Politics with Paul #56: Can Radical Moderation Save Our Politics? w/ Lauren Hall

The vast majority of today’s political discourse focuses on extremes and polarized voices. But is moderation the solution? More specifically, is "radical moderation" the kind of moderation we should be striving for? On today's episode, Professor Lauren Hall joins the show to discuss her concept of radical moderation. She talks about what radical moderation is and isn't, how to apply its principles, how it addresses polarization, and more.

Politics with Paul #55: One Political Protester's Perspective w/ Luis-Enrique Marquez

NOTE: I do not endorse or oppose any guest's political views or groups they support. In today's episode, activist and author Luis-Enrique Marquez sits down to discuss his involvement in political protests. What's it like to be on the front lines of a protest? What are the biggest challenges in forming protests? How do protesters feel about their media coverage? How do protesters engage with opposition and critics? Luis-Enrique gives his takes on these questions and much more. At the end, he also discusses his book, and what he feels liberals, conservatives, and moderates alike can take away from it.

Politics with Paul #54: Do We Really Want Political Compromise?

It's important to have political convictions that you believe in and will fight for. Yet political discourse is also rife with stubbornness and an inability to consider opposing views. You have to stand for something but you must also be willing to compromise. What is the dividing line between being strong in your convictions and being willing to compromise? What does public opinion polling say about citizens' desire for compromise? What factors hinder the likelihood of compromise and where do we see compromise most often? How do we move as a country toward a willingness to compromise? These questions and more are explored on today's podcast.

Politics with Paul #53: Education Policy's Impact on Civic Engagement w/ Shaka Mitchell

Shaka Mitchell joins the podcast today to discuss how we can change education policy to positively improve civic engagement among both students and parents. Shaka is a senior fellow with the American Federation for Children, a professor of constitutional law at Belmont University, and an attorney. How does how we teach our kids (and adults) about the political process affect how invested people are in politics? Where are the areas most in need of improvement? How can parents better facilitate civic engagement in students? How do we use education to reconnect citizens to the political process. Tune in to hear Shaka's insights on these questions and much more!

Politics with Paul #52: Teaching and Preserving Political History and Civics w/ Alex Vassar

On today's episode, guest Alex Vassar discusses some of the biggest challenges facing the preservation and teaching of political history and civics, and how we can make these better. Alex is the founder of JoinCalifornia.com (a repository of election data and facts for the State of California), the founder of the One Voter Project, and the communications manager for the California State Library. How do we best preserve political history? How do we make that history accessible and engaging for other people, especially if they are not as interested in history? What are some of the biggest obstacles to improving civic and historical understanding amongst the public? What is some advice for groups in other states looking to build political history databases? Tune in to hear Alex's insights on these questions and much more!

Politics with Paul #51: How to Have Constructive Political Discussions w/ Guy and Heidi Burgess

On today's guest episode, Guy and Heidi Burgess of the Conflict Information Consortium share 40 years of insights into the broken state of America's political discourse and how to fix it. Among their works are the Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base, Moving Beyond Intractability, and the Constructive Conflict Initiative, projects dedicated to making our conversations about the most divisive issues more productive and encouraging. How do we improve America's political dialogue? What are intractable conflicts that need more constructive ways to be discussed? How do we come to a better understanding of each other and take steps to solve our intractable conflicts? Are we more polarized than ever? Tune in to hear Guy and Heidi's expertise on these questions and more!

Politics with Paul #50: Political Apathy - Why it's Dangerous and How We Can Fix it

It's episode 50! There are some Americans who simply don't care about politics, or at least not nearly to the extent they should. In some respects, these citizens have a responsibility to care about politics, and to inform themselves about what is going on. At the same time, however, there are understandable reasons why some citizens throw up their hands and tune out politics. To effectively tackle the problem of political apathy, we must examine all these root causes and how to address each of them, not just simply blame people for their apathy. How do we measure political apathy? Which citizens tend to be more apathetic? In what ways does political apathy manifest? Why are some voters apathetic? And: Why does political apathy pose such a threat, including unintentionally contributing to our nation's polarization? All this and more is on tap for today's podcast.

