Burt Cohen
31 episodes listed below
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Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Bert Cohen connects democratic ideals to the institutions, policies, and power struggles that determine how those ideals operate.
Bert Cohen turns large questions about American democracy into focused guest conversations, pairing a clear progressive viewpoint with a persistent interest in how institutions work.
Eleven rival American cultures enter Bert Cohen's democracy checkup, and your civics textbook starts sweating.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Climate risk is measured here in infrastructure, equity, and who gets protected first.
Climate change comes through here as a policy problem with real stakes, not an abstract warning. The discussion stays close to the Union of Concerned Scientists report, Looming Deadlines for Coastal Resilience, and keeps the focus on coastal infrastructure at risk as water…
Woodard's regional-culture thesis gives the episode its sharpest edge.
The episode leans on Colin Woodard's argument that the United States is shaped by rival regional cultures. Bert Cohen starts from the old promise of one nation indivisible, then moves through Tidewater, early New England, and other regions with different settlers, social…
A serious look at political fracture, capitalism, and the search for common ground.
This episode takes up America's political split and asks whether the founders still offer any shared ground. Bert Cohen keeps circling the gap between what people think and what policy delivers, and Paul Glastris widens that concern into a broader look at decline, alienation,…
A plainspoken look at how media fear shapes what gets said, sold, and silenced.
The episode opens on a blunt civic worry: why a newspaper would walk away from more than $100,000 in ad money. From there, Burt Cohen pushes into media compliance, free-speech talk, algorithmic pressure on X, and the fear that hangs over universities and newsrooms.
A direct case for replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote.
The episode lays out a plain-spoken case against the Electoral College: some votes carry more weight than others, and presidential politics should make every voter matter every time.
A plainspoken case for seeing foreign aid as power, not waste.
This episode makes a plain civic argument against treating USAID as waste. Foreign aid is framed as soft power that works in America's interest, and the piece ties that idea to immediate human cost.
Combative civics for an unstable political moment.
Homespun conservative reactions to public disorder.
Antiwar interviews without institutional politeness.
Georgia politics, climbing fast.
Practical tech, local questions, plain answers.
Campaign mechanics, without the polish.
Bert Cohen opens with a hard question about why some votes matter more than others.
Burt Cohen opens with a simple question: why would a newspaper walk away from an ad worth over $100,000?
Bert Cohen opens with a blunt warning.
Host Burt Cohen interviews Dr.
Historian Colin Woodard discusses his book 'American Nations,' arguing that the U.S.
Host Bert Cohen interviews Paul Glastris, editor-in-chief of The Washington Monthly, about the concept of civic republicanism as a solution to America's political and economic divisions.
George Kennan: the U.S. has 50% of the world's wealth but 6.3% of its population, and must maintain that disparity.
Host Bert Cohen and author Kristen Eberhard of Sightline review reforms after the 2020 election, when over 100 million Americans voted by mail or early.