372. Sasha Abramsky: The Far-Right Takeover of Small-Town America
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Release Date: 09/16/2024
378. Mariana Chilton with Agueda Pacheco Flores: Rethinking What We Know About Hunger in America
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
In America today, reports show that food insecurity is a pressing issue for over 35 million people. With rising grocery prices, inflation, and the lasting impacts of the pandemic—understanding the complexities of hunger has never been more imperative. Mariana Chilton explores this issue in the book, The Painful Truth about Hunger in America: Why We Must Unlearn Everything We Think We Know—and Start Again with some new insights and perspectives. Mariana Chilton is an author, professor, and founder of the Drexel University — Center for Hunger-Free Communities. In The...
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377. Casey Michel with Katy Pearce: A Danger to Democracy
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
If there is one thing on our collective minds these days, it is the issue of politics. But for all the interest it piques, much of it remains a mystery to the American public. Bestselling author and journalist Casey Michel, who tackled the problem of financial corruption in his first book American Kleptocracy, sheds light on an issue that may be unknown to those outside the Capitol. In Michel’s new book , he details how one group has worked as foot soldiers for authoritarian, repressive regimes. In the process, they’ve not only established dictatorships and spread...
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376. Paul Pierson with Megan Ming Francis: Partisan Nation
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Professor of Political Science Paul Pierson, discusses his new book Partisan Nation. Co-authored with Eric Schickler, this book explores the roots of America’s democratic crisis, highlighting how the mismatch between the Constitution and today’s nationalized, partisan politics has destabilized American democracy. Pierson offers a fresh perspective on contemporary polarization, explaining how it has evolved from past eras and become self-perpetuating. Pierson and Schickler’s work dives into the changing dynamics of state parties, interest groups, and media since the 1960s,...
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375. Nate Silver with Clayton Aldern: On the Edge
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
What can professional risk-takers — poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true believers and blue-chip art collectors— teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the twenty-first century? In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, statistician Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in his timely and riveting new book, On the Edge, Silver investigates “The River,” or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape — and dominate — so much of modern life. People in “The River” have increasing amounts of wealth and...
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374. David Orr: Reforming Democracy for a Warming World — Pathways to Thriving in a Post-Fossil Fuel Era
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Democracy in a Hotter Time calls for reforming democratic institutions as a prerequisite for avoiding climate chaos and adapting governance to how Earth works as a physical system. To survive in the “long emergency” ahead, the book suggests ways to reform and strengthen democratic institutions, making them assets rather than liabilities. Edited by David W. Orr, this collection of essays proposes a new political order that would enable humanity to thrive in the transition to a post-fossil fuel world. Orr gathers leading scholars, public intellectuals, and political leaders to address the...
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373. Robert Merry: How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
In his new book, Decade of Disunion, Robert W. Merry explores the critical lessons from the 1850s when the United States faced a growing crisis over slavery. The Mexican War’s vast new territories sparked debates on expanding slavery, clashing with the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Key events such as the Compromise of 1850, the 1854 repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the 1857 Dred Scott decision, and John Brown’s 1859 raid heightened tensions, leading to violent conflicts and further division between North and South. Merry focuses on the contrasting roles of South Carolina and...
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372. Sasha Abramsky: The Far-Right Takeover of Small-Town America
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Sequim––a quiet, coastal community just a couple hours away from Seattle––may seem like an unlikely microcosm for the rise of far-right politics. And yet, political journalist Sasha Abramsky has closely followed small-town communities, including Sequim, and argues that places like these have directly influenced current national politics. How could small-town USA be so instrumental in today’s political climate, including Donald Trump’s 2024 Republican presidential nomination? Abramsky argues that the far-right have worked to take control, using suspicion, conspiracy, and bigotry,...
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371. Aziz Rana with Michael Hardt and Jaleh Mansoor: The Constitutional Bind
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Some Americans fear the Federal Constitution falls short in addressing democratic threats, yet it’s long been revered for its ideals of liberty and equality. Join us at Town Hall Seattle for a discussion with Aziz Rana, Michael Hardt, and Jaleh Mansoor about Rana’s book, The Constitutional Bind, exploring how this flawed document gained mythic status and its impact on society. Rana contends this reverence emerged in the 20th century alongside US global dominance, shaping both domestic and foreign policy. Discover how this cultural phenomenon has hindered meaningful...
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370. Nora Kenworthy with Marcus Harrison Green: The True Costs of Crowdfunding
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Over the past decade, charitable crowdfunding has exploded in popularity across the globe. Sites such as GoFundMe, which now boasts a “global community of over 100 million” users, have transformed the ways we seek and offer help. When faced with crises—especially medical ones—Americans are turning to online platforms that promise to connect them to the charity of the crowd. What does this new phenomenon reveal about the changing ways we seek and provide healthcare? In Crowded Out, Nora Kenworthy examines how charitable crowdfunding so quickly overtook public life, where it is...
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369. Natalie Foster with Angela Garbes: Freedom Within the Free Market
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Government-backed guarantees, from bailouts to bankruptcy protection, help keep the private sector in business in our nation’s economic system. What if the same were true not only for businesses but for individuals as well? In her new book The Guarantee: Inside the Fight for America’s Next Economy, Natalie Foster, co-founder and president of the Economic Security Project, invites readers to envision a future where things like housing, health care, higher education, family care, inheritance, and an income floor are not only attainable for everyone but guaranteed by our...
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Sequim––a quiet, coastal community just a couple hours away from Seattle––may seem like an unlikely microcosm for the rise of far-right politics. And yet, political journalist Sasha Abramsky has closely followed small-town communities, including Sequim, and argues that places like these have directly influenced current national politics. How could small-town USA be so instrumental in today’s political climate, including Donald Trump’s 2024 Republican presidential nomination?
Abramsky argues that the far-right have worked to take control, using suspicion, conspiracy, and bigotry, and forming alliances of QAnoners, anti-vaxxers, Christian nationalists, and militia supporters within small towns across the country. Stemming from his latest book, Chaos Comes Calling, he investigates the rise of the far-right, telling the parallel stories of recent years in two communities: Shasta County, California and Sequim, Washington.
The ultimate fates of these two towns were different though. Abramsky shows how Sequim has returned to less extreme political views, while Shasta County has descended further into intolerance and divisiveness. He highlights the differences between the communities, including the efforts to organize against the far-right movement.
Places like Sequim may be small, but they may have huge ramifications in the national political scene. Abramsky believes there’s a path forward from polarization that threatens to break apart communities, and towns as close as Sequim can show us how.
Sasha Abramsky is a long-time political journalist and book author who has spent the last thirty years exploring the American political and social justice landscape. He has written extensively on poverty, criminal justice, immigration, and the rise of hard-right and alt-right political movements.
