You said that rightly that the idea of freedom is and has been for a very long time, the central political value in our political discourse.

And that's really important strategically.

Whoever manages to win the struggle to appropriate and use this idea more effectively is likely to win the political argument.

Hello, and welcome to the Politics Girl podcast. I'm your host, Lee McGowan. Let's get into it.

Well, today is Election Day in America. And if you're listening to this on November 4th and you haven't already voted, please get out there immediately and have your voice heard.

There are 52,000 elections across the country today. And as the Republican Party refuses to reopen the federal government and the president abandons our Constitution, it is essential we use every opportunity we have to vote against this administration and the party that enables it and throw sand in the gears of this rising autocracy.

This is a pivotal moment in our country's history. But instead of being scared and depressed, I want us to embrace hope and talk about what we could be rather than what we are.

So today we'll be having a conversation with

Alex Zakaris, a professor of political science at the University of Vermont, who has long

argued that profound inequality in power, wealth, and status has fundamentally undermined

the American social contract. And in his new book, Freedom for All, what a liberal society

could be, he explores what it would mean to extend the liberal promise of freedom to everyone on equal terms and how it could actually transform our economy and our politics.

So without further ado, please welcome my guest, Professor, author, and Big Picture Thinker, Alex Zakaris.

Welcome, Professor Zakaris.

Thanks so much for having me. It's a pleasure. You just wrote this book about freedom for all

at a time when the country really feels like it's moving towards freedom for very few, right? So tell me

why you felt called to write this book and what it's really about.

I felt called to write this book because liberal ideals and institutions are in crisis

right now, not just in this country, but across the world.

And I think we need as many people stepping forward as we can to offer a sort of clear

principled defense of liberal institutions.

And let me just step back actually and say a

...