The “Democracy Works” podcast spoke with E.J. Dionne about his views on the relationship between partisan politics and democracy. The conversation covered various topics from Donald Trump, the future of the republican party, and the need for empathy in politics.
E.J Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and is a professor of public policy at Georgetown. He was named among the 25 most influential Washington Journalist by the National Journal Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is the author of many political books including “One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported”.
During the podcast, Dionne mentions his work on universal voting. Universal voting is adapted from Australia which has a compulsory attendance at the polls as opposed to the U.S.
“Our theory is if you can ask people to serve on juries, if you can ask people to potentially give their lives in war, then asking people to vote is not an over ask for civic life. It finally reverses the role of local officials. They can’t suppress the vote anymore.”
“Democracy Works” is produced by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State and is the 2018 winner of the People’s Choice Podcast Award. You can listen to E.J Dionne’s episode here and find out more about the podcast here.