Peaceful Political Revolution in America

Welcome to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America PodcastThe Anthropocene will be a doozy from what I'm hearing. Even if new technologies and new systems replace the ones currently falling apart, it will be a bumpy ride. It looks as if severe climate-related events will be occurring much more frequently. Monthly events could turn into weekly events, until eventually, those might even become daily events somewhere in the world.Megatrends appear to be rather obvious at first glance. Autocracies are on the rise. Democracies are being tested. There is a genuine contest of political systems being played out on the global stage, Freedom is being contested. Is it even necessary? So how much better than being at the mercy of a tyrant or a mere autocrat? Maybe not, at least that's how it all appears to be going.Russia remains a shining example of what can go wrong in a constitutional democracy. After all, reforms were once a thing in Russia, political lines were actually shifting for a brief moment in time. But then Putin rose to power, with imperialist ambitions, and a desire for supreme power and wealth. Corruption is not foreign to the former USSR. It runs rampant, and the concentration of wealth in Russia today is as bad if not worse as in the US.Inequality remains a serious problem in the world, regardless of the political system. For the vast majority of human beings, daily life is a struggle, while a small if not tiny fraction of society remains engorged on the fat of excess of wealth and power, mobility, and security.Alexander joined the Department of International Relations at Central European University in 2022. He previously taught at the European University Institute at Florence (2013-2022), the University of Cambridge (2004-2013), and the European University at St Petersburg (1999-2004). His current interests are the political aspects of the Anthropocene, global decarbonization, and security in Eastern Europe. A Fellow of King’s College Cambridge, Etkind was the Leader of Memory at War: Cultural Dynamics in Poland, Russia, and Ukraine, a European research project (2010-13). He is the author of Eros of the Impossible. The History of Psychoanalysis in Russia (Westview Press 1996); Internal Colonization: Russia’s Imperial Experience (Polity Press 2011); Warped Mourning: Stories of the Undead in the Land of the Unburied (Stanford University Press 2013); Roads not Taken. An Intellectual Biography of William C. Bullitt. (Pittsburgh University Press 2017); and Nature’s Evil: A Cultural History of Natural Resources (Polity Press 2021). Alexander coedited Remembering Katyn (Polity 2012), Memory and Theory in Eastern Europe (Palgrave 2013), and Cultural Forms of Protest in Russia (Routledge 2017). His new book, Russia Against Modernity, was released by Polity in April 2023.

Welcome back to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast.In America, "We The People" are the constituent power, "the actor which always remains outside the government" as Seyes defined it. Or, as James Wilson put it, the people are simply "above" their Constitutions of government. The framers were well aware the people were watching. They were very clear the legitimacy of the government came from the consent of the governed. That is what made our framers revolutionaries, and why our Constitution is so remarkable. But, how do the people, if ever necessary,  improve or replace their constitutions of government? It is true the peaceful transfer of power is the hallmark of any democracy, however, even more significant is the peacefultransition from one political system to another. All the framers understood this would be necessary, sooner or later. After all, this was the revolutionary example they were leaving to posterity. It is a lesson we should not take for granted. As Americans, we should all take great pride in and be humbled by this achievement. Without the peaceful exercise of the right to establish, abolish, or simply improve our form of government, there is little left of our democracy.As Sergio Verdugo points out however, many kinds of political actors may have a motivation for co-opting this power and for using it to their own advantage. Nevertheless, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and according to Christian Fritz, the author of American Sovereigns, most Americans in the 18th century believed this power was the people's power, theirs alone to invoke. So, how and why could it be taken from them, even used against them?This question remains one of the most critical questions of our time, as more and more scholars and "political actors" begin to assert that our Constitution is broken, and should be changed if not entirely replaced. How that is done matters. People like Mark Levin and Donald Trump think we should be afraid of our government. “Stand back and stand by,” for now, but what happens tomorrow? They believe the deep state is the enemy, not the Constitution. They project a dystopian vision of our society, as do many liberals on the other fringe, and the control for power is far from over. If Americans think their political system has run amock, why are they not calling for a peaceful transition to a new and improved democracy? After all, this is what the framers did,  and it is how our democracy was intended to work.The question of legitimacy is the first and last question we must answer. Who has the power to alter and replace our basic law, and how does that power organize to express itself so that Americans might agree to establish a new constitution and replace our broken political system with one that works?In his recent op-ed in the NYTimes, Samuel Moyn and Ryan  Doerfler argue that our Constitution should not be reclaimed and that we should also reclaim America from what is referred to as constitutionalism. These ideas and these terms are not all that familiar to most Americans, yet they are the sort of ideas and words that may empower America to become a full and effective democracy.Samuel Moyn is Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. He received a doctorate in modern European history from the University of California-Berkeley in 2000, and a law degree from Harvard University in 2001. He came to Yale from Harvard University, where he was Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law and Professor of History. Before this, he spent thirteen years in the Columbia University history department, where he was most recently James Bryce Professor of European Legal History.

