On this edition of Parallax Views, we’re joined in the first segment of the program by David Marchick, co-author with Alexander Tippett (and A.J. Wilson), of The Peaceful Transfer of Power: An Oral History of America’s Presidential Transitions. After the chaos of the Trump-Biden transition and the ugly insurrection on the Capitol that came with it many are more interested in how Presidential transitions work and how smooth, peaceful transitions are accomplished. Additionally, many would like to ensure that future transitions are not as chaotic and uncertain as the one that followed the 2020 election. How can that kind of transition be avoided in the future?
In addition to addressing these issues and questions, we will discuss what went wrong with the 2020 transition, the problems with the 2016 transition and the sacking Chris Christie from the Trump transition team, insight Marchick gained from actual participants of Presidential transitions, the smooth transition from Bush to Obama during the 2008 financial crisis, the transition from Gerald Ford to Jimmy Carter, the most turbulent Presidential transitions like the James Buchanan to Abraham Lincoln transition and the Herbert Hoover to Franklin Delano Roosevelt transition (Hoover was not a fan of the New Deal), and much, much more!
In the second segment of the program, legendary progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann returns to discuss his new book The Hidden History of Neoliberalism. Thom and I begin by discussing neoliberalism and its origins. We also discuss the free-market libertarian economists that in some way or another bear a connection, in varying degrees, to the ideology such as Milton Friedman, Ludwig Von Mises, and F.A. Hayek. Thom goes over the early neoliberal experiments in the world outside of the U.S., with a particular focus on Chile and the military dictatorship of General Pinochet that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende. Then we dive into how neoliberalism became dominant in the U.S. from the presidencies of Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton. We also look at the impact of neoliberalism on American workers, the crushing of unions in America, the labor movement, and the middle class? And finally, we talk about neoliberalism under Joe Biden, whether the Democratic Party is turning away from neoliberalism, changing views on unions in America and addressing union corruption from decades past (ie: Jimmy Hoffa), FDR and the New Deal era, the Starbucks union organizing wave and Thom’s thoughts on the 2022 midterm elections.
