Ep. 94: How American Democracy is Dying, a Continuing Conversation

May 4, 2020

In September, on NF Episode #73 we discussed the book “How Democracies Die” by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky as part of our Nerd Farm Reads Book Club (#nerdfarmreads). This week in light of events in the news from Wisconsin and elsewhere, we decided to revisit the text and examine the further degradation of US democracy since we discussed the book.

 

Cast of Characters

  • Andrew Hammond: Tacoma News Tribune
  • Ingrid Walker: Professor University of Washington Tacoma (the Bad Academic)
  • Halley Knigge: Mistress of Books, Runner, and Rad Human

 

The Rundown

4:00: The ways our guests are watching democracy die

8:00: Why voting (and non-voting) and politics in a pandemic (and always) are so frustrating

25:00: Pre-Trump moments that led us to where we are today

35:00: The role of political violence in the decline of US democracy

45:00: Can informed-consumerism really replace democracy (spoiler: no)? Are we really voting with our dollars? What are actual impactful political acts?

50:00: The media obsession with “neutrality” will be the death of us all

57:00: Closing thoughts

 

The Wind Down

Guests have homework!! “How to Fix A Drug Scandal”

 

The Socials

Andrew Hammond: @ahammTNT

Ingrid Walker: @badacademic

Halley Knigge: @halleyrebecca

 

Coming Up

Next Nerd Farm Reads: Know My Name by Chanel Miller

 

Going Further

Stolen Justice by Lawrence Goldstone

The Red and the Blue by Steve Kornacki

“How to Fix A Drug Scandal”

 

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines and TAPCO Credit Union
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

Comments are closed.