Free Forum with Terrence McNally

Under John Roberts, Supreme Court decisions are consistently pro-business, recently based on corporate rights of free speech and freedom of religion. How did we get here? Will it only get worse with the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh? Listen to my conversation with ADAM WINKLER, constitutional law professor at UCLA and author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America and his latest, We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights.

With the retirement of Justice Kennedy and the looming fight to hold back the confirmation of a replacement until after the mid-terms - which would increase voter turnout on both sides - let’s listen to my 2013 conversation with MARCIA COYLE re her book THE ROBERTS COURT: The Struggle for the Constitution. Coyle confirms my belief that the most crucial issue in considering the last few GOP-nominated justices is not abortion or gun control - but the rights and powers of corporations vs those of human beings.

As alarming as the news may be, we must not only oppose and alter the bad news, but we must also envision a possible future for the US that people deserve - as well as a path to get there. That is the mission of historian, political economist, activist, and writer, GAR ALPEROVITZ, co-chair of the Next System Project at the Democracy Collaborative, and someone who’s thinking seriously about what replaces corporate capitalism. You can learn more at garalperovitz.com

Midterm elections take place November 7th – less than 20 weeks from the day we record this interview. Our democracy is under threat and the validity, accuracy, and reliability of our voting and vote-counting is as well. I talk about those threats and what we can do about them with BRAD FRIEDMAN, an independent investigative blogger, journalist, and muckraker who’s broken numerous stories over the past 15 years. You can learn more at BradBlog.com

On a national level and in many states, the GOP know that if politics and elections are played fair and square, they lose. So they turn to gerrymandering, voter suppression, the refusal to act on Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, etc. I talk with DAVID FARIS about the ideas in his new book, IT’S TIME TO FIGHT DIRTY: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics.

Consider this a two-part episode. This week, my 2011 conversation with JACOB HACKER & PAUL PIERSON, authors of WINNER-TAKE-ALL POLITICS: How Washington Made the Rich Richer - and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. Next week, a NEW one w/ NANCY MacLEAN on her book DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS, which reveals the GOP’s strategy of Citizens United, gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc. to retain power no matter how unpopular their destructive policies.

Before the Powell Memo, before the Kochs. In DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, NANCY MacLEAN tells the story of a Nobel prize-winning economist whose ideas fuel the right’s relentless campaign to gerrymander districts, eliminate unions, suppress voting, privatize public education, change the Constitution, and curb democratic majority rule. According to MacLean, James McGill Buchanan created the blueprint that ultimately makes Koch money so effective.

If the service is free, you’re the product. How Facebook, Google and the rest use our data against us. My May 2nd 2018 conversation with JONATHAN TAPLIN, Director Emeritus of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, former tour manager for Bob Dylan and The Band, producer of films including Scorsese’s MEAN STREETS. His book, MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGs: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy comes out in paperback in June. (jontaplin.com)

This weekend as we celebrate Mothers Day, you’ll hear my 2013 conversation with HAZEL HENDERSON – who in the 70’s, as a mom who’d never been to college, got upset about pollution threatening her young child, became a local activist, and developed into a global expert on economics and sustainability. She’s creator of the television show and website Ethical Markets, and author of 10 books, including Building a Win-Win World.http://hazelhenderson.com/

Mark Hertsgaard and Mark Dowie wrote a cover story at the Nation magazine: How Big Wireless Made Us Think That Cell Phones Are Safe. This is a big deal. 95 out of 100 American adults owns a cellphone. Big Wireless copied the playbook of Big Tobacco & Big Oil to hide the facts about their products - an example of the unethical abuse of science and the truth by power and wealth that is all too common and sadly pre-dates Trump.http://markhertsgaard.com