Populist Dialogues

Populist Dialogues is Alliance for Democracy's 1/2 hour weekly cable public access program, interviewing individuals on topics such as corporate personhood, and single payer healthcare, money in politics and more. All from a populist progressive perspective.

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Populist Dialogues - 18-04 - The Middle Class Disappears while the Poor Get Poorer and the Rich get Richer and Richer

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We talk with Juan Carlos Ordonez, Communications Director with Oregon Center for Public Policy, about the growing income and wealth gaps between the top 1 and 1/10th percent and the rest of us. As a result of policy decisions in the halls of Congress and our state legislatures, the gap has been growing for the past 40 years. The decline of unions and disinvestment are also major factors. The recent Trump tax ''reform'' makes it even worse.

Populist Dialogues - 18-05 - Racism as a Public Health Crisis

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Leslie Gregory is President and founder of Right2Health and she joins us today to talk about how racism is a causative factor in poor health outcomes for African-Americans.. It is so important that the CDC should recognize it as such and declare it. But it refuses. How do we change the CDC opinion? Leslie feels it is time to stop asking if racism is a factor and to declare that it is so.

Populist Dialogues - 18-02 - Saving the Net and Net Neutrality with Municipal Broadband System

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What do we do when the federal agency charged with protecting the free and open Internet instead attacks it, allowing large corporations to charge more depending on who is providing the content? In Portland OR, citizens have organized to create a municipal broadband system. We talk with Garrett Hour, founder of municipalbroadbandpdx.org, and Russell Senior, Pres. of Personal Telco Project on why Portland OR should create their own system, instead of having to rely on the private IPS mega-corporations.

Populist Dialogues - 17-45 - District Attorneys: They Should Report to You

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With the ever increasing numbers of incarcerated, we need to discuss how we want the criminal justice system to work.Part of that discussion needs to be around one of the least accountable aspects of the system - the District Attorneys. Daniel Lewkow, campaign manager for the Oregon ACLU's:  "They Report to You" campaign, talks about the DA's power and how we can make them accountable. DAs have a lot of power without a lot of oversight. We can change that.

Populist Dialogues - 17-44 - Just Energy Transitions Initiative - how we get to clean energy and just jobs creations

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Guest Anais Tuepker talks about the proposed Portland Just Energy Transition initiative petition for the City of Portland. Noting that environmental groups and communities of color have not in the past worked together, she says that this has been written by a collaboration between them.

Populist Dialogues - 17-43 - Single Payer Health Care - Better Care for More People for Less Money

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Host David Delk talks with Tom Sincic, President of Health Care for All Oregon. Tom details the problem of present for-profit health care insurance model and how it does not serve the interests and needs of people. A single payer system would have quite different results. Single payer means better care, less wasted time, better care, all for less money.

Tom describes efforts at both the state and federals levels to create single payer health care. In Oregon, HCAO is working toward a ballot measure creating a Oregon Single Payer System for the 2020 ballot.

Populist Dialogues - 17-39 - Why the Education System Does Not Meet Needs

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Guest Greg Burrill, peace activist, entrepreneur and educator, talks about the Portland Public Schools and the financing of K-12 education in general in Oregon. Oregon is experiencing a funding crisis due to passage of Measures 5 and 50. Greg talks about what those measures did and continue to do, and how they took us from having a school system which was a national model to one characterized by underfunding and under-achievement.

Populist Dialogues - 17-38 - Friends of Family Farmers v Corporate Farming

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Host David Delk talks with Shari Sirkin, Exec Director of Friends of Family Farmers on what Friends of Family Farmers is and why it was formed and the conflict between family farmers and corporate farms, like mega-dairies. We talk about CSAs - Community Sustained Agriculture as a way for individuals to support local family farmers. CSAs represent a partnership between the eater and the grower.