We discuss how the SpeechNow v. FEC decision in 2010 created Super PACs and how combating corruption in American politics starts with getting rid of Super PACs.

We discuss the intersection of policymaking on economics and democracy, the harm of intense concentration of wealth, and the need for building durable civil society.

We discuss  the corrupting effect of the Citizens United decision on policymaking and elections.

We discuss how the everyday voter can make strategic political campaign donations just like a billionaire with Brian Derrick, the co-founder of Oath.

We discuss the unavoidable intersection between our capitalist economy and democratic governance, and how their relationship plays out through campaign finance and other political transactions.

We discuss why housing insecurity undermines our democracy with Maria Foscarinis, founder of the National Homelessness Law Center. We cover the evolution from Reagan, when homelessness was blamed on the individual, to the increasing recognition that housing is a human right.

We discuss what it takes to build worker power from scratch and how these efforts can reshape not only our workplaces, but democracy itself with Jaz Brisack.

We discuss reclaiming the narrative of democracy with Stacey Abrams. Democracy is a tool to deliver on our values in the realm of justice, dignity, fairness, and freedom.

We discuss the great reshuffle of land in the last few centuries and the intersection of land, power, and democracy with Michael Albertus.

We discuss the necessary policies that make a family friendly economy possible, such as investments in child care, elder care, and paid family leave. Such investments ought to be considered basic infrastructure, which contribute to the economy.

Alissa Quart is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream. We discuss what it really means to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps in America, “the land of the self-made.”

Melanie D’Arrigo is the Executive Director of the Campaign for New York Health, which aims to win universal single-payer healthcare for all New Yorkers. We discuss the intersection of democracy and healthcare and what is necessary to create better health outcomes.

Braxton Brewington is the Press Secretary of the Debt Collective. We discuss the origins of the Debt Collective in the Rolling Jubilee and its history in canceling student debt. Their example is a powerful model for canceling student debt, which continues to be important for all Americans in this election cycle and beyond.

Shaun Donovan is the CEO and President of Enterprise Community Partners. We discuss how the deeply entrenched housing crisis has become worse in recent years and the multiple strategies to make home and community places of pride, power, and belonging.

Theda Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University and co-author of Rust Belt Union Blues: Why Working-Class Voters are Turning Away from the Democratic Party. We learn how unions are true laboratories of democracy and why their demise has eroded our democratic culture.

Kurt Andersen is a prolific writer and author of Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History. We discuss the conservative playbook to move our society culturally, economically, and politically to the right, and why continuous civic engagement and investment in Americans can restore basic fairness.

Leah Goodridge has served on the New York City Planning Commission since 2021 and is the Managing Attorney for Housing Policy at Mobilization for Justice. She oversees a team that provides legal representation to tenants in eviction proceedings. We talk about housing in New York City, ranging from high rents and evictions to land use discussions.

Gregg Colburn is the co-author of Homelessness is a Housing Problem: How Structural Factors Explain US Patterns. He's also an Assistant Professor of Real Estate at the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. We discuss the prevalence and variety of homelessness and the big ideas to tackle the housing crisis.

Ruth Milkman is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and History at the CUNY Graduate Center and at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, where she chairs the Labor Studies Department. Her most recent books are Immigration Matters and Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat.