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News and shows about the progressive, democratic populist rebellion from former Texas Ag Commissioner and NYT best-selling author Jim Hightower.
ProGov21 is excited to announce the launch of our ProGov Podcast- a resource used to discuss progressive local policies with organizations across the United States. In this podcast, we discuss various policy topics, including transportation, housing, finance, the environment, voting, and many others. Join us to learn more about progressive policy initiatives and the changemakers behind them.
Veteran journalist Bill Moyers returns to PBS with Bill Moyers Journal, a weekly program of interviews and news analysis on a wide range of subjects, including politics, arts and culture, the media, the economy, and issues facing democracy.
Green Festival Radio presents an ongoing series of keynote speeches given at the worlds largest sustainability event, the Green Festival. Speakers at Green Festival are articulate, powerful advocates for a just and sustainable planet. From authors and filmmakers to politicians, musicians and scientists, these renowned individuals inspire packed audiences with their expertise—one of the most compelling draws to Green Festival since 2002. Green Festival is a joint project of Global Exchange an ...
21st Century Democrats is proud to bring you AmericasDemocrats.org, the weekly netcast for stand-up Democrats that explores progressive perspectives on public policy, economic debates, foreign affairs and national politics. With regular contributors who include Texan populist Jim Hightower and provocative media commentator Bill Press, AmericasDemocrats.org seeks to become a salon of the nation’s most prominent Democrats. We're all about giving progressive Democrats tools you need to fight ba ...
Exciting News, people: Utopia is on the rise! Space Commander Elon Musk has announced that His Magnificence (ie, him) intends to construct his very own private town on 3,500 acres of farmland near his new Tesla plant southeast of Austin, Texas. More than a town, Musk explains that he will create utopia in Texas, promising an “ecological paradise” w…
Profiteering is always bad, but there are degrees of profiteer. Level 1 includes your everyday price gougers, like banks and airlines. At Level 2, you’ll find the more demonic outfits like loan sharks and for-profit college hucksters. Then top of the heap at Level 3, you’ll find Eli Lilly. This $288 billion drug making colossus is America’s primary…
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Jim Hightower's Lowdown
Not so long ago, book burnings were considered a festive group activity by assorted right-wing zealots. Today, though, burning seems so old-fashioned, and well… crude. Yet, the concept is burning hotter than ever among a gaggle of testosterone-driven Republican leaders eager to show voters that they will go to extremes to incinerate progressive ide…
Obviously, the main social problem in America is that Black people run everything and us white folks as a group just can’t get a fair break, right? So says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. As a lifelong white Texan, I can’t tell you how “amazing” it is to see our governor, come out unapologetically for a return to old-time institutional bigotry. Absolutely …
Many of today’s right-wing governors and state legislators have a problem. By constantly pushing an extremist ideological agenda of nonsense about nutty conspiracy theories – while imposing autocratic laws to ban everything from voting to library books – they’ve become widely ridiculed as some combo of kooky, clownish, and embarrassingly corrupt. T…
Photo: Paula R. Lively on Flickr “The Wreck of the Old Ninety-Seven” is a classic bluegrass song recounting a spectacular train crash in 1903, caused by the company’s demand that the engineer speed down a dangerous track to deliver cargo on time. One hundred twenty years later we have the “Wreck of the Norfolk Southern” – a devastating crash caused…
Photo by Andrew Karn on Unsplash Stuff happens, right? I mean, who could’ve thought that in these modern times of digital monitoring of everything, something as massive as a freight train could become a toxic fireball rolling undetected and unslowed into an Ohio town? But a Norfolk Southern train did just that, derailing in East Palestine and conta…
Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash Your doctor is out and unable to see you now. Not out for lunch or out on vacation -- but out of medical practice. America’s perverse health care system, which sublimates care to the profiteering demands of Wall Street speculators who essentially own today’s system, has been driving out hordes of nurses, pharmaci…
Photo: NYSNA No one needs another outrage to worry about, but here’s one that could literally be your last worry. Our hospitals are killing us. Not that the staffers are going room to room snuffing our patients, of course, but hospital owners and top executives are nonetheless killing thousands of ill Americans entrusted to their care. They are doi…
There are industries that occasionally do something rotten. And there are industries like Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Big Tobacco – that persistently do rotten things. Then there is the nursing home industry – where rottenness has become a core business principle. The end-of-life “experience” can be rotten enough on its own, with an assortment of natu…
Please be my Valentine! That is not only a warm, sweet, sometimes romantic sentiment people express in mid-February on a frilly, red card. It’s also the name of a third-century saint who literally lost his head, a ninth-century pope whose reign lasted only 40 days, three Roman emperors, a very good Mexican hot sauce… and a tiny town in Texas. That …
Why would anyone believe anything that a big corporation tells us? Corporate powers use lies as a core element of their business strategy. I’m not even counting the tsunami of polished, poll-tested li… Read moreBy Jim Hightower
