Jess Engebretson is a radio producer from Virginia.
By Jess Engebretson
The Summer of Rage: Lessons from the Race Riots in Detroit and Newark 50 Years Ago
How We Got Here: Why Americans Can't Seem to Ever Agree on A Good Health Care Fix
Why Do Americans Have Such A Hard Time Agreeing on Health Care Reform?
Yes, We've Done It Too: A History of U.S. Meddling in Other Countries' Elections
EXPLAINER: What's the Deal with the TPP?
Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis Explained
The Hidden Roots of Memorial Day
The Iran Nuclear Deal Explained
How the Birthplace of the Modern Ku Klux Klan Became the Site of America's Largest Confederate Monument
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"disqusTitle": "The Summer of Rage: Lessons from the Race Riots in Detroit and Newark 50 Years Ago",
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"content": "\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal.\"\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>-- Kerner Commission report, 1968\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003cdiv>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: x-large\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #993300\">Teach with the Lowdown!\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"alignnone wp-image-22868\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-400x143.jpg\" width=\"340\" height=\"122\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-400x143.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-800x286.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-768x274.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680.jpg 957w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\">Ideas for nonfiction analysis, writing/discussion prompts and multimedia projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/Kerner_LessonPlan-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kerner Commission Lesson plan (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/Primary-Docs_Kerner-and-Ferguson-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Primary source docs (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>While the Summer of Love swept through San Francisco 50 years ago this summer, scores of inner-city neighborhoods across the country burned with rage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In what was dubbed the “long, hot summer,\" more than 100 poor, largely black communities were rocked by violent incidents in 1967. Some labelled them riots, others called them uprisings and rebellions. Erupting primarily in East Coast and Midwestern cities, including Milwaukee, Buffalo, Tampa and Cincinnati, the incidents resulted in more than 100 deaths, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and scores of burned-out neighborhoods, some of which never fully recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unrest was a reaction to a larger problem: deep-seated anger and hopelessness simmering in many disenfranchised, urban communities where rates of poverty, joblessness and crime were disproportionately high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But nearly every instance of unrest was ignited by the same kind of spark: an individual local incident involving an unarmed black man (or men) beaten or killed by white police officers for a seemingly minor infraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And two of the most devastating riots occurred back-to-back that July.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Newark and Detroit\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In Newark, NJ two white police officers severely beat a black cab driver after stopping him for a minor traffic violation. As word of the incident spread, thousands of residents rioted in the streets, looting businesses and prompting the deployment of several thousand police officers and National Guardsmen. The violence raged for six days, leaving 26 people dead, scores more injured and tens of millions of dollars in property damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/2n0e3_vD-xE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just two weeks later in \u003ca href=\"http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/03/a_quick_guide_to_the_1967_detr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Detroit\u003c/a>, a police raid on an unlicensed bar in the largely black Virginia Park neighborhood sparked an even more devastating riot. Looters raided shops and set buildings on fire. Panic ensued amid rumors of snipers on rooftops. Roughly 17,000 law local and national law enforcement officials, including the National Guard and US Army paratroopers, were sent in to quell the unrest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of five bloody, chaotic days, 43 people were killed and more a thousand injured -- mostly black men at the hands of law enforcement. More than 7,000 arrests were made, and an estimated 2,500 stores were looted or burned, leaving large swaths of Detroit’s inner-city in ruins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It marked Detroit's \u003ca href=\"http://time.com/3880177/detroit-race-riots-1943-photos-from-a-city-in-turmoil-during-wwii/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second major riot\u003c/a> in just 24 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/33221356\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newark and Detroit were not isolated incidents. Two years before, a confrontation between a young black man and a police officer in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles resulted in \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRDvY_anJdc\">days of rioting\u003c/a> that left 34 people dead. Violent unrest continued in 1966 in poor sections of cities like Chicago, Cleveland, New York and \u003ca href=\"http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Hunter%27s_Point_riot_by_Fleming\">San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As wealthier, largely white communities increasingly flocked to the suburbs, the remaining inner-city neighborhood were often thrust into deeper states of prolonged economic isolation, Over the following decades, jobs and home values in these areas continued to \u003ca href=\"http://www.nber.org/digest/sep04/w10243.html\">drop\u003c/a> sharply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/qxli_aCSKbg\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>The Kerner Commission\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In the immediate wake of the riots, President Johnson established a bipartisan task force: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.eisenhowerfoundation.org/docs/kerner.pdf\">National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders,\u003c/a> known as the Kerner Commission, named after its chair, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner. The group was tasked with addressing three major questions:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it happening again?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22824\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-22824\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967.jpg\" alt=\"Rioting in Detroit.\" width=\"500\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967-400x226.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rioting in Detroit. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Detroit Free Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his televised address announcing the commission, Johnson began:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We have endured a week such as no nation should live through: a time of violence and tragedy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He then proclaimed:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Not even the sternest police action nor the most effective federal troops can every create lasting peace in our cities. The only genuine long-range solution for what has happened, lies in an attack, mounted at every level, upon the conditions that breed despair and breed violence. All of us, I think, know what those conditions are: ignorance, discrimination, slums, poverty, disease, not enough jobs ... There is simply no other way to achieve a decent and orderly society in America.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/ZoU4cmRULKY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next six months, members of the commission visited inner-city neighborhoods throughout the country, interviewing residents, police officers, and local officials. They drew on the research of social scientists and analyzed media coverage of the recent violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 11-member commission was not politically radical in any sense of the word: It included four members of Congress, the mayor of New York, Atlanta’s police chief, and union and industry representatives. Only two members were black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, the commission’s \u003ca href=\"http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/documents_us/Kerner%20Report.htm\">final report\u003c/a> was blunt, and to many Americans, shocking:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal. White racism is essentially responsible for the explosive mixture which has been accumulating in our cities.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report's direct reference to white racism as a root cause of the riots was particularly controversial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"\u003c/strong>We used the word racism. And on the commission, we had two or three people say, 'Should we use that word, racism?'\" former Senator Fred Harris (D-Okla.), who served on the commission, \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/watch.html\">told Bill Moyers\u003c/a> in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22815\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/8073NCJRS.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-22815\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/kerner-report-400x225.png\" alt=\"Courtesy Bill Moyers Journal\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/kerner-report-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/kerner-report.png 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to download part of the original text (Photo courtesy Bill Moyers Journal\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"\u003c/strong>We felt that it was very important ... to say it. Because what we know is that oppressed people often come to believe about themselves the same bad stereotypes that the dominant society has. Our saying racism, I think, was very important to a lot of black people who said, 'Well, maybe it's not just me. Maybe I'm not, by myself, at fault here. Maybe there's something else going on.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report elaborated on the often explosive relationship between local police forces and the black communities they patrolled:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The police are not merely a “spark” factor. To some Negroes police have come to symbolize white power, white racism and white repression. And the fact is that many police do reflect and express these white attitudes. The atmosphere of hostility and cynicism is reinforced by a widespread belief among Negroes in the existence of police brutality and in a “double standard” of justice and protection—one for Negroes and one for whites.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, many observers believed that the unrest was the work of “\u003ca href=\"blank\">outside agitators\u003c/a>,” radical groups traveling from city to city, intent on sowing chaos and disorder. The commission, though, found no evidence of conspiracy or premeditated plans. Although it stopped short of labelling the riots a flat-out rebellion against racial oppression, it underscored that the conflicts were an indication of the deep frustration stemming from a host of social problems afflicting inner city communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Topping that list was police brutality, unemployment, and an inadequate supply of affordable housing. The commission stated, in no uncertain terms, that white America was directly implicated in creating these problems:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What white Americans have never fully understood—but what the Negro can never forget—is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The long list of sweeping policy recommendations included :\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Creating two million new jobs and six million new affordable housing units\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Revamping the welfare system\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Eliminating de facto school segregation\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Eliminating “abrasive” police practices and establishing redress mechanisms\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Improving news coverage of the problems facing black Americans\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Making local government more responsive to inner city communities\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The 426-page report, published in March 1968, sold \u003ca href=\"http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/the-kerner-commission-report\">over two million copies\u003c/a> and earned a spot on the nonfiction \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=4il1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT453&lpg=PT453&dq=new+york+times+bestseller+list+nonfiction+1968+kerner&source=bl&ots=iUXvd_Hwq1&sig=AdfVX8Yc9xYLAIaoWtD1ckwUjIM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwA2oVChMIz4rKhI-9yAIVwbgeCh1DWQXU#v=onepage&q&f=false\">bestseller list\u003c/a> of the New York Times, which called it a “stinging indictment of white society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then, it all but disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Johnson Administration countered that the commission \u003ca href=\"http://backstoryradio.org/2014/10/02/the-report-that-could-have-stopped-ferguson/\">hadn’t given the president enough credit\u003c/a> for past civil rights legislation, and Johnson later refused to support further research or even meet with the commissioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report noted that in order to improve conditions, “hard choices must be made, and, if necessary, new taxes enacted.” But there was little political will to do so, particularly as the nation planted itself deeper into the incredibly costly conflict in Vietnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And less than a month after its publication, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination sparked another string of violent riots in poor, urban communities across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>From Kerner to Ferguson\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>After the Michael Brown shooting in 2014 and the unrest that followed, a new commission was formed to study a similar issue. Chaired by Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, the group was tasked with identifying the underlying causes of the unrest. Its \u003ca href=\"http://forwardthroughferguson.org/report/executive-summary/\">final report\u003c/a>, while much smaller in scope, bears some resemblance to the Kerner findings. The series of recommendations, modest in comparison to the Kerner report, included:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Reducing the use of force by police officers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Reforming sentencing laws\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Improving the health and education of children and young people\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increasing access to affordable housing and public transit\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Expanding Medicaid\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Like the Kerner report, the Ferguson analysis identifies racial inequality as the primary problem. But the language and tone is strikingly different: far less piercing, accusatory and urgent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not pointing fingers and calling individual people racist,” the report states. “We are not even suggesting that institutions or existing systems intend to be racist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original members of the Kerner commission may have foreseen this. They concluded their report by quoting the testimony of psychologist Kenneth Clark\u003ci>. \u003c/i>Clark – whose famous \u003ca href=\"http://www.naacpldf.org/brown-at-60-the-doll-test\">doll tests\u003c/a> were cited in \u003ci>Brown v. Board of Education\u003c/i> – reminded his audience of the many previous commissions assembled to study incidents of racial unrest: Chicago in 1919, Harlem in 1935 and 1943, Los Angeles in 1965. Testifying before the Kerner Commission, he said, was a kind of Alice in Wonderland experience: he watched the same images flickering past, sat listening to the same analysis and the same recommendations – and it all culminated, finally, in the same inaction. The commissioners quoted his words:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is time now to end the destruction and the violence.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "While the Summer of Love swept through San Francisco 50 years ago this summer, scores of inner-city neighborhoods across the country burned with rage.",
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"description": "While the Summer of Love swept through San Francisco 50 years ago this summer, scores of inner-city neighborhoods across the country burned with rage.",
"title": "The Summer of Rage: Lessons from the Race Riots in Detroit and Newark 50 Years Ago | KQED",
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"headline": "The Summer of Rage: Lessons from the Race Riots in Detroit and Newark 50 Years Ago",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal.\"\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>-- Kerner Commission report, 1968\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003cdiv>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: x-large\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #993300\">Teach with the Lowdown!\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"alignnone wp-image-22868\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-400x143.jpg\" width=\"340\" height=\"122\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-400x143.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-800x286.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680-768x274.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/hands-e1469568663680.jpg 957w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\">Ideas for nonfiction analysis, writing/discussion prompts and multimedia projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/Kerner_LessonPlan-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kerner Commission Lesson plan (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/Primary-Docs_Kerner-and-Ferguson-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Primary source docs (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>While the Summer of Love swept through San Francisco 50 years ago this summer, scores of inner-city neighborhoods across the country burned with rage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In what was dubbed the “long, hot summer,\" more than 100 poor, largely black communities were rocked by violent incidents in 1967. Some labelled them riots, others called them uprisings and rebellions. Erupting primarily in East Coast and Midwestern cities, including Milwaukee, Buffalo, Tampa and Cincinnati, the incidents resulted in more than 100 deaths, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and scores of burned-out neighborhoods, some of which never fully recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unrest was a reaction to a larger problem: deep-seated anger and hopelessness simmering in many disenfranchised, urban communities where rates of poverty, joblessness and crime were disproportionately high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But nearly every instance of unrest was ignited by the same kind of spark: an individual local incident involving an unarmed black man (or men) beaten or killed by white police officers for a seemingly minor infraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And two of the most devastating riots occurred back-to-back that July.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Newark and Detroit\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In Newark, NJ two white police officers severely beat a black cab driver after stopping him for a minor traffic violation. As word of the incident spread, thousands of residents rioted in the streets, looting businesses and prompting the deployment of several thousand police officers and National Guardsmen. The violence raged for six days, leaving 26 people dead, scores more injured and tens of millions of dollars in property damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2n0e3_vD-xE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2n0e3_vD-xE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Just two weeks later in \u003ca href=\"http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/03/a_quick_guide_to_the_1967_detr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Detroit\u003c/a>, a police raid on an unlicensed bar in the largely black Virginia Park neighborhood sparked an even more devastating riot. Looters raided shops and set buildings on fire. Panic ensued amid rumors of snipers on rooftops. Roughly 17,000 law local and national law enforcement officials, including the National Guard and US Army paratroopers, were sent in to quell the unrest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of five bloody, chaotic days, 43 people were killed and more a thousand injured -- mostly black men at the hands of law enforcement. More than 7,000 arrests were made, and an estimated 2,500 stores were looted or burned, leaving large swaths of Detroit’s inner-city in ruins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It marked Detroit's \u003ca href=\"http://time.com/3880177/detroit-race-riots-1943-photos-from-a-city-in-turmoil-during-wwii/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second major riot\u003c/a> in just 24 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/33221356\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newark and Detroit were not isolated incidents. Two years before, a confrontation between a young black man and a police officer in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles resulted in \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRDvY_anJdc\">days of rioting\u003c/a> that left 34 people dead. Violent unrest continued in 1966 in poor sections of cities like Chicago, Cleveland, New York and \u003ca href=\"http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Hunter%27s_Point_riot_by_Fleming\">San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As wealthier, largely white communities increasingly flocked to the suburbs, the remaining inner-city neighborhood were often thrust into deeper states of prolonged economic isolation, Over the following decades, jobs and home values in these areas continued to \u003ca href=\"http://www.nber.org/digest/sep04/w10243.html\">drop\u003c/a> sharply.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/qxli_aCSKbg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/qxli_aCSKbg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch4>The Kerner Commission\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In the immediate wake of the riots, President Johnson established a bipartisan task force: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.eisenhowerfoundation.org/docs/kerner.pdf\">National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders,\u003c/a> known as the Kerner Commission, named after its chair, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner. The group was tasked with addressing three major questions:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it happening again?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22824\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-22824\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967.jpg\" alt=\"Rioting in Detroit.\" width=\"500\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/detroit_race_riot_1967-400x226.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rioting in Detroit. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Detroit Free Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his televised address announcing the commission, Johnson began:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We have endured a week such as no nation should live through: a time of violence and tragedy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He then proclaimed:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Not even the sternest police action nor the most effective federal troops can every create lasting peace in our cities. The only genuine long-range solution for what has happened, lies in an attack, mounted at every level, upon the conditions that breed despair and breed violence. All of us, I think, know what those conditions are: ignorance, discrimination, slums, poverty, disease, not enough jobs ... There is simply no other way to achieve a decent and orderly society in America.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZoU4cmRULKY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZoU4cmRULKY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Over the next six months, members of the commission visited inner-city neighborhoods throughout the country, interviewing residents, police officers, and local officials. They drew on the research of social scientists and analyzed media coverage of the recent violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 11-member commission was not politically radical in any sense of the word: It included four members of Congress, the mayor of New York, Atlanta’s police chief, and union and industry representatives. Only two members were black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, the commission’s \u003ca href=\"http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/documents_us/Kerner%20Report.htm\">final report\u003c/a> was blunt, and to many Americans, shocking:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal. White racism is essentially responsible for the explosive mixture which has been accumulating in our cities.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report's direct reference to white racism as a root cause of the riots was particularly controversial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"\u003c/strong>We used the word racism. And on the commission, we had two or three people say, 'Should we use that word, racism?'\" former Senator Fred Harris (D-Okla.), who served on the commission, \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/watch.html\">told Bill Moyers\u003c/a> in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22815\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/8073NCJRS.