#1716 The Fight for Workers: Oligarchy and its Bipartisan Enablers
Air Date: 6-18-2025
Critics of capitalism like us often advocate for the system to come to an end and be replaced with another that aligns better with human needs and continued existence. Well, it's possible that the system is close to having run its course and will be making way for something different. Unfortunately, the natural course of capitalism is to concentrate wealth and, by extension, power so that's what's happened and we're now getting close to basically reinventing feudalism. So, wrong direction.
Read more#1597 The rise of fascism around the world driven by economic insecurity (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 12-8-2023
Neoliberalism has created a lot of economic suffering and insecurity in addition to weakened social ties over the past few decades. And now, in what may be the most devastating result of the ideology yet, neoliberalism may be leading much of the world toward fascism bolstered by legitimate grievances about economic precarity which are coopted by the false promises of right-wing populism.
Read more#1701 Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way: Installing the Backbone Democrats Need
Air Date: 4-2-2025
Love them or loathe them, the Democratic Party is the political institution available to the left to structurally take on Trumpism but we need a whole lot of new energy and new commitments to the fight to turn them into an opposition worthy of the moment we face.
Read more#1700 Dehumanizing Trans People is Always the First Step for Fascists
Air Date: 3-29-2025
You might not be trans yourself but that's just like how coal miners aren't canaries because when they saw that the canaries were under threat, they knew the danger was all around them. Fascists always start with those who are the easiest to dehumanize, but they never stop there.
Read more#1698 Resistance is Not Futile: Support the collective revolt against Trumpism (Special Podcasthon!)
Air Date: 3-18-2025
SUPPORT INDIVISIBLE WITH A DONATION AND SIGN UP WITH YOUR LOCAL CHAPTER!
In this special Podcasthon episode, we're joining thousands of podcasts around the world in taking the opportunity this week to support a cause or organization that we believe in. In this time of fighting fascism, Best of the Left has chosen to support Indivisible, the grassroots organizing team that's working to resist Trumpism and pressure Democrats to do the same. Follow the link in the description of this episode to make a donation but also take a moment to find and join your local Indivisible chapter to stay engaged.
Read more#1695 Trump's Corruption As A Matter Of Course and a Strategy to Hold Power
Air Date: 3-7-2025
Corruption, for those who indulge, isn't just a perk of power, it can also be a method of maintaining it. Trump is not bothering to hide the corruption he's working to facilitate or how it's geared toward supporting his desire for unchecked power.
Read more#1691 Democracy Emergency, Constitutional Crisis, Democratic Backsliding, Failing Guardrails
Air Date: 2-18-2025
Democracies slide into dictatorship in two ways, first slowly and then all of a sudden. We have been sliding in this direction for at least as long as I have been paying attention to politics and we're finally at the moment where that slow slide shifts into full speed.
Read more#1668 We Are Going Back: Team post-election analysis
Air Date: 11-8-2024
The Best of the Left team holds a special post-election discussion available to all listeners to present the initial takes on the election as well as our own reactions and suggestions for how to move forward.
Read more#1648 Power Grabs, Elections Optional: The threat of minority rule through election denialism
Air Date: 8-13-2024
Spirits among Kamala Harris supporters, Democrats, and anyone opposing Trumpism are at an all-time high right now. That's both fortuitous and crucial to the upcoming election. By the very nature of Trumpism, this election will be the most flagrantly contested in history with far more Trump loyalists in place ready to throw wrenches in the works wherever they can. Nothing short of an overwhelming victory for the Harris/Waltz ticket is necessary to stave off a constitutional crisis.
Read more#1642 A Tumultuous Year of Democracy: Left-Wing victories in the UK, France and Mexico with lessons for the US
Air Date: 7-17-2024
Recent elections in the UK, France and Mexico spanned the spectrum from confirming inevitabilities to completely upending expectations but they each have lessons for politics in the US
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