The Democratic Constitution Podcast

“No legislative assembly ever debated constitutional issues more thoroughly and more loudly and more angrily than the French National Assembly of 1789 to 1791. Imagine a group of 1,200 people meeting in a hall with no amplification equipment, shouting at each other and trying to work out the details of the Constitution.”Luke talks with Professor Jeremy Popkin, author of several books on the French Revolution, including A Short History of the French Revolution, A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution, and The First Emancipation: The Forgotten History of Abolition in Revolutionary France. They discuss constitutional debates during the Revolution; state intervention in the economy and Babeuf’s communism; Thomas Paine’s insistence on the importance of equal suffrage in the face of the Thermidorian Reaction; the continuities between 1793, 1848, and 1871; the Revolution’s international repercussions, including its impact on slavery in the French colonies; and Herbert Marcuse’s course on “Social Philosophy.”It takes a lot of work to plan, record, and edit each episode. If you enjoy these conversations with guests like Professor Popkin, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Your support is the motivation we need to keep going.

“The poorest he that is in England hath a right to live as the greatest he” - Col. Thomas Rainborowe, Leveller. In this episode, I speak with Geoffrey Robertson, an English barrister, historian, and the author of several works on the English Civil War and the Levellers, including The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man who sent Charles I to the Scaffold, and the introduction to Verso books’ The Putney Debates. We’ve published blog articles on the Levellers (here and here), and they have come up in many other conversations, particularly with Gil Schaeffer and around our reader, Equal Human and Political Rights and Democratic Republicanism, but this is the first time I’ve had a guest dedicated to the topic. So much has been written about the Levellers and the English Civil War more generally. Besides Geoffrey’s work, I’d recommend John Rees’ The Leveller Revolution, Anna Keay’s The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown, and a much older collection of Leveller documents called Leveller Manifestoes of the Puritan Revolution—especially the introduction. The foreword to that book was written by Charles Beard, who folks might remember from our conversation with Clyde Barrow. It’s a fun demonstration of how these ideas and thinkers all connect.

The hubbub surrounding McConnell, Platner, and Graham stems from the undemocratic Senate, argues Steven Raney.In a democratic political system, McConnell and Graham would be historical footnotes, and their life’s work would be nothing. But thanks to the radically anti-egalitarian Senate, a President who lost the popular vote (who they helped shield from meaningful consequences for trying to remain in power by force), and an unelected and unaccountable Supreme Court they helped shape, McConnell and Graham enjoyed more than a decade of free rein to remake the world according to their designs. Hundreds of millions of people across the globe live tangibly worse lives as a result."

“We don’t need two legislatures to enact a piece of legislation. You want to have representation? Create an assembly of people who can faithfully represent the people and let them deliberate about whatever legislation they have in mind and let them make their own decisions. You’d need someone across the hall saying ‘No, the people can’t do that… the people are dangerous.’” Luke talks with John Mulkins, creator and host of the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast. Luke and John share how they each came to fight for a democratic constitution, the necessity of ideological and strategic leadership, and what will be important to keep in mind in the many struggles ahead. John also shares the knowledge he has gained through his podcast, and how he approached the work of educating the public. It takes a lot of work to plan, record, and edit each episode. If you enjoy these conversations with guests like John, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Your support is the motivation we need to keep going.

“The bourgeoisie has fought democracy for the last 230 years, because democracy would be the transfer of power into the hands of the majority. And the explanation of why all of the other parts of the minimum program are so hard to achieve is because we don’t make the laws… the conquest of political power is key.” Lucas and Luke talk with Gil Schaeffer, a frequent podcast guest and blog contributor. Gil’s most recent article is “Political Slavery and Modern Democratic Constitutions,” in which he engages with Mike Macnair’s comments on constitutions and universal and equal rights. Here, Gil talks about DSA’s new Workers Deserve More program and the explosion of discourse around abolishing the Senate. Thanks in no small part to Marxist Unity Group, DSA is slowly (and fitfully) positioning itself at the vanguard of the struggle for a democratic constitution. Gil also discusses the lessons we should draw from the Chartists, the US Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement; why and how we should rethink the traditional Marxist minimum-maximum program; and the conjuncture of multiple crises, including the end of Medicare and the ballooning cost of the war with Iran. It takes a lot of work to plan, record, and edit each episode. If you enjoy these conversations with Gil and our other guests, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Your support is the motivation we need to keep going.