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-22815\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/kerner-report-400x225.png\" alt=\"Courtesy Bill Moyers Journal\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/kerner-report-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2016/07/kerner-report.png 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to download part of the original text (Photo courtesy Bill Moyers Journal\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"\u003c/strong>We felt that it was very important ... to say it. Because what we know is that oppressed people often come to believe about themselves the same bad stereotypes that the dominant society has. Our saying racism, I think, was very important to a lot of black people who said, 'Well, maybe it's not just me. Maybe I'm not, by myself, at fault here. Maybe there's something else going on.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report elaborated on the often explosive relationship between local police forces and the black communities they patrolled:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The police are not merely a “spark” factor. To some Negroes police have come to symbolize white power, white racism and white repression. And the fact is that many police do reflect and express these white attitudes. The atmosphere of hostility and cynicism is reinforced by a widespread belief among Negroes in the existence of police brutality and in a “double standard” of justice and protection—one for Negroes and one for whites.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, many observers believed that the unrest was the work of “\u003ca href=\"blank\">outside agitators\u003c/a>,” radical groups traveling from city to city, intent on sowing chaos and disorder. The commission, though, found no evidence of conspiracy or premeditated plans. Although it stopped short of labelling the riots a flat-out rebellion against racial oppression, it underscored that the conflicts were an indication of the deep frustration stemming from a host of social problems afflicting inner city communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Topping that list was police brutality, unemployment, and an inadequate supply of affordable housing. The commission stated, in no uncertain terms, that white America was directly implicated in creating these problems:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What white Americans have never fully understood—but what the Negro can never forget—is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The long list of sweeping policy recommendations included :\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Creating two million new jobs and six million new affordable housing units\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Revamping the welfare system\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Eliminating de facto school segregation\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Eliminating “abrasive” police practices and establishing redress mechanisms\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Improving news coverage of the problems facing black Americans\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Making local government more responsive to inner city communities\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The 426-page report, published in March 1968, sold \u003ca href=\"http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/the-kerner-commission-report\">over two million copies\u003c/a> and earned a spot on the nonfiction \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=4il1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT453&lpg=PT453&dq=new+york+times+bestseller+list+nonfiction+1968+kerner&source=bl&ots=iUXvd_Hwq1&sig=AdfVX8Yc9xYLAIaoWtD1ckwUjIM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwA2oVChMIz4rKhI-9yAIVwbgeCh1DWQXU#v=onepage&q&f=false\">bestseller list\u003c/a> of the New York Times, which called it a “stinging indictment of white society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then, it all but disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Johnson Administration countered that the commission \u003ca href=\"http://backstoryradio.org/2014/10/02/the-report-that-could-have-stopped-ferguson/\">hadn’t given the president enough credit\u003c/a> for past civil rights legislation, and Johnson later refused to support further research or even meet with the commissioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report noted that in order to improve conditions, “hard choices must be made, and, if necessary, new taxes enacted.” But there was little political will to do so, particularly as the nation planted itself deeper into the incredibly costly conflict in Vietnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And less than a month after its publication, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination sparked another string of violent riots in poor, urban communities across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>From Kerner to Ferguson\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>After the Michael Brown shooting in 2014 and the unrest that followed, a new commission was formed to study a similar issue. Chaired by Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, the group was tasked with identifying the underlying causes of the unrest. Its \u003ca href=\"http://forwardthroughferguson.org/report/executive-summary/\">final report\u003c/a>, while much smaller in scope, bears some resemblance to the Kerner findings. The series of recommendations, modest in comparison to the Kerner report, included:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Reducing the use of force by police officers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Reforming sentencing laws\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Improving the health and education of children and young people\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increasing access to affordable housing and public transit\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Expanding Medicaid\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Like the Kerner report, the Ferguson analysis identifies racial inequality as the primary problem. But the language and tone is strikingly different: far less piercing, accusatory and urgent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not pointing fingers and calling individual people racist,” the report states. “We are not even suggesting that institutions or existing systems intend to be racist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original members of the Kerner commission may have foreseen this. They concluded their report by quoting the testimony of psychologist Kenneth Clark\u003ci>. \u003c/i>Clark – whose famous \u003ca href=\"http://www.naacpldf.org/brown-at-60-the-doll-test\">doll tests\u003c/a> were cited in \u003ci>Brown v. Board of Education\u003c/i> – reminded his audience of the many previous commissions assembled to study incidents of racial unrest: Chicago in 1919, Harlem in 1935 and 1943, Los Angeles in 1965. Testifying before the Kerner Commission, he said, was a kind of Alice in Wonderland experience: he watched the same images flickering past, sat listening to the same analysis and the same recommendations – and it all culminated, finally, in the same inaction. The commissioners quoted his words:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/qV0hFyXnq5k\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans on Thursday got one step closer in their epic quest to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, aka \"Obamacare.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Controversially drafted behind closed doors by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and a small group of his Republican colleagues, the Senate bill is, despite earlier pledges, broadly similar to legislation narrowly passed by House Republicans in May. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/22/533942041/who-wins-who-loses-with-senate-health-care-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">This NPR chart\u003c/a> has a good side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate bills and how they measure up against Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the House version, the Senate bill would gut many of Obamacare's key provisions, including the \"individual mandate,\" which now requires everyone to purchase insurance or pay a penalty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new bill would also repeal most of the taxes used to pay for the ACA. Additionally, it would eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood and slash funding for Medicaid, a sweeping program that subsidizes health care for \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/medicaremedicaid50/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nearly 70 million people\u003c/a>. And while the legislation proposes creating a new system of tax credits to help people buy insurance, the health overhaul would likely result in millions of lower-income Americans losing their coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A vote is expected next week, although \u003ca href=\"http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/23/dean-heller-oppose-health-care-bill-239907\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">five Republican senators\u003c/a> have already announced their opposition the bill in its current form, a move that would all but doom the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats, who universally oppose the legislation, were quick to express their disdain: \"This is a bill designed to strip away heath care benefits and protections from Americans who need it most, in order to give a tax break to the folks who need it least,\" said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is just the latest chapter in the Republicans' tireless endeavor to destroy the ACA. Since it became law almost seven years ago, President Obama's signature health care reform has managed to survive countless attacks, two Supreme Court challenges and dozens of legislative assassination attempts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after the 2016 election gave Republicans control of both the White House and Congress, the ACA finally seemed doomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a candidate, President Trump repeatedly pledged to dismantle it promising an alternative plan that would offer \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-promises-health-insurance-for-everybody/\">insurance for everybody\u003c/a>” while dramatically cutting costs (although he stopped short of providing any firm details).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things got a good deal messier after that. Repealing the ACA without a reasonable replacement would cause millions of Americans to lose their health coverage, a prospect that sparked the ire of constituents in Republican districts across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, despite the Democrats' sweeping defeat in 2016, support for the ACA is oddly now at \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/interactive/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-the-publics-views-on-the-aca/#?response=Favorable--Unfavorable&aRange=all\">the highest level it's been in years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/09RvU9_m30Q\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>America, the outlier\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>It’s safe to assume that just about everyone wants affordable health care. Why then is it so hard for Americans to come up with a decent health care fix that most of us can all at least marginally agree on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the world's other wealthy countries seem to have navigated this issue a lot more smoothly and effectively. Just about every other high-income nation spends significantly less than the U.S. does, yet delivers a higher quality health care available to all their residents, mostly through single-payer government systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27458\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-27458\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-1020x408.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-1020x408.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-160x64.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-800x320.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-768x308.png 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-1180x473.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-960x384.png 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-240x96.png 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-375x150.png 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-520x208.png 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM.png 1271w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker: analysis of \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-data-en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> data from OECD (2017)\u003c/a>, \"OECD Health Data: Health expenditure and financing: Health expenditure indicators\", OECD Health Statistics.