The future of democracy is uncertain, but we are committed to its urgent renewal today. This podcast will draw on historical knowledge to inspire a contemporary democratic renaissance. The past offers hope for the present and the future, if only we can escape the negativity of our current moment — and each show will offer a serious way to do that! This podcast will bring together thoughtful voices from different generations to help make sense of current challenges and propose positive steps forward. Our goal is to advance democratic change, one show at a time. Dr. Jeremi Suri, a renowned scholar of democracy, will host the podcast and moderate discussions, bringing in new guests and perspectives each week.
In this teaser episode, Dr. Suri hopes to lay the groundwork and expectations for the series to come. Please join us every Thursday for new episodes.
Music provided by Harrison Lemke. https://harrisonlemke.com/
Hosts
Jeremi SuriProfessor of History at the University of Texas at Austin
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Introduction with many voices: “This is Democracy”- a podcast that explores the interracial, intergenerational, and intersectional unheard voices living in the world’s most influential democracy.
Jeremi Suri: This is democracy with Jeremi Suri, I’m a professor at the University of Texas and we’re here to talk about democracy in our society. We are living through a time when our democracy is challenged and when we must begin to ask new questions about what our democracy is about. Where we have come from, who we are today, and where we are going. This podcast is not a podcast about history alone, this podcast is not a podcast about politics. This is a podcast about understanding what democracy is and what it means and how our democracy will continue to grow and thrive, we hope, in our future. This is a podcast designed to bring different voices, the voices of those who have thought about these issues, the voices of those who are living through these issues. Most of all, this podcast is designed– and I’m so excited using this form, this podcast is designed to make the world of democracy real for all of us.
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Franklin Roosevelt: It falls upon us now to say whether the chapters that are to come will tell a story of retreat or a story of continued advance.
Jeremi Suri: Do you feel that you have a voice in our society, do you feel our society gives you a way to participate?
Zachary Suri: Well, yes, but I think also sometimes I feel that, that like my voice and other voices aren’t heard as much as they should be and that instead voices of older people who are not necessarily as idealistic and coming up with new ideas, are heard more often just because they are more well-established and not because they’re better.
Jeremi Suri: Right, right. How do you think, Zachary, that we could get more voices from young people like yourself who care about issues, care about education, care about the environment, care about immigration– how could we get more voices like yours into our society?
Zachary: Well with podcasts like this. (laughs)
Jeremi Suri: Yay!
Zachary: And also I guess, I think a lot of like showcasing youth voices and giving them like a national stage. Like why should, why should it only be only be older people talking about politics on television and on the radio? Why should– there should be more, I think, of what we’re doing here with young people voicing their opinions as well as old people side by side, so we can see how different generations think about democracy today and in the future.
Jeremi Suri: Right, so building more conversation, right? One of my heroes, who’s in many ways an inspiration for this show in addition to Zachary being an inspiration for this,
Zachary: (laughs)
Jeremi Suri: is Franklin Roosevelt. And as, I think, most of our listeners know, Franklin Roosevelt was a politician. He was a man who came from a very privileged family, but he turned out to be president during a time, in many ways similar to our own. A time when many Americans were beginning to become uncertain about the future of our democracy. A time of grave inequality, a time of foreign conflict, and most of all, a time of a lot of pessimism and partisanship– when people were calling each other names more than they were addressing some of the core issues behind the Depression and World War II.
And Franklin Roosevelt used his presidency, not to offer answers from on high, but to bring more voices in, to do what Zachary was just talking about, to bring more voices in– African-American voices, the voices of immigrants, the voices of many groups that certainly had not had a voice in his party before and that had not had a voice through the presidency. He gave them a voice, in some ways his wife Eleanor Roosevelt was even more important as a vehicle for the voices of women and the voices of minorities. This period in American history had many problems, but I think it should inspire us today to recognize that we can bring more people in. He understood that democracy was about experimentation. Democracy was about pursuing different voices. He understood what we often forget, that it’s not about having the right answers, it’s about bringing people in to help them find their own answers. It’s about what Franklin Roosevelt called, “a bold, persistent experimentation.”
Zachary: And, and the way that we produce this podcast, here at UT, is very democratic. And then we send it out for anyone to listen to, it’s sort of emblematic of the idea of democracy and exploring our ideas of democracy.
Jeremi Suri: It is indeed and we’re hoping that all of our listeners will encourage, in a very democratic way, everyone they know to listen while they’re working out or while they’re driving, or whatever it is they’re doing. We are hopeful because the sources of change are in front of us every day. The sources of experimentation. And this show is about getting us to do that, to think about it, to pursue it, and that’s why this is democracy.
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Speaker 7: This podcast is produced by the Liberal Arts Development Studio and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.
Speaker 8: The first episode will go live, Thursday, August 16th.
Speaker 9: Subscribe and stay tuned for a new episode every Thursday, featuring new perspectives of democracy.