If Mar-a-Lago Sinks into the Atlantic, Will Donald Trump Concede that Abandoning the Paris Agreement Was a Mistake, Or Will He Blame Obama? Democratic Perspective takes on the latest idiocy from President Petulance. Keeping track of the lies, ignorance, and general misanthropy being Trumpeted from the White House these days may be an exhausting and thankless task, but our Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson are, as ever, on the job.
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Infotainment, Propaganda, and Self-Aggrandizing Media Empires: The Demise of What We Once Thought Of As Objective Journalism, and What It Means For the General Welfare. Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson ask Matt Goodwin, Professor of Philosophy at Northern Arizona University, and one of the founders of SPEX, the Sedona Philosophy Experience, for his take on the nature of truth, our journalistic traditions, and what it means for effective democratic governance when they both succumb to the economic uncertainties which threaten traditional media empires. Infotainment, press-release reporting, beat-sweetening, and disinformation campaigns by all sorts of interested parties are now the environment we all have to navigate if we want to know what’s going on outside the limits of our own personal experiences. The forces at work may eventually come to some sort of benign equilibrium, but in the meantime, caveat emptor seems to be the only defense available to us.
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Alternative Facts and Philosophy: Sometimes a Lie Is Just a Lie. Democratic Perspective, in an effort to understand the gap between what Donald Trump says, and what we can see with our own eyes, welcomes Andrea Christelle, one of the founders of SPEX, the Sedona Philosophy Experience, to help us sort out the proliferation of modern glosses — alternative facts, fake news, disinformation, and Trump — on the deceptively simple and traditional categories of a) truth, and b) lies. Who is blowing all this smoke, and why? The answer, as we non-Republicans might expect, is complicated.
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Sorting Out the Threads in the Middle East: Proxy Wars, Ethnic and Sectarian Alignments, Failed States, Realpolitik, and the Agony of Millions of Refugees. Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson welcome Dr. Paul Lenze, Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Northern Arizona University, back to Democratic Perspective for a discussion of the tangled web of conflicts in the Middle East. Who are the players, what do they all want, and is there any prospect at all for peace and stability in the region?
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The AHCA Has Passed the House: The Light At the End Of the Republican Health Care Tunnel Is an Oncoming Train. Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson are joined via the magic of telephony by Silent Gary LaMaster for a discussion of the latest abomination from the Republican Congress. After seven years of yapping about the horrors of Obamacare — socialized medicine, death panels, mandates that take away our freedom of choice, etc. — the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has finally voted to replace it with the so-called American Health Care Act. The AHCA’s main effects: reducing taxes on rich people, and taking away the coverage of an estimated 14 million low-income people who are currently covered under Obamacare. What a surprise! The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate. Stay tuned.
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Martin Shkreli Isn’t the Only Profiteer in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Why Does the U.S., Alone Among Developed Countries, Allow Life-Saving Prescription Drugs To Be Priced Beyond the Reach Of Many Of the Patients Who Need Them? David Brushwood, professor emeritus of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy returns to Democratic Perspective to talk about price gouging in the pharmaceutical industry — how it got started, who benefits from it and who doesn’t, and what can be done about it. As it turns out, the U.S. government already has many of the tools it needs to make drugs available at a reasonable price to everyone. What it lacks is the will to use them.
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David Garcia Is Running for Governor: Who Is He, and Where Does He Stand on the Issues Facing Arizona? Democratic Perspective co-hosts Michia Casebier and Mike Cosentino talk to David Garcia, Arizona State University professor, former Democratic candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, and recently announced Democratic candidate for Governor, about his background, his reasons for running, his views on the issues central to the welfare of the majority of Arizonans, and his take on how a responsible government should approach those issues. If we really do care about everyone in our state, and not just those who can pay for favors, we need to change who we elect to govern us. Supporting forward-looking candidates like David Garcia is a good way to start.
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Getting Over the Can’t: the League of Women Voters of Greater Verde Valley Is Sponsoring a Candidate Boot Camp. Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson welcome Kathy Kinsella, Angela Lefevre, and Barbara Litrell, from the League of Women Voters of Greater Verde Valley, to talk about their three-session candidate boot camp coming up on May 3rd, 10th, and 17th at the Sedona campus of Yavapai College.
The obstacles to running for political office in the U.S. can seem daunting to the inexperienced potential candidate, so much so that many people who would make excellent elected officials are reluctant to even consider running. If you or any of your friends would like to run for office in Arizona, but don’t know exactly what the requirements are for a successful candidacy, or are mystified by the process of declaring, filing, reporting, raising money, etc., the upcoming League of Women Voters’ boot camp may be just what you need to get you started.
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How Do You Deal With the Crazy in Arizona Politics? Steve Farley Has Some Ideas: Democratic Perspective welcomes Steve Farley, Arizona State Senator from District 6 in Tucson, for a discussion of the latest examples of Republican malfeasance in Phoenix, and how he works across the aisle to ameliorate as much of it as he can. We explore the attack on the right of citizen initiative and petition represented in HB2404 and HB2244, and the expanded assault on the funding for public education embodied in SB1431, as well as some of the other notably boneheaded moves by Governor Ducey and the Republicans in the State Legislature.We also ask him about his exploratory work on a possible run for governor in 2018, and the response he’s getting across the state.
If you want to see the sausage-making of the legislative process up close, and in a form non-politicans can understand, we also highly recommend Senator Farley’s weekly newsletter, The Farley Report. What’s there is not always a pretty sight, but it’s the kind of thing that concerned citizens desperately need to keep an eye on, and we commend Senator Farley for making it available to us.
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After the Debacle of 2016, It’s Clear That the Democratic Party Has Problems: Does It Have Any Solutions? Doug Ballard, Arizona Democratic Party stalwart, former chair of the Coconino County Democratic Party, Democratic Candidate for the Arizona State Legislature, and currently Arizona State Committee member of the Democratic National Committee, talks with Democratic Perspective hosts Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson about the future of the party, which despite its catastrophic losses in the last election, is already working on a number of new initiatives at the local, state, and national levels.
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