In season one, I spoke with Arend Lijphart about democratic political systems. He had a number of recommendations on how Americans could improve our democracy if they really wanted to do. The question as always remains, how would Americans do that? I also spoke with George Van Cleve on his book, Making a New American Constitution. He had a pretty simple idea. Americans would form a national convention coordinating committee, for the purpose of raising funds for the endeavor, establishing the rules for the election of delegates, and perhaps setting guidelines for the convention itself. Ultimately, it would set a date for seating a convention to deliberate over a new constitution for the United States.As Madison so aptly put it back in 1787, "AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency* of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America.“ Those were weighty words then, but there was a palpable need to reform the political system. So, I thought we should talk a little bit more about Constituent Powers.Sergio Verdugo is an Assistant Professor of Law at the IE Law School, where he teaches Constitutional Law and Human Rights Law. He is also an editor of the International Journal of Constitutional Law and the Secretary General of the International Society of Public Law. Dr. Verdugo holds a doctorate in Law from the New York University School of Law and a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds a Master in Public Law from P. Universidad Católica de Chile, and I am very happy to have him here to talk about his recent papers on Constituent Powers and the uncertain future of Constitutional Democracy.*The original might have been" inefficacy" tho I might be mistaken. 

In the last episode, I talked with Juliano Benvindo about the similarities between the January 6th Capitol Insurrection and the more recent attack on all three branches of government in Brasilia. It turns out that Brazil has the greatest level of inequality in Latin America. Inequality in North America has also reached historic highs. It was bad enough that America had imported over 300,000 slaves from Africa. Brazil imported over 5 million. Inequality remains a serious problem for the 2 most populis Democracies in the Western Hemisphere, and that should alarm us all, especially when America is thought to be the leader of the free world. We might not think inequality is such a dangerous threat to our democracy when it is normalized by public policies, and an economic system based on profit, which is then reinforced by corporate donors and advertisers promoting a pretty lavish and carefree lifestyle. But, is it leading to the collapse of democracies around the world? Do Americans believe in equality anymore? I wanted to talk to someone who might give us a little insight into the history of inequality.  Frances Chiu completed her doctorate in English Literature at Oxford University and currently teaches literature and history at The New School in New York City. She is the author of The Routledge Guidebook to Paine’s Rights of Man (2020) and has written extensively for Occupy.com. She taught the first class in America devoted to Thomas Paine and his contemporaries, and she is currently completing her book on The History of English Inequality.I am happy to say that she is also the first woman to be on the podcast, and I am fully aware that's long overdue!

Events in America like the 2021 United States Capitol Insurrection are not unique to America. Brazil also suffered from a similar crisis on Jan 8, 2023. The attack there, on all three branches of government in Brasilia, was largely the result of the former president's insistence the election had been rigged. His supporters believed him, and although he lost by almost 2 million votes, the crowds turned out to overturn the election, in much the same way Trump supporters did on Jan 6, 2021.I thought we should have a look at what's going on in Brazil and take a deeper dive into Brazil's constitution for a sense of what is driving the rise of populism in Brazil. The United States and Brazil enjoy broad political and economic relations. Brazil is the second most populus democracy in the Western Hemisphere, and the world’s twelfth-largest economy. The United States is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner, second only to China.It may surprise some of you to find out both the United States and Brazil are considered “flawed democracies," but there are differences. Whereas the promise of democracy in America is considered to be our birthright, Brazil has had to overcome a monarchy, as well as a dictatorship established by a military coup, which was supported by the United States and then president John F. Kennedy. That dictatorship lasted 21 years, until Feb 1, 1987 when a popular constituent assembly composed of elected representatives of the several political parties in Brazil, drafted a new democratic constitution, which was then formally ratified in 1988.  Juliano Zaiden Benvindo is Professor of Constitutional Law and Head of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the University of Brasília. He is also a fellow at the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Capes-Humboldt Senior Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. His books include: On the Limits of Constitutional Adjudication; The Rule of Law in Brazil, The Legal Construction of Inequality; and, Constitutional Change and Transformation in Latin America, co-authored by Richard Albertand Carlos Bernal.

