How Do We Fix It?

American democracy is in crisis and politics have become weaponized with name calling and personal attacks. Trust in national institutions and the media is at an all-time low. Congress and The Supreme Court are much more likely than in the past to cast predictable party-line votes. As a nation we are failing to make creative solutions, based on compromise.This episode is the first of three to report on local efforts that push back against the toxic impact of tribalization and political polarization. "This is not just a shake our fists at what Donald Trump has brought to our national discourse," Kathie Obradovich, Opinion editor at The Des Moines Register, tells us. "It goes deeper to our ability to speak to and understand each other.""People who used to put party politics aside and work for common interests are just fewer and fewer. The number of prominent moderates in Iowa politics I can count on one hand."In this episode, we report on the work of Revive Civility Iowa, a project of the National Institute of Civil Discourse, to bring a series of tools that help people overcome the degradation of our public dialogue. A two-hour workshop in Des Moines was organized by The Ray Center at Drake University, which works to improve civility and promote ethical leadership. More than two-thirds of Americans feel our incivility is a crisis. "How Do We Fix It?" looks at how neighbors, family members and local communities are responding in positive ways.This episode is partially funded by "Renewing Democracy", an initiative of Solutions Journalism Network.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Never before in living memory has America been so deeply divided, and this paralysis threatens to weaken and corrode democracy. Ideological silos have become much more common among both conservatives and liberals.One opinion poll says 7 in 10 Americans believe that our politics have reached a dangerous low point. And most say the climate is a new normal— not temporary.This is the first of four “How Do We Fix It?” episodes leading up to the Midterm Elections that discuss local and national attempts to push back against political dysfunction and the lack of rational, respectful debate. Forthcoming episodes will report on new initiatives in Iowa, Minnesota and North Carolina.Carolyn Lukensmeyer, is a leader in the field of deliberative democracy and social entrepreneurship she is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse.“Voters are frustrated, worried, and angry with their leaders and ashamed of how our political process works these days. Heated rhetoric and a dramatic shift away from bipartisan collaboration pervade national politics, leaving us unable to solve the major challenges confronting our nation,” the group says. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time of fractured politics and failed leadership, what lessons can be learned from Ronald Reagan-- one of the most significant presidents in our history?Considered a dangerous outsider by critics when he was elected in 1980, he appeared to be enthralled with happy endings and disinterested in many of the finer details of economic and social policy. And yet America's fortieth president presided over an economic boom and successful peace talks with the Soviet Union that helped lead to the end of the Cold War.Our guest, best-selling biographer Bob Spitz, is the author of "Reagan: An American Journey", a richly detailed, riveting, and carefully balanced account of a remarkable life. The book looks clearly at Reagan's policy failures on AIDS, Iran-Contra and Star Wars missile defense, as well as his achievements and great skill as a communicator. "Reagan came to power at a very important time in our history," Bob tells us. "We had come through the Vietnam War, Watergate, a succession of failed presidencies-- and the country needed someone to pick up its morale. Ronald Reagan was the right man at the right time."Unlike Donald Trump, another outsider with the aim of shaking things up and overturning establishment views of government, "Ronald Reagan didn't have a hostile bone in his body," says Bob. "Reagan was not a narcissist in any shape or form. He thought about the good of the American people above everything. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recent poll finds that two-thirds of Americans often or occasionally get news from social media. But many consumers are highly skeptical of the information they see on Facebook and other sites, expecting it to be "largely inaccurate."Now a new company, Newsguard, uses journalism to fight the epidemic of false stories, misinformation and outright propaganda, helping readers to navigate through online news sites. Newsguard's web browser extension rates websites that appear in searches on their reliability. The easy-to-use plug-in includes a red-green symbol that shows if a site is trying to get it right or instead has a hidden agenda. "We apply common sense to a problem that algorithms haven't been able to resolve," says Newguard's co-CEO, Steven Brill. During an extraordinary career as a journalist, author and business executive, Steven was founder of Court TV, The American Lawyer Magazine, Brill's Content Magazine, and The Yale Journalism Initiative. Now, his latest passion is fighting fake news.Newsguard provides "nutrition label" write-ups for news and information websites in the U.S. and plans to expand globally. Employing scores of journalists and analysts, the growing venture also identifies suddenly trending fake news sites and warns internet users about them in real time.More information here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are identity politics ruining democracy? National and global institutions are in a state of decay, and identity fuels much of today's debates in America and across the world. On the right, Donald Trump seized on the grievances and resentment of white working class voters and others who felt let down by the impact of globalism and technology. On the left, social and political movements based on gender, sexual identity, race and ethnicity play an increasingly large role. "The problem with our politics is that we have shifted from arguing about economic policies to arguing about identities," says our guest, political scientist, Francis Fukuyama. In his new book, "Identity: The Demand for Dignity and The Politics of Resentment," he warns that unless we forge a universal understanding of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continual conflict. In the United States, “it’s better if both parties actually stick to broad social policy issues that they can argue about, rather than lining themselves