Can we make 2020 something more than a civil war between Democrats and Republicans? That’s the challenge that has inspired this podcast by Lawrence Lessig. Without doubting the urgent need to defeat our current President, Lessig lays out a strategy that leverages the common ground that unites Americ…
The Another Way, hosted by Lawrence Lessig, is an incredible resource for democracy and anti-corruption advocates. This podcast provides a platform for organizing and mobilizing individuals who are passionate about bringing change to the political system. Lessig introduces a variety of guests and offers well-researched insights on topics such as the electoral college and the collapse of the Centrist wing of the GOP. The in-depth exploration of these issues is absolutely brilliant and offers listeners a deeper understanding of how and why the system has failed. The episode featuring Bill Kristol is particularly enlightening, showcasing a sophisticated and respectful conversation between two individuals with differing perspectives. This type of discourse is rare yet vitally important in today's divisive political climate.
While The Another Way excels in providing thought-provoking discussions and insightful information, there are some drawbacks to consider. One potential downside is that some episodes may lean towards being unbalanced due to the lack of representation from certain political viewpoints. However, it is important to note that this does not detract significantly from the overall quality of the podcast or its ability to foster meaningful conversations about democracy reform.
In conclusion, The Another Way with Lawrence Lessig is a must-listen podcast for any American living in today's political climate. It goes beyond complaining about problems and offers concrete solutions for fixing our democracy through systemic changes. Lessig's clear and elegant speaking style effectively conveys his message on how Congress spends too much time catering to wealthy campaign funders rather than representing the interests of ordinary citizens. This podcast sheds light on governmental impediments to true representation and provides historical context for understanding the need for change. Overall, The Another Way is an inspiring and hopeful podcast that encourages listeners to take action towards reforming our political system.
For this final episode of Season 5, Lessig speaks to TedX Berlin about AI, democracy, and the future. You can watch a video recording of this TedX talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zYHqg1PwoQ
In 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, Jon Stever launched an extraordinary experiment to draw together a representative sample of the world to discuss the climate and ecological crisis the world is facing. In this conversation, I talk to him about how he and his team did that, and what it teaches us about the potential for citizen assemblies generally.
Ireland has been perhaps the most impressive example of citizen assemblies addressing national issues in a new and edifying way. David Farrell is an academic who has studied the Irish example. I talk with him about what Ireland can teach the rest of the world.
Katrín Oddsdóttir is a founding mother of the still-not-ratified Iceland Constitution. In 2012, the people of Iceland told their Parliament to adopt a constitution based on the draft that she and 24 other Icelanders crafted. They had crafted their draft based upon the results from two citizens assemblies. We hear about that history and what it can teach us going forward.
Claudia Chwalisz is a social entrepreneur, spreading the gospel of citizen assemblies. In this episode we talk to her about citizens assemblies' potential and how they are spreading across the world.
Not all AI is democracy ending AI. Some can support democracy and make it better. In this episode, I talk to Kim Polese, whose career launching transformative technologies (beginning with Java) has landed with a democracy enhancing AI, CrowdSmart. We talk about its potential, as well as the open source alternative, pol.is.
David Van Reybrouck's book, Against Elections, helped crystalize a movement for citizen assemblies. In my conversation with him, we talk about the origin of this idea, and how it could complement democracy.
Chloe Maxim and Canyon Woodward built a people focused movement in rural Maine to change the way politics works. I talk to them about their book, Dirt Road Revival, and the organization they've launched, DirtRoadOrganizing.org, aiming to change how we do politics, for the better.
Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn at 23, and founder of UpWorthy, talks to me about creating healthy online spaces, and democratic activism that builds up democracy rather than tearing it down.
After hope, we need health. John Greene, professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of Moral Tribes talks to me about building healthier engagement between increasingly polarized citizens.
Jennifer Pahlka, founder of the Code for America and former Deputy CTO, talks with me about improving digital governmental capacity, working from her new book, Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Era and How We Can Do Better.
Our first lifeboat is hope — hope that government could actually do good. Brink Lindsey, formerly of the Cato Institute, and now Director of the Open Society Project at the Niskanen Center, talks to me about governmental capacity, and how we could make it better.
We can make our unrepresentative representative democracy representative. But AI may mean that's not enough. This episode introduces the final section of this season — lifeboats: the changes we could make to make it so democracy can survive.
AI has already affected our society fundamentally. That effect first happened through social media. In this episode, we speak with Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, about that first effect, and what we can expect as AI evolves.
What happens when news must compete? How does that affect the news? In this episode, we talk to Ben Smith, a journalist and entrepreneur who played a central role in the transformation of media through social media. His book, Traffic, tells that story better than any other just now.
No technology in the last two generations has more affected ordinary life and ordinary politics more profoundly than social media. In this episode, we talk to NYU Stern School of Business Professor Jonathan Haidt about how social media has changed us, and especially our kids, and what we might do to respond.
What was media like? How has media changed? In this episode, we talk to Princeton Professor Markus Prior about the architecture of public media, over the period of what he calls "broadcast democracy," and in the period we're living within today. How does that architecture affect the politics that is possible?
There was a time when the presumption of democracy — that the people were rational and guided our democracy to reasoned conclusions — was true. Or tru-ish. In this episode, we speak with the authors of one of the most important work studying this relatively healthy period, Ben Page and Robert Shapiro. Their 1992 book — The Rational Public — presented an enormous amount of evidence demonstrating how democracy worked. We discuss what made that working possible.
The premise of the first part to this season is that our broken democracy can be fixed. The solutions are clear and achievable. Many of them would be enacted if the Democrats regained sufficient control of our government. But in this part, we explore why these solutions won't be enough. We can right the overturned tables for sure; but there's a gash in the hull that will make even these changes not enough.
The obscure rules of the Senate are an important part of the dysfunction of American democracy today. In this episode, we speak to a former Secretary for the Majority of the United States Senate and, for the last two years of the Obama administration, the Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs at the White House, Martin Paone. There is perhaps no one in America with a better sense of how our Senate works — or doesn't work — or with a better intuition about how to fix it.
Just 8% of voters elect 83% of the House: This is the fact standing behind the reform proposed by Nick Troiano in his book, The Primary Solution, which we discuss in this episode. The problem is truly astonishing. And the solution is quite genius.
Democracy reform needs a target. We can say things like "representative democracy must be representative," but what does that exactly mean? In this episode, we speak with Harvard Law Professor Nick Stephanopoulos about his conception of representativeness — "alignment" — and what that says about the reforms we should be pressing.
Even great ideas need to be studied and understood scientifically. Jennifer Heerwig has done more than anyone studying the effects of the voucher experiment in Seattle, Washington. In this episode, we hear what she has learned, and what that could mean for reform more generally.
The single best reform for the way we fund campaigns would be democracy vouchers. In this episode, we speak to the man who heard about this idea and then made it real in Seattle.
The assumption of most lawyers — or Americans — who know the word "SuperPAC" is that the Supreme Court has declared that the First Amendment protects SuperPACs. In this episode, you'll learn why that assumption is flat-out false, and about the fight to end SuperPAC money in America's democracy.
Reform is possible. Congressman John Sarbanes is proof. Sarbanes is the most important architect of democracy reform in Congress today. In this episode, Lessig and Sarbanes speak about the For the People Act, and where reform will continue.
The new season of Another Way is finally here! In this episode, Lawrence Lessig outlines his plan for the season, which will eventually be turned into a book. Listeners are invited to reconceptualize the crisis that American democracy faces and to join Lessig in the search for democracy's "lifeboats".
In this episode, Lawrence Lessig outlines our plan to fight back against SuperPACs. He explains the logical mistake in SpeechNow v. FEC, why we launched a video competition (with a $50,000 prize!), and the legal strategy that could render SuperPACs largely powerless.For more information on the video contest, visit:cancelsuperpacs.com
In this episode, Lessig speaks to Ron Fein, the Legal Director for Free Speech For People. The two discuss a major legal mistake made by the courts, which, if corrected, would allow states to regulate SuperPACs. They discuss efforts by Free Speech For People and Equal Citizens to bring to light this mistake. If you are interested in learning more about the $50,000 video contest, visit www.equalcitizens.us
In this episode, Lawrence Lessig speaks to Tristan Harris, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for Humane Technology, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to align technology with humanity's best interests. Lessig and Harris discuss the (real, not sci-fi-inspired) threats posed by generative A.I. (artificial intelligence) technology and some potential guardrails that could guide the technology in a way that benefits — not harms — society. This episode is the first of two previews for the upcoming season of Another Way.
