Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Despite controlling two of the three branches of government in Washington, the Democratic Party is struggling with its identity and the policies it should emphasize, particularly when it comes to reducing inequality and poverty at a time of deep divisions in the United States.For decades, the Republican Party has been known as the party of the rich: arguing for "business-friendly" policies like deregulation and tax cuts. But as our national and global economy confronts a crisis of inequality, some, like increasingly visible political historian Lily Geismer, question whether the Democrats are willing or able to take political risks to pursue policies that would help address or reduce poverty.In her powerful new book Left Behind: The Democrats' Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality, Geismer shows how she feels the Democratic Party of the 80s and 90s—particularly during the height of the Clinton Administration years—furthered policy ideas that centered on helping the poor without asking the rich to make any sacrifices: "Doing well by doing good" was a popular theme. Social enterprise and micro-lending became big businesses, and private programs to promote democracy and equality abroad grew trendy. But as social programs in the private sector boomed, the structure of the government in the United States began to weaken, according to Geismer, contributing to a crisis that has now fully arrived. And the Democratic Party is divided about how to respond, leaving the poor without a true champion, and the public unsure where one of the country's two major parties stands on inequality.Please join us for an important discussion about poverty, the Democratic Party politics that make it harder to address, and where we can go from here.SPEAKERSLily GeismerPh.D., Associate Professor of History, Claremont McKenna College; Author, Left Behind: The Democrats' Failed Attempt to Solve InequalityIn Conversation with Dan PfeifferCo-Host, "Pod Save America"; Author, Batting the Big Life: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America (forthcoming); Twitter @danpfeifferIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 23rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With war-ravaged Ukraine in the headlines every day, it’s more important than ever to hear from those with firsthand experience and an understanding of the complexities of the battle being waged there. Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch not only served as U.S. ambassador to Kyiv from 2016–2019 but also has intimate family connections to the region as the child of survivors of the Nazi and Soviet regimes.Yovanovitch is a diplomat and author with more than three decades of service in the State Department, having served as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Ukraine, as well as senior advisor to the under secretary of state for political affairs. She is a diplomat in residence at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and was a target of a 2019 smear campaign from supporters of the former president during the Trump-Ukraine controversy. She would go on to be a key witness during the public hearings of the ensuing impeachment trial. Her life is a testimony to the importance of transparency, accountability and integrity in government.In her new memoir, Lessons From the Edge, Yovanovitch reclaims her own narrative and recounts her childhood, immigration to the United States and journey up the ranks of the State Department. Coming from a family that faced poverty, violence and totalitarianism, she warns of the dangers corruption and democratic backsliding pose to our free society.Join us as Yovanovitch offers her perspective on the current situation unfolding in Ukraine, and tells her inspiring story of strength, bravery and honesty in the face of controversy, reminding us of how precious democracy really is.NOTESThis program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.SPEAKERSMarie YovanovitchFormer U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine; Author Lessons From the Edge: A MemoirIn Conversation with Olga OlikerDirector, Europe and Central Asia Program, International Crisis GroupIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 28th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since March 2020, the global community has grappled with an unprecedented pandemic. At first, most people were willing to do what it takes to keep themselves and others safe. Two years in, pretty much everyone feels exhausted by the effort and by the general anxiety of living with COVID. The global community simultaneously faces an even greater existential threat: climate change. For those fighting to stave off this slower-moving catastrophe, fatigue is a familiar feeling. What have we learned from two years of COVID disruption that can inform how we deal with climate fatigue? Guests:David Wallace-Wells, Editor-At-Large, New York MagazineBritt Wray, Human and Planetary Health Fellow, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neda Toloui-Semnani is the daughter of Iranian revolutionaries, activists, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Her parents left the United States in 1979 to join the revolution in Iran—a decision that changed the course of Neda’s life. She experienced profound personal loss due to her parents’ choices and conflict over whether these decisions that impacted her