Politics with Paul #49: Bipartisanship in Legislative Advocacy w/ Florida Student Policy Forum

What goes into advocating for bills in state legislatures? How do you reach out to different interests of both lawmakers and activists to build a bipartisan coalition? What are the toughest parts of the legislative process to deal with as an advocate? Here to talk about that and more on today's episode are two members of the Florida Student Policy Forum, Graham Bernstein and Jacob Kaplan. They discuss their work on Florida bills involving expedited foreclosures on abandoned properties, phone calls for prisoners on good behavior, and school corporal punishment reform. At the end, they also give advice for other advocates, especially college students, looking to make a difference in the legislative process...and an incorrect take on whether hot dogs are sandwiches.

Politics with Paul #48: Is Split Ticket Voting in US Elections Dead? Will it Make a Comeback?

Is split-ticket voting is US elections dead? How do we measure split-ticket voting? What impacts our analysis of it? What does split-ticketing look like from historical data and how did it shape up in the 2024 election? Is there any cause for concern? And: Will split-ticketing make a comeback? Today we explore not only data behind split-ticketing but the more descriptive aspects of how we study it and some philosophical implications behind it. Is split-ticketing really on the decline as much as some political observers have said? And how different - or similar - is it to years past? What does it all mean? What does the future hold? Let's find out.

Politics with Paul #47: Will We Ever See a Competitive Third Party?

Polling consistently indicates that large majorities of people believe a third major party is needed because the Democratic and Republican Parties do not adequately represent the American people. Despite this, third parties rarely win any elections, even at the local and state levels. Why do we not see 3rd parties be more regularly competitive in US elections despite immense dissatisfaction with the Republican and Democratic Parties? Have we had 3rd parties that were competitive in the past? What makes a 3rd party competitive? Will we soon see a 3rd party become a regular contender for big-time elected offices in the near future? All this and more are on tap for today’s episode.

Politics with Paul #46: Efficient vs. Deliberative Government - Can it Be Both Swift and Thoughtful?

Is it better to have an efficient government or a deliberative government? Can a government be both swift-acting and thoughtful in responding to the needs of citizens? Constituents often lament government as inefficient, taking too long to respond to crises before or when they arise. They also often decry government action as not taking into account their wants and opinions. Today's episode explores this seeming dichotomy between efficiency and deliberation. What makes a government efficient or deliberative? How did the Founding Fathers view this debate? How does this debate shape our conversations about the function of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches today? Are efficient and deliberation inherently at odds?

Politics with Paul #45: The Types of Polarization...And How Any of Us Can Become Polarized

Most people can see that American politics is rife with polarization. It's led to countless examples of enmity, strife, harsh rhetoric, broken relationships…and violence. But what many people don't realize is that polarization takes on multiple forms, and thus manifests and foments in different ways. And one of the most unfortunate truths is that there is one particular type of polarization that any of us can display. What are the different types of polarization? Why is it important to understand the different types? How do we measure them? How long has America been polarized? And which particular type of polarization is one that can, unfortunately, be exhibited by any one of us? All this and more is on tap for today's episode. It's time for us all to take a step back and reevaluate how we approach politics.

Politics with Paul #44: The National Debt—And a Balanced Budget Amendment to the US Constitution?

The national debt has ballooned to $36 trillion. Just about everybody agrees that it's a major issue...but yet we have significant trouble tackling it. We agree that the deficit and debt are not sustainable forever, but we often have much different ideas on how they need to be lowered. It's a complicated issue to sufficiently address because of a variety of financial, structural, and political factors. What is the history of the national debt? What makes up our national debt? How is it viewed as a campaign issue? Why is it so difficult to cut spending? Is a Balanced Budget Amendment to the US Constitution on the horizon? All this and more is on tap for today’s episode.

Politics with Paul #43: Recall Elections - When Voters Kick Elected Officials Out Early

Recall elections are a unique democratic process allowing citizens to remove elected officials before the end of their term. The mechanism has existed since before the independence of the US, but didn't become popularized until the beginning of the 20th century. Many state and local-level officials have been subjected to recall campaigns, but some political observers have increasingly called into question the reasoning behind such efforts. Today's episode explores the history of the recall in America, how recall elections work, how recalls even get on the ballot, and the normative and philosophical questions behind their use. Are political recalls being overused as partisan or ideological tools? If they are, does that mean they shouldn't be used?

