a decade of experience in research and analytics.

In addition to ranked choice voting and proportional representation, her areas of research include comparative electoral systems, political polarization, redistricting representation for women and people of color, the Electoral College

and Election recounts. Then finally, with the Manhattan Court on Tuesday demanding the release

of records from Galane Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking case, and today a federal judge ruling

that the grand jury records from Epstein's 2019 prosecution

must be made public. We'll speak with Nina Burley, a senior editor at the New Republic,

bestselling author, documentary producer and publisher of the Substack American Freak Show.

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