In the firs segment we talk to Zachary Roth, national reporter for MSNBC Digital. Roth is author of the book The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy.
About the book:
A deeply reported look inside the new conservative movement working to undermine American democracy.
Control of the country is up for grabs—and Republicans have been rigging the game in their favor. Twenty-two states have passed restrictions on voting. Ruthless gerrymandering has given the GOP a long-term grip on Congress. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has eviscerated campaign finance laws, boosting candidates backed by big money.
It would be worrying enough if these were just schemes for partisan advantage. But the reality is even more disturbing. As reporter Zachary Roth reveals, a growing number of Republicans distrust the very idea of democracy—and they’re doing everything they can to limit it.
In The Great Suppression, Roth unearths the deep historical roots of this anti-egalitarian worldview, and introduces us to its modern-day proponents: The GOP officials pushing to make it harder to cast a ballot; the lawyers looking to scrap all limits on money in politics; the libertarian scholars reclaiming judicial activism to roll back the New Deal; and the corporate lobbyists working to ban local action on everything from the minimum wage to the environment. And he travels from Rust Belt cities to southern towns to show us how these efforts are hurting the most vulnerable Americans and preventing progress on pressing issues.
Then, with Steven Simon, a former United States National Security Council senior director for the Middle East and North Africa. He also previously served as the Executive Director IISS-US and Corresponding Director IISS-Middle East and as a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute based in Washington, D.C. He is the co-author of Our Separate Ways: The Struggle for the Future of the US-Israel Alliance.
About the book:
Powerful demographic, cultural, and strategic currents in Israel and the United States are driving the two countries apart. In America, the once-solid pro-Israel consensus is being corroded by partisan rancor, which also pits conservative Jews against the more liberal Jewish majority. In Israel, surveys of young Jewish citizens reveal a disdain for democracy, and, in some cases, a readiness to curb the civil liberties of non-Jews. Prospects for preserving a liberal Zionism against the pressures for “Greater Israel” are dimming as hopes for a two-state solution fade.
The acrimony between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a symptom, not cause, of the deeper crisis. If the alliance becomes just a transactional arrangement, then the moral, emotional, and largely intangible bonds that have long tied the two countries together will continue to weaken. Going separate ways at a time of Middle East chaos, and despite profound historical commitment, would be an immense tragedy. The partnership must restore the shared vision that created it.
The headline and posted summary don’t match what actually aired: instead of the Fred Ross biographer, the second half was a pretty weak interview with some ridiculous pro-Isrsel establishment guy advocating a formal alliance between the US and Israel and the stationing of US troops there!