Part One:
WHAT ARE REPUBLICANS TELLING US ABOUT WHY WE SHOULD VOTE FOR THEM? WILL THEY MAKE OUR LIVES BETTER OR DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY?
We speak with Harold Meyerson, Editor at Large of The American Prospect, who has covered presidential conventions as a journalist since 1984. He offers his perspective on both the Republican and Democratic 2020 conventions under the strictures of COVID-19 isolation.
We anticipate the opening of the Republican National Convention on Monday night (after we record this interview but before it actually airs). This year, the Republican Party has made the unusual decision that it will not have a platform to run on. The Republican Party will essentially say “We’re for whatever Donald Trump is for.” This is truly a historic break from the norms of American democracy. It’s as if the Republicans are telling us: “We’re not a political party. We’re a cult with a ballot line.”
Eschewing a platform is very similar to declaring a monarchy that maintains absolute power. With no platform to guide us, Trump voters would simply be giving Trump a mandate to do anything that his heart desired.
We note that, in 1776, Americans revolted against such a monarch. And the British king did not even have absolute powers: the colonists didn’t object to the king imposing taxes upon them; but if he wanted to do so, we had to have fair representation in Parliament.
Part Two:
INEQUALITY ON THE HOME FRONT
We speak with Elizabeth Patton, assistant professor of media & communication studies at the Univ. of Baltimore, about her article “In the work-from-home battle for space, women are the reluctant nomads.”
Even before COVID, it was the men who usually were provided a space at home dedicated to work – a home office or study. Or a refuge for the male – a private space such as a library to smoke cigars or a– in which to relax and “escape the female influence.” Sometimes it was a separate space that combines business and leisure, like a bar (with a poker table or billiards) in which to have a cocktail and socialize with “the boys” – his business colleagues.
But for women, there is no such space in the house where she can work. Like nomads, women are forced to move from room to room, maybe even to the bedroom, in order to find a few minutes of privacy where they can accomplish something for their own vocation or avocation. Of course, women are still expected to do all the work around the house, including those pieces of the child care work which are often unnoticed not to mention unvalued (like being available for a child to run to when s/he has a boo boo or is upset or scared even just for a hug to feel more secure).
We try not only to understand what’s going on, but also what we can do to fix this inequality. This must be fixed on a structural level. The government needs to step in, at both the federal & local levels.