Welcome to the Peaceful Political Revolution in American Podcast.In Season 1 Episode 2  last year, I spoke with Professor Emeritus of Democracy & Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Harvey J. Kaye. He is an award-winning author and editor of 18 books on history and politics -including Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again and FDR on Democracy.  In S1 E2, we talked about his book Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. He's a really gifted speaker and a real pleasure to talk to.  At that time, Harvey suggested he come back for another conversation, this time about FDR's Economic Bill of Rights.  I'm really happy to say that that conversation has finally arrived. In addition, we will be joined by his friend, activist, and Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America, Alan Minsky. Alan is a lifelong activist, who has worked as a progressive journalist for the past two decades. He was the Program Director at KPFK in Los Angeles from 2009-2018. He also has coordinated Pacifica Radio’s national coverage of elections. Before that, Alan was one of the founders of LA Indymedia. He is the creator and producer of the political podcasts for The Nation and Jacobin Magazine, as well as a contributor to Commondreams and Truthdig.Alan’s activism began in college with union solidarity work and opposition to US involvement in Central America. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Alan was active in the counter-globalization and media democracy movements. In 2011, he began organizing for Occupy Wall Street in the months leading up to the occupation of Zuccotti Park. Alan began working with PDA in 2014.This country has seen its share of opulence and struggle. But what about its share of democracy? We live in an era, not unlike the Gilded Age, which flourished from 1877 to 1900. The Gilded Age was marked by extreme concentrations of wealth and the rise of powerful industrial titans known as the Robber Barons; men like Jay Gould, JP Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the concentration of wealth by the 1% were just a few of the things that characterized that period of American history. This explosion of economic prosperity for a few arose only 12 years after the Civil War, which raged between 1861 and 1865, and only a few months after Reconstruction which lasted until 1877. The Age of the Robber Barons or the "Gilded Age" was followed by a very different set of challenges, including events like WWI, which began in 1914 and ended in 1918. Along come the roaring twenties, then there was the Great Crash of 1929, and the Great Depression which lasted until 1939. In addition to all these hardships, Americans had to confront the Great Dust Bowl, from 1930 until 1936, caused by shortsighted federal land policies, changes in regional weather, and new mechanized farming techniques which led to the erosion of vital topsoil.FDR won the election to the New York State Senate in 1910 as a democrat and quickly became associated with the progressives of the party.  He was elected governor of New York in 1928 and again in 1930. He was first elected President in 1932. He was re-elected President in 1936, 1940, and once again in 1944. He died in office during his historic 4th term in office and is largely credited with bringing the United States out of the worst economic disaster America had ever faced, as well as a devastating World War.Harvey, Alan, it's an honor to be able to share your insights into FDR and as importantly, your proposal for a new Economic Bill of Rights. There's a lot to get into, but first, how are you doing?

Welcome back to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast. I couldn't go any further without a discussion about Thomas Paine's Rights of Man. Not because it was historically significant, although it certainly was. But, because it lays the foundation for our nation and our identity as Americans, it is perhaps more relevant today than it was in 1792.I began this season with a discussion about American Sovereigns for a purpose. We need to begin to think of ourselves as the rightful and legal owners of our government. Fritz was pretty clear, this is our uniquely American heritage, a power that deserves all of our respect and comprehension. I followed this with a conversation about the elites, the ones who according to Robert Ovetz and a few others, created a political system to serve the oligarchy. The sovereigns and the elites have been here right from the beginning. We need to distinguish between those two groups in America and we need to understand the very different roles they play and how they are enabled.Today, we the sovereigns play a minor role in decision-making for our nation compared to most modern democracies. We have limited ways of getting our message out. We have limited choices. On the other hand, the elites have all kinds of ways to express their concerns and to advocate for their interests. They write the historical narrative. They create and sell the consensus reality you and I live in. If they wanted to normalize climate-related disasters or mass shootings, they could. They are making plans for our future as well, and none of them have been elected to do so. We see this play out in numerous ways every day. We the Sovereigns, on the other hand, remain divided. We live in a manufactured reality because human beings are creative and industrious, it seems we the sovereigns have no other choice. But whose reality is it? Do we have the political and economic systems we need to create the reality we want?  Thomas Paine's message may be more relevant today than it ever was and to explain why, I've asked Gary Berton, president of the TPNHA to come back for a closer look, this time, at Thomas Paine and his seminal book, Rights of Man.OUTRO So, are human beings fundamentally rational enough to know how to govern ourselves? The elites were capable of creating a government that would serve them, but what about the rest of us? Are we rational enough, informed enough, and committed enough, to create a political system that protects our mutual interests?At its core, the political question of the day isn't who will be running for president, it's who will be calling the shots? Will it be the tiny minority of global elites or will it be the vast majority of human beings on the planet? As Gary says, that will require a movement of movements. Where ever constitutions of government fail to protect and promote the interests of the majority of citizens, more work will always be necessary. America is no exception to this fundamentally Painsian maxim. We're all going to have to be much more aware of the deficiencies within our political systems if we are ever going to rid ourselves of them.Beam in next time for a look at how we might improve our political systems of government and the kind of rights Paine had in mind for all Americans when I talk again with Harvey J. Kaye on his book, FDR on Democracy, the Four Freedoms and FDR's Economic Bill of Rights.Until then, stay safe out there.