life were worthy costs of the revolution that took place.In her new book, They Said They Wanted Revolution, Toloui-Semnani, an Emmy-award-winning writer and producer, looks back at her family’s tragic experience with the Iranian Revolution. She pieces together the past in search of familial identity as the child of two risk-taking political activists. She untangles decades of history to discover her family’s legacy during her journey of self-discovery.Join us for a moving program that explores the costs of righteous activism across generations, and how the Iranian Revolution continues to impact the United States and Iran even decades later.This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.SPEAKERSNeda Toloui-SemnaniSenior Writer, Vice News Tonight; Author, They Said They Wanted Revolution: A Memoir of My ParentsSasha KhokhaHost, "The California Report," KQED—ModeratorIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 23rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Women have been sold a mistruth—roll up your sleeves, smash the glass ceiling, and you too can have it all. Critics say the unspoken realities in this agreement are that many women must also do the majority of household work, childcare, and bear the burden of keeping this endless task list running in their minds. However, the inequity in unpaid work isn’t news to anyone. It is well-rooted and widespread, benefiting a system that has always been designed for the benefit of men.Flash to 2021, when women left or were pushed out of the workforce en masse resulting in the lowest proportion of women in the labor force since the late 1980s. This downturn was matched by a decline in women’s mental health and financial independence.Author, activist and lawyer Reshma Saujani is calling on corporations and their leaders to make vital changes to this toxic and worsening situation. Her rallying call: It’s time to pay up. Her forthcoming book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work outlines her four-step action plan to realize this change and serves as a field guide for women, empowering them to demand what they deserve.Join us at INFORUM welcoming Saujani as she paints a picture of the future she sees for women.This program contains EXPLICIT languageSPEAKERSReshma SaujaniFounder, Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Mom; Author, Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It's Different Than You Think)Ina FriedChief Technology Correspondent, Axios—ModeratorIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 22nd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the Hart-Celler Act passed in 1965, opening up U.S. immigration to non-Europeans, it ushered in a whole new era. But even to the first generation of Asian Americans born in the United States after that milestone, it would have been impossible to imagine that sushi and boba would one day be beloved by millions, that a Korean boy band named BTS would be the biggest musical act in the world, that one of the most acclaimed and popular movies of 2018 would be Crazy Rich Asians, or that we would have an Asian American vice president. And that’s not even mentioning the creators, performers, entrepreneurs, execs and influencers who've been making all this happen, behind the scenes and on the screen; or the activists and representatives continuing to fight for equity, building coalitions and defiantly holding space for our voices and concerns. And still: Asian America is just getting started.Join us for a special program featuring the talented authors of Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now. The timing is great for this intimate, eye-opening and frequently hilarious guided tour through the pop-cultural touchstones and sociopolitical shifts of the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and beyond. Jeff Yang, Phil Yu and Philip Wang chronicle how we arrived at today’s unprecedented diversity of Asian American cultural representation through engaging, interactive infographics (including a step-by-step guide to a night out in K-Town, an atlas that unearths historic Asian American landmarks, a handy “Appreciation or Appropriation?” flowchart, and visual celebrations of both our "founding fathers and mothers" and the nostalgia-inducing personalities of each decade), plus illustrations and graphic essays from major AAPI artists, exclusive roundtables with Asian American cultural icons, and more, anchored by extended insider narratives of each decade by the three co-authors. They provide an informative, lively and inclusive celebration of shared experiences and singular moments, and all the different ways in which we have chosen to come together.This program is part of The Commonwealth Club's Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.This program contains EXPLICIT languageSPEAKERSJeff YangWriter; Editor; Co-Author, Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to NowPhil YuFounder and Editor, Angry Asian Man; ; Co-Author, Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to NowPhilip WangCo-founder, Wong Fu Productions; Co-Author, Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to NowMichelle MeowProducer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—HostIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 21st, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our privacy was not first invaded by J. Edgar Hoover. They’ve been listening in for far longer than that. Wiretapping