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)30818-8/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent study\u003c/a> published in The Lancet medical journal, researchers at the University of Washington created a global health care quality index by looking at 32 causes of death in 195 countries between 1990 to 2015. The U.S., the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, is ranked a dismal 80th, on par with Montenegro and Estonia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among citizens of the industrialized world, Americans have long been uniquely wary of too much government involvement in most aspects of life, but particularly health care. It's a skepticism rooted in the nation's longstanding emphasis on individualism, self-sufficiency and free markets, and America's distinct national aversion to anything resembling socialism.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Truman's big push\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>To begin to understand why the U.S. is such an outlier on the health care front, we need to go back to November 1945. That’s when President Harry Truman \u003ca href=\"https://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=483&st=&st1=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">proposed \u003c/a>a new health insurance program that would cover all Americans. His plan would have made the government centrally involved in providing health care. The plan was actually a far more radical approach than the ACA, which largely just expands access to private insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-26342 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" alt=\"Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px\" width=\"450\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg 450w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-160x119.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-240x179.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-375x280.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the late 1940s, President Harry S. Truman tried to pass a robust health care reform bill. Here, he's speaking to the 1949 Convention of the American Federation of Labor. (Courtesy of Free Speech Radio News Archive)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most Americans were initially receptive to Truman’s proposal; nearly 60 percent supported it, according to a Gallup Poll conducted after the president introduced it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The immediate enthusiasm, though, worried the American Medical Association, which represented the business interests of doctors and was then one of the country's richest and most influential lobbies. A nationwide plan to make health care more affordable for patients, the AMA reasoned, would also make it less profitable for many private-practice physicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\"Socialized medicine\"\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>And so the group quickly got to work on an ingenious ad campaign centered on two powerful words: \"socialized medicine.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next few years, as Congress worked to craft a universal health care bill, the AMA invested in what was then the largest ad campaign in U.S. history, explicitly aimed at convincing Americans to reject Truman's plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Would socialized medicine lead to socialization of other phases of American life?\" one pamphlet posited. \"Lenin thought so. He declared, 'Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist state.' \"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(The quote was completely made up, but took hold nonetheless.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the plan was introduced in Congress, Sen. Robert Taft, a conservative Republican from Ohio, interrupted his Democratic colleague, stating that the bill was \"the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National health insurance, Taft suggested, came directly from the Soviet constitution. He announced that Republicans would boycott the hearings, and then promptly marched out of the Senate chamber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA continued to push the \"socialized medicine\" angle. In one editorial, the group warned that national health insurance would turn doctors into \"slaves.\" In one Tallahassee, hospital, doctors slipped political ads onto patients' breakfast trays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the 1950 midterm elections, the AMA spent more than $1 million on radio and TV ads -- far more than the government could spend to defend it. As one Truman ally ruefully noted, countering the AMA's ads was like \"trying to put out a forest fire with a sprinkling can.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the election results rolled in, Democrats lost nearly 30 seats in the House and five in the Senate. Public support for the proposal had plummeted, dropping from 60 to 24 percent approval in just five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so the prospect of national health insurance was dead, for the time being at least. Over the following decades, the AMA would go on to fight additional government health-related reform proposals. This included a campaign against Medicare – a battle it did not win, even with the star power of then-actor Ronald Reagan as its spokesman. Reagan took to the airwaves to scare people into opposing the program, warning that if it went forward, \"you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/Bejdhs3jGyw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1961 recording of Reagan was part of Operation Coffee Cup, an elaborate AMA effort to prevent the government from diverting any existing public funding towards paying for health insurance for the elderly and the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2015/08/03/50-years-ago-medicare-had-its-haters-too-and-we-never-did-awake-to-socialism/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Related: Back in the Day Medicare Had Its Haters Too\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, of course, ultimately failed. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill that created the Medicare and Medicaid federal health insurance programs for Americans ages 65 and up (regardless of income) and low-income residents. To this day, Medicare — that harbinger of “socialism” and destroyer of freedom that Reagan warned about— remains one of the most popular federal programs, approved by an overwhelming majority of Democrats \u003cem>and\u003c/em> Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>A change of heart\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In 2010, the AMA changed its tune and moved to support federal health reform -- thanks in part to some major \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/312377/who-gave-us-obamacare\">behind-the-scenes horse-trading\u003c/a>. Today, the AMA's \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/content/understanding-affordable-care-act\">website\u003c/a> refers to Obamacare as \"a tremendous step forward on the path toward meaningful health system reform.\" The group has since implored Republicans not to repeal the ACA without offering an adequate replacement plan, and has opposed previous Republican alternative proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA, though, couldn't put the \"socialized medicine\" genie back in the bottle, and today the term retains the powerful pariah status in American political discourse that the lobbying group helped establish more than half a century ago in its battle against national health care reform.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/qV0hFyXnq5k'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/qV0hFyXnq5k'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Republicans on Thursday got one step closer in their epic quest to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, aka \"Obamacare.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Controversially drafted behind closed doors by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and a small group of his Republican colleagues, the Senate bill is, despite earlier pledges, broadly similar to legislation narrowly passed by House Republicans in May. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/22/533942041/who-wins-who-loses-with-senate-health-care-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">This NPR chart\u003c/a> has a good side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate bills and how they measure up against Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the House version, the Senate bill would gut many of Obamacare's key provisions, including the \"individual mandate,\" which now requires everyone to purchase insurance or pay a penalty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new bill would also repeal most of the taxes used to pay for the ACA. Additionally, it would eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood and slash funding for Medicaid, a sweeping program that subsidizes health care for \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/medicaremedicaid50/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nearly 70 million people\u003c/a>. And while the legislation proposes creating a new system of tax credits to help people buy insurance, the health overhaul would likely result in millions of lower-income Americans losing their coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A vote is expected next week, although \u003ca href=\"http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/23/dean-heller-oppose-health-care-bill-239907\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">five Republican senators\u003c/a> have already announced their opposition the bill in its current form, a move that would all but doom the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats, who universally oppose the legislation, were quick to express their disdain: \"This is a bill designed to strip away heath care benefits and protections from Americans who need it most, in order to give a tax break to the folks who need it least,\" said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is just the latest chapter in the Republicans' tireless endeavor to destroy the ACA. Since it became law almost seven years ago, President Obama's signature health care reform has managed to survive countless attacks, two Supreme Court challenges and dozens of legislative assassination attempts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after the 2016 election gave Republicans control of both the White House and Congress, the ACA finally seemed doomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a candidate, President Trump repeatedly pledged to dismantle it promising an alternative plan that would offer \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-promises-health-insurance-for-everybody/\">insurance for everybody\u003c/a>” while dramatically cutting costs (although he stopped short of providing any firm details).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things got a good deal messier after that. Repealing the ACA without a reasonable replacement would cause millions of Americans to lose their health coverage, a prospect that sparked the ire of constituents in Republican districts across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, despite the Democrats' sweeping defeat in 2016, support for the ACA is oddly now at \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/interactive/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-the-publics-views-on-the-aca/#?response=Favorable--Unfavorable&aRange=all\">the highest level it's been in years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/09RvU9_m30Q'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/09RvU9_m30Q'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch4>America, the outlier\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>It’s safe to assume that just about everyone wants affordable health care. Why then is it so hard for Americans to come up with a decent health care fix that most of us can all at least marginally agree on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the world's other wealthy countries seem to have navigated this issue a lot more smoothly and effectively. Just about every other high-income nation spends significantly less than the U.S. does, yet delivers a higher quality health care available to all their residents, mostly through single-payer government systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27458\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-27458\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-1020x408.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-1020x408.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-160x64.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-800x320.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-768x308.png 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-1180x473.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-960x384.png 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-240x96.png 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-375x150.png 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM-520x208.png 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-3.33.59-PM.png 1271w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker: analysis of \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-data-en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> data from OECD (2017)\u003c/a>, \"OECD Health Data: Health expenditure and financing: Health expenditure indicators\", OECD Health Statistics.