Politics with Paul #42: Knowledge Gaps in Politics Part 2 - Protecting Yourself Against Manipulation

Everybody has knowledge gaps when it comes to politics, no matter how much we know. There is just too much information to pay attention to, and not all of it is good. Unfortunately, that leaves the door open for political actors to try to exploit our biases or lack of understanding. Fortunately, however, there are ways to protect yourself against these attempts to manipulate our behavior and thought processes. Today covers some of the ways you can protect yourself by decreasing engagement with clickbait/ragebait, tips for researching political info, healthy skepticism about political arguments, and how to disagree in a more effective and healthy fashion. With these tools, we can better protect ourselves from manipulation by those with vested political interests.

Politics with Paul #41: Knowledge Gaps in Politics Part 1: How They are Exploited

We all have gaps in our political knowledge regardless of how well-versed we are in politics. Unfortunately, that opens the door for those with a strongly vested interest in political outcomes to exploit knowledge gaps. How exactly do these exploits happen? What determines an “exploiter”? How are our biases preyed upon? How do artificial intelligence, the fragmentation of mass media into silos, and more factor in? Today talks about the most common ways and reasons our knowledge gaps are exploited. Next week will look at how we can counteract some of those attempts to exploit.

Politics with Paul #40: Are Congress and State Legislatures Productive...or "Do-Nothing"?

We often lament our Congress as a “do-nothing” body, but are they truly unproductive? What about state legislatures? “Productivity” in legislatures is often thought of as simply how many bills they get passed or whether they address certain issues. However, “productivity” is not a clearly defined term, and there are some complications that arise when trying to define it. Today’s episode of Politics with Paul delves into both data and philosophical considerations of the productivity of Congress and state legislatures. How often do congressional and state legislative bills get passed? Why do so many bills die so early in the legislative process? Is the failure of so much legislation a good or bad thing? How should we define “productivity”?

Politics with Paul #39: Open Primaries w/ Guest Sila Avcil

New Mexico is the latest state to shift away from a closed primary in its elections, the primary election type where only members of a party can vote in that respective party's primary. Now, voters not affiliated with a party can vote in either the Democratic or Republican Primaries for the first time in the state's history. Playing a major role in that shift is today's guest Sila Avcil, the executive director of New Mexico Voters First and New Mexico Open Elections. She discusses the effort to implement semi-open primaries, including why this specific format, nitty-gritty details of New Mexico's state legislative process, her case for the open primary, and whether this could trigger more states to move away from the closed primary. Thank you to Sila for coming on the show!

Politics with Paul #38: The Funnel of Causality - Why We Vote the Way We Vote

Why do we make the vote choices that we do? How we fill out our ballots is inevitably shaped by a series of forces that we consciously (and subconsciously) think about. These influences are internal and external, group-based and individual-based, long-term and short-term. The interactions between these things are often represented as the Funnel of Causality, where they all filter into what our vote choice is at the narrow end of the funnel. Today's episode dives deep into this funnel: the history behind its development, how it has shaped our understanding of voter behavior, what it looks like...and why you should even care about it. Ultimately, the funnel is a representation of empathy for why people make the choices they make, including when we don't agree with them.

Politics with Paul #37: Home Rule Part 2 - Challenges Facing it, and Why You Should Care About the Debate

Last week on PwP, we dove into home rule, which is a local government's capacity to administer its affairs without state government involvement. We took a look at what parameters home rule encompasses, its historical development, its antithesis known as Dillon's Rule, and the debate over home rule vs. Dillon's Rule. This week looks at recent developments regarding home rule and some of the biggest challenges (and opportunities) facing its expansion. At the end, we discuss why you should care about home rule vs. Dillon's Rule. Knowing about the topic is one thing, but it's also important to discuss why it should matter to you. After all, local government is the most impactful on your day-to-day life.