Explain It to Me

Vox Senior Correspondent Zack Beauchamp talks with political scientist Lee Drutman, author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop. They discuss the history of the two-party system in American politics, and examine a number of possible structural reforms that could work to get the U.S. out of the morass it's in, looking to several other countries' democracies for inspiration.Host: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), Senior Correspondent, VoxGuest: Lee Drutman (@leedrutman), senior fellow, New AmericaReferences:  "How does this end?" by Zack Beauchamp (Vox; Jan. 3) Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America (Oxford; 2020) "Democracy in America? Partisanship, Polarization, and the Robustness of Support for Democracy in the United States" by Matthew H. Graham and Milan W. Svolik (American Political Science Review, 114 (2); May 2020) "One way to reform the House of Representatives? Expand it" by Lee Drutman and Yuval Levin (Washington Post; Dec. 9, 2021)  Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcastsThis episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas are joined by Vox’s Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) to talk about the midterm elections. More specifically, why the president’s party almost always loses seats in Congress. They discuss the theories of this phenomenon and what, if anything, can work on the margins. Plus, a white paper about Obamacare and the 2010 midterm elections.References:Why the president’s party almost always has a bad midtermThe political science of door-knocking and TV adsWhite paper: “One Vote Out of Step? The Effects of Salient Roll Call Votes in the 2010 Election”Dylan’s old, wrong article arguing that congressional position-taking doesn’t matter muchHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producerDara Lind, engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews talks with Victor Cha (@VictorDCha) about the international politics surrounding the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The US and several other countries are boycotting the games to protest China’s human rights record, which brings up the question: What does this boycott mean for US-China relations?References:Beyond the Final Score by Victor Cha Cha on the politicization of the 2022 GamesVox’s Jen Kirby on the Biden administration’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 OlympicsVox’s Bryan Walsh on the failure of the Games to promote international peaceOlympic sponsors are facing pressure over China’s human rights violationsHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews, Dara Lind, and Jerusalem Demsas talk about affirmative action. They dig into the current Supreme Court case about Harvard’s admission rates and ask: How do we make sure our elite institutions adequately reflect the population? Plus, a white paper about the effects of education on mortality.References: Vox senior correspondent Ian Millhiser’s explainer about the SCOTUS cases Peter Arcidiacono, Josh Kinsler, and Tyler Ransom's empirical papers on Harvard admissions Jay Caspian Kang on the Harvard case Ending affirmative action in California pushed Black and Latinx students into worse schools and jobs Randall Kennedy’s case for affirmative action Sheryll Cashin’s case for “place-based affirmative action” An argument that class-based affirmative action produces more racial diversity than regular affirmative action Nicholas Lemann on affirmative action for the New Yorker How the Texas “10 percent” rule changed high school enrollment White paper: "The Effects of Education on Mortality: Evidence Using College Expansions" “A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost,’” the Wall Street Journal Opinion | “Affirmative Action Was Never a Perfect Solution,” the New York Times  “Estimating Benefits from University-Level Diversity”  Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxDara Lind (@dlind), Weeds cohost, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews talks with Mark Galeotti (@MarkGaleotti), director of Mayak Intelligence, about what’s going on in Ukraine. They discuss in depth the historical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Russia’s NATO problem, and the calculations and motivations behind President Vladimir Putin’s moves.References:Today, Explained’s episode about Ukraine's pipeline problem Vox’s Jen Kirby wrote an explainer about Russia-Ukraine tensionsAdam Tooze on Russia as a petro-stateAn excellent 2019 episode from NPR’s Throughline about the rise of PutinThe Weaponisation of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War, by Mark Galeotti Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews, Dara Lind, and Vox policy editor Libby Nelson discuss the findings of two recent studies on early childhood development. One study found that cash transfers increase brain activity in infants, while the other found a negative impact of universal pre-K on academic outcomes. So ... what’s actually going on here? Does one negate the other? The Weeds team talks it out. Plus, a white paper on the effects of parenthood on voter turnout.References:Dylan’s story on the cash-transfer study and his piece on the universal pre-K findingsThe impact of a poverty reduction intervention on infant brain activity. PNASThe New York Times’s Jason DeParle’s take on the cash-transfer studyScott Alexander summarizes the skeptical takes on the cash transfer studyNoah Smith’s review of the research on pre-K, and Kelsey Piper’sEffects of a Statewide Pre-Kindergarten Program on Children’s Achievement and Behavior Through Sixth GradeWhite Paper: Parents, Infants and Voter Turnout: Evidence from the United StatesHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxDara Lind (@dlind), immigration reporter, ProPublicaLibby Nelson (@libbyanelson), policy editor, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dara Lind talks with professor Gabriel Winant of the University of Chicago about the new Bureau of Labor Statistics report that showed a topline decline in union membership despite increasing labor-oriented momentum. And later, journalist Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) joins to talk about the importance of teachers’ unions in the labor movement and in Democratic politics. References:The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America, Gabriel Winant Rachel Cohen’s recent article about school closures and Democrats The recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report on union membership numbersHosts:Dara Lind (@dlind), immigration reporter, ProPublicaCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas talk with Emily Rong Zhang, a PhD candidate in political science at Stanford and a former Skadden Fellow at the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, about the recent attempts in Congress to pass voting rights legislation. And, a white paper about voter ID laws, written by Emily herself!References:Recapping Congress’s failed voting rights pushWhy some Dem strategists were skeptical of the effortThe case for fixing the Electoral Count ActWhat happens after the voting rights fightsWhite Paper: “What the Debate over Voter ID Laws' Effects Teaches about Asking the Right Questions”Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jerusalem Demsas and Dylan Matthews talk with Joey Politano (@JosephPolitano), economics blogger and self-described "mid-tier take-haver," to go over one big question on people’s minds right now: are corporations profiting off of inflation? References:Joey’s blog post about rising corporate prices and inflationSen. Elizabeth Warren on rising corporate profit marginsPaul Krugman’s newsletter from this weekBinyamin Appelbaum on the meatpacking industryThe White House’s statement on meat companies taking advantage of market power The letter from President Joe Biden to FTC chair Lina Khan“Could strategic price controls help fight inflation?” in the GuardianRethinking Inflation Policy: A toolkit for economic recovery by JW Mason and Lauren MelodiaHosts:Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxDylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Weeds co-hosts Jerusalem Demsas and Dara Lind talk with Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob), staff writer at the Atlantic, about the climate provisions in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill. They discuss specific climate-focused policy proposals and the political stalemate Congress is in, thanks to the filibuster in the Senate. Plus, a white paper about building codes and wildfires in California.References: Robinson Meyer on the climate gamble going on in CongressWeeds alum Matt Yglesias on the Build Back Better BillVox’s Rebecca Leber on why Joe Manchin may have doomed climate policyA 2016 piece from Vox’s Dylan Matthews about money in politics“Progressive leader calls on Biden to unilaterally act on agenda,” The Hill“Manchin's $1.8 trillion spending offer appears no longer to be on the table,” The Washington Post “Noisy and Unsafe: Stop Fetishizing Old Homes,” The AtlanticHosts:Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxDara Lind (@dlind) immigration reporter and Weeds host, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices