“I was at Arlington National Cemetery not too long ago. We toured a section of the cemetery and saw the names of the dead that represented every corner of American society. It was upsetting to me because I think a lot of the sacrifices of these men and women has been forgotten. ”
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Why Listen:
No matter what your political affiliation, I’m guessing that you’re pretty upset about our countries state of affairs. In this interview, I talk with Bob Garfield - who, in addition to being one of the world’s foremost podcasters and writers, is also a co-founder for Purple: Project For Democracy. Purple: Project for Democracy is a non-partisan coalition, campaign and movement. They span the breadth of American society to rediscover and recommit to our democratic values.
If you like this interview, be sure to check out BTU #70 - Emily Cherniack: How New Politics is Helping Veterans of Both Parties Run for Office (https://beyondtheuniform.org/blog/btu-70-emily-cherniak-how-new-politics-is-helping-veterans-of-both-parties-run-for-office?rq=emily)
I didn’t have time to read Bob’s bio prior to our interview, so here it is:
Bob Garfield is co-host of public radio’s weekly, Peabody Award-winning On the Media. He is also the founding co-host of Slate’s podcast on language, Lexicon Valley, and Amazon Channels’ The Genius Dialogues. He is the founder of the Media Future Summit, and, on weekends, is on a sporadic national tour with his one-man show, Ruggedly Jewish.
A heroic multi-mediocrity, Bob has been a columnist or contributing editor for the Washington Post Magazine, The Guardian, Advertising Age, Civilization and the op-ed page of USA Today. He has also written for The New York Times, Playboy, Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, Wired and the Mainichi Shimbun and been employed variously by ABC, CBS, CNBC and the defunct FNN as an on-air analyst. As a lecturer and panelist, he has appeared in 37 countries on six continents. He wrote a shitty episode of a short-lived NBC sitcom, Sweet Surrender, and co-wrote a song recorded by Willie Nelson. (Long story.) He is a five-time New York Times worst-selling author. His sixth book, American Manifesto, will be published in early 2020.
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Selected Resources:
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Transcript & Time Stamps:
4:00
Joining me today from Washington, DC is Bob Garfield.You’re about to publish a book. Can you tell us more about that?
The book is called American Manifesto and it will be published on January 14. The book seeks to find out how we got to the spot where we are today where there is so much polarization in our nation’s politics.
I feel that many Americans have given up on democracy itself. A lot of this has to do with technology that has trapped us in bubbles of our own ideology.
7:45
What is the origin story of Purple Project for Democracy?
Originally I was involved in a project called the Media Future Summit. That was an effort to locate sustainable revenue streams for the media sector. In many ways, social media has completely destroyed the ad and revenue model that traditional media channels depended on. That has left these more traditional news outlets on the brink of death. Many magazines and newspapers have closed leaving local governments and school boards completely uncovered by the media. On a local level, a news desert has developed.
Through this project, I met a gentleman named Jerry Wind, who was a professor at Wharton. He felt that there was a significant percentage of Americans that were interested in trying something other than democracy including military rule. That was something that disturbed him and he brought me in to start looking more closely at this issue. That’s how the Purple Project for Democracy was born.
In this project, we are aimed at reminding people about the value and power of democracy. The second phase of this project will come a little bit down the road. It will be an app and website where people can find out about what civic involvement opportunities are available in their community.
15:50
Do you have any advice about how people with differing political views can come together to have a productive dialogue?
It can be a land mine. But it’s so important that we have these conversations.
At Purple People for Democracy, we work with organizational partners that are spread across the political spectrum. It’s all about reawakening a shared sense of purpose.
I challenge people to go to Thanksgiving dinner this year and devote some time with family to discuss democracy and shared values. We have more information on our website about conversation starters and games you can play.
I also encourage parents to cultivate leadership in your children. This is important because they will be leading our country some day.
22:00
What is the common ground that Americans share?
We are speaking today on November 11th. I was at Arlington National Cemetery not too long ago. We toured a section of the cemetery and saw the names of the dead that represented every corner of American society. It was upsetting to me because I think a lot of the sacrifices of these men and women has been forgotten.
What we all have in common is the American values that are everlasting. I think as a society we’ve kind of forgotten about a lot of these values. We take freedom for granted.
Our goal at Purple People for Democracy is to bring those values back into focus.
26:50
How can listeners get involved?
I encourage listeners to go to our website. There are all kinds of resources there. We offer a list of 76 things people can do to get involved in democracy in their community.
On our website we also offer videos that offer an alternate American reality in which the United States is run by a dictator.
At the national level, we are seeing a tremendous amount of political gridlock. But at the local and state level, democracy works incredibly well. In town halls and courthouses across the country, everything is working just fine. There are places where corruption exists, but that’s the exception.
A lot of people think our nation’s politics are hopeless. But especially at the local level, you can see that democracy is our nation’s lifeblood. It’s up to our nation’s people to make sure that continues into the future.
37:40
What role does the media play in democracy?
You don’t have to go to Nazi Germany to understand the important role the media plays in democracy. You just have to go to Bell, California. It’s a working class suburb outside of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times stopped covering the town long ago because it was too far outside of the city. Overall, Bell got very little media coverage.
Over a period of 5-7 years, the Bell City Council was awarding itself enormous salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. It was the taxpayer that was paying for those salaries. And because there was such little media coverage, nobody really knew it was happening. The media is in the fault finding business. A major role media plays is being a government watchdog.
47:30
I really appreciate your call to action for Americans to be civically involved.
Particularly in the veteran community, I can’t think of anybody that is more qualified to be a leader in their community and in the government.
48:50
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
We picked the color purple because it’s non-partisan. We work with people and organizations from all political perspectives.
I myself am very liberal. I would suspect that much of your audience is more conservative. But there is no difference between us. We all believe in democracy as a superior political system. It’s about shared values.