“The lack of democracy in this country and the broader problems with capitalism and the rise of Trumpism were all tied together. I think it’s hard to understand why so much of the country supported Trump, including large parts of the working class, unless you look at the democratic deficit of this country and the lack of a multi-party system, lack of real political alternatives, and the way that Bernie was sort of shunted aside.” Lucas and Luke talk with Zach and Elliot, authors of the recent Jacobin article, “How to Democratize the United States,” which presents a four-point program for reshaping our political terrain. The conversation touches on why folks should think twice before putting faith in the federal courts as a bulwark of democracy, where the Constitution fits into the democratization program, what Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) can do to further a democratization program, the impact of the Bernie Sanders campaign, Majority Speaker Mike Johnson’s concerns about DSA’s program, and why so many Americans—including some law students—are ready for a change. Luke mentions several other interviews, including with labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan and DSA congressional candidate Oliver Larkin.

“The whole issue of Reconstruction for Douglass… the whole idea of being able to vote was huge. So what if you’re a black person able to vote, but your vote is now so diluted into white majority districts that your vote doesn’t matter? It’s kind of like you are back to some of the issues that people were arguing about in the Reconstruction period.” Robert Levine joins the podcast to talk about his 2021 book, The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Topics include Douglass’s relationship to other radical republicans; Johnson’s inconsistencies, idiosyncrasies, and plan for presidential restoration as opposed to reconstruction; Johnson and Douglass as historical narrators of varying credibility; Johnson’s impeachment, including the restrictions placed on the impeachment process by Article II; and the contemporary relevance of Douglass’s “Sources of Danger to the Republic,” a rousing critique of presidential powers under the existing Constitution. During the interview with Robert, I mention a different episode with August Nimtz about Douglass. I also used “Sources of Danger to the Republic” in a recent post about what it might mean to finish Reconstruction. The image for this episode is a drawing of Thaddeus Stevens announcing the impeachment of Andrew Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act.

“I think the Constitution is fatally flawed. And I think that the kind of reconstruction that’s required needs to get back to the kind of things that the radical Republicans couldn’t finish.”Historian Tad Stoermer returns to the podcast to talk about his new book, A Resistance History of the United States. We talk about the audience Tad had in mind for his book, the conversations he’s had about his work, and what a resistance history might offer a hypothetical member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). We also discuss questions of political culture versus political structure, the Confederacy and Reconstruction as a “hot topic,” the need for a democratic constitution, the late historian Gordon S. Wood, and why Tad thinks that “containment is complete.” Tad mentions David Waldstreicher’s reflection on Wood’s life and work. We spoke with David about slavery and the Constitution. Tad was last on the show to discuss public history and political myths, among other topics. The image used for this episode is a map of the Underground Railroad.

This year is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and its proclamation that all men are created equal; that they have unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and that they have the right to establish governments to secure these rights. Trump and the Republicans have been wrapping themselves in the flag and claiming they are upholding these principles. The Democrats are also wrapping themselves in the flag and claiming only they can defend us against Trump by upholding the Constitution. Of course, neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party is interested in universal and equal rights or a government and economy created of, by, and for the people.I explored the context, contradictions, influence, & contemporary significance of the Declaration’s assertion of universal and equal human and political rights. I argued that this assertion was and still is revolutionary because our Constitution denies equal suffrage. Attendees were encouraged to read my article (since paywalled on Jacobin but available here) on the 4th of July, excerpts from Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?,” and excerpts from Eugene Debs’s 1901 Independence Day Address.

"What Would it Mean to Finish Reconstruction?" By Luke Pickrell. Original article here.

“If we want to understand Black people’s demands for the rights that America denied them, we must pay more attention to how they talked about and used the rights that were not denied them—the associational privileges and common-law civil rights they had been exercising for generations in county clerks’ offices and church basements—rights of everyday use.”Dylan Penningroth joins the podcast to talk about his recent book, Before the Movement: The Hidden History of the Black Civil Rights. We explore the many ways Black people understood and navigated the law across different periods of U.S. history, including slavery, Reconstruction, and the civil rights era. We also discuss the rights exercised—and the abuses endured—by free Black people before the Civil War; why some organizations, like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), made strategic use of incorporation laws while others, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), did not; and what the struggle for rights can teach us today, including about contemporary Black conservatism and opportunistic uses of race. The photo above shows Freedom Summer volunteers and locals canvassing in Mississippi in 1964.

“There’s a tradition of these rights being claimed by groups who were excluded and who they weren’t originally intended for, because they have that possibility inherent to them, which is the idea of universal equality and universal freedom.” Dr. Guy Aitchison joins the Democratic Constitution Podcast to talk about his 2020 article, “Popular Resistance and the Idea of Rights,” in which he argues for the role of rights as a vocabulary of political critique and struggle. Our conversation touches the neo-republican conception of rights, rights claims as speech acts and forms of communication, the importance of “moral rights,” and the Declaration of Independence. Listeners may find some of the themes familiar, including C.B. Macpherson’s concept of possessive individualism—discussed both in our reader on universal and equal human rights and in my interview with Matt McManus—as well as the history of the Levellers, which I explored in a recent article. Gil Schaeffer’s recent article argues for the radicality of the Declaration of Independence’s invocation of universal and equal rights. I make the same argument here. The photo for this week’s episode is from a 1964 demonstration in Atlantic City in support of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

“Beard resigned and wrote a very scathing letter of resignation, which is still read today. But he was such a beloved figure at Columbia, he actually provoked several days of protests and riots on the campus, of students demanding that he return and not be subject to this inquisition, and several other prominent faculty resigned right in his wake as well because of it.”Clyde Barrow returns to the podcast to talk about Charles Beard, the subject of his 2000 book, More Than a Historian: The Political and Economic Thought of Charles A. Beard. Beard was one of the foremost American intellectuals of the 20th century, and the author of several important books, including An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Clyde discusses the state of constitutional critique during the early 20th century and Beard’s place within it; Beard’s analysis of judicial review and checks and balances; his relationship with the English Labour Party, the German Social Democratic Party, FDR, and the New Deal Democrats; and why Beard should be understood as a socialist but not a Marxist. I last spoke with Clyde about the radical sociologist C. Wright Mills.

“The argument about the absence of democracy is powerful in one way at the workplace. But it is also powerful in another way, in the general community, where it ought to be pushed much, much harder.”This is my conversation with Richard D. Wolff, a longtime economics professor and host of Economic Update, one of the many programs affiliated with Democracy at Work. Richard and I discuss the lack of democracy in the United States, the need for a new constitution, and why the left should be talking more about both. We also discuss Wolff’s political development, Marxist economics, tariff policy, and the Trump administration’s continued killings in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

This is the recording of my presentation to East Bay DSA about Reconstruction and Radical Republicanism. Apologies for the rough audio quality.

"The Voting Rights Rollback Shows We Need a New Constitution." Originally published on Jacobin on May 6, 2026.

“America is not a democracy, which means we’re being ruled by a small elite. That is just unacceptable. I think that’s the fundamental basis of a political movement in this country. Everyone knows how much power corporations have. They are the elite, and they keep their power by force. They have the power of laws and the police. Well, democracy says someone else is going to control those laws and police.” “People have been fighting for democracy for a long time. And so the Paine quote—if you don’t have an equal vote, you are a political slave—you are under the domination of a minority. You don’t have equal freedom. Now that was a powerful idea, and it’s still a powerful idea.” “Lenin’s theory of political agitation is central. He had a theory of mass psychology. You expose the unjust treatment in any part of society and demand that the government not be autocratic, that it be democratic. That’s the message.”In this episode, I talk with Gil Schaeffer, the author of many blog articles, including “The Declaration of Independence and Finishing Reconstruction.” We talk about Marx’s claim of an intrinsic connection between individual liberty and private property, and why, in fact, the tie between liberty and private property in the Rights of Man was only contingent; what’s lost by failing to embrace rights talk; the importance of Tom Paine’s Dissertation on the Principle of Government; the difference between fighting for the Principle of a democratic republic and establishing and securing a democratic republic; Lenin’s theory of political agitation; and where DSA and Marxist Unity Group fits into the conversation. Gil mentioned two articles by Mike Macnair—“Modern ancient constitutions” and “For a minimum program!”—as well as the Equal Human and Political Rights and Democratic Republicanism reader and his article in Cosmonaut about Lenin’s class point of view. He also mentioned Richard N. Hunt’s introduction to Marx and Engels and the July 4 Mobilization Against Genocide. I read from MUG’s Points of Unity and mentioned a recent blog article about the Black Panther Party’s constitutional convention in 1970.

In this episode, I talk with August Nimtz, the author of several books, including Marx and Engels: Their Contribution to the Democratic Breakthrough, The Ballot, The Street—Or Both?, and The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution: Comparing Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass in Real-Time. August covers a wide range of topics, including Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Frederick Douglass’s connections to the British Chartist movement; Douglass as a revolutionary liberal during the Civil War and where his thinking intersected with and diverged from Marx and Engels; the relevance of Martin Luther King Jr.; the distinction between bourgeois and democratic republics; and the demand for a democratic constitution in the United States.

In this episode, I talk with Beau J. Baumann, a legal scholar and the author of the recent article “What Would a Russell Vought of the Left Look Like?” Beau dives into the article, discussing Russell Vought’s influence within the Trump administration and his executive-focused constitutional vision. He also discusses the legacy of the New Deal in the US political imagination, the limits of the Democratic Party, the relevance of the Reconstruction period, and the conversations taking place within (along with the value of) the Labor and Political Economy (LPE) Project. We also bring in Beau’s recent blog post, “The Aftermath.”

In this episode, I talk with Oliver Larkin, an activist, union organizer, and Democratic Socialist running for Congress in Florida’s 23rd District against Jared Moskowitz. Oliver’s campaign website is here.Oliver and I discuss the details of his campaign, including what it means to run as a proud Democratic Socialist and member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). We also talk about Florida’s “democracy crisis” and how it mirrors nationwide issues connected to the undemocratic Constitution, the history of Reconstruction and other struggles for universal and equal rights, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (and Tom Paine’s Common Sense), and standing true to one’s principles and convictions when the going gets tough.

In this episode, I talk with Clyde Barrow, a professor of political science and the author of several works, including a recent Jacobin article, “Reading C. Wright Mills in the Age of Trump.” I wanted to talk with Clyde about Mills, including his biography and works, his theory of democracy and a democratic state, and his impact on the New Left, including on Tom Hayden and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). We also touch on the work of Nicos Poulantzas, Charles Beard, J. Allen Smith, Gaetano Mosca, and other historians and sociologists. Finally, we discuss why the US Constitution matters to all of these discussions.Several books and articles are mentioned in the conversation, including Thorstein Veblen’s The Higher Learning in America'; Mills’s The Power Elite, Listen, Yankee!, White Collar, The Sociological Imagination, The Marxists, and “Letter to the New Left”; J. Allen Smith’s The Spirit of American Government; and Barrow’s More than a Historian: The Political and Economic Thought of Charles A. Beard.

In this episode, I talk with Corey Brooks, a professor of history at York College of Pennsylvania and chairperson of the Department of History and Political Science. Corey is the author of Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics. We discuss the antecedents of the abolitionist third-party movement and what led to the conclusion that abolition couldn’t be realized through the Whig and Democratic duopoly. Political abolitionists used a variety of tactics to amplify their voice and bring their agitation to the national stage. They succeeded in electing several abolitionist Senators, including Charles Sumner, and were instrumental in creating the Republican Party. I particularly wanted to ask Corey about the relevance of this history to the development of a Democratic Constitution Party. David Waldstreicher’s interview on the place of slavery in the original Constitution is mentioned.

This is part two of a two-part conversation. Here, Terry continues the conversation on resistance to tax collection and property concentration after the revolution. He covers the elitist reaction to the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution, including the 1787 federal Constitution and its ratification, and the imposition of a new Pennsylvania Constitution in 1790. The conversation ends with the anti-Federalists and their strikingly relevant critique of executive power. Woody Holton’s work is mentioned. I recently spoke with Jason Maloy about the Paine-Adams debate and the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution’s unicameral structure and expanded suffrage base.

In this episode, Luke talks with Terry Bouton, author of Taming Democracy: “The People,” the Founders, and the Troubled Ending of the American Revolution. His forthcoming book is The American Monarchists: The Founders who Betrayed the Revolution. This is part one of a two-part conversation. Here, Terry introduces the conflicts that developed between the British metropole and colonists in the Americas, the conflicts between propertied and propertyless colonists, and how the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution did and didn’t change the nature of social struggles and political participation. Terry argues that for various reasons, many contemporary historians of the 18th-century U.S. haven’t sufficiently grappled with the economic and monarchical interests at play. Woody Holton’s work is mentioned. I recently spoke with Jason Maloy about the Paine-Adams debate and the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution’s unicameral structure and expanded suffrage base.

In this episode, Luke talks with Patrick Rael, a professor of history at Bowdoin College and the author of several books, including Black Identity and Black Protest in the Antebellum North and Eighty-Eight Years: The Long Death of Slavery in the United States, 1777-1865.The discussion covers a wide range of topics, including how colonists invoked ideas of slavery before the revolution to “perform powerful rhetorical work”; how slavery factors into the Framers’ 1787 Constitution, and why northern delegates conceded the three-fifths clause in the face of threats from the South to leave the union; why the plantation regime in the U.S. South so powerful; how revolutionary ideas flowed across borders; how we should understand Reconstruction, both in the context of the United States and in the context of international abolitionism; and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Patrick also mentions Edmund Morgan’s “Slavery and Freedom” during the conversation.

In this episode, Luke talks with José Luis Granado Ceja, a journalist based in Mexico City. José Luis covers Latin America for Dropsite News and is a co-host of Soberanía and Sin Muros. José Luis talks about the history of Venezuela, including changes to the oil industry in the 1970s, the Caracazo uprising, and the rise of Chavismo; how Chavismo changed and what remained the same after Maduro came to power; the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, and why it’s not useful to think of the attack as a palace coup; continued threats against Cuba made by the United States; and reforms to Mexico’s judiciary.Correction: During the episode, Luke says that José Luis and Kurt Hackbarth were last on the show in mid-2025. In fact, they last appeared in mid-2024 to discuss the election of Claudia Sheinbaum.

In this episode, Luke talks with Jason Maloy, author of several works, including “The Paine-Adams Debate and Its Seventeenth-Century Antecedents,” presented at a conference on Paine hosted by San Jose State University in 2007. Jason writes that for Paine, “nothing else but a single sovereign assembly can be truly representative of the nation, and nothing else can be accountable to the people of the nation; therefore, nothing else can be either legitimate or safe.” Many influential people disagreed, including John Adams, who countered Paine’s unicameralism with arguments for a multicameral legislature and “mixed” Constitution. Jason also discusses the antecedents of the debate, including in the English Civil War and the Levellers versus Oliver Cromwell, as well as in political struggles in the Massachusetts Bay Colony; the differences between democratic republicans and aristocratic republicans, and unicameral versus bicameral division as a line that split republicanism; and the contemporary importance of reading Paine and understanding this history. Luke cited Jason’s work in a recent article commemorating the 250th anniversary of the publication of Paine’s Common Sense, and has also written about the importance of the Levellers. We’ve spoken with many people about the relevance of Paine’s work, including Gregory Claeys, Harvey J. Kaye, Matt McManus, and Gary Berton.

In this episode, Luke talks with Woody Holton, author of Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia and Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution. The conversation touches on many topics, including constitutional myths, what motivated the creation of a federal political system, how the new Constitution differed from the (often more representative) state constitutions, and conflicts between creditors and debtors following the Revolutionary War.

In this episode, Luke talks with Dr. Gerald Horne, the author of many books, including The Counter-Revolution of 1776, Confronting Black Jacobins, and The Capital of Slavery: Washington, D.C., 1800-1865. Dr. Horne has also written several articles, including a trio for The Nation on W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James, and Eric Williams. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the role of the Constitution in past and present debates, colonialism in the United States and the oppression of Indigenous peoples, the 1787 Constitution as a counter-revolution, U.S. imperialism in Latin America, and the Declaration of Independence.

In this episode, Lucas and Luke talk with Tad Stoermer, author of the forthcoming book, A Resistance History of the United States. Tad also posts on his blog and has a prolific TikTok and YouTube presence. The conversation touches on many topics, including the role of public historians in the United States; the Patriot Myth that emerged during World War II, the distortion of history to serve specific ends, and why a younger generation of Americans is challenging the status quo, including constitutional reverence; the importance of Reconstruction and struggles for universal and equal rights; and the need for a “counter-anniversary” to mark the enactment of the Declaration of Independence and recognize the importance of Tom Paine and the significance of Common Sense. Find more on the Democratic Constitution Blog.