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)30818-8/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent study\u003c/a> published in The Lancet medical journal, researchers at the University of Washington created a global health care quality index by looking at 32 causes of death in 195 countries between 1990 to 2015. The U.S., the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, is ranked a dismal 80th, on par with Montenegro and Estonia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among citizens of the industrialized world, Americans have long been uniquely wary of too much government involvement in most aspects of life, but particularly health care. It's a skepticism rooted in the nation's longstanding emphasis on individualism, self-sufficiency and free markets, and America's distinct national aversion to anything resembling socialism.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Truman's big push\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>To begin to understand why the U.S. is such an outlier on the health care front, we need to go back to November 1945. That’s when President Harry Truman \u003ca href=\"https://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=483&st=&st1=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">proposed \u003c/a>a new health insurance program that would cover all Americans. His plan would have made the government centrally involved in providing health care. The plan was actually a far more radical approach than the ACA, which largely just expands access to private insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-26342 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" alt=\"Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px\" width=\"450\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg 450w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-160x119.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-240x179.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-375x280.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the late 1940s, President Harry S. Truman tried to pass a robust health care reform bill. Here, he's speaking to the 1949 Convention of the American Federation of Labor. (Courtesy of Free Speech Radio News Archive)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most Americans were initially receptive to Truman’s proposal; nearly 60 percent supported it, according to a Gallup Poll conducted after the president introduced it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The immediate enthusiasm, though, worried the American Medical Association, which represented the business interests of doctors and was then one of the country's richest and most influential lobbies. A nationwide plan to make health care more affordable for patients, the AMA reasoned, would also make it less profitable for many private-practice physicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\"Socialized medicine\"\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>And so the group quickly got to work on an ingenious ad campaign centered on two powerful words: \"socialized medicine.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next few years, as Congress worked to craft a universal health care bill, the AMA invested in what was then the largest ad campaign in U.S. history, explicitly aimed at convincing Americans to reject Truman's plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Would socialized medicine lead to socialization of other phases of American life?\" one pamphlet posited. \"Lenin thought so. He declared, 'Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist state.' \"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(The quote was completely made up, but took hold nonetheless.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the plan was introduced in Congress, Sen. Robert Taft, a conservative Republican from Ohio, interrupted his Democratic colleague, stating that the bill was \"the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National health insurance, Taft suggested, came directly from the Soviet constitution. He announced that Republicans would boycott the hearings, and then promptly marched out of the Senate chamber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA continued to push the \"socialized medicine\" angle. In one editorial, the group warned that national health insurance would turn doctors into \"slaves.\" In one Tallahassee, hospital, doctors slipped political ads onto patients' breakfast trays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the 1950 midterm elections, the AMA spent more than $1 million on radio and TV ads -- far more than the government could spend to defend it. As one Truman ally ruefully noted, countering the AMA's ads was like \"trying to put out a forest fire with a sprinkling can.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the election results rolled in, Democrats lost nearly 30 seats in the House and five in the Senate. Public support for the proposal had plummeted, dropping from 60 to 24 percent approval in just five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so the prospect of national health insurance was dead, for the time being at least. Over the following decades, the AMA would go on to fight additional government health-related reform proposals. This included a campaign against Medicare – a battle it did not win, even with the star power of then-actor Ronald Reagan as its spokesman. Reagan took to the airwaves to scare people into opposing the program, warning that if it went forward, \"you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Bejdhs3jGyw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Bejdhs3jGyw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The 1961 recording of Reagan was part of Operation Coffee Cup, an elaborate AMA effort to prevent the government from diverting any existing public funding towards paying for health insurance for the elderly and the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2015/08/03/50-years-ago-medicare-had-its-haters-too-and-we-never-did-awake-to-socialism/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Related: Back in the Day Medicare Had Its Haters Too\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, of course, ultimately failed. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill that created the Medicare and Medicaid federal health insurance programs for Americans ages 65 and up (regardless of income) and low-income residents. To this day, Medicare — that harbinger of “socialism” and destroyer of freedom that Reagan warned about— remains one of the most popular federal programs, approved by an overwhelming majority of Democrats \u003cem>and\u003c/em> Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>A change of heart\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In 2010, the AMA changed its tune and moved to support federal health reform -- thanks in part to some major \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/312377/who-gave-us-obamacare\">behind-the-scenes horse-trading\u003c/a>. Today, the AMA's \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/content/understanding-affordable-care-act\">website\u003c/a> refers to Obamacare as \"a tremendous step forward on the path toward meaningful health system reform.\" The group has since implored Republicans not to repeal the ACA without offering an adequate replacement plan, and has opposed previous Republican alternative proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA, though, couldn't put the \"socialized medicine\" genie back in the bottle, and today the term retains the powerful pariah status in American political discourse that the lobbying group helped establish more than half a century ago in its battle against national health care reform.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Why Do Americans Have Such A Hard Time Agreeing on Health Care Reform?",
"title": "Why Do Americans Have Such A Hard Time Agreeing on Health Care Reform?",
"headTitle": "The Lowdown | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/aa0XPCHksFk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite seven years or relentless attacks, two Supreme Court challenges and dozens of congressional efforts to kill it, the Affordable Care Act -- aka Obamacare -- has again lived to see another day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the 2016 election with Republicans in control of both the White House and Congress, President Obama's signature health care reform seemed all but doomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a candidate, President Trump repeatedly pledged to dismantle the law, promising an alternative plan that would offer \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-promises-health-insurance-for-everybody/\">insurance for everybody\u003c/a>” all while dramatically cutting costs (although he stopped short of providing any firm details).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Messy business\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Things got a good deal messier after that. Repealing the ACA without a reasonable replacement would cause millions of Americans to lose their health coverage, a prospect that, as it turns out, a lot of people aren't too thrilled about. That was made abundantly clear when scores of irate constituents recently packed into Republican congressional town hall meetings across the country to air their grievances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, despite the ongoing, high profile barrage of attacks against the ACA, and the striking number of former Obama backers who voted for Trump -- a candidate who vowed to dismantle it -- support for the law is actually at \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/interactive/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-the-publics-views-on-the-aca/#?response=Favorable--Unfavorable&aRange=all\">the highest level it's been in years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Republicans have struggled mightily to figure out what an overhaul would actually look like. It’s a tall order, after all: guaranteeing health coverage for everyone doesn't exactly jive with the party's agenda to slash federal spending and dramatically reduce government’s role in managing the health care market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result, the American Health Care Act, introduced by Republicans earlier this month, would have gotten rid of the individual mandate and replaced federal insurance subsidies with tax credits and block grants to states, among other major changes. In its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52486\">analysis of the bill\u003c/a>, the Congressional Budget Office projected that while the proposal would indeed save billions of federal dollars, it would also result in 24 million more Americans without health insurance over the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even after big changes to the legislation, and a major push by President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, the bill still failed to get enough Republican support in Congress to guarantee its passage (it was uniformly opposed by Democrats). Some moderates remained concerned it would cause too many of their constituents to lose health coverage, while a group of hardline conservatives opposed to big government argued that the bill was still too much like Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A House vote scheduled for Thursday -- on the ACA's seven year anniversary -- was postponed at the last minute. And by Friday, just before the vote was finally set to happen, Republican leaders \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-leaders-prepare-to-vote-friday-on-health-care-reform/2017/03/24/736f1cd6-1081-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_desktop-tab-ledeblurb%3Ahomepage%2Fstory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scrapped the whole deal\u003c/a>, a major defeat for Trump and Ryan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obamacare is the law of the land,” Ryan conceded. “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added: \"Doing big things is hard.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Uphill battle\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>But why so hard? Why can't Americans agree on a good national health care fix?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s safe to assume that just about everyone wants affordable health care. Yet, finding consensus on a plan we can all live always seems out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly every other high-income nation in the world has figured out a way to spend a lot less money than the U.S. does on health care, yet deliver high quality universal health care to their citizens. Countries can do this in a lot of different ways. In some systems, the government provides for all health care; others include a mix of government funding and private insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2000, when the World Health Organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ranked different countries' health care systems\u003c/a>, the U.S. landed in dismal 31\u003csup>st\u003c/sup> place -- despite spending more per capita than any country. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-29/u-s-health-care-system-ranks-as-one-of-the-least-efficient\">Other\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/oct/us-health-care-from-a-global-perspective\">studies\u003c/a> paint a similar picture of inefficiency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/09RvU9_m30Q\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the U.S., citizens have long been wary of government involvement in health care. Some of the skepticism is cultural, related to the American emphasis on individualism and self-sufficiency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of it has to do with support for organized labor, which has historically been much stronger in Europe than in the U.S., and health care is typically a key perk of union membership. Some of it is also a remnant of the Cold War, when many Americans began to worry that government involvement in health care was a big step toward socialism.