People are baffled by the surreal saga of George Santos, the bizarre Republican congress critter who is a bottomless sink hole of lies. How could he think that he, a highly visible public figure, cou… Read moreBy Jim Hightower
An old political saying notes that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. However, given the proliferation of today’s goofball culture wars and fanatical r… Read moreBy Jim Hightower
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The ProGov Podcast
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Racial Equity Tools with the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE)
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Gordon Goodwin, Senior Director of GARE, joined the ProGov Podcast to talk about GARE's Racial Equity Toolkit and the importance of incorporating racial equity tools into local decision making. Listen in to learn more. Read GARE's Racial Equity Toolkit here.
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America's Democrats
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Rebuilding our nation’s manufacturing muscle.
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Rebuilding our nation’s manufacturing muscle. The supply chain is in the news lately, with most stories about it focusing on the end results for consumers. But how can government look out for the interests of American manufacturing workers in a way that protects their rights while strengthening domestic manufacturing? This week, we talk to two expe…
The legacy of Woody Guthrie Ten years later, we revisit a show celebrating the Centennial of the birth of Woody Guthrie with interviews from Pete Seeger and former Senator Fred Harris. Pete Seeger Our first guest today was a truly great American, perhaps the leading progressive icon of our times. In honor of the centennial of the birth of Woody Gut…
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America's Democrats
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Building infrastructure that is just and sustainable.
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Building infrastructure that is just and sustainable. Bill Press on flight attendants facing airline violence. Kevin DeGood on the impact infrastructure projects can have on the goals of opportunity, equity, and sustainability. Plus Bill Press with Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants. Kevin DeGood Kevin DeGood says the re…
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The ProGov Podcast
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Good Governance Policy with Government Performance Action & Learning (GPAL)
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Joel Rogers, Co-Founder of Government Performance Action & Learning (GPAL), and Michelle Kobayashi, the Senior VP of Innovation at Polco, joined the ProGov Podcast to talk about the use of data to evaluate government performance and how GPAL can be an asset to cities looking to improve the quality of life for their residents.…
Why do we need a billionaire’s tax? Frank Clemente is Executive Director at Americans For Tax Fairness. Frank Clemente A Billionaire’s Tax could fund many policy objectives, including universal preschool, paid family leave, expanded Medicare services, making increased child tax credits permanent, and new policies to address climate change. Jim High…
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America's Democrats
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#516 : Why it matters to have a Native American cabinet secretary.
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America's Democrats
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A powerful history of workers’ strikes in America.
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A powerful history of workers’ strikes in America. How unions will shape the future of democracy. Eric Loomis Historian Eric Loomis says if we truly want to understand the history of labor movements in the United States, look to the moments when workers went on strike. Loomis reminds us of the powerful change that can happen when workers are willin…
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America's Democrats
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Confronting the threat of right-wing extremism.
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Confronting the threat of right-wing extremism. Alexandra Minna Stern on the changing face of America’s far right. Michael Koncewicz on why Trump’s impeachment was a different kind of challenge for Republicans than Nixon’s. Plus Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone tells Bill Press why He is speaking out against political violence and those w…
The origins and legacy of the New Deal Terry Golway tells us how the Irish political machine known as Tammany Hall became the forerunner of the New Deal. Historian Harvey Kaye reminds us of FDR’s Four Freedoms speech and the legacy that remains unfulfilled. Terry Golway Tammany Hall no longer exists, but when it did, the New York political machine …
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The ProGov Podcast
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Food Policy and the Rights of Nature with Jim Hightower
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Jim Hightower, former Texas Agriculture Commissioner, national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and New York Times best-selling author, joined the ProGov Podcast to discuss local food policy, monopolies, and the rights of nature. Listen in to learn what local governments and grassroots organizations can do to safeguard our local food syst…
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America's Democrats
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Fixing the “Infrastructure Week” punchline.
