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![15 Talks to Understand the 2022 Political Landscape](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/30bd2139-0c7d-495b-94c7-7acaa3931541/AIFStockHeroImages.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1260%2C0%2C3240%2C3240&w=290)
Politics are a frenzy right now, with bombshell headlines dropping so often that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Even when you can cut through the noise, what you hear is grim. Culture wars are dividing schools and dinner table conversations. Voting rights are threatened across the country. Distrust of news media is at an all-time high. Political discourse is fraught w...
![15 Talks to Understand the 2024 Political Landscape](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/26ac3431-ada5-424c-94a2-fdbb8fbb1bc3/GettyImages-1490401931.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=500%2C0%2C3074%2C3072&w=290)
The 2024 presidential election is only months away, and the past few weeks alone have brought shocking headlines that change the political ground we stand on — an attempted assassination of Donald Trump, then President Biden dropping out of the race and endorsing Kamala Harris as his replacement. At the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival, government officials, legal experts, acade...
![Women's History Month: Making Strides in a New Era](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/0710591f-3c84-4d87-90f3-6b2594a64305/35245686450_b873714d6d_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1081%2C0%2C2671%2C2671&w=290)
Global conflicts and health crises have put into stark relief deeply-ingrained gender roles in society. Yet the past years have also seen record-high numbers of women running for political office and holding executive positions in Fortune 500 companies. Where are we seeing progress, and where do we still desperately need to make headway? How is feminism adapting to tumultu...
![Progress and Struggle: Race in US Society](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null5913011e-07e0-4082-b147-92d000e2f53f/48134133167_89ea6b2216_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=666%2C0%2C2667%2C2667&w=290)
Race has divided our country since colonization, with some calling slavery America's original sin. The history of the US, from the Civil War to Jim Crow and Black Lives Matter, is defined as conspicuously by racial strife as it is by great achievements. So what does racial progress actually mean in practice? How can political, business, and community leaders confront the t...
![American Reckoning, American Renewal](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null33902f9a-d0ce-4853-b50a-debba24f7722/48146045446_947eec22f5_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=631%2C0%2C2737%2C2737&w=290)
Our national conversation is increasingly defined by deep divisions, worries about the stability of our political system, and even threats of political violence. Yet, in the midst of our national partisan rancor and political and cultural upheaval, you can find heroes, visionaries, and bold leaders.
![Podcast Playlist: Black History Month](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/97cd2878-52e6-49c7-a9ba-b0ae99bdff2d/28204735707_4b2f7ceab8_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1120%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=290)
Black History Month shouldn't be the only time we talk about the inextricable role of race in US society. But conversations with friends, family, and coworkers about race and racism can be self-defeating. Listen as prominent voices from the Aspen Ideas To Go podcast explain the roots of the US's fraught racial politics and the ways racism continues to shape society. Their...
![We the People](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ab4697c5-9867-4dc1-a4c1-b99bbdb501f3/AIFStockHeroImages10.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1312%2C0%2C3375%2C3375&w=290)
Americans seem more culturally and ideologically divided than at any point in most of our lifetimes, with no prospect of bridging those divides any time soon. The only thing we seem to agree upon is that our politics are broken and our leaders are unable to solve the nation’s most fundamental challenges. What can be done to save American democracy from itself? Can we still...
![The Dollar Divide: Wealth Gaps and the American Dream](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/95469eea-fe1e-486d-85f0-4a0be9fc1975/AdobeStock_89649171.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=430%2C0%2C1616%2C1616&w=290)
Capitalism has been a success, though certainly not for everyone. Disparities according to gender, race, and even birthplace have disadvantaged large groups of Americans, and increasing economic and political power among the wealthy leaves the working class — and increasingly the middle class — unable to get ahead. Can we create an inclusive capitalism?
![Aspen Ideas Festival 2020: Keisha Lance Bottoms, Walter Isaacson, Erik Larson, and Henry Paulson, Jr.](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulld240bc4e-79d0-4f0e-8414-a301e77d03f4/AspenIdeasFestival-episode42.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=693%2C0%2C1613%2C1613&w=290)
![How Supreme Court Decisions Impact Our Lives](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nullcaf23732-e3b7-4131-aec6-17abde9936be/48103958522_55328aa563_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=266%2C0%2C1067%2C1067&w=290)
The highest court often seems distanced from our day-to-day lives, but the rulings that come out of the Supreme Court are woven into the fabric of the nation. Though it aims to be apolitical, the court regularly hears cases that involve some of the most contentious questions dividing the nation, and its decisions can change the course of our social, political, and economic...