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Truman's big push\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>To begin to understand why the U.S. is such an outlier on the health care front, we need to go back to November 1945. That’s when President Harry Truman \u003ca href=\"https://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=483&st=&st1=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">proposed \u003c/a>a new health insurance program that would cover all Americans. His plan would have made the government centrally involved in the provision of health care – a far more radical approach than that of the ACA, which for the most part just expands access to private insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-26342 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" alt=\"Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px\" width=\"450\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg 450w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-160x119.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-240x179.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-375x280.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the late 1940s, President Harry S. Truman tried to pass a robust health care reform bill. Here, he's speaking to the 1949 Convention of the American Federation of Labor. (Courtesy of Free Speech Radio News Archive)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most Americans were initially receptive to Truman’s proposal, with nearly 60 percent in support, according to a Gallup Poll conducted after the president's address.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The immediate enthusiasm, though, worried the American Medical Association, which was then one of the country's richest and most influential lobbies, representing the business interests of doctors. A nationwide plan to make health care more affordable for patients would also make it less profitable for many private-practice doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\"Socialized medicine\"\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>And so the group quickly got to work on an ingenious ad campaign centered on two magic words: \"socialized medicine.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next few years, as Congress worked to craft a universal health care bill, the AMA invested in what was then the largest ad campaign in U.S. history, all aimed at convincing Americans to reject Truman's plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Would socialized medicine lead to socialization of other phases of American life?\" one pamphlet posited. \"Lenin thought so.He declared, 'Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist state.' \"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(The quote, by the way, was completely made up, but it stuck nonetheless.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the plan was introduced in Congress, Sen. Robert Taft, a conservative Republican from Ohio, interrupted his Democratic colleague, stating that the bill was \"the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it.\" National health insurance, Taft suggested, came directly from the Soviet constitution. He then announced that Republicans would boycott the hearings, and promptly marched out of the Senate chamber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA continued to push the \"socialized medicine\" angle. In one editorial, the group warned that national health insurance would turn doctors into \"slaves.\" In a Tallahassee, Florida, hospital, doctors slipped political ads onto patients' breakfast trays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the 1950 midterm elections, the AMA spent more than $1 million on radio and TV ads -- far more than the government could spend to defend it. As one Truman ally ruefully noted, countering the AMA's ads was like \"trying to put out a forest fire with a sprinkling can.\" When the election results rolled in, Democrats lost nearly 30 seats in the House and five in the Senate. Public support for the proposal had also plummeted, dropping from 60 to 24 percent in just five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so the prospect of national health insurance was dead, for the time being at least. Over the following decades, the AMA would go on to fight many more nationwide government health-related reform proposals, including Medicare – a battle it did not win, even with the star power of Ronald Reagan as its main spokesman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/Bejdhs3jGyw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1961 recording of then-actor Ronald Reagan was part of Operation Coffee Cup, part of an elaborate AMA effort to prevent Social Security funding going to health insurance for the elderly and the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, of course, ultimately failed. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the bill that created the Medicare and Medicaid federal health insurance programs for Americans ages 65 and up, regardless of income (and later expanded to include younger people with permanent disabilities) and low-income Americans. To this day, Medicare — that harbinger of “socialism” and destroyer of freedom that Reagan warned about— remains one of the most popular federal programs, approved by an overwhelming majority of Democrats \u003cem>and\u003c/em> Republicans..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2010, the AMA did an about-face and decided to support federal health reform -- thanks in part to a lot of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/312377/who-gave-us-obamacare\">behind-the-scenes horse-trading\u003c/a>. Today, the AMA's \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/content/understanding-affordable-care-act\">website\u003c/a> refers to Obamacare as \"a tremendous step forward on the path toward meaningful health system reform.\" The group has implored Republicans not to repeal the ACA without offering an adequate replacement plan, and has come out against the Republicans' bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA, though, couldn't put the \"socialized medicine\" genie back in the bottle. The majority of Americans today might not know how the phrase originated, but many automatically consider anything linked to it \u003ca href=\"http://thefederalist.com/2016/07/15/obama-obamacare-didnt-work-so-lets-completely-socialize-medicine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an infringement of their rights.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/aa0XPCHksFk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/aa0XPCHksFk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Despite seven years or relentless attacks, two Supreme Court challenges and dozens of congressional efforts to kill it, the Affordable Care Act -- aka Obamacare -- has again lived to see another day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the 2016 election with Republicans in control of both the White House and Congress, President Obama's signature health care reform seemed all but doomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a candidate, President Trump repeatedly pledged to dismantle the law, promising an alternative plan that would offer \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-promises-health-insurance-for-everybody/\">insurance for everybody\u003c/a>” all while dramatically cutting costs (although he stopped short of providing any firm details).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Messy business\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Things got a good deal messier after that. Repealing the ACA without a reasonable replacement would cause millions of Americans to lose their health coverage, a prospect that, as it turns out, a lot of people aren't too thrilled about. That was made abundantly clear when scores of irate constituents recently packed into Republican congressional town hall meetings across the country to air their grievances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, despite the ongoing, high profile barrage of attacks against the ACA, and the striking number of former Obama backers who voted for Trump -- a candidate who vowed to dismantle it -- support for the law is actually at \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/interactive/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-the-publics-views-on-the-aca/#?response=Favorable--Unfavorable&aRange=all\">the highest level it's been in years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Republicans have struggled mightily to figure out what an overhaul would actually look like. It’s a tall order, after all: guaranteeing health coverage for everyone doesn't exactly jive with the party's agenda to slash federal spending and dramatically reduce government’s role in managing the health care market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result, the American Health Care Act, introduced by Republicans earlier this month, would have gotten rid of the individual mandate and replaced federal insurance subsidies with tax credits and block grants to states, among other major changes. In its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52486\">analysis of the bill\u003c/a>, the Congressional Budget Office projected that while the proposal would indeed save billions of federal dollars, it would also result in 24 million more Americans without health insurance over the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even after big changes to the legislation, and a major push by President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, the bill still failed to get enough Republican support in Congress to guarantee its passage (it was uniformly opposed by Democrats). Some moderates remained concerned it would cause too many of their constituents to lose health coverage, while a group of hardline conservatives opposed to big government argued that the bill was still too much like Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A House vote scheduled for Thursday -- on the ACA's seven year anniversary -- was postponed at the last minute. And by Friday, just before the vote was finally set to happen, Republican leaders \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-leaders-prepare-to-vote-friday-on-health-care-reform/2017/03/24/736f1cd6-1081-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_desktop-tab-ledeblurb%3Ahomepage%2Fstory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scrapped the whole deal\u003c/a>, a major defeat for Trump and Ryan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obamacare is the law of the land,” Ryan conceded. “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added: \"Doing big things is hard.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Uphill battle\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>But why so hard? Why can't Americans agree on a good national health care fix?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s safe to assume that just about everyone wants affordable health care. Yet, finding consensus on a plan we can all live always seems out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly every other high-income nation in the world has figured out a way to spend a lot less money than the U.S. does on health care, yet deliver high quality universal health care to their citizens. Countries can do this in a lot of different ways. In some systems, the government provides for all health care; others include a mix of government funding and private insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2000, when the World Health Organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ranked different countries' health care systems\u003c/a>, the U.S. landed in dismal 31\u003csup>st\u003c/sup> place -- despite spending more per capita than any country. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-29/u-s-health-care-system-ranks-as-one-of-the-least-efficient\">Other\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/oct/us-health-care-from-a-global-perspective\">studies\u003c/a> paint a similar picture of inefficiency.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/09RvU9_m30Q'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/09RvU9_m30Q'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>But in the U.S., citizens have long been wary of government involvement in health care. Some of the skepticism is cultural, related to the American emphasis on individualism and self-sufficiency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of it has to do with support for organized labor, which has historically been much stronger in Europe than in the U.S., and health care is typically a key perk of union membership. Some of it is also a remnant of the Cold War, when many Americans began to worry that government involvement in health care was a big step toward socialism.