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We continue to navigate the world and its challenging circumstances using a form of democracy relatively unchanged since the end of the 18th century. Well into the 21st, how can we modernize the way we govern ourselves? Might we put more trust in those that are governed to do the governing, and attempt to transform our democracy into something that is more representative?...
White working-class voters without a college education are most vulnerable to diseases of despair — suicide, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related liver disease — and they are also most likely to have voted for President Trump. This population is deeply concerned about rising health care costs, according to focus groups conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, and more lik...
Donald Trump’s America First philosophy and his retreat from international alliances led pundits to dub Germany’s Angela Merkel the new leader of the free world, but today’s global leadership appears more muddled than ever, especially as Brexit and unrest in Italy threatens the integrity of the European Union. Across the Pacific and Africa, countries are being forced to re...
Health care never stops engendering political debate. Ten states have asked the federal government for the right to impose work requirements on some individuals receiving Medicaid, insurance premiums are expected to rise again this year, and the Affordable Care Act continues to provoke legislative and judicial action. How will all of that influence the upcoming election? L...
Institutions and communities across America are divided over politics, culture, identity, and the overall direction of the country. Are religious congregations any different? How do religious leaders today navigate deeply divisive issues — like the “Muslim ban” and terrorism, new American actions in the Middle East, gay marriage, abortion, the administration’s handling of...
Clint Smith and Reginald Dwayne Betts work at the crossroads of multiple disciplines. Both men have pursued graduate degrees in the Ivy League: Smith is working toward his PhD at Harvard and Betts recently obtained his JD at Yale. But they also stay true to their creative lives, publishing and performing poetry in which they grapple with issues such as politics, inequality...
Whether it's their views on immigration, gun laws, or climate change, young people today are changing the face of politics. Are millennials and post-millennials becoming more progressive, or will they "grow into" conservative views? How might they change the Democratic 2020 primary? And how has their support for Trump changed since 2016? Kristen Soltis Anderson, Republican...
Stephen Colbert says, "Everybody should listen to the Slate 'Political Gabfest.'" Featuring Slate's Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz, the Gabfest is the kind of informal and irreverent discussion Washington journalists have after hours over drinks. Join the show that iTunes listeners voted Favorite Political Podcast, live at the Aspen Ideas Festival, for the...
Ever wonder what decisions go into the making of a political ad? We’ll talk about the things you see, hear, and read in campaign commercials and think about the way all the elements come together to nudge viewers toward inferences that help—or hurt—candidates. Do political ads really work? Which ones are working in 2016, and why?
Since 2016, we’ve watched women rack up unprecedented wins in statehouses, city halls, and even Congress — and thousands more are throwing their hats into the ring. How did factors like Donald Trump’s win and #MeToo influence this wave, and why does the movement seem to be taking hold now? We’ll take a look at the different governing styles and priorities women exhibit com...
In just over a decade, John Hickenlooper has gone from a craft-brew entrepreneur to mayor of Denver to governor of Colorado. In conversation with Jane Harman about his new book, The Opposite of Woe, the maverick—and very funny—statesman tells his story of determination and daring. From bouncing back after personal loss to launching a remarkably successful business to landi...
With their flights to DC snowed out and votes imminent on the House floor, these two Texas congressmen took to the road to travel the 1,600 miles to the nation’s capital in a rented Chevy Impala. They invited America to join them via Facebook live, and through their spontaneous town hall on wheels, they learned a lot about the issues Americans are dealing with, each other’...
Criminal justice reform has been a rare area of bipartisan agreement in recent years, with leaders from both sides of the aisle and a broad coalition of seemingly unlikely partners committed to fixing the system. However, recent federal action has reversed course on sentencing reform, which is seen by many as central to any meaningful change. What has to happen in 2018 and...
The designers of our democratic republic created a political system and institutions intended to avoid concentrated power, mob rule, and to defuse factions. Is the America we live in today so different from theirs that only fundamental reform can fix what ails us?
As Michael Eric Dyson notes in the introduction to his 2016 book, “[President] Obama provoked great hope and fear about what a black presidency might mean to our democracy. White and black folk, and brown and beige ones, too have had their views of race and politics turned topsy-turvy.” Join Dyson and The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart for a look at how the politics o...
When late-night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel tried to broker a debate between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the entertainment element of modern politics became undeniable. And as the line has continually blurred between entertainment and news, a full 10 percent of young adults lost their most trusted sources of political news in Jon Stewart's version of “The Daily Show” and St...
Join a live podcast with Futuro Media’s ‘In The Thick.’ Co-hosts Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela meet up at Aspen Ideas with Dr. Brittney Cooper (aka Professor Crunk), author of Eloquent Rage, and Dr. Michael Kimmel, author of Angry White Men and Healing from Hate. They’ll explore why everyone seems to be mad as hell, how anger has infected and transformed our poli...
For more than three decades, artist Carrie Mae Weems has created a body of work — including photographs, fabric, text, audio, and video — that probes the fault lines of race, gender, class, politics, and power. In this session, the Prix de Rome and MacArthur Fellowship winner stages a collaborative performance of her work and discusses how it merges the personal and the po...
In America today, your understanding of the truth rests upon who you are, where you live, and who gets your vote. It’s no surprise then that trust in the media, once a given, is equally fractured — presenting a danger not only to democracy but to the fabric of society itself. Through a perilous maze of political identities, how can the news deliver the facts and reunite us...
In The Revenge of Power, Moisés Naím explains the success of autocrats across the globe in varying contexts. In doing so, he identifies the similar strategies they employ and, most importantly, what can be done to counter their efforts so that freedom and democracy prevail. David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, interviews the internationally s...