up according to biological characteristics,” he tells us in this episode.We examine Fukuyama's provocative analysis of populism, nativism, white nationalism, radical Islam, and authoritarian tendencies that threaten to destabilize democracy and international affairs.Francis Fukuyama is a political scientist at Stanford University. His best-known book is "The End of History and the Last Man", published after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent decades, business strategy has been built on the idea that we must compete to win.But what if the competitive model of business is now broken? In today’s interconnected, digital world, strategies to create competitive advantage may be holding us back— with a negative impact on the workplace and the economy.In his new book “Collaborative Advantage: How Collaboration Beats Competition as a Strategy for Success". British marketing and business consultant Paul Skinner presents Collaborative Advantage as a radical alternative to the conventional goal of Competitive Advantage. Skinner says: "We can be more ambitious in the way we grow our businesses, increase the impact of our non-profits and find better solutions to our most pressing problems when we view our opportunities through the lens of cooperation rather than competition."This episode explores:How Competitive Advantage can overshadow human purpose and the capacity for cooperation in businesses and other organizations.How leaders can put cooperation-enabling ideas at the heart of their businesses and deepen relationships with customers, clients and employees.How the dogma of Competitive Advantage may explain why solutions offered by previous guests “How Do We Fix It?” are not yet mainstreamPaul Skinner  is the founder of the U.K.-based Agency of the Future, and founder of Pimp My Cause, which uses cause-related marketing to boost the capabilities of teams and individuals. Paul is a regular listener to “How Do We Fix It?” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the recent funeral for Republican Senator John McCain, former Presidents and leaders of both parties paid tribute to his belief that America "is a nation of ideals, not blood and soil." In the farewell statement to the country he loved, Senator McCain described our democracy as “325 million opinionated, vociferous individuals.” The funeral was a rare, and perhaps passing moment of bipartisan unity and friendship at a time of bitter partisan division. In this episode, we look at some of the roots of political tribalism, why some young people are turning against free speech, and the need to "play our way to a better democracy." Our guest is social psychologist, Professor Jonathan Haidt, co-author of the highly-praised book, "The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation For Failure." We discuss the ideas and research in his book: Why so many college students are anxious and depressed and how recent problems on campus have their origins in three damaging, destructive ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education:What doesn't kill you makes you weaker.Always trust your feelings.Life is a battle between good and bad people.We also examine constructive ways to deal with microaggressions, helicopter parenting, "safetyism" and the growing intolerance for opposing points of view that threaten the future of our national political discourse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tyson talks about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets, tackles science deniers on the right and left, and explains why we should invest more in pure science. Tyson also discusses his book, "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.”"What's curious to me is you have the liberal community claiming the (moral) high road ...against the science deniers of the right with regard to global warming and evolution in the classrooms... as though they are somehow untainted by non-scientific thinking,” Tyson tells us. "There is a whole portfolio of science denying that also happens in the liberal left."Investments in pure science led to many remarkable breakthroughs in medicine, technology and physics - often decades after the research began. Following the discovery of quantum physics in the 1920's, "it would take forty to fifty years before we would see the rise of information technology," says Tyson. "There is no information technology without an understanding of quantum physics."Tyson also discusses his sense of awe and wonder about the secrets of the cosmos.““You can’t be a scientist and have discomfort with not knowing,” he tells us. “When there is a frontier that’s unexplored, where there are stupefying depths of ignorance, it excites you. It gets you out of bed in the morning and running to the lab.””— Neil deGrasse Tyson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, America’s most prominent spokesman for science and Director of New York City’s Hayden Planetarium, talks about the benefits of a cosmic perspective, the case for manned space flight and much more in this first part of our wide-ranging conversation. We also discussed Tyson's book, "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry."Richard and Jim met Tyson at his offices at The American Museum of Natural History. While insisting he is not an advocate for manned space flight, Tyson says "history tells us" space exploration "is one of the most potent forces to operate on the scientific ambitions of a citizenry." At the height of the Apollo program in the 1960's, "you didn't need special programs to get people interested in science," Tyson explains. "There were weekly headlines about our journeys into space and you knew you needed the best of the best to breech the frontier of space." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The national suicide rate rose 28% from 1999 to 2016, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2016, alone, 45,000 people took their own lives.This year's suicides of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer, Kate Spade, focused new attention on the crisis.Why is the U.S. suicide rate as high as it was one hundred years ago? What are proven ways to save lives and reduce depression and chronic anxiety?Our guest is Dr. Richard Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry and Director of the psychopharmacology Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York. "We should declare war on suicide," he tells us. "The federal government spends more money researching dietary supplements and headache remedies than it does suicide."More here from Dr. Friedman's recent New York Times article. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.