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Truman's big push\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>To begin to understand why the U.S. is such an outlier on the health care front, we need to go back to November 1945. That’s when President Harry Truman \u003ca href=\"https://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=483&st=&st1=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">proposed \u003c/a>a new health insurance program that would cover all Americans. His plan would have made the government centrally involved in the provision of health care – a far more radical approach than that of the ACA, which for the most part just expands access to private insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-26342 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg\" alt=\"Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px\" width=\"450\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px.jpg 450w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-160x119.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-240x179.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/Truman_HealthInsurancePlan_450px-375x280.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the late 1940s, President Harry S. Truman tried to pass a robust health care reform bill. Here, he's speaking to the 1949 Convention of the American Federation of Labor. (Courtesy of Free Speech Radio News Archive)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most Americans were initially receptive to Truman’s proposal, with nearly 60 percent in support, according to a Gallup Poll conducted after the president's address.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The immediate enthusiasm, though, worried the American Medical Association, which was then one of the country's richest and most influential lobbies, representing the business interests of doctors. A nationwide plan to make health care more affordable for patients would also make it less profitable for many private-practice doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\"Socialized medicine\"\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>And so the group quickly got to work on an ingenious ad campaign centered on two magic words: \"socialized medicine.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next few years, as Congress worked to craft a universal health care bill, the AMA invested in what was then the largest ad campaign in U.S. history, all aimed at convincing Americans to reject Truman's plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Would socialized medicine lead to socialization of other phases of American life?\" one pamphlet posited. \"Lenin thought so.He declared, 'Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist state.' \"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(The quote, by the way, was completely made up, but it stuck nonetheless.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the plan was introduced in Congress, Sen. Robert Taft, a conservative Republican from Ohio, interrupted his Democratic colleague, stating that the bill was \"the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it.\" National health insurance, Taft suggested, came directly from the Soviet constitution. He then announced that Republicans would boycott the hearings, and promptly marched out of the Senate chamber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA continued to push the \"socialized medicine\" angle. In one editorial, the group warned that national health insurance would turn doctors into \"slaves.\" In a Tallahassee, Florida, hospital, doctors slipped political ads onto patients' breakfast trays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the 1950 midterm elections, the AMA spent more than $1 million on radio and TV ads -- far more than the government could spend to defend it. As one Truman ally ruefully noted, countering the AMA's ads was like \"trying to put out a forest fire with a sprinkling can.\" When the election results rolled in, Democrats lost nearly 30 seats in the House and five in the Senate. Public support for the proposal had also plummeted, dropping from 60 to 24 percent in just five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so the prospect of national health insurance was dead, for the time being at least. Over the following decades, the AMA would go on to fight many more nationwide government health-related reform proposals, including Medicare – a battle it did not win, even with the star power of Ronald Reagan as its main spokesman.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Bejdhs3jGyw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Bejdhs3jGyw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The 1961 recording of then-actor Ronald Reagan was part of Operation Coffee Cup, part of an elaborate AMA effort to prevent Social Security funding going to health insurance for the elderly and the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, of course, ultimately failed. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the bill that created the Medicare and Medicaid federal health insurance programs for Americans ages 65 and up, regardless of income (and later expanded to include younger people with permanent disabilities) and low-income Americans. To this day, Medicare — that harbinger of “socialism” and destroyer of freedom that Reagan warned about— remains one of the most popular federal programs, approved by an overwhelming majority of Democrats \u003cem>and\u003c/em> Republicans..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2010, the AMA did an about-face and decided to support federal health reform -- thanks in part to a lot of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/312377/who-gave-us-obamacare\">behind-the-scenes horse-trading\u003c/a>. Today, the AMA's \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/content/understanding-affordable-care-act\">website\u003c/a> refers to Obamacare as \"a tremendous step forward on the path toward meaningful health system reform.\" The group has implored Republicans not to repeal the ACA without offering an adequate replacement plan, and has come out against the Republicans' bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AMA, though, couldn't put the \"socialized medicine\" genie back in the bottle. The majority of Americans today might not know how the phrase originated, but many automatically consider anything linked to it \u003ca href=\"http://thefederalist.com/2016/07/15/obama-obamacare-didnt-work-so-lets-completely-socialize-medicine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an infringement of their rights.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With headlines like these, who needs spy novels!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Revelations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election have come as a shock to many Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the plot keeps getting thicker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/jeff-sessions-russia-trump-investigation-democrats.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recused himself\u003c/a> from involvement in any Russian election meddling investigations. The announcement comes after reports surfaced that he met twice with the Russian ambassador before the election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this political drama got us wondering: How unusual is foreign election interference? As it turns out, not unusual at all. Russia/USSR has been tinkering with other countries' elections for decades -- and so has the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/ips/people/post-doctoral-fellows/dov-levin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dov Levin\u003c/a>, a political scientist at Carnegie-Mellon University, has found over a hundred examples of U.S. and/or Russian interference in other countries' elections from 1946 to 2000. About 30 percent of these interventions were Russian; the other 70 percent were organized by the U.S. In the slideshow below, we've put together a few of the American examples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A note before we get started: This slideshow focuses specifically on U.S. interference in foreign elections. So it doesn't include some of the more egregious instances of U.S. meddling -- such as the 1953 coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, or the 1961 assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. We do mention the U.S.-backed coup against Salvador Allende -- but within the context of U.S. interference in Chile's elections, which preceded the coup by almost a decade. So as you click through, bear in mind that election meddling is just one of the many ways that the U.S. has intervened in other countries' politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv align=\"center\">\u003ciframe src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1cssrFLkx8zU_U2nqavXC6j3TTNU5sbXWvoH5ipaB8h4&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650\" width=\"1100\" height=\"800\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With headlines like these, who needs spy novels!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Revelations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election have come as a shock to many Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the plot keeps getting thicker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/jeff-sessions-russia-trump-investigation-democrats.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recused himself\u003c/a> from involvement in any Russian election meddling investigations. The announcement comes after reports surfaced that he met twice with the Russian ambassador before the election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this political drama got us wondering: How unusual is foreign election interference? As it turns out, not unusual at all. Russia/USSR has been tinkering with other countries' elections for decades -- and so has the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/ips/people/post-doctoral-fellows/dov-levin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dov Levin\u003c/a>, a political scientist at Carnegie-Mellon University, has found over a hundred examples of U.S. and/or Russian interference in other countries' elections from 1946 to 2000. About 30 percent of these interventions were Russian; the other 70 percent were organized by the U.S. In the slideshow below, we've put together a few of the American examples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A note before we get started: This slideshow focuses specifically on U.S. interference in foreign elections. So it doesn't include some of the more egregious instances of U.S. meddling -- such as the 1953 coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, or the 1961 assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. We do mention the U.S.-backed coup against Salvador Allende -- but within the context of U.S. interference in Chile's elections, which preceded the coup by almost a decade. So as you click through, bear in mind that election meddling is just one of the many ways that the U.S. has intervened in other countries' politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv align=\"center\">\u003ciframe src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1cssrFLkx8zU_U2nqavXC6j3TTNU5sbXWvoH5ipaB8h4&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650\" width=\"1100\" height=\"800\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>https://youtu.be/y1uZcXsf8fs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>UPDATED July 29, 2016\u003c/strong>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you watched any part of the Democratic National Convention this week, you probably noticed a small but visible group of attendees protesting something called the “TPP.” Some held signs and banners. Some even heckled during various speeches, including President Obama’s address Wednesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The focus of discontent is a massive trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a plan spearheaded by the Obama Administration that would set new trade rules between the United States and other eleven Pacific Rim nations. It has yet to be approved by Congress, and both major party nominees say they oppose the deal. The issue nevertheless has become a flashpoint in this year’s presidential campaign, particularly among some ardent supporters of former candidate Bernie Sanders, who remain suspicious of Hillary Clinton’s intentions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why all the drama?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help make some sense of it, we’ve put together a quick guide to the TPP. If you have questions that aren’t answered here, feel free to leave us a comment – we’ll do our best to get back to you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What is the TPP?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The TPP is a trade agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific-Rim nations: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The deal would reduce trade costs between these 12 countries, which are collectively responsible for about 40 percent of global GDP and roughly a third of global trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18638\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 641px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-18638 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB.jpg\" alt=\"Congressional Research Bureau\" width=\"641\" height=\"817\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB.jpg 641w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB-400x510.