Democracy Forum 2012 Archive

Between 2004 and 2012, the League of Women Voters - Downeast in cooperation with WERU FM produced and sponsored a series of radio programs on topics in participatory democracy called the Democracy Forum.

Here are programs from the 2012 archive.

Special Guests:

• Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Professor of Communication and Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Richard R. Lau, Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University.

   

Key Discussion Points:

 

• Does political advertising work? How does it work? Do ads change people's minds about the candidates?
• Does negative advertising work better than straight ads? Are they more memorable? Do they persuade people about candidates, or do they make people so disgusted that they stay home?
• Is this good for democracy? What can citizens do?

   

Listen to the conversation from the archive at community radio WERU FM.

Special Guests:

• Professor Jennifer Hochschild, the Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government at Harvard University.
• Elisabeth MacNamara, the 18th president of the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and chair of the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF).

   

Key Discussion Points:

 

• What is the role of public education in creating an informed electorate? What is the responsibility of the citizens themselves?
• What is the difference between an educated electorate and a well-informed one? Does it matter for democracy?
• Does ideology trump evidence? When the facts conflict with beliefs, do people mistrust the fact-checkers?
• What can we as citizens do to inform ourselves? What can we do to inform each other across the partisan divide?

   

Listen to the conversation from the archive at community radio WERU FM.

 

Special guests:

 

• Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University
• Amy Fried, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine.

   

Key Discussion Points:

• Tea Party members, who they are, and what they believe
• The movement's impact on elections and governing
• What it means for civic participation

   

Listen to the conversation from the archive at community radio WERU FM.

Special guests:

• Richard Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University and director of the National Bureau of Economic Research
• Susan Feiner, Professor of Economics and Professor of Women and Gender Studies

   

Key Discussion Points:

• What are the trends in income inequality over the last century?
• What are the factors that have caused the widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else?
• Why does it matter? What are the risks to democracy?

   

Listen to the conversation.

Special guests:

• Robert Monks, shareholder activist, author, and corporate governance adviser

   

Key discussion points:

• The role in of corporations in shaping public policy through financing political campaigns and lobbying
• Do free enterprise and democracy go together?
• Possible alternatives to the current system

   

Listen to the conversation.

Special guests:

• Lisa Borders, co-founder of No Labels.
• Sandy Maisel, Professor of Government at Colby College

   

Key discussion points:

• The role of the two-party system in federal elections and government
• The effects of partisan politics in the Congress
• Possible alternatives to the current system.

   

Listen to the conversation.

 

Special guests:

• 2nd District Congressman Rep. Michael Michaud
• Arn Pearson, VP of Programs at Common Cause.

   

Key Discussion Points:

• The underlying structural or procedural problems that keep Congress from governing effectively
• Most important reforms, e.g., redistricting, campaign finance reform, return to regular order

   

Listen to the conversation.

Special Guests:

• Jeff Clements, co-founder of Free Speech for People and author of the book Corporations Are Not People.
• Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

   

Key Discussion Points:

• The constitutional background of granting personhood to corporations and equating political spending with free speech.
• The practical outcomes for democracy.
• What can citizens do?

   

Listen to the conversation.

Special Guests:

• 1st District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree
• Dr. Thomas E. Mann, constitutional scholar of the Brookings Institution

   

Key Discussion Points:

• Why do you think Congress has such a low approval rating?
• What are the systemic impediments that prevent Congress from responding to what members surely know citizens want?
• Is campaign finance reform part of the solution?
• Is the two-party system is part of the problem.
• What about revising the Senate rules to limit use of the filibuster or other Congressional reforms?
• How do you view the role of the media?

   

Listen to the conversation.