Free Forum with Terrence McNally

The Republican party games the political system with gerrymandering, voter suppression, and election manipulation. In VOTE FOR US, JOSHUA DOUGLAS writes about the many positive initiatives through which Americans are taking back their democracy, one community at a time - expanding voter eligibility, easing voter registration rules, making voting more convenient, giving redistricting back to the voters, improving civics education, and more. This interview offers warnings, good news, and action steps for 2020.

As the Trump White House claims executive privilege gives them the right to hide the full Mueller report - let’s listen to my 2009 interview with Daniel Ellsberg, whose courageous civil disobedience stood up to Richard Nixon, and led to one of the proudest moments for the Supreme Court, when they declared the first amendment gave the press the right to publish the Pentagon Papers. Will we be so lucky with the current court?

How is that humans can be both the nicest and the nastiest of species? Biological anthropologist RICHARD WRANGHAM wrestles with that question in The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution. Though our capacity for coolly planned and devastating violence remains unrivaled, Wrangham offers a strikingly original theory that capital punishment has been instrumental in humans becoming extremely peaceful in our daily interactions. Can this understanding help us to confront the growing hostility in society?

Thirty years ago, BILL McKIBBEN’s THE END of NATURE was the first popular book about climate change. Since then the effects have exceeded our expectations, while our response has lagged what’s needed. Bill has done his part - with books, articles, and as co-founder of the climate movement 350.org, which has held 20,000 rallies in 182 countries and spearheaded the fight against the XL pipeline and the movement to divest from fossil fuel companies. We talk about the latest findings, warnings, and global activism in his new book FALTER: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? www.billmckibben.com

(1) Ohio Congressman TIM RYAN entered the race last week for the Dems’ 2020 nomination. Here’s our 2012 interview on his book, A MINDFUL NATION: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit. (2) In 2009’s RAPT: Attention and the Focused Life, WINIFRED GALLAGHER argues that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and how you choose to do it. Worth paying attention to.

I have complete freedom booking guests, driven by the pursuit of what I term “a world that just might work.” Still, I know that recognizable names mean more clicks, listens, downloads, and shares. This week I defy that knowledge. Over the last 35 years, GEORGE SCIALABBA has written nearly 400 essays and book reviews for everyone from The American Conservative to The Nation. Praised by his peers, including Barbara Ehrenrich, Noam Chomsky, and Thomas Frank, we’ll examine some of the big challenges we face as a society. You can learn more at georgescialabba.net

As the college admissions scandal emphasizes once again the gulf between the wealthy and the rest of us, and the deficit skyrockets due to Trump’s GOP tax cuts for the rich and corporations, here’s my January 2010 conversation with Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett about their groundbreaking book, The Spirit Level. Based on 30 years of research, it makes clear that the more unequal a society is, the worse it is for everybody – rich and poor alike.

Here’s a radical idea: Have we become too focused on climate change? In CLIMATE - A New Story, CHARLES EISENSTEIN calls for a reimagining of the framing, tactics, and goals we employ to reverse climate change and heal ecological destruction. If we begin from an understanding that rivers, forests, and creatures are sacred and valuable in their own right, not simply for carbon credits, he believes we can engage meaningful emotional and psychological connections that are bigger and deeper than any policy solution or practice might ever be - and in the process emerge better able to deal with climate and the natural world.

Too often today facts and reality are less important than which narrative you embrace or which stories you believe. My December 2012 conversation with JONAH SACHS, Co-Founder of Free Range - the folks behind The Story of Stuff - and author of UNSAFE THINKING and WINNING THE STORY WARS, offers you a better understanding of how this works and how to use it to your advantage.

In WHY RELIGION? A Personal Story, ELAINE PAGELS weaves what she's learned about religion with her own experience responding to dual tragedies that took place 25 years ago – the death of her young son, followed a year later by the death of her husband. She asks, Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? How do traditions still shape the way people - whether religious or not - experience everything from sexuality to politics? Finally, can religion help us get through the most difficult challenges we face?