Beyond Politics

We’ve all been focused on the news out of Afghanistan in recent weeks, and the story there needs almost no introduction. Today we wanted to talk about the situation, how we got here, and where we’re going in the future. There is no one better to help us understand all of this that Sean Carberry. Sean is an award-winning writer, editor, and foreign policy and national security expert with more than 20 years of experience in government and journalism.  From 2018 through February 2021, Mr. Carberry served in the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General as managing editor of the Lead Inspector General quarterly reports to Congress on overseas contingency operations, which included public and classified reports on operations in Afghanistan. From June 2012 through December 2014, he was NPR’s Kabul Correspondent. He covered the ongoing war, the 2014 Afghan presidential election, and daily life in the country until NPR closed the Kabul bureau in December 2014.  Photo by Andre Klimke on Unsplash

In recent months, there have been some potentially landmark developments on abortion. It could well be that the middle of 2021 will mark an historic turning point on an issue that has been one of the cultural hot buttons in America for decades. On May 17, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear Jackson Women’s Health Organization v. Dobbs. The case deals with Mississippi’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. This marks the first time that the Court will rule on the constitutionality of a pre-viability abortion ban since Roe v. Wade.  The case also features a novel conservative legal argument that the writers of the 14th Amendment, which is foundational to the Roe decision, would have considered “persons” to include “unborn children” and that fetuses are “persons” from the time of conception. The other development is a new Texas law that creates an end run around the federal courts and Supreme Court rulings, by creating an avenue for individuals to sue people connected with providing abortions in civil court…making what one analyst called a market for abortion vigilantism. That analyst is one of the sharpest-eyed commentators on law and legal history around, and she’s with us today.  Mia Brett has a PhD in history and specializes in American legal history. She’s a freelance writer, educator, and a contributor to The Editorial Board.

The last 10 years have seen a breathtaking pace of technological innovation in every area of our economy and society. These days, anyone on Earth with access to a mobile phone or laptop computer and the connection to the Internet can access almost the entire sum total of human knowledge with the click of a button. American high-tech companies are creating a whole new industries along with millions of jobs and millions of dollars. At the same time, all of this new innovation brings complicated questions about privacy, security, economic balance, and government regulation. One of America’s undisputed leaders in navigating all of these issues is Rob Atkinson. He’s the founder and President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), recognized as the world’s top think tank for science and technology policy.  The New Republic has named Rob of the “three most important thinkers about innovation.” He’s the author of many books, a leader on countless government boards and councils, he’s testified numerous times before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and he appears frequently on news and public affairs programs on BBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, and NBC Nightly News.

The saga of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in some ways looks like what journalists call a man bites dog story: something that happens so often that it almost escapes our attention. It does seem hardly new that awful behavior and sexual harassment by a male politician comes to light and ends a once-lofty career. But there’s a lot going on under the surface in this story, both in this particular case and in the trajectory of how we deal with issues like this among American politicians. Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist who has covered the Cuomo saga in depth. She covers legal affairs, health care and politics for The Editorial Board, and is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a judge for the Sidney Hillman Foundation.  She joins the show to dissect what we can take away from the Cuomo story.

In 2004, the Pew Research Center poll found that Americans opposed same-sex marriage 60% to 31%. But a series of legal rulings, cultural shifts, prominent gay figures in entertainment becoming wildly popular, and growing advocacy changed the entire tenor of the debate. By 2019, Pew polling on that same question of what we now call marriage equality had totally flipped: 61% supported same-sex marriage, while 31% opposed it.  This represented the most rapid and profound change in American attitudes on any social issue since we had any measurements. So how did it happen?  Our guest today is Sasha Issenberg. He’s one of the most insightful and widely-read journalists in America, especially when it comes to dissecting what’s happening behind the curtain in American politics. He’s the author of The Engagement: America’s Quarter Century Struggle Over Same Sex Marriage, a fascinating look behind the scenes of both sides in the marriage equality fight. He’s here to tell us the inside story of what really happened.

