The Context
Alex Lovit, Charles F. Kettering Foundation
"The Context" is a podcast about democracy—its past, present and future—brought to you by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.
History ripples and changes. From decisions at the dinner table to declarations from the Rose Garden; moments build upon one another informing our past, illuminating our present, inventing our future. History makes meaning, especially when it comes to the state of our democracy, and context is everything.
The Context is a new podcast about the history, trends, and ideas shaping democracy in the United States and around the world. In each episode, host Alex Lovit will interview someone who has seen it all—scholars, politicians, journalists and public servants—to get their take on how we got to where we are and what they’ve seen through their experience not only watching the news unfold but sometimes even being the news itself. Reckoning with racism, a crisis of democracy, the right role of government in our daily lives—every question has its reason; every answer has its context.
Tune in every other week wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to The Context to get the latest episodes.
The Charles F. Kettering Foundation works to inspire and connect individuals and organizations to advance thriving and inclusive democracies around the globe. We believe all people belong and have the right to engage in and shape a democracy that serves them.
History ripples and changes. From decisions at the dinner table to declarations from the Rose Garden; moments build upon one another informing our past, illuminating our present, inventing our future. History makes meaning, especially when it comes to the state of our democracy, and context is everything.
The Context is a new podcast about the history, trends, and ideas shaping democracy in the United States and around the world. In each episode, host Alex Lovit will interview someone who has seen it all—scholars, politicians, journalists and public servants—to get their take on how we got to where we are and what they’ve seen through their experience not only watching the news unfold but sometimes even being the news itself. Reckoning with racism, a crisis of democracy, the right role of government in our daily lives—every question has its reason; every answer has its context.
Tune in every other week wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to The Context to get the latest episodes.
The Charles F. Kettering Foundation works to inspire and connect individuals and organizations to advance thriving and inclusive democracies around the globe. We believe all people belong and have the right to engage in and shape a democracy that serves them.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 26, 2025 • 40min
Why Democracies Unravel Under Leaders Like Trump
In the United States, today’s Republican Party is what political scientists call “personalist.” Power is concentrated with one individual, and other party elites don’t have much ability—or willingness—to oppose that leader. In other countries around the world, when personalist parties have won control of national government, the result has been democratic backsliding and growing authoritarianism. Understanding why this is a problem for the future of democracy can also help us understand what to do about it.
Erica Frantz studies authoritarian politics, with a focus on democratization, democratic backsliding, conflict, and development. She is an associate professor of political science at Michigan State University and a research fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.
Aug 12, 2025 • 37min
Authoritarianism Isn’t Coming. It’s Here.
Steven Levitsky, a leading expert on authoritarian regimes, joins host Alex Lovit to talk about the US’s current slide into authoritarianism and what we can do about it.
Democracies tolerate dissent. In a democracy, citizens and institutions can criticize, protest, or file legal claims against the government, without fear of reprisal. That is no longer true of the US today, which means that the US is no longer a full democracy.
Steven Levitsky is the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and professor of government and director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. Along with many acclaimed academic works, he is the coauthor (with Daniel Ziblatt) of two bestselling books about threats to democracy: 2018’s How Democracies Die and 2023’s Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point. He is also a senior fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.
Jul 29, 2025 • 34min
From Barber to Banker: The Man Fighting for Financial Justice in Little Rock
We can’t have a full democracy without financial justice. Host Alex Lovit speaks with Arlo Washington, a banker creating access to loans, credit, and financial literacy training for his underbanked community in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Arlo Washington is a barber, entrepreneur, and the founder and president of People Trust Community Federal Credit Union, a Community Development Financial Institution in Little Rock, Arkansas. People Trust is the first Black-owned financial institution established in Arkansas.
Washington is also the subject of the 2024 Oscar-nominated short documentary, The Barber of Little Rock.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/barber-of-little-rock-arlo-washington-wealth-gap
https://www.peopletrustloans.org/
Jul 15, 2025 • 31min
Only Bad People Have Bad Politics. Right?
Americans are constantly arguing about politics—on the internet and at the family dinner table. But we rarely change one another’s minds, and we often emerge from those disagreements feeling frustrated and distrustful. Host Alex Lovit is joined by research psychologist Keith Payne to discuss the science behind the political divide and how the psychology of political disagreements can help us have more productive political conversations.
Keith Payne is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die and Good Reasonable People: The Psychology Behind America's Dangerous Divide.
Jul 1, 2025 • 39min
The US Doesn’t Have Fair Elections. What Can We Do?
Voting rights are the foundation of democratic governance. But recent changes in elections policies have disenfranchised millions of Americans, and the voting gap between White and minority voters is continuing to expand.
Host Alex Lovit is joined by Sean Morales-Doyle. Morales-Doyle is the director of the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote
Jun 17, 2025 • 31min
Learning US History Is about Hope, Not Shame
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed joins host Alex Lovit to discuss Juneteenth’s history and the transformative potential of reckoning with our country’s complex past.
Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard, where she teaches both history and law. She’s the author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family and On Juneteenth.
Jun 3, 2025 • 37min
Trans Kids Are Under Attack. That Hurts Everyone.
Who should make decisions about what kinds of health care American minors can receive: their parents and doctors, or their state governments? A growing number of states are claiming the right to ban gender-affirming health care for minors—but only if the person being treated is transgender. This month, the Supreme Court will decide if those power grabs are constitutional.
Host Alex Lovit is joined by Chase Strangio, one of the lawyers who argued the case in question, United States v. Skrmetti, before the Supreme Court. Their conversation explores the legal reasoning of that case and how American citizens can influence the court and build a society that embraces LGBTQ+ people.
Chase Strangio is the codirector of the LGBT & HIV Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. He was one of the advocates who argued the Skrmetti case before the Supreme Court and is the first openly trans lawyer to appear before that court.
May 27, 2025 • 36min
Sarah Longwell: To Defend Democracy, Stop Talking about “Democracy”
Pro-democracy progressives are their own worst enemy when it comes to recruiting conservative Americans to their cause.
In part two of our conversation, political strategist Sarah Longwell offers suggestions for how to connect with anti-Trump conservatives. Her ideas draw on what she hears from voters in her frequent focus groups, as well as on her experience as a gay conservative fighting for inclusion in American society and politics in the 2010s.
Longwell is the publisher of The Bulwark and the cofounder and executive director of the advocacy organization Defending Democracy Together. She hosts The Focus Group podcast and is a senior fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.
https://www.thebulwark.com/
https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/
May 20, 2025 • 35min
Sarah Longwell: The Republican Party Has Abandoned Its Principles
How did one of our major political parties abandon its principles? And what do voters make of that shift?
Host Alex Lovit is joined by Sarah Longwell—a political strategist who broke from the Republican party when it acquiesced to Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. She went on to cofound a media outlet (The Bulwark) and an advocacy organization (Defending Democracy Together) to advance pro-conservative causes. She’s also the host of The Focus Group podcast and a senior fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.
This episode is part one of a two-part conversation. Come back next week for part two.
https://www.thebulwark.com/
https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/
May 6, 2025 • 36min
Diane Ravitch: What’s Democratic about Giving Tax Dollars to Private Schools?
Public schools are essential for democracy—and they’re under attack. But the very policies that are being championed as their salvation may have a catastrophic impact on American education for generations. Public education advocate and historian Diane Ravitch unpacks how school choice policies like vouchers and charter schools are dangerous for democracy.
Diane Ravitch is a former assistant secretary in the United States Department of Education. She is the author of several books on the history and policy of American public schools. Her memoir, about her life as a leading public education reformer, will be published this fall. It’s called An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Almost Everything.
https://dianeravitch.net/