is nearly as old as electronic communications. Telegraph operators intercepted enemy messages during the Civil War. Law enforcement agencies were listening to private telephone calls as early as 1895. Communications firms have assisted government eavesdropping programs since the early 20th century―and they have spied on their own customers, too. Such breaches of privacy once provoked outrage, but today most Americans have resigned themselves to constant electronic monitoring. How did we get from there to here?Hochman explores the origins of wiretapping in military campaigns and criminal confidence games, and tracks the use of telephone taps in the U.S. government’s wars on alcohol, communism, terrorism, and crime. At the same time that high-profile eavesdropping scandals fueled public debates about national security, crime control, and the rights and liberties of individuals, wiretapping became a routine surveillance tactic for private businesses and police agencies alike. Hochman traces the long and surprising history of wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping in the United States, and also explains how earlier generations of Americans confronted these threats to our privacy―threats that seem more urgent now than ever.NOTESMLF: HumanitiesSPEAKERSBrian HochmanDirector of American Studies and Associate Professor of English, Georgetown University; Author, The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United StatesIn Conversation with George HammondAuthor, Conversations With SocratesIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 17th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IPCC released its latest report the same day as the U.S. Supreme Court heard the most environmentally significant case in a decade, all while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rattled global energy markets. It’s a lot to take in all at once. Will the disruption of methane gas supplies to Europe give it the extra push it needs to decarbonize, or will some countries always be beholden to untrustworthy partners for the resources they need? What other options exist to power our economies more sustainably in the short and long term?Guests:Amy Myers Jaffe, Managing Director, Climate Policy Lab, Tufts UniversityErwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Berkeley Law Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The distinguished panel of expert participants represent many of the different facets of the chocolate industry. They will discuss where the industry is today and how it can move into the future as a more ecological, labor friendly, and equitable industry.NOTESMLF: International RelationsSPEAKERSBill GuytonFounder and CEO, World Cocoa Foundation; Senior Advisor, Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA)Sam MawutorSenior Advisor on the Cocoa Campaign, Mighty EarthTim McCollumFounder and CEO of Beyond GoodFrank PriceVice Present, Northern California Peace Corps Association; Shriver Circle Member, National Peace Corps Association; Vice Chair, International Relations Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of CaliforniaIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 15th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The January 6 attack on Congress as it met to certify Joe Biden's presidential victory is a day that will live on in infamy, yet for Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, this was just the next in a sequence of tragic events that changed his life forever. Having lost his son to suicide only days before, and days later leading the ensuing impeachment effort against Trump, Rep. Raskin’s 45-day journey at the start of 2021 is an inspiring epic of strength, tragedy and determination.In his new memoir, Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy, Raskin recounts that after the tragic loss of his son Tommy, it was Tommy’s values and vision for the country that provided him inspiration to not only weather the challenges of January 6 but to lead the ensuing impeachment trial of Donald Trump for inciting insurrection. Facing division and the tremors of a nation rocked to its core, Rep. Raskin and his nine-member team were able to lead the most bipartisan impeachment trial ever conducted.Rep. Raskin has served as an elected official in Maryland since 2007 and represented its 8th Congressional District since 2017. A professor of constitutional law at American University Washington College of Law, chair of the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and co-chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, Raskin has been a leading voice in Congress for executive accountability and electoral integrity.Please join us as congressman Raskin recounts his moving story of balancing tragic personal loss and appalling political violence simultaneously, and how he found hope to press on in his darkest moment to continue fighting for American democracy.NOTESThis program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher FoundationSPEAKERSJamie RaskinU.S. Representative (D-MD, 8th District); Author, Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trails of American Democracy; Twitter @RepRaskinWelcome by: Jim SteyerFounder, Common Sense MediaMarisa LagosCorrespondent for California Politics and Government, KQED; Twitter @mlagos—ModeratorThis program was recorded live in San Francisco on March 13th, 2022 at the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices