The Land That Never Has Been Yet [Scene on Radio]

 

Podcast, 2020, 13 episodes

Premise - The fourth season of Scene on Radio is among us, and this time host John Biewen is taking a season-long critical look at American democracy (or rather, un-demoracy?). It questions and combats the idea that America has ever been truly democratic, as bureaucracy and oligarchy are built into its foundational legal structure.

Review - I can't believe I'm all caught up on Scene on Radio, after listening to this for multiple months now! Admittedly I never listened to Season 1, which takes place before he really settled into these season-long series. There's also one stand-alone episode left to listen to on Hiroshima that I'm really excited about. But more or less, I'm up to date on the Scene on Radio experience and I feel enlightened and enraged.

It's interesting how John does not describe Scene on Radio as a "news" podcast - the intention is for the episodes to instead be "evergreen" and discuss theoretical concepts and historical patterns that will always be relevant. And yet, somehow this information grows even more relevant by the day. I'd like to imagine what an episode would have to say about the recent agenda against the USPS and mail-in voting, as well as Trump's recent comments not promising to leave office peacefully. As this podcast shows, America has never been truly democratic. It's un-democracy is like a chronic illness, as the podcast likes to put it. But right now feels especially like an acute threat to the people. 

Like past seasons, it builds in chronological order, first discussing deep history and the founding of America, followed by the Civil War, Civil Rights movements, etc., moving forward to modern day. And I have always loved this approach because it makes it abundantly clear that America was BUILT this way - to be un-democratic. The founding fathers did not WANT a full democracy, in fact they very explicitly wrote against it. The Constitution itself was about reigning in democracy. And this ideology persists among politicians today - that they hold the master keys to what's best for this nation, and they will enact as they see fit. One person one vote has never existed. Look at the Electoral College, and even more disproportional, look at the US Senate (every state has the same amount of Senators??)

And of course, these concepts are not spoken of in an abstract manner. We're talking real impact on disadvantaged and oppressed populations in every single episode - it does not shy away from the lack of power given to women, black and brown communities, etc. In fact, it's woven into the framework of every episode.

How can we democratic then, or is there nothing left but hopelessness? The truth is, if democracy is about hearing and considering the voices of the people, then democracy lies on the streets and in communities - it lies in advocacy, protests, and grassroots movements. There lies democracy. And the history of these and how they have enacted real change (i.e. Montgomery bus boycott; March on Washington) with more effectiveness than any other method.

There's also a whole episode devoted to how democracy lies in media and journalism. Information is power - and not just what information is available, but how accessible is it, whose voices are being told, and what perspective. The plague of casting doubt on "Fake News" (which is different than skepticism, which is always healthy), allows so much crucial information to be dismissed. There is no such thing as objective journalism, the episode states - there instead is politically neutral journalism, which cannot by definition be objective. If the objective truth lies somewhere off-center (i.e. "climate change is real" leaning left), then politically-centrist journalism is, in fact, inaccurate. There is a responsibility in journalism to tell truths which, in our world, somehow is activism by default.

I could go on raving, it's an incredible series. Season 5 is likely years away but I will eagerly await it (94/100)

Quote - Oh man, I had trouble picking. How about this summary of one of the key points in the series - that capitalism and democracy are antithetical to each other:

 

"Our culture tells us again and again that [capitalism and democracy] are one in the same. Capitalism is one of the fundamental forms of freedom that we enjoy, if not the fundamental form. But democracy and capitalism are not one in the same. And in fact, the framers themselves understood and said that those two things are in tension with one another. If you want more capitalist investment and wealth, which may benefit quite a few people, but is definitely going to accrue mostly to the wealthy few, the ownership class. If you want more of that, you're going to need to constrain democracy."

What to listen for - I liked the episodes on Neoliberalism, journalism as activism, civic education in schools, and of course the final episode on the nuts and bolts of the United States government as it stands today (elections, and the role of the Electoral College, the Senate, the House, and the President creating laws).

If you liked this podcast, I'd recommend the past seasons "Seeing White" and "Men"!

Hosted by John Biewen

Series part of "Scene on Radio"

Produced by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University