Republicans have been flat-out winning the battle for the judiciary -- the “shadow war” in the fight for control of America’s government. We all know about the Supreme Court, but underneath the Supreme Court there are 13 courts of appeals, and below them 94 district courts.  Most of the time, it is those lower courts that have the final word on questions of federal law. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said they are “where policy is made.” Donald Trump substantially shifted the calculus of those courts. By the time he left office, he had appointed about one quarter of the total judges, and at ultra-important appellate level, Trump had shifted Republican-appointed judges from holding 40% of the seats to an outright majority at 54%. Trump also flipped 3 of those 13 courts to Republican-appointed majorities, meaning that 7 of the 13 Courts of Appeals are now controlled by jurists picked by Republicans.  Our guest today, calls this a "conservative fortress" in the federal judiciary. But he’s devised a smart, constitutional method for scaling that fortress…and it’s not court packing or term limits, or probably anything you’ve heard before. Chris Sprigman is the Murray and Kathleen Bring Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law, the author of numerous articles in law reviews and other scholarly publications, and he’s here to tell us all about it.

One night, New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Justice Broderick awoke to find himself in the ICU.  He had been attacked by his son. The story made national news.  But it was only after the cameras left that the real story begins. Since that day, Justice Broderick has been on a journey of discovery and leadership on mental health in America. He’s working to improve understanding and awareness of mental illness in order to get rid of some of the myths, encourage discussion and treatment, and begin to change the unfair and shameful culture that surrounds mental health in America. Today on Beyond Politics, a remarkable story of health, struggle, recovery, and hope, and a look at the reality of one of America's greatest and least understood challenges. 

Michaeleen Crowell was Chief of Staff to US Senator Bernard Sanders for 5 years. She was Senior Advisor to the Bernie 2016 presidential campaign.  She built the social media empire that Senator Sanders uses to reach 25 million people each week. As if this wasn’t enough, she was Legislative Director for civil rights icon John Lewis before that.  Michaeleen joins the show to talk about how Bernie Sanders became a masterful inside player; how to pass bills in today's divided Washington; what Republicans are saying behind the scenes in the Senate; what working for John Lewis was really like; what she learned playing Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Sanders campaign prep debates; and what the future of the progressive movement looks like. 

Democratic data expert David Shor has a stark warning:t if Democrats think they're sitting pretty, they're deluding themselves. "We actually aren't winning the war of ideas as much as we think...and the Republican Party is more popular relative to the Democratic Party than people think.  The Democratic Party brand and agenda has shifted a lot in the last four to five years, and it's gone in a direction that a lot of voters aren't comfortable with.  People can easily overestimate how much support there is for the Democratic Party." Check out the whole show for more from this fascinating interview.  Shor is a data scientist who consults with progressive groups around the country and is one of the most trusted and widely respected voices on what’s actually happening with the American electorate. He's the Head of Data Science at OpenLabs R&D, and previously was the director of Political Data Science at Civis Analytics, overseeing a research and development program that interviewed millions of people for hundreds of individual campaigns and electoral organizations. Photo by Marvin Esteve on Unsplash

In the 1992 presidential race, the Clinton campaign famously came up with what they called a haiku to summarize what they wanted to make everything about. The economy, stupid…change vs. more of the same…and don’t forget health care. 30 years later, that’s also a really good summary of where we find ourselves as a country – and as a region, since we’re broadcast out of New England. Over the last year we’ve seen breathtaking change in our politics and our daily lives. The number one issue on our minds is the economy, and our worries about are far from stupid. And of course, we can’t forget health care…our health is front and center in our lives. Helping to navigate all of these concerns, and connect our businesses, cities, educational institutions and nonprofits with our government…in New England that job falls to the New England Council.  The New England Council is the nation’s oldest regional business organization. But it’s not just business, its an alliance of businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England formed to promote economic growth and a high quality of life in the New England region. The President and Chief Executive Officer of The New England Council, Jim Brett, is with us to talk about the economy, change, health care…and everything else going on in New England and Beyond.