Peaceful Political Revolution in America John Mulkins

Welcome to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast.
Bernie loves to point his finger at the elites, but who are they and where do they come from? It seems as if Bernie believes they possess a lot more influence than the rest of us.  But, what does our preamble mean if not that we the ordinary people in America are the ultimate source of power and law in America? So then, who were the elites? How did they differ from the mass of Americans in 1776 and later in 1787, even today? What about revolutionaries like Thomas Paine? Was he not an elite also? What role did he play in creating our government and just who were the founders anyway?
Most Americans were revolutionaries in 1776. They were the self-proclaimed sovereigns over their new and independent nation, and it was only they who could grant the consent of the governed, or when necessary, exercise their power and duty to establish a constitution of government that would serve their needs and protect their interests.
The concept of popular sovereignty is something of a dinosaur for most Americans today. America is the world's superpower, so how could everyday average Americans actually control their government, or if necessary, create a new government that would faithfully express the will of most Americans? I know I am still trying to figure out what it really means to be an American. Why it is that we think of ourselves as so exceptional? Is it our constitution? If it is, what is it about our constitution that we so revere and how does that make us so special?
Robert Ovetz is a lecturer in Political Science and Public Administration and he writes about the politics of the labor movement and the crisis of capitalism at the turn of the 20th century. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas-Austin.
Among other publications and advocacy work, Robert is the author of When Workers Shot Back (2019), Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle (2021), and most recently, We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few.
Robert, welcome to the peaceful political revolution in America podcast.

Welcome back to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast. 


I couldn't go any further without a discussion about Thomas Paine's Rights of Man. Not because it was historically significant, although it certainly was. But, because it lays the foundation for our nation and our identity as Americans, it is perhaps more relevant today than it was in 1792.


I began this season with a discussion about American Sovereigns for a purpose. We need to begin to think of ourselves as the rightful and legal owners of our government. Fritz was pretty clear, this is our uniquely American heritage, a power that deserves all of our respect and comprehension. I followed this with a conversation about the elites, the ones who according to Robert Ovetz and a few others, created a political system to serve the oligarchy. The sovereigns and the elites have been here right from the beginning. We need to distinguish between those two groups in America and we need to understand the very different roles they play and how they are enabled.


Today, we the sovereigns play a minor role in decision-making for our nation compared to most modern democracies. We have limited ways of getting our message out. We have limited choices. On the other hand, the elites have all kinds of ways to express their concerns and to advocate for their interests. They write the historical narrative. They create and sell the consensus reality you and I live in. If they wanted to normalize climate-related disasters or mass shootings, they could. They are making plans for our future as well, and none of them have been elected to do so. 


We see this play out in numerous ways every day. We the Sovereigns, on the other hand, remain divided. We live in a manufactured reality because human beings are creative and industrious, it seems we the sovereigns have no other choice. But whose reality is it? Do we have the political and economic systems we need to create the reality we want?  Thomas Paine's message may be more relevant today than it ever was and to explain why, I've asked Gary Berton, president of the TPNHA to come back for a closer look, this time, at Thomas Paine and his seminal book, Rights of Man.


OUTRO


 So, are human beings fundamentally rational enough to know how to govern ourselves? The elites were capable of creating a government that would serve them, but what about the rest of us? Are we rational enough, informed enough, and committed enough, to create a political system that protects our mutual interests?


At its core, the political question of the day isn't who will be running for president, it's who will be calling the shots? Will it be the tiny minority of global elites or will it be the vast majority of human beings on the planet? As Gary says, that will require a movement of movements. Where ever constitutions of government fail to protect and promote the interests of the majority of citizens, more work will always be necessary. America is no exception to this fundamentally Painsian maxim. We're all going to have to be much more aware of the deficiencies within our political systems if we are ever going to rid ourselves of them.


Beam in next time for a look at how we might improve our political systems of government and the kind of rights Paine had in mind for all Americans when I talk again with Harvey J. Kaye on his book, FDR on Democracy, the Four Freedoms and FDR's Economic Bill of Rights.


Until then, stay safe out there.

Welcome to the Peaceful Political Revolution in American Podcast.

In Season 1 Episode 2  last year, I spoke with Professor Emeritus of Democracy & Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Harvey J. Kaye. He is an award-winning author and editor of 18 books on history and politics -including Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again and FDR on Democracy.  In S1 E2, we talked about his book Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. He's a really gifted speaker and a real pleasure to talk to.  At that time, Harvey suggested he come back for another conversation, this time about FDR's Economic Bill of Rights.  I'm really happy to say that that conversation has finally arrived. In addition, we will be joined by his friend, activist, and Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America, Alan Minsky. Alan is a lifelong activist, who has worked as a progressive journalist for the past two decades. He was the Program Director at KPFK in Los Angeles from 2009-2018. He also has coordinated Pacifica Radio’s national coverage of elections. Before that, Alan was one of the founders of LA Indymedia. He is the creator and producer of the political podcasts for The Nation and Jacobin Magazine, as well as a contributor to Commondreams and Truthdig.

