Episode summary introduction: America’s executive branch is comprised in part by “the bureaucracy,” those agencies which buttress American institutions. Historically, those agencies are led by the most prominent experts in the country, if not the world. Historian Tom Nichol’s book, The Death of Expertise; The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, delves into the crisis of trust in expertise, and the damage done to American institutions by propaganda.

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)

As America slides ever deeper into an authoritarian regime hell-bent on achieving the aims of Project 2025, one Facebook user speaks truth to power through his inspiring post to American citizens, reminding them that non-violent resistance is needed to save democracy.

This episode places the outcome of democracy in the hands of Americans. We are reminded that "this isn't fate, unless we accept it as such," and in this episode find a three-pronged approach to actions for self, community, and broader American institutions under siege.

Episode Music: An Epic Story, by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of sponsors, underwriters, advertisers or guests. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only.

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)

As America poises on the brink of the authoritarian vision posed by Project 2025, pro-democracy citizens must brace for an assault on democratic principles by stewarding themselves. The real work lies ahead in a resistance to the oncoming efforts to dismantle our democracy.

A hero's journey is always fraught with struggles, and this one is no different. In this episode, American Musecast seeks to identify the vision of America that was promised by our founders and framers. What is the America we want to see, and how is it different from what the MAGA movement wants to see? How do we reconcile the two visions into one America?

Together, a new democracy may well emerge under a banner that says, "Yes we can, build back better, because we're not going back."

Episode Music: An Epic Story, by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode Embed:

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of sponsors, underwriters, advertisers or guests. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only.

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)

America is at a crossroads between saving our democracy and a hard right turn toward fascism. Our journey to this crossroads has been of our own making, through a citizenry disinterested, complacent and cynical about our political future. Our inattention has allowed "democratic backsliding" characterized by the erosion of our democratic institutions, restrictions on our civil liberties, a relentless manipulation of electoral processes, attacks on political opponents, a weakening of our rule of law, an over-emphasis on national security, and the erosion of democratic norms.

Our democratic backsliding has left us vulnerable to efforts to concentrate power through the hard right conservative agenda known as Project 2025, authored by the Heritage Foundation and hard right white Christian Nationalist. This episode explores that journey along with the general elements of the plan itself which includes a full-throated demonization of liberals, and a blueprint for dismantling the administrative state. The idea is to weaken, eliminate, or merge key departments of the bureaucracy, and to purge those departments of career professionals unwilling to pledge an oath of loyalty to a conservative president, anticipated by Republicans to be Donald Trump. The plan calls to eliminate all terms related to gender, climate, and diversity, equity and inclusion from any governmental document.

Project 2025 is a 922-page plan for reshaping American society according to their vision, a vision that poses significant risks to democratic norms, equity, and participation, potentially reshaping the political landscape in ways that favor a narrow ideological agenda at the expense of broader democratic values, and this radical emphasis on executive power and reduction of institutional constraints will pave the way for authoritarian practices.

Project 2025 tells us the kind of America conservatives would like to live in, and we can expect this document will remain a relevant handbook regardless of the election outcome. While this episode presents the general outline of Project 2025, upcoming episodes on our American institutions, social issues, and civic structure will include not only their state of health, but their vulnerabilities ripe for exploitation by Project 2025.

Episode Music: An Epic Story, by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode Embed Code:

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)

Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, offers important reflections on the fragility of democratic systems and the rising momentum toward authoritarianism in contemporary politics. Most importantly, it offers citizen tools aimed at fortifying vulnerabilities characteristically targeted by autocrats, dictators, despots and tyrants, each of whom aim at consolidating power for their own ends.

This week looks at the distinction between those terms related to fascism and tyranny. We also look at those elements of the socio-political journey which, among Snyder's lessons lie closer to home, as new habits that we can integrate into our daily lives. In particular, we look at the distinction between public and private lives, at remaining calm when the unthinkable arrives, and being reflective if we must be armed.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century Timothy Snyder. Thorndike Press, 2021.

Interview Clips Used

Episode Music: An Epic Story, by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of sponsors, underwriters, advertisers or guests. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only.

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)

Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century offers important reflections on the fragility of democratic systems and the rising momentum toward authoritarianism in contemporary politics. Most importantly, it offers citizen tools aimed at fortifying vulnerabilities characteristically targeted by autocrats, dictators, despots, and tyrants, each of whom aim at consolidating power for their own ends.

This week, we look at the broader socio-political journey of the first of Snyder's lessons, specifically related to vigilance, the belief in truth, the value of the media, language, ethics, and the defense of institutions.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century Timothy Snyder. Thorndike Press, 2021.

“United States (Ranked 19th).” Legatum Prosperity Index 2023, 27 Feb. 2023, www.prosperity.com/globe/united-states.

Interview Clips Used

Episode Music: An Epic Story, by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of sponsors, underwriters, advertisers or guests. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only.

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)

America needs an engaged and informed citizenry capable of defending democracy, but what if they aren't sure what democracy means? Too many Americans have become disillusioned or disengaged when they encounter confusing concepts amid a fire hose of misguided conspiracies, fact-free opinions and disinformation. In order to grasp the complexities of our political system, it's time to embark on a little “refresher course” of civic vocabulary needed to navigate today’s complex political landscape.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• [06:56] ideology
• [08:43] democracy
• [09:27] oligarchies
• [09:50] autocracies
• [13:46] liberals
• [21:46] the Great Switch
• [22:20] progressives
• [23:30] communism
• [25:10] socialism
• [27:30] conservatives
• [33:20] independents
• [35:40] Libertarians
• [35:10] anarchy
• [36:58] dystopia
• [39:30] fascism

Episode Music: An Epic Story, by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)

As our host, Susan Travis, reports on the fires and floods in her hometown of Ruidoso, New Mexico, the Summer of 2024 roars through its own tumultuous times, and for both, a new normal emerges. This episode is a prelude to Episode 5B: Sorting the Language of Governing, and includes a reading of the poem, "The Naming of Parts," by Henry Reed.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• [00:50] Ruidoso, New Mexico fires
• [02:05] Ruidoso, New Mexico floods
• [11:25] "The Naming of Parts," by Henry Reed

Donations to Ruidoso Fire Victims


Episode Music: An Epic Story, by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Send Susan a one-way text! For a reply, include your name and contact info.

Support the show

The time-honored motif of the hero’s journey, found in narratives of myth, religion, culture, and politics, applies not only to our personal lives, but also to the journey of democracy. Here, at the crossroads of American heroism and depravity, the rule of the people requires our participation lest it slip from our fingers altogether. What does the American quest hold for the future? America’s adventure requires that, as a people, we learn the value of democracy, win newfound integrity, and transform our nation to fulfill its promised liberties. American Musecast speaks as a hopeful guide through civics, current events, and the charms and challenges of our socio-political institutions. (A reminder to like and follow.)