#1211 Corporate Monopoly and Political Power

Air Date: 9–18-2018

Today we take a look at the current state of the centuries-old fight against the monopolization of economic and political power and how these forces threaten the very concept of democracy.

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SHOW NOTES

Ch. 1: America was Birthed in Opposition to Corporate Monopoly - @Thom_Hartmann - Air Date 01-03-18

Why are libertarians trying to change the proud tradition of Americans fighting against corporate monopolies!?

Ch. 2: How platform monopolies are threatening democracy Part 1 - Ideas from CBC - Air Date 12-14-17

Dr. Taylor Owen delivers a lecture in which he argues the reality of the internet is now largely one of control, by four platform companies — Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple and their impact on democracy is deeply troubling.

Ch. 3: Media Monopoly… or Democracy? - Jim @HightowerNews - Air Date 8-16-18

Monopolies are not merely un-American, they’re virulently anti-American, suppressing our fundamental values of fairness and opportunity for all.

Ch. 4: How platform monopolies are threatening democracy Part 2 - Ideas from CBC - Air Date 12-14-17

Ch. 5: Stacy Mitchell and Joe Maxwell on how monopoly capitalism turns into monopoly power - @theLFshow w: @GRITlaura Flanders - Air Date 4-4-18

Stacy Mitchell and Joe Maxwell join us at the Progressive Caucus Strategy Summit in Baltimore. Monopoly capitalism, they say, translates to monopolized power.

Ch. 6: Undoing the damage of digital monopolies - @RalphNader Radio Hour - Air Date 9-16-17

Franklin Foer, author of World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech, on how the Big Four, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon are attempting to dominate every aspect of our lives and minds.

Ch. 7: Corey Pein on Silicon Valley tech culture and their anti-democratic tendencies - @ThisIsHellRadio - Air Date 4-21-18

Writer Corey Pein explores the world left behind by Silicon Valley tech culture. Corey is author of “Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley” from Metropolitan Books.

Ch. 8: Confronting the question of the functioning of democracy in the face of tech monopolies - Weekly Economics - Air Date 6-23-18

There are troubling signs that the new data-driven economy is inheriting all the same problems as the old one: power imbalances, monopolies and a lack of accountability.

Ch. 9: THE MIDTERMS MINUTE- Florida’s Battleground Races! - Best of the Left Activism

Take action! Click the title and/or scroll down for quick links and resources from this segment.

VOICEMAILS

Ch. 10: Suggestions of conservative podcasts to listen to? - Ruth from Connecticut

Ch. 11: What can I do about Kavanaugh? - Alan from Connecticut

Ch. 12: Better to tell personal stories when debating politics - Lygia from Brazil

Ch. 13: Final comments on reasonable conservative talk shows and anecdotes in politics

THE MIDTERMS MINUTE:

CONFIRM VOTER REGISTRATION: RocktheVote.org/voting-information

VOTER ID INFO/HELP: VoteRiders & 866ourvote.org

Get Involved:

Swing Left (Help flip districts from anywhere)

Red to Blue (DCCC program to flip seats)

When We All Vote (Michelle Obama’s initiative)

Voter Circle (friend-to-friend outreach tool)

Volunteer for Democrats

Abroad? Phone bank for Democrats

Let America Vote (voting rights focus)

Justice Democrats “Justice Dialer”

Brand New Congress GOTV Dialer

National Democratic Redistricting Committee

Easily donate to candidates with DownTicket.com on your mobile browser.

“15 Ways to Help a Campaign Win Their Election” (Political Charge)

FLORIDA'S BATTLEGROUNDS:

Florida Democratic Party

Important Dates: Must be registered by Tuesday, Oct. 9th. Most absentee ballot requests must be made in person 6 days before election day (some counties online). Absentee ballots must be received by 7pm on election day. Early voting begins Oct. 27th-Nov. 3rd. *More details on voting in Florida*

U.S. SENATE

Must Retain Seat: Bill Nelson (D - incumbent)

U.S. HOUSE

FL-15: Kristen Carlson

Swing Left FL-15

FL-16: David Shapiro

Red to Blue FL-16

FL-18: Lauren Baer

Swing Left FL-18 | Red to Blue FL-18

FL-26: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

Swing Left FL-26 | Red to Blue FL-26

FL-27: Donna Shalala FL-27

(No Swing Left or Red to Blue page available for FL-27)

GOVERNOR:

GOV: Andrew Gillum

Researched & Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman, Sources: Ballotpedia; NBC News; Swing Left

MUSIC:

Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr

Contrarian - Sketchbook (Blue Dot Sessions)
Cloud Line - K4 (Blue Dot Sessions)
Turning to You - Landsman Duets (Blue Dot Sessions)
Flower - Pecan Grove (Blue Dot Sessions)
Curio - Vacant Distillery (Blue Dot Sessions)
When in the West - Landsman Duets (Blue Dot Sessions)
These Times - The Pine Barrens (Blue Dot Sessions)

Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent

Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

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Eric Chrisp commented 2018-10-08 14:36:54 -0400
Thanks Amanda,
No worries. You folks do a great job and I know you are understaffed. I am surprised to find out that Tim is lacking those endorsements and that his is not considered a battleground. I know that TYT has interviewed him (because they hate Wasserman-Shultz, among other reasons). It seems to me since he came somewhat close to her in the 2016 primary and now that it is a three-way race that he must stand some kind of chance. Perhaps you all can give him a boost in the next few weeks. Thanks for your response. Stay awesome!
Eric
Amanda Hoffman commented 2018-09-20 17:53:05 -0400
Hi Eric – Amanda, here. I do the research for and write The Midterms Minute segments. Due to time/resources constraints (it’s just Jay! and I over here!), we decided we could make the biggest impact this fall by focusing specifically on battleground races. Apologies if this wasn’t clear in this segment – we emphasized it more in the first two we did. FL-23 is not listed as a battleground or even “competitive” by any of the multiple sources we use, so it did not get called to my attention. That said, it certainly doesn’t mean it’s not an important race, it’s just not considered a battleground. After seeing your comment, I looked into this race. It probably would have been a race we highlighted during our coverage of progressive candidates in primary races the last few months, but, unfortunately, it slipped past me since Canova switched to an Independent in April and didn’t run against Shultz in the Dem primary (for obvious reasons, we didn’t cover primaries where the D was running unopposed). He also didn’t have endorsements from organizations like Justice Democrats or Brand New Congress or Our Revolution, so he just didn’t cross my radar during the research phase. We’re doing the best we can over here, but with hundreds of races to try to sort through and limited time/resources to do it, we are bound to miss things occasionally. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We may be able to highlight this race in a future segment.
Eric Chrisp commented 2018-09-20 13:16:13 -0400
Hey, just listened to your midterms minute about Florida and was surprised to see that you didn’t mention the contentious U.S. House seat race in Florida’s 23rd, between Tim Canova and Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. She’s the “democrat” and he is the true, progressive. There is also a republican in the race but that seems to be of little consequence. Why did you leave out this important race?