Alan’s activism began in college with union solidarity work and opposition to US involvement in Central America. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Alan was active in the counter-globalization and media democracy movements. In 2011, he began organizing for Occupy Wall Street in the months leading up to the occupation of Zuccotti Park. Alan began working with PDA in 2014.
This country has seen its share of opulence and struggle. But what about its share of democracy? We live in an era, not unlike the Gilded Age, which flourished from 1877 to 1900. The Gilded Age was marked by extreme concentrations of wealth and the rise of powerful industrial titans known as the Robber Barons; men like Jay Gould, JP Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the concentration of wealth by the 1% were just a few of the things that characterized that period of American history. This explosion of economic prosperity for a few arose only 12 years after the Civil War, which raged between 1861 and 1865, and only a few months after Reconstruction which lasted until 1877. 
The Age of the Robber Barons or the "Gilded Age" was followed by a very different set of challenges, including events like WWI, which began in 1914 and ended in 1918. Along come the roaring twenties, then there was the Great Crash of 1929, and the Great Depression which lasted until 1939. In addition to all these hardships, Americans had to confront the Great Dust Bowl, from 1930 until 1936, caused by shortsighted federal land policies, changes in regional weather, and new mechanized farming techniques which led to the erosion of vital topsoil.
FDR won the election to the New York State Senate in 1910 as a democrat and quickly became associated with the progressives of the party.  He was elected governor of New York in 1928 and again in 1930. He was first elected President in 1932. He was re-elected President in 1936, 1940, and once again in 1944. He died in office during his historic 4th term in office and is largely credited with bringing the United States out of the worst economic disaster America had ever faced, as well as a devastating World War.

Harvey, Alan, it's an honor to be able to share your insights into FDR and as importantly, your proposal for a new Economic Bill of Rights. There's a lot to get into, but first, how are you doing?

Events in America like the 2021 United States Capitol Insurrection are not unique to America. Brazil also suffered from a similar crisis on Jan 8, 2023. 
The attack there, on all three branches of government in Brasilia, was largely the result of the former president's insistence the election had been rigged. His supporters believed him, and although he lost by almost 2 million votes, the crowds turned out to overturn the election, in much the same way Trump supporters did on Jan 6, 2021.
I thought we should have a look at what's going on in Brazil and take a deeper dive into Brazil's constitution for a sense of what is driving the rise of populism in Brazil. The United States and Brazil enjoy broad political and economic relations. Brazil is the second most populus democracy in the Western Hemisphere, and the world’s twelfth-largest economy. The United States is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner, second only to China.
It may surprise some of you to find out both the United States and Brazil are considered “flawed democracies," but there are differences. Whereas the promise of democracy in America is considered to be our birthright, Brazil has had to overcome a monarchy, as well as a dictatorship established by a military coup, which was supported by the United States and then president John F. Kennedy. That dictatorship lasted 21 years, until Feb 1, 1987 when a popular constituent assembly composed of elected representatives of the several political parties in Brazil, drafted a new democratic constitution, which was then formally ratified in 1988.  
Juliano Zaiden Benvindo is Professor of Constitutional Law and Head of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the University of Brasília. He is also a fellow at the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Capes-Humboldt Senior Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. His books include: On the Limits of Constitutional Adjudication; The Rule of Law in Brazil, The Legal Construction of Inequality; and, Constitutional Change and Transformation in Latin America, co-authored by Richard Albertand Carlos Bernal.

In the last episode, I talked with Juliano Benvindo about the similarities between the January 6th Capitol Insurrection and the more recent attack on all three branches of government in Brasilia. It turns out that Brazil has the greatest level of inequality in Latin America. Inequality in North America has also reached historic highs. It was bad enough that America had imported over 300,000 slaves from Africa. Brazil imported over 5 million. Inequality remains a serious problem for the 2 most populis Democracies in the Western Hemisphere, and that should alarm us all, especially when America is thought to be the leader of the free world. 


We might not think inequality is such a dangerous threat to our democracy when it is normalized by public policies, and an economic system based on profit, which is then reinforced by corporate donors and advertisers promoting a pretty lavish and carefree lifestyle. But, is it leading to the collapse of democracies around the world? Do Americans believe in equality anymore? I wanted to talk to someone who might give us a little insight into the history of inequality.  


Frances Chiu completed her doctorate in English Literature at Oxford University and currently teaches literature and history at The New School in New York City. She is the author of The Routledge Guidebook to Paine’s Rights of Man (2020) and has written extensively for Occupy.com. She taught the first class in America devoted to Thomas Paine and his contemporaries, and she is currently completing her book on The History of English Inequality.

I am happy to say that she is also the first woman to be on the podcast, and I am fully aware that's long overdue!

In season one, I spoke with Arend Lijphart about democratic political systems. He had a number of recommendations on how Americans could improve our democracy if they really wanted to do. The question as always remains, how would Americans do that? 
I also spoke with George Van Cleve on his book, Making a New American Constitution. He had a pretty simple idea. Americans would form a national convention coordinating committee, for the purpose of raising funds for the endeavor, establishing the rules for the election of delegates, and perhaps setting guidelines for the convention itself. Ultimately, it would set a date for seating a convention to deliberate over a new constitution for the United States.


As Madison so aptly put it back in 1787, "AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency* of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America.“ Those were weighty words then, but there was a palpable need to reform the political system. So, I thought we should talk a little bit more about Constituent Powers.


Sergio Verdugo is an Assistant Professor of Law at the IE Law School, where he teaches Constitutional Law and Human Rights Law. He is also an editor of the International Journal of Constitutional Law and the Secretary General of the International Society of Public Law. Dr. Verdugo holds a doctorate in Law from the New York University School of Law and a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds a Master in Public Law from P. Universidad Católica de Chile, and I am very happy to have him here to talk about his recent papers on Constituent Powers and the uncertain future of Constitutional Democracy.


*The original might have been" inefficacy" tho I might be mistaken.