Welcome to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast.Bernie loves to point his finger at the elites, but who are they and where do they come from? It seems as if Bernie believes they possess a lot more influence than the rest of us.  But, what does our preamble mean if not that we the ordinary people in America are the ultimate source of power and law in America? So then, who were the elites? How did they differ from the mass of Americans in 1776 and later in 1787, even today? What about revolutionaries like Thomas Paine? Was he not an elite also? What role did he play in creating our government and just who were the founders anyway?Most Americans were revolutionaries in 1776. They were the self-proclaimed sovereigns over their new and independent nation, and it was only they who could grant the consent of the governed, or when necessary, exercise their power and duty to establish a constitution of government that would serve their needs and protect their interests.The concept of popular sovereignty is something of a dinosaur for most Americans today. America is the world's superpower, so how could everyday average Americans actually control their government, or if necessary, create a new government that would faithfully express the will of most Americans? I know I am still trying to figure out what it really means to be an American. Why it is that we think of ourselves as so exceptional? Is it our constitution? If it is, what is it about our constitution that we so revere and how does that make us so special?Robert Ovetz is a lecturer in Political Science and Public Administration and he writes about the politics of the labor movement and the crisis of capitalism at the turn of the 20th century. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas-Austin.Among other publications and advocacy work, Robert is the author of When Workers Shot Back (2019), Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle (2021), and most recently, We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few.Robert, welcome to the peaceful political revolution in America podcast.

Welcome back to the second season of the Peaceful Political Revolution in America Podcast, a series of conversations with America's top scholars, writers, journalists, and activists, on the topic of our Constitution. Thank you for tuning in to this podcast, and for your time, support, and continued interest in a subject that I personally find to be the most crucial topic of our time. Season one was an amazing journey for me, and I would sum it up like this: Americans, for the first time in human history, established the inalienable right of the people to not only create their forms of government but to change and to alter them, whenever they deemed necessary. By now, that mantra may sound familiar to everyone, even in today's muddied political climate. But just how is this fundamental, unshakeable right exercised? What precedents from our founding period define our role as sovereign citizens? And what lessons can we take away from those revolutionary Americans who set the United States on its unique and presumably, enlightened and democratic path? Christian Fritz joined the UNM law faculty in 1987 to introduce legal history to first-year students, a new concept to legal education. Even today, few law schools offer such a course. Fritz had just become the first person to complete a program at the University of California in which he earned a Ph.D. in history at Berkeley along with a law degree from Hastings College of Law. At the UNM law school, he teaches a variety of legal history courses along with Property. He has a deep knowledge of legal and constitutional history and an exhaustive research style. In addition to numerous articles, book chapters, and reviews, Fritz has written books on legal history, including Federal Justice in California: The Court of Ogden Hoffman, 1851-1891. In October 2007, Cambridge University Press published his long-term study: American Sovereigns: The People and America’s Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War.This seminal work challenges traditional American constitutional history, theory, and jurisprudence that sees today’s constitutionalism as linked by an unbroken chain to the 1787 Federal constitutional convention. It examines the idea that after the American Revolution, a collectivity – the people – would rule as the sovereign. Heated political controversies within the states and at the national level over what it meant for the people to be the sovereign, and how that collective sovereign could express its will were not resolved prior to the Civil War. The idea of the people as the sovereign both unified and divided Americans in thinking about government and the basis of the Union. Today’s constitutionalism is not a natural inheritance, but the product of choices Americans made between shifting understandings about themselves as a collective sovereign. Its the perfect topic to begin this season with because until we have a deeper understanding of our relationship to our constitution, it will be difficult for Americans to be engaged in any process of remaking it. So, let's dig in!Chris, welcome to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America Podcast!