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 641px) 100vw, 641px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Congressional Research Service\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After five years of negotiations, \u003ca href=\"http://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-tpp-idUSKCN0VD08S\">the agreement\u003c/a> was agreed to and signed in February by representatives of all 12 member nations. But the deal can't go into effect until at least six of them individually ratify it -- and the U.S. and Japan must be included (because of the size of their economies)\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> In other words, if either Japanese or U.S. lawmakers fail to approve it, the TPP is dead in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Japan, lawmakers are \u003ca href=\"http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/what-the-tpp-means-for-japan/\">divided\u003c/a> about the merits of the deal, and unlikely to vote on it before 2017. And in the United States, Congress probably won't take it up until after the election. President Obama has said he's confident about the deal's chances, but a decent number of Democratic lawmakers continue to oppose it -- so ratification is far from assured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most notably absent from the deal is China, Asia’s largest economy, which already has free trade agreements with many of the TPP countries. It could, though, potentially\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/business/international/once-concerned-china-is-quiet-about-trans-pacific-trade-deal.html?_r=0\"> sign on in the future\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What’s covered in the TPP?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The deal is literally \u003ca href=\"https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/trans-pacific-partnership/tpp-full-text\">thousands of pages long\u003c/a>, and leisure reading it ain’t. So unless you’re game to scrutinize the whole thing, here are some key details:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tariffs - \u003c/strong>The TPP would reduce or eliminate tariffs (taxes on imports and exports) among signatory countries, making it easier and cheaper for those countries to trade with each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Environmental and labor standards -\u003c/strong> The TPP also addresses a host of issues that are less obviously trade-related, from illegal fishing to climate change to labor rights. For instance, it includes efforts to reduce forced labor, illegally traded plants and animals, and overfishing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Intellectual property rights\u003c/strong>. The United States has pushed for stricter international enforcement of intellectual property rights, like patents and trademarks. Right now, U.S. law provides for longer copyright terms (life + 70 years) than most of the other TPP countries. The TPP would require those other countries to lengthen their copyright terms to match the U.S. standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Investor-state dispute settlement. \u003c/strong>These measures would, under certain circumstances, allow a private company to take legal action against the government of another member state. Let’s say, for example, that the Canadian government bans a certain pesticide because of environmental concerns. A U.S, chemical company that manufactures that pesticide could potentially sue the Canadian government to recover financial losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read a more detailed rundown of provisions \u003ca href=\"https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44278.pdf\">here\u003c/a>, or the full text \u003ca href=\"https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/trans-pacific-partnership/tpp-full-text\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/7gBfiQQAuwQ\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Who supports the deal?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The Obama Administration has pushed hard for the deal, arguing that it will \u003ca href=\"https://ustr.gov/tpp\">strengthen the U.S. economy\u003c/a> and help increase American exports to fast-growing Asian economies. If it takes effect, the TPP would be a powerful demonstration of the administration’s “pivot to Asia,” and a major foreign policy \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/world/asia/the-trans-pacific-trade-deal-and-a-presidents-legacy.html\">legacy\u003c/a> for the president. Interestingly, many Republican leaders in Congress who don’t usually agree with the president on much of anything also support the TPP. There’s actually more support in Congress from Republicans than from Democrats on this issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of \u003ca href=\"http://tppcoalition.org/about/\">business leaders\u003c/a> are also pushing for the deal, including many of America’s largest corporations: Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Walmart, Boeing, Coca Cola, Disney, Pfizer, Microsoft, Facebook, and many others. Entertainment and drug companies – like Disney and Pfizer – like the deal’s stringent intellectual property protections, while retailers and manufacturers – like Walmart and Boeing – want to be able to more easily sell their products in Asian markets. The deal could yield $78 billion in annual income gains for the U.S. – and global income gains of $295 billion annually, according to an \u003ca href=\"http://www.iie.com/publications/pb/pb12-16.pdf\">analysis\u003c/a> by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more controversial question, however, is how the deal would impact U.S. jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A majority of Americans have a generally \u003ca href=\"http://www.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/190427/american-public-opinion-foreign-trade.aspx\">positive\u003c/a> view of free trade, according to several recent surveys. But the same polls also show real concern about the impact free trade can have on U.S. jobs. Along those lines, anti-trade rhetoric on the campaign trail often resonates strongly with those struggling to get by.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Who opposes it?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>This is one of the few issues that Donald Trump supporters and liberal Democrats actually seem to agree on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both oppose the deal, but with very different levels of fervor. Trump has called it \"\u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/File:TrumpTPP,_2015-10-05_at_9.50.56_PM.png\">terrible deal\u003c/a>\" that would be a \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/full-transcript-trump-job-plan-speech-224891\">death blow\u003c/a> for American manufacturing.\" For Clinton, the issue is more nuanced. After initially wavering, she announced last fall that the final version of the agreement \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/13/the-oct-13-democratic-debate-who-said-what-and-what-it-means/\">did not meet her standards\u003c/a>. However, as Secretary of State in the Obama Administration, she \u003ca href=\"http://www.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2012/11/200565.htm\">supported\u003c/a> the initial workings of the deal. And that’s a big reason why some Bernie Sanders supporters don’t trust her on the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of left-leaning Democratic leaders -- notably Sanders and Elizabeth Warren -- strongly oppose the TPP on economic grounds. One of the main points of contention is that the deal was negotiated secretly; few knew what was on the table until after it had been signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor and environmental groups are also generally skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Trade/Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Free-Trade-Agreement-TPP\">AFL-CIO\u003c/a> argues that the TPP focuses more on increasing corporate profits than on protecting American jobs and wages, and a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/TPP-2013-09.pdf\">report\u003c/a> from the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research makes the case that the TPP could actually increase income inequality. Unions are worried that the deal will make it easier for U.S. companies to move jobs out of the country to places where labor and production costs are much lower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the \u003ca href=\"http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/TPP_Enviro_Analysis.pdf?docID=14842\">Sierra Club\u003c/a> and a number of other green groups say that the deal’s environmental regulations are too weak. And other activists have voiced concern that the deal’s stronger intellectual property laws could \u003ca href=\"http://www.msfaccess.org/spotlight-on/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement\">limit access to generic drugs\u003c/a> in developing countries and restrict \u003ca href=\"https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp\">internet freedom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/211684101&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How similar is the TPP to NAFTA?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The North American Free Trade Agreement is a trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada that took effect in 1994, under President Bill Clinton. The agreement got rid of most tariffs on goods traded between the three countries. It’s similar to the TPP, but much smaller in scope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the TPP, NAFTA was highly contested when it passed, and Americans have \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/us/twenty-years-later-nafta-remains-a-source-of-tension.html\">continued\u003c/a> to disagree about its costs and benefits. Those who believe NAFTA has been good for the United States, argue that the TPP will expand \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/12/11/qa-explaining-the-trans-pacific-partnership-talks/\">those benefits\u003c/a>; those who think NAFTA’s impact has been detrimental, \u003ca href=\"http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids\">argue\u003c/a> it'll just make things that much worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, President Obama has tried to make the case that the TPP is \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/04/23/chart-week-how-trans-pacific-partnership-improves-nafta\">different and better than NAFTA\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to tease out the exact impact that NAFTA's had on the U.S. economy. After it took effect, trade among the three countries did increase, and some U.S. manufacturing moved to Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service comes to a muted \u003ca href=\"http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42965.pdf\">conclusion\u003c/a>: in the end, NAFTA “did not cause the huge job losses feared by the critics or the large economic gains predicted by supporters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18634\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 444px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-18634\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/wto-protest3.jpg\" alt=\"WTO protestors in Seattle, 1999.\" width=\"444\" height=\"286\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">WTO protestors in Seattle, 1999. \u003ccite>(Photo by Al Crespo, courtesy University of Washington)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the years since NAFTA was passed, trade deals have continued to stir up strong emotions. In 1999, some \u003ca href=\"http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/WTO-riots-in-Seattle-15-years-ago-5915088.php\">40,000 protestors\u003c/a> set up camp around the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. The activists there included many of the groups that opposed NAFTA and that now oppose the TPP – unions, environmental groups, and consumer protection organizations. The event became known as the “Battle in Seattle,” after a series of serious clashes between protestors and police.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>And finally ... why should I care about any of this?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Let’s be honest: there’s nothing too sexy about international trade deals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But like it or not, we live in a globalized world. And if you buy stuff on a regular basis, you're probably more affected by international trade agreements than you might realize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of products we purchase -- from cars to clothing, computers to smartphones, even lots of foods -- are manufactured (or grown) through a vast global production process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trade deals can make it easier or harder for companies to produce things -- impacting jobs, pay, working conditions, and the price tag of products once they hit the store … like that shiny new iPhone you’ve been eyeing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And unlike those painfully dull 19\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> century trade deals you likely snoozed through in history class, modern-day trade agreements address all kinds of controversial political issues that hardly seem connected to trade at all, like climate change, collective bargaining rights, music piracy -- even rules about how your online data is stored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So stay tuned.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/y1uZcXsf8fs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/y1uZcXsf8fs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>UPDATED July 29, 2016\u003c/