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Former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich on his battle to save the city’s public electric utility. Julie Kohn on lessons learned from the Texas power grid failure. Dennis Kucinich In his new memoir, Dennis Kucinich writes about how he took on powerful interests to save a public utility. That happened over forty years ago, but the story still carries …
Can unions save democracy? Author and organizer Jane McAlevey on her new book, A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy. Plus, the millionaires who want to pay more taxes, not less. Jane McAlevey Pt. 1 At a time when workers are under attack at historic levels, strikes are making a comeback. In that, Jane McAlevey sees …
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America's Democrats
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The complicated relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and LBJ
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The complicated relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and LBJ Two historians of the civil rights movement assess the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Julian Zelizer Julian Zelizer is a Princeton scholar of Lyndon Johnson as well as the civil rights movement. He says civil rights activism is no longer as organized or coherent as it was…
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America's Democrats
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How Democrats forgot about state politics
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How Democrats forgot about state politics Professor Theda Skocpol explains how the Democrats ceded control of state government to Republicans. Theda Skocpol Government professor Theda Skocpol says Democrats think the presidency is the biggest political prize and, unfortunately, ignore politics at the state level. Jim Hightower The Virginia Model La…
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The ProGov Podcast
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Home Rule and Preemption with National League of Cities (NLC)
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Christine Baker-Smith and Julia Bauer from National League of Cities joined the ProGov Podcast to talk about local-level home rule and preemption policy and their "Principles of Home Rule for the 21st Century" report. Listen in to learn how local governments can protect their governing powers and fend off state preemption.…
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America's Democrats
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The powerful influence of Lady Bird Johnson.
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The powerful influence of Lady Bird Johnson. Julia Sweig on her book Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight. Her political acumen was key in guiding the Johnson administration through the turbulent times after John F Kennedy’s assasination. Julia Sweig In her biography of Lady Bird Johnson, Julia Sweig reveals the unappreciated impact of a remark…
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America's Democrats
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Rebuilding the middle class with shared prosperity.
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Jim Tankersley on the untold story of America’s middle class and why it matters now. Jim Tankersley Jim Tankersley’s newest book reveals the crucial role women and minorities played in building the post-war middle class. He says it’s an untold story that offers an essential roadmap to reviving the Golden Era of America’s middle class by making it p…
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America's Democrats
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Keeping up the fight against voter suppression.
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Keeping up the fight against voter suppression. Jorge Vasquez, Jr. on why he will continue to fight against voter suppression. Jorge L. Vasquez, Jr. Jorge L. Vasquez, Jr. is a long-time advocate for voting rights. He says that even with record turnout in the November election, there is still a long way to go before voter suppression is a thing of t…
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America's Democrats
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Another Labor Day, but what’s to celebrate?
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Professor Gordon Lafer says issues like the minimum wage, a living wage and paid sick days are winning issues politically and progressive candidates should call out big business – and win. Service Employees International Union leader David Rolf takes us through the increasingly successful fight for a 15-dollar an hour minimum wage. Gordon Lafer As …
Sam Berger of the Center for American Progress draws the parallels between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, and asks us to take a lesson from how the nation recovered from Watergate. Karen Hobert Flynn, the President of Common Cause, explains why a national popular vote is a better way to pick the next president. Sam Berger In the wake of Watergate,…
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The ProGov Podcast
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Equity Metrics and Energy Efficiency Programs with the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP)
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Erin Cosgrove from the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) joined the ProGov Podcast to discuss equity metrics in energy efficiency programs and NEEP's new report: Centering Equity with Metrics: How to Incorporate Equity and Justice in Evaluation, Measurement, and Verification. Listen in to learn more about NEEP, their new report, and h…
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America's Democrats
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The destructive influence of “dark money” in campaign finance.
