Greatest Hits Archives — Page 17 of 160 — Alternative Radio

Progressive Matters
Ralph Nader
The discontent in the U.S. is more than palpable. Income and wealth inequality continue to soar. The middle class is getting hammered. Fifty million are poor. Americans are disheartened about the nation’s course. According to a new Gallup poll, 82% of voters believe the country is on the wrong track. Another poll from the Associated […]
Making America Healthy Again
Stephen Bezruchka
The U.S. pays more for health care than any other country yet has shamefully poor results. People are paying through the nose for their hospital stays, surgeries and prescription drugs. An MRI in the U.S. costs five times what it costs in Australia. Instead of quality affordable health care we are building absurdly expensive F-35s, […]
There Are Plenty of Opportunities
Noam Chomsky
In the immortal words of Howard Beale, the TV anchor played by Peter Finch, in the classic film Network, “Things are bad, they’re worse than bad. I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore. Things have got to change.” If you are feeling that way you’re not alone. In facing […]
Medical Marijuana
Martin Lee
Marijuana, cannabis, weed, grass, by one name or the other you‘ve heard about it and may have even tried it. An Irish physician, William O’Shaughnessy introduced the therapeutic use of marijuana to Western medicine in the 1830s. He gave it to patients to help treat muscle spasms and stomach cramps. Marijuana as a medicine became common […]
The Shock Doctrine
Naomi Klein
Catastrophes from Katrina to Iraq from Afghanistan to the Asian Tsunami clear the way for corporations to move in and operate in newly privatized zones, pushing local government overboard. Kind of like shock and awe economics. Privatize, privatize, privatize is intoned like a mantra by the economic high priests of neoliberalism. The belief in the […]
State Spying & Other Matters
Noam Chomsky
Chomsky puts the Edward Snowden revelations in the context of historical government spying. “If technology,” he says, “or other means of control and domination are available, then power systems are going to use them.” Chomsky relates the continuities between Bush and Obama in foreign and domestic policies. He examines Obama’s assault on civil liberties and […]
Polarization Can Kill Democracy
Steven Levitsky
It’s axiomatic that political discourse in the U.S. is becoming more and more extreme. There’s even talk of a coup. In textbook coups, martial law is declared. The internet and phones go dead. The opposition is jailed or killed. This is how we think of authoritarian regimes beginning. Yet Steven Levitsky says, “Democracies may die […]
The Wrong People at the Top
Brian Klaas
Power. What is it? Political theorist Robert Dahl gave one example. He said, “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that he would not otherwise do.” Why is it that often that those who are on top are the wrong people? The high rollers and the […]
The Financialization of Housing
Leilani Farha
From Seattle to Toronto, the cost of owning a home is soaring. Rents are no better. Accelerated by neoliberal economic doctrine a paradigm shift in housing has occurred in recent years. There is a growing disconnect between housing as a human right and housing as a financial vehicle for investment. We’ve come a long way […]
Why Privacy Matters
Glenn Greenwald
In democratic societies, some things have long been considered sacrosanct. Such as the right to privacy. Not anymore. It is violated on a routine and systematic basis. States scream: national security or terrorism to justify their expansion of surveillance. In terms of the sheer scope of spying the USA puts the old USSR to shame. […]
How Capitalism Works
Yanis Varoufakis
The latest phase of Capitalism, neoliberalism, has left a train wreck in its wake. It’s produced a new Gilded Age. The gap between theoretical Capitalism and its actual workings is jaw dropping. The chasm is a far cry from the courses in economics taught in colleges and universities. We are told the system relies on […]
Palestine: A Case of Settler Colonialism
Rashid Khalidi
The conflict over Palestine is a century-long war involving a settler-colonial movement–Zionism–which succeeded in forming a national entity–The State of Israel. The term settler colonialism may not be well known but it accurately describes what has happened to multiple regions of the world from Ireland to Canada and from New Zealand to Palestine where indigenous […]

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