In this episode, Luke talks with Michael Fox, a long-time journalist based in Latin America. Michael's work includes the podcasts Under the Shadow, Brazil on Fire, and Stories of Resistance. He’s also the co-director of the documentary Beyond Elections. Michael touches on many topics, including the failures of most mainstream reporting on Latin America, the Monroe Doctrine, the brutal U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, common myths about Venezuela, the reasons why the U.S. is focusing so heavily on the Western Hemisphere, and various left-wing experiments with democracy across the region. Mike explains that Venezuela has been the most vocal critic of the U.S. empire in Latin America and a consistent supporter of left-wing projects for the last 20 years.

The Original article is here.

In this episode, Luke talks with David Waldstreicher, the author of many books, including Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification. David discusses a range of topics, including the place of slavery in the lead-up to 1776, debates over slavery at the Constitutional Convention, and how the issue of slavery was never explicitly recognized in the text of the Constitution. He also examines the struggle for ratification in a climate in which “critics of the Constitution quickly perceived the compromises of 1787,” the extent to which the Constitution helps explain the Fugitive Slave Acts, the Dred Scott decision, and the Civil War, the staying power of the Constitution’s “hard-wired” provisions, and much more.David’s book was mentioned by Van Gosse in his recent interview about the political activity of black Americans during the Antebellum period

The original article is here.

East Bay DSA will be hosting a reading group on the Constitution and the anti-democratic aspects of the US political system. We will use Robert Dahl’s How Democratic is the American Constitution? as a framework, along with other articles and presentations from Robert Ovetz, Aziz Rana, Daniel Lazare, Gil Schaeffer, and Steven R., all of whom have appeared on the Democratic Constitution Podcast. All the information, including links to register for the sessions, is here. I hope everyone can join us.

In this episode, Luke talks with Don Doyle, the author of many books, including The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War. The conversation touches on many topics, including how the North and South sold their story of the battle to the rest of the world; the smörgåsbord of Union soldiers from across the globe; the Civil War as a tectonic struggle between republicanism and monarchismin in the context of the failed European revolutions of 1848; free labor versus enslaved labor, and what Karl Marx said about the Civil War; the return of former colonial powers to Latin America and the republican struggle in Mexico; and the global impact of the North’s victory against the southern slaveocracy. I plan to speak with Don again about his latest book, The Age of Reconstruction: How Lincoln’s New Birth of Freedom Remade the World, described as a sequel to The Cause of all Nations.

In this episode, Luke talks with Gary Dorrien, the author of many books, including The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture, and the War of Ideology (1993), Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel (2019), and American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory (2021), which Gary discussed in DSA’s Democratic Left. His forthcoming book is Subjects of Justice: Christian Social Ethics, Anti-Domination, Usable Pasts, and Social Democracy.Gary touches on many topics, including the democratic socialist vision of a society in which “the economy and government are democratically self-determined, no group dominates any other, and every citizen is free, equal, and included”; the importance of the demand for a universal and equal vote; the role of ethics and “rights talk” within socialism; neoconservatism and liberation theology as “polar-opposite reactions to the tumult and trauma of the 1960s”; Bernie Sanders and Martin Luther King Jr; and the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

In this episode, Luke talks with Gregory Downs, the author of several books, including The Second American Revolution: The Civil War-Era Struggle over Cuba and the Rebirth of the American Republic (2019) and After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War (2015). He’s also co-author with Kate Masur of the article “Civil War Sesquicentennial: Reconstruction: Retrospect and Prospects.” Greg touches on many topics, including how he became interested in the Civil War and Reconstruction, historical memory and tragedy, why we should embrace the “radicality” or “unsettledness” of the Civil War, what to do when “no one is riding in to save us from the collapse of republican dreams and liberal rights,” and the significance of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Cease Being Autocratic. By Luke Pickrell. The original article is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. The Democratic Constitution Blog is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.Our YouTube channel is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Our podcast on Apple Podcasts is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Thank you to our listeners, blog subscribers, and donors.