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The destructive influence of “dark money” in campaign finance. The truth on how American elections are bought and sold. Plus, Fred Wertheimer and the movement to restore ethics and integrity to government. Kimberly Reed Kimberly Reed’s film, “Dark Money”, is a powerful expose of the influence of anonymous donors in political campaigns. She says gro…
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America's Democrats
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Why we desperately need the climate legislation in the Inflation Reduction Act
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It’s a new day in the climate battle that can only be fought by believing we can still make a difference. Michael Mann Climate scientist Michael Mann has achieved fame for his work in proving climate change is happening. He says that even as we move past climate denialism, the battle over how to take action against global warming is as urgent as ev…
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America's Democrats
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Echoes from the Camelot era of American politics.
1:00:43
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Lessons we learned from the Kennedys, and what they can teach us about today’s political climate. Richard Kahlenberg Robert Kennedy ran an economically populist campaign that reached across America’s deep racial divide. Richard Kahlenberg says his legacy matters now more than ever. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend In one of our first interviews recorded f…
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America's Democrats
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The New Left and the progressive movement
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The past, present and future of progressives in the Senate. Senator Sherrod Brown on his book Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America. Sherrod Brown Senator Sherrod Brown’s most recent book offers a timely history of 20th-century American progressivism. Along the way he makes a compelling case to believe in the future of the Progres…
Raise the minimum wage. Revisiting some of the conversations we have had about raising the minimum wage. David Cooper Progressive Democrats have made raising the minimum wage a priority for the new administration. And for a good reason. David Cooper says a $15 minimum wage would lift pay for tens of millions of workers and help reverse decades of g…
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The ProGov Podcast
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The Child Care Compensation Crisis with the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE)
45:24
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Annie Dade and Wanzi Muruvi from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment joined the ProGov Podcast to discuss how states are tackling the child care compensation crisis. Read CSCCE's recent report "The American Rescue Plan: Recommendations for Addressing Early Educator Compensation and Supports" here. Read CSCCE's recent blog post on "How…
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America's Democrats
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The religious right’s rise to political power
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The religious right’s rise to political power We take a look back at how the religious right and the white nationalist movement took over the Republican party. Katherine Stewart Katherine Stewart’s explores the rise of the religious right in America and its vast reach into American politics. She warns that the end result is fundamentally anti-democ…
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America's Democrats
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The one thing Trump manufactured successfully… “Former Republicans”
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The one thing Trump manufactured successfully… “Former Republicans” Revisiting our interview with Author Rick WIlson on his book “Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever.” Rick Wilson The presidency of Donald Trump has brought discord to a party known for its political discipline as critics wi…
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The ProGov Podcast
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Campaign Finance and Democracy Vouchers with Nick Licata
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Nick Licata, former Seattle City Council member, joined the ProGov Podcast to talk about campaign finance reform and the Seattle Democracy Voucher Program. Listen in to learn more about what local jurisdictions can do to protect election integrity and empower residents to engage in the democratic process.…
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America's Democrats
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Confronting Climate and Economic disaster head-on.
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Environmental initiatives are often smeared as being anti-labor, while unions are often painted as anti-clean energy. Neither is necessarily true—in fact, the fights for climate and economic justice are deeply intertwined. Wallace Mazon Activist Wallace Mazon says the fight for good jobs has to go hand in hand with the fight against climate change.…
Protecting America’s Future. Children are not allowed to vote, but they have the most vested interest in America’s future. Today we hear from experts about how the way complex political fights affect minors and what can be done about them. Simon Workman Simon Workman works on policy solutions that will improve the lives of children. It’s an issue, …
The trap of poverty wages. According to researchers, the number of Americans living at or near the poverty line has risen sharply since the beginning of the pandemic. This week, we hear from experts about the plight of poverty-wage workers around the world and the best strategies for combatting those conditions at home. Annelise Orleck Historian An…
A minimum and maximum wage. The minimum wage often stands in for a variety of different workers-rights issues in political debates. This week we dig into how minimum wage laws can function as part of a broader social agenda—and study their direct, and incredibly intriguing opposite. Janelle Jones Economic analyst Janelle Jones says a higher minimum…
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America's Democrats
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Teachers at the front line of progressive politics.
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Teachers at the front line of progressive politics. How a wave of teachers strikes in red state America is changing the political landscape. Education advocate Jeff Bryant tells us why a record number of educators are running for office, and what they want. Eric Blanc In 2018, in some of the reddest states in our nation, teachers led a series of wa…