Adam Eichen speaks with Jonathan Mehta Stein (Executive Director of California Common Cause) and Vernetta Woods (IVE Team leader at Oakland Rising Action). They discuss the innovative fair elections initiative that will appear on this year's midterm ballot in Oakland and how it could inspire similar efforts across the nation. They also speak about what keeps them from burning out, even during an intensive ballot initiative campaign.
Listen to Rabbi Pollack's appearance on Another Way from 2019: https://equalcitizens.us/how-a-rabbi-in-pennsylvania-is-fixing-democracy/
Another Way is back! Adam Eichen and Lawrence Lessig have a candid conversation about the state of our democracy, feelings of loss (post-Freedom to Vote Act campaign), and what keeps them motivated in a very disturbing political time.
Context for the No Labels phone call leak: https://theintercept.com/2021/06/16/joe-manchin-leaked-billionaire-donors-no-labels/
A link to the updated New York Review of Books essay:https://medium.lessig.org/1759084fcf6f A link to the original New York Review of Books essay:https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2021/12/10/why-the-us-is-a-failed-democratic-state
Eastman's op-ed clarifying his stance: https://americanmind.org/memo/setting-the-record-straight-on-the-potus-ask/ Full memo: http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2021/images/09/21/privileged.and.confidential.--.jan.3.memo.on.jan.6.scenario.pdf
On this episode of Another Way, Adam Eichen is joined by End Citizens United's Adam Bozzi and American Progress' Michael Sozan. The three discuss the media's handling of the fight to pass the For The People Act and why the pundits have missed the mark.
Equity for the People:https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/equity-people Elizabeth's Medium article:https://elizabeth-hira.medium.com/at-what-cost-democracy-remembering-jfks-covert-interventions-on-guyanese-independence-day-fa111dd40ae4 Elizabeth's blog post about the For The People Act as the next great civil rights bill:https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/people-act-americas-next-great-civil-rights-bill
A link to the video recording of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkFI2W5Tta0&t=13s
Michael's Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/02/voting-fix-that-cannot-wait-stopping-partisan-gerrymandering/
Watch the video recording of the lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxoMcWxUP7wTo find out more about where your senators stand on the filibuster, visit www.equalcitizens.us/itmustgo
On this episode of Another Way, Lessig shares the audio of his recent speech at “Peaches and Politics” in New Durham, New Hampshire. In it, he describes the stakes of the fight for the For The People Act,and makes the case that tough love is now needed for President Biden.
For more information about DFAD, visit: https://dfadcoalition.org/http://recesscanwait.org/
On this episode of Another Way, Equal Citizens Executive Director Adam Eichen speaks with Eli Zupnick, spokesperson for the Fix Our Senate Coalition (https://www.fixoursenate.org/) . The two discuss the stakes of the filibuster fight, what filibuster reform might look like, and the prospects for reform.
A video recording of the event is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ruZdpFWP8
In this episode, Lawrence Lessig speaks to U.S. Representative Mondaire Jones. They discuss Rep. Jones' first few months as a member of Congress, the latest on H.R. 1, the need for a Third Reconstruction, and the filibuster.
This conversation builds off a February 5th, 2021 interview, available here: https://equalcitizens.us/the-quest-to-understand-the-people/
On this episode of Another Way, Lawrence Lessig speaks with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and wt.social. Lessig and Wales discuss the origins of Wikipedia, its architecture, and its ad-free commitment to neutrality. They also attempt to unpack the growing polarization in the media, digital algorithms and the addictiveness of technology, and how to reform the informational ecosystem to ensure better deliberation.
For this week's episode, we are re-broadcasting the audio of an Equal Citizens event held on March 31st, 2021 entitled, "The Fight For Voting Rights Reform: The Path To H.R. 1 and H.R. 4". The event featured Lawrence Lessig moderating a conversation between Duke Law Professor Guy-Uriel Charles and Emory Professor Carol Anderson. The three scholars discuss voter suppression, the bills that Congress is currently considering to tackle it — the For The People Act and the Voting Rights Advancement Act — and what we can do to ensure their passage and save our democracy. Representative Mondaire Jones makes a special appearance.
Buy Lee's book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/breaking-the-two-party-doom-loop-9780190913854?cc=us&lang=en#
Check out Weston's fantastic podcast Swamp Stories here: https://www.swampstories.org/
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