In this episode, Luke talks with Van Gosse, the author of several books, including Where the Boys Are: Cuba, Cold War America, and the Making of a New Left (1993), Rethinking the New Left: An Interpretive History (2005), and The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America, From the Revolution to the Civil War (2021). The wide-ranging conversation touches on the extensive political participation of black Americans in the Antebellum period, how historians have written about the pre-war era, the absence of a constitutional critique in the New Left, and why few people are talking about the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Van’s blog, In the Red, is here. Historians for Peace and Democracy can be found here. Van mentions several books, including Jeremy Varon’s Our Grief is Not a Cry for War, James Brewer Stewart’s Holy Warriors, Winthrop Jordan’s White Over Black, and David Waldstreicher’s Slavery’s Constitution. Luke mentions Van’s two-part series explaining why America isn’t a democracy (here and here), C. Vann Woodward’s The Strange Career of Jim Crow, and a recent conversation with Bruce Levine.

The Wheels Are Falling Off. By Luke Pickrell. The original article is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. The Democratic Constitution Blog is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.Our YouTube channel is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Our podcast on Apple Podcasts is ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Thank you to our listeners, blog subscribers, and donors.

In this episode, Luke talks with Robert Tsai, author of America’s Fogotten Constitutions. The conversation covers the similarities and differences between various constitutional projects — including John Brown’s abolitionist constitution, the Confederate Constitution, the founding documents of the Icarian Nation and the Republic of New Afrika, and others — what it means to look at the Constitution through a cultural lens, and how discussions of the Constitution have changed over the last decade. The Democratic Constitution Blog is ⁠here⁠.Our YouTube channel is ⁠here⁠. Thank you to our listeners, blog subscribers, and donors.

Terror Tuesday Redux. By Luke Pickrell. The original article is ⁠here⁠. The Democratic Constitution Blog is ⁠here⁠.Our YouTube channel is ⁠here⁠. Our podcast on Apple Podcasts is ⁠here⁠. Thank you to our listeners, blog subscribers, and donors.

Proposition 50: A Race to the Bottom. By Luke Pickrell. The original article is here. The Democratic Constitution Blog is here.Our YouTube channel is here. Our podcast on Apple Podcasts is here. Thank you to our listeners, blog subscribers, and donors.

In this episode, Luke talks with Alec Karakatsanis, Founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps and author of Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News. The conversation touches on George Floyd’s murder and subsequent protests; the illusion of police reforms as presented through body cameras and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act; the undemocratic Constitution and obstructionist Senate; and resisting copaganda and the role of civil rights advocacy in our current moment.During the conversation, Luke mentioned a blog article that attempts to link police violence and legal unaccountability to our undemocratic political system.

Luke talks with Greg Coleridge and John Fioretta from Move to Amend. Topics include Move to Amend’s origins and current projects, various approaches to discussing the Constitution with people, the challenges of passing constitutional amendments, the need to reform campaign finance, and what to make of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Move to Amend petition is available here. Move to Amend’s Corporate Constitutional Rights Resources database is available here.

Luke talks with Manisha Sinha about her latest book, The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic. Topics include Amy Circuit, a freedwoman in South Carolina who was murdered by two white men in early 1868; the reactionary role of the Supreme Court during Reconstruction; the ripple effects caused by struggles for freedom and political rights; what to make of the call for a new constitution; and how we should approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Manisha is also the author of The Slave’s Cause.

Luke talks with Jonathan Eig, author of the Politzer Prize-winning King: A Life. Jonathan discusses King’s life leading up to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, his opinion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, his stance on the Vietnam War, his relationship with other activists like Stokely Carmichael and Muhammad Ali, and King’s final book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos of Community?, in which he says that the Civil Rights Movement has “left the realm of constitutional rights.”

Luke speaks with Matthew Stewart about his latest book, An Emancipation of the Mind. Conversation topics include revolutionary and counterrevolutionary movements in 18th- and 19th-century U.S. history, the role of religion in the abolitionist and anti-abolitionist movements, the influence of Tom Paine on revolutionary thought, European immigrants and veterans of the 1848 revolutions such as Karl Heinzen and Ottilie Assing, and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

Luke talks with Jalil Muntaqim about the Spirit of Mandela Coalition’s call for a national rally on July 4, 2026, to protest the genocide in Gaza. The conversation also covers the Spirit of Mandela Coalition’s People's Senate, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, decolonization and memory, and the Black Panther Party. Jalil’s latest book is We Are Our Own Liberators.