Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Expertly-curated progressive politics, news, and culture produced by leftist humans, not algorithms or AI. This is an award-winning podcast that dives deeply into a wide range of national and international issues facing society and governments. We draw from hundreds of sources of progressive news and commentary. Est. 2006.
Save time by listening to a range of perspectives on a focused topic in each episode and be introduced to new sources you will not have come across on your own!
- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 76 minutes
- Episodes
- 582
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
#1573 Confronting Climate Chaos with Action and Adaptation
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Air Date 7/22/2023
Today, we take a look at the action needed to curb and adapt to the extreme weather that climate change is already deliv…
#TBT #1311 Our Culture and Our Economy are Making Us Depressed (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 10/16/2019
Today we take a look at the literally depressing truth about our economy, our work and the culture that surrounds it. We work too hard to be perfect, we don't get enough…
#1572 Building a circular, sustainable economy for all
Air Date 7/16/2023
Today, we take a look at the problems of overconsumption and some policy solutions for reducing waste through a circular, rather than linear, approach to the economy.
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Bonus Sample #274 The good news is that the end is nigh
Air Date: 7-14-23 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Erin and Deon discuss: - A bad take on smartphones - Eating alone - Lunches of suffering - The failure of Instant Pot
REFERENCES: What Did People Do Before Smar…
#1571 Understanding what we lost with the repeal of affirmative action
Air Date 7/11/2023
Today, we take a look at the history and unceremonious end of affirmative action for college admissions that were an attempt to correct the compounded impact of hundreds of years o…
#1570 The overpopulation debate is more philosophical than empirical
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Air Date 7/8/2023
Today, we take a look at the dubious, ideologically-driven debate between overpopulation being a danger to the futur…
#TBT #1155 Leisure, Desperation or a Reorientation (The Future of Work) (Throwback)
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Original Air Date: 1/2/2018
Today we take a look at a few different visions of what the future holds for our labor market and some policies…
#1569 Winning Progressive Policies with Better Messaging
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Air Date 7/4/2023
Today, we take a look at the difference between the kind of political messaging that feels like the right thing to say an…
Bonus Sample #273 Marriage Proposals
#1495 No One Supports the Economic Interests of Rural America (Repost)
Original Air Date 6/11/2022
Today we take a look at the reasons why Democrats lost rural America and why it's important to make gains outside urban centers through working-class coalitions and a focu…
#1568 The Shifting Landscape of the Religion-Conservative-Political Complex
Air Date 6/25/2023
Today, we take a look at the state of the religious right as declining religiosity and the looming 2024 election put a strain on the movement.
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#TBT #1247 The Fight for the Four Freedoms (FDR vs. Libertarianism) (Throwback)
Original Air Date 2-5-2019
Today we take a look at the history of FDR's "Four Freedoms" and "Economic Bill of Rights" that laid the groundwork for the fight for economic freedom for all that continue…
#1567 How to Sell an Immoral Economic System to the Masses
Air Date 6/20/2023
Today, we take a look at the story of how neoliberalism was born, how corporations were organized to help push it into the mainstream, and how the courts were reshaped to permanent…
Bonus Sample #272 Billionaires Selling the System
Air Date: 6-17-23 Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon discuss: - Hoopy Froods - Other people with diarrhea - The lack of civil engineers to manage the waste water - Neoliberal pay scales of business profe…
#1482 The New Hotness in Scam Culture (Crypto Currency and NFTs)(Repost)
Original Air Date 4/13/2022
Today we take a look at the mainstreaming of crypto and NFTs by celebrity endorsements, why they're terrible by nearly any metric and why they are emblematic of our broken…
#TBT #1333 An Examination of Fear, Anger, Forgiveness and Grace (Also, Mr. Rogers) (Throwback)
Original Air Date 2-2-2020
Today we take a look at the relationship between fear, anger and how to deal with the structural forces of harm in our society. To help us, we examine two of the greatest t…
#1566 Wrestling with Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism
Air Date 6/13/2023
Today, we take a look at the struggle to act ethically, at least by our own measure if there's not a universally-agreed standard to compare with, relating to the purchase of both t…
#1565 Co-Housing Builds Community and Fights Loneliness
Air Date 6/10/2023
Today, we take a look at the emerging trend of various community housing styles people are using to build community, fight loneliness and lighten the load of everyday chores and ta…
#TBT #1243 The story of Socialism in America (Throwback)
Original Air Date 1-22-2019
Today we take a look at socialism in America from our often violent response to the concept in the wake of the Russian Revolution through the recent revival in interest, d…
#1564 How Marketing Has Shaped Our World for the Worse
Air Date 6/6/2023
Today, we take a look at the widespread impact of marketing on culture, consumerism, transportation, food, gender roles, and gun ownership in the United States.
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