Free Forum with Terrence McNally

We go deep into the archives to bring you my 2002 conversation with THOMAS HOMER DIXON on his insightful and provocative book THE INGENUITY GAP, in which he asks whether we’re going to be able to generate and implement useful ideas fast enough to solve the problems we ourselves are creating. Problems like the surveillance capitalism of Facebook and Google, the jobs we’re losing to robots, and the crisis of climate change. In the book and interview, he said there was still time but the hour was getting late – and that was 17 years ago.

When the three richest Americans have more wealth than the lowest 50%, shareholder capitalism is not working. In EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE: The Radical Tradition that is Shaping the Next Economy, NATHAN SCHNEIDER reminds us of a hopeful alternative – cooperatives - jointly owned, democratically controlled enterprises that advance the economic, social, and cultural interests of their members. Schneider previously wrote a book on the Occupy movement. You can learn more at nathanschneider.info

As the Democratic candidate debates begin, here's my March 2018 conversation with ARLIE HOCHSCHILD. In her book, STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND, based on five years research in Southern Louisiana, she asks, why residents of the nation's second poorest state vote for candidates who resist federal help? Why, when corporations devastate their lives and their land, do they most hate the government? And I ask, how can we come up with a story that can change their minds? Listen to get a sense of what we're up against in 2020.

I’m always interested in what the US can learn from other countries. So I was immediately attracted to JOSHUA GOLDSTEIN’s new book A BRIGHT FUTURE: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow. When Goldstein (and co-author Staffan Qvist) did the research and the math on what it was going to take to reduce carbon emissions enough to avoid the worst of climate change, they concluded that rapid development of renewables would need a large and fast buildout of nuclear power to replace fossil fuels as backup for wind and solar. You may not agree with them, but I think this conversation is worth a listen.

This 2003 interview traces the evolution of Dr. Weil’s work and thinking from his earliest understandings of health and healing to his ongoing commitment to train a new generation of physicians. Weil’s definition of integrative medicine: rooted in the connection of medicine with nature and the natural healing potential of the organism, it utilizes the magic of the doctor/patient relationship to treat the whole person. Hyla Cass MD joins the conversation.

The idea of the frontier has been central to American identity. Its image of endless promise fostered our belief in the US as exceptional. Today America has a new symbol: the border wall. As GREG GRANDIN sees it, America’s constant expansion helped deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But the 2008 financial crash and unwinnable wars in the Middle East turned Americans inward, leading to the rise of reactionary populism, racist nationalism, extreme anger, polarization - and Trump.

As the confrontation between House investigators and Donald Trump drags on, as he ignores subpoenas of his financial and tax records, what is he hiding? Here’s my June 2017 conversation with Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist DAVID CAY JOHNSTON. He’s been covering Trump off and on for 28 years, and his book THE MAKING OF DONALD TRUMP profiles how Trump has gotten wealthy bilking others, colluding with criminals, evading prosecution, and romancing the press.

The Republican party games the political system with gerrymandering, voter suppression, and election manipulation. In VOTE FOR US, JOSHUA DOUGLAS writes about the many positive initiatives through which Americans are taking back their democracy, one community at a time - expanding voter eligibility, easing voter registration rules, making voting more convenient, giving redistricting back to the voters, improving civics education, and more. This interview offers warnings, good news, and action steps for 2020.

As the Trump White House claims executive privilege gives them the right to hide the full Mueller report - let’s listen to my 2009 interview with Daniel Ellsberg, whose courageous civil disobedience stood up to Richard Nixon, and led to one of the proudest moments for the Supreme Court, when they declared the first amendment gave the press the right to publish the Pentagon Papers. Will we be so lucky with the current court?

How is that humans can be both the nicest and the nastiest of species? Biological anthropologist RICHARD WRANGHAM wrestles with that question in The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution. Though our capacity for coolly planned and devastating violence remains unrivaled, Wrangham offers a strikingly original theory that capital punishment has been instrumental in humans becoming extremely peaceful in our daily interactions. Can this understanding help us to confront the growing hostility in society?