Ralph welcomes longtime colleague Mark Green and law professor from Wisconsin, Joel Rogers, to break down what the results of the midterm elections will mean for both the Trump agenda and the direction of the Democratic Party.
Mark Green is a former Nader’s Raider, who ran Public Citizen’s Congress Watch program for ten years. After that, he went on to found his own public interest organization, The New Democracy Project. In addition, he was elected New York City’s first Public Advocate. An author and a radio and TV commentator, Mark has written “Losing Our Democracy” latest book, is entitled “Bright Infinite Future: A Generational Memoir on the Progressive Rise.”
“There is a natural progressive majority in this country, but it’s not reflected in who’s elected — or selected if you’re talking about Donald Trump. So, there’s obviously some misconnect in a democracy where our rulers are supposed to reflect the opinions of voters.”
Mark Green, author of “Losing Our Democracy.”
Joel Rogers is a Professor of Law, Political Science, Public Affairs, and Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Rogers has written widely on American politics and democratic theory and has worked with and advised many politicians and social movement leaders. He is a contributing editor of The Nation and Boston Review, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” Fellow, and was identified by Newsweek as one of the 100 living Americans most likely to shape U.S. politics and culture in the 21st century.
“I thought what O’Rourke did in Texas was truly remarkable, to make a Senate race in Texas genuinely competitive as O’Rourke did. The Florida stuff is of course very disappointing – I don’t know the final disposition in Georgia – but I would not read this as ‘Oh, I’m sorry. It just shows that the Democrats have a populist, democratic values-based clearly communicated message that cannot win in America, because America has forsaken anything except a worship of almighty mammon.’ I just think that’s wrong.”
Joel Rogers, law professor and activist from University of Wisconsin-Madison
Midterm Postmortem