Sheri Berman: Is the Game of Democracy Over?
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
Release Date: 09/08/2022
Confused About the Gaza Protests? This May Be Why.
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
Many liberals are deeply confused about how to respond to the campus protests over Gaza. And I think it’s an example of the confusion liberals are feeling generally over a lot of issues. I believe much of the confusion can be traced to the assumption that all political opinions can fit on a single line, from left to right. For this one-dimensional, one-line model to work, there can only be one left and one right — but there are at least two lefts and two rights. And they’re not different as in further left or further right on the same line. They’re different as in not on the same...
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"The President of Forgetting"
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
As we risk obliviously repeating catastrophic mistakes others have already made, Spencer Critchley has some thoughts about memory and freedom, from people who know the precious value of both. Excerpt: "Most of us in the U.S. have been spared the necessity of knowing history, and instead have been able to live as if the world was created at our birth. But people in Central and Eastern Europe have already been trammeled by the history that has just now caught up with us. They’ve been trying to warn us for decades."
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What's the Real News About Election '24? With Mike Madrid & Zach Friend
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
If you wanted to, you could consume nothing but presidential campaign coverage all day every day. But how much of it would leave you feeling better informed about casting what may be the most important vote of your life? Not better informed about the campaign as a sporting event, with all the expert play-by-play, color commentary, and stats. But better informed about questions that may not have easy, satisfying, or entertaining answers? Better prepared to think, and not just react? On this episode of Dastardly Cleverness, we go hunting for that kind of election coverage, find a little, and try...
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Luke Freeman on the promise & challenges of Effective Altruism: how to make giving count
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
By some measures, well over half of charities do little or no good. When similar charities are compared, the most effective ones can be up to 100 times more effective than the least. And there’s often a big mismatch between where donors direct their support and where the need and potential benefits are greatest. A movement called effective altruism aims to make giving work better by identifying the most effective charities in the world and encouraging donors to support them generously and strategically. There's been a lot of excitement about it, but lately it's also drawn critics of its...
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What Cynics Get Wrong About Politics
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
There are lots of reasons to be cynical about the crisis in our politics. The trouble is, one of the biggest causes of that crisis is cynicism itself. We should always be skeptical about politics. People aren’t angels, as James Madison reminded us. But skepticism involves checking to find out what’s really going on, good or bad. Cynicism is just assuming that it’s all bad. This is often mistaken for savviness, which lends cool-kids credibility to claims like “all politicians are crooks,” or “there’s no difference between the parties,” or “government never works.” Except...
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A Hollow Man Vacates the Chair & Other Leadership Lessons, Cautionary & Otherwise, with Kevin Lewis & Zach Friend
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
A three-way conversation featuring host Spencer Critchley, Kevin Lewis, and Zach Friend on leadership lessons from the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, as compared with far better examples set by Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi, and others. It turns out, to the shock of cynics everywhere, that character matters! Kevin was the post-presidency spokesman for former President Barack Obama. During the Obama administration he served at the White House and at the Department of Justice, where he advised Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. He’s also worked for the Democratic Congressional...
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Kevin Lewis on AI: Lessons from Working with Meta, Obama, and the DOJ
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
If you want to know more about the risks and rewards of artificial intelligence, you could hardly do better than to consult with someone who’s been a senior communications advisor for Facebook, lately known as Meta, the US Department of Justice, and a President of the United States. And that’s what Spencer did for this episode. Kevin Lewis was the post-presidency spokesman for former President Barack Obama. During the Obama administration he served at the White House and at the DOJ, where he advised Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. He’s also worked for the Democratic...
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Katie Davis: What We Really Know About Kids & Tech
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
If you have children in your family, you’re probably worried about what technology might be doing to them. And maybe there’s some hope about what tech might do for them. In this episode, you can get guidance from one of the world's top experts on the subject. Dr. Katie Davis is a researcher and associate professor at the University of Washington, and the director of the university’s Digital Youth lab. She’s been studying technology and children for nearly two decades, starting with her time at Harvard University, where she studied under, and worked closely with, the renowned...
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Joan Esposito: Talk radio for people who want better politics
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
The episode before last, Spencer was the guest for a change, interviewed by Joan Esposito, who hosts a originating at WCPT-AM in Chicago. This time, Spencer interviews Joan about how she manages to conduct smart, in-depth, live political conversations three hours a day, five days a week — sometimes devoting a full hour to a topic when the standard is a few minutes. We hear what Joan has learned as a radio host, as a TV news anchor, and in other roles, helping people understand what’s going on in their lives and in the world.
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Sam Farr: How Democracy Can Work
Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good
Sam Farr devoted 44 years of his life to elected office at the local, state, and federal level. That included 24 years as the Congressman for the Central Coast of California, where he grew up in the seaside village of Carmel. Among his inspirations were his father, longtime state legislator Fred Farr; President John F. Kennedy; and the Peace Corps, which he joined as a young man. If that makes him sound like an idealist, that’s accurate, but it’s only half the picture. The other half is very pragmatic, with an obsessive focus on the nuts and bolts of policy and politics. As you’ll...
info_outlineOne way of thinking about democracy is as a game — a game in which freedom, equality, and even lives are at stake.
And one way of thinking about the state of our democracy is that one of the two main competitors is no longer playing the game, but trying to destroy it.
As with any game, the rules of democracy only matter if we agree they do.
Ultimately, we can’t prove that things like civil debate, fair elections, and following the law are good things, we just agree that they are, like we might agree that aces are high. Except we’re not playing for chips.
My guest this time is a leading expert on the game of democracy, why it matters so much, and how it could come to an end.
Sheri Berman is a professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Much of her research focuses on how European democracies have developed, struggled, and often failed many times before succeeding. That’s if they do succeed, and if that success lasts. The lasting success of democracy isn’t guaranteed, as we’re all seeing, all too clearly, right now.
Sheri Berman’s most recent book is Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Regime to the Present Day, published by Oxford University Press. She also writes for many scholarly and popular publications, including the New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and VOX.
