Part One:
THEY’RE NOT RED TAPE. THEY’RE HEROES.
We again welcome Bill Curry as our guest. He was twice the Democratic nominee for Governor of Connecticut and a White House advisor in Bill Clinton’s administration. As we watch the public phase of the impeachment hearings unfold, we are struck by the heroism and patriotism of the American civil servants — including military officers and State Department foreign service officers — who have answered the call of Congress to testify about what they saw and did. They stood up for the truth, in the face of a barrage of intimidating threats to their lives, their careers, and their families.
In contrast, we noted Attorney General Barr’s speech denigrating anyone who disagrees with his views, including anyone who votes for a Democrat. He accuses people of being traitors to the country, sinners who are simply evil.
As the Democratic presidential race grows more confused, we are disappointed to see the power-grab by the corporatist wing of the Democratic Party. This wing seems to be very concerned that the two progressive candidates (Sanders and Warren) might actually have a chance to win, and if they did, are committed to redistributing power more equitably among all the people. The centrists are pushing new candidates to enter the race only 80 days before the Iowa caucuses. Former Obama appointees are criticizing any candidates who see imperfections in any of President Obama’s actions. The Party seems to have made an agreement to refuse to take responsibility for the situation in which the country finds itself.
We agree that this is a mistake. The Democrats must take seriously the issues of disparities in the distribution of wealth, income, power, and opportunity in the U.S. They must take seriously what Justice Kennedy called “soft” corruption, which doesn’t mean outright bribery but *systemic* corruption. Our failure to address these two important fronts is what gave us Trump. And the failure of global finance capitalism in its late stages to preserve the integrity of democracies and to rebuild the economic security of the broad middle class are, after climate change, the two greatest failures of our time. They have brought democracy into disrepute, and given rise to a whole generation of people who could be called anything from autocrats to fascists.
Our need in this election and going forward is to take those things more seriously, to be braver and more substantive, more progressive and principled, in talking about income inequality, the concentration of power, the corruption of democracy. Those are the mistakes of a generation of Democrats — all of whom were better than their Republican rivals of the time but none of whom actually addressed the fundamental systemic problems.
Part Two:
LEARNING TODAY’S LESSONS FROM HITLER’S RISE.
We speak with Wolf Gruner, professor and director of Genocide Studies at USC, about Kristallnacht, the German-wide pogrom against the Jews on November 9-10, 1938. Often, the public discussion of Kristallnacht recognizes how Nazi supporters shattered Jewish-owned storefronts and set synagogues ablaze. Prof. Gruber’s article highlights a different but deeply significant message to the Jews which most of us have overlooked: the destruction of Jewish *homes*. Many German Jews had assimilated for generations, had become intertwined with German cultural life. But destroying Jewish families’ homes demonstrated that Jews would not have a “home” anywhere in the Third Reich.
Can these lessons be used today to show us how fear and blame can lead to dictatorship and crimes against humanity? It’s difficult to repair the damage once it’s done. but it can be prevented if we challenge it earlier.
