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
- 75 minutes
- Episodes
- 579
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
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#1293 Debating Democratic Socialism and How to Get There (Repost)
Air Date 7/30/2019
Today we take a look at the ongoing debate about socialism between socialists and non-socialists alike, including discussion of tactical strategies on where to set our goals and ho…
#1404 Democracy Under Siege (Voting and Protest Rights)
Air Date 3/12/2021
Today we take a look at the multiple tactics being implemented in an attempt to undermine the entire concept of democracy because adhering to the will of the majority and allowing …
#1403 The American Empire Gets a Reboot (Foreign Policy Under Biden)
Air Date 3/9/2021
Today we take a look at the current goings on around the world regarding our foreign policy under the new but not-so-new-feeling leadership of Joe Biden. We check in on Iran, Syria,…
#1402 Racism or Classism? Caste Explains that it is Both
Air Date 3/6/2021
Today we take a look at the origins of race and the building of a caste system in the US based largely on the lessons from Isabel Wilkerson, author of "Caste: The Origins of our Dis…
#1283 Native (Mis)Representation
Air Date 6/21/2019
Today we take a look at the ways that Native Peoples are represented in white society and pop culture, how some are working to take back their own narratives and some insight into …
#1401 That is a Texas-Sized Climate Disaster You Got There
Air Date 2/27/2021
Today we take a look at the climate-fueled disaster in Texas from almost every angle; from the strictly scientific to the purely political and all of the disaster capitalism in bet…
#1285 Naked Capitalism has a Fig Leaf (Repost)
Air Date 6/28/2019
Today we take a look at the ways that extreme inequality and many of the worst instincts and repercussions of capitalism are being upheld and perpetuated by our culture of philanth…
#1400 Fighting Neoliberalism from the Fields of India to the Fight for 15
Air Date 2/20/2021
Today we take a look at the fight to create and maintain workable and humane economic and social floors, beneath which people are not allowed to fall. The fetishization of market f…
#1399 Myths are written by the victors, history by the scholars
Air Date 2/16/2021
Today we take a look at the competing histories fighting for dominance in the minds of Americans; the mythologized and romanticized history as represented by the "patriotic" framin…
#1398 The Road to Justice Runs Through Accountability
Air Date 2/13/2021
Today we take a look at the fallout from the January 6th insurrection, the case for impeachment and/or punishment for every single person involved and discussions for why this proc…
#1397 Vaccine Rollout Once Again Exposes the Divide in Our Global Medical Apartheid
Air Date 2/10/2021
Today we take a look at the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the US and around the world. Between White and Black in the US, Israeli and Palestinian in Israel and the Global North a…
#1396 The Platforms of Our Discontent (Social Media, Social Destruction)
Air Date 2/5/2021
Today we take a look at the role that social media plays in the radicalization of discontented communities and engage in the debate over content moderation and de-platforming of ind…
#1318 Why We Cannot Have Nice Things (How Racism Hurts Everyone, Including White People) (Repost)
Air Date 11/12/2019
Today we take a look at some of the ways that conservative policies, willed into existence almost exclusively by white people, measurably hurt people and shorten life expectancies…
#1395 The Arab Spring, Bin Laden Killed, Giffords Shot, Occupy Wall St. and Birtherism (A Look Back at 2011)
Air Date 1/31/2021
Today we take a look back at the year 2011 in our annual 10-years-past retrospective to see what we may learn. 2010 was an enormous year of news which included the death of Osama B…
#1394 White Terrorism and Willful Ignorance
Air Date 1/26/2021
Today we take a look at our long history of ignoring domestic, right-wing terrorism from the Oklahoma City bombing through to the predictable actions of militia groups in 2020 and …
#1261 Profitable Extremism (How Social Media Propagates Hate) (Repost)
Air Date 4/2/2019
Today we take a look at the so-called "Algorithms of Oppression." Not that they're made to be that way on purpose but that it is a natural outcome of a profit-based system that ince…
#1393 Opportunists, Enablers and Seditionists, the Rot at the Heart of the GOP
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Air Date 1/19/2021
Today we take a look…
#1392 The Coup Klux Klan and the January 6 Insurrection
Air Date 1/16/2021
Today we take a look at the underlying fears and motivations for the insurrection that go beyond the Big Lie™ of a stolen election to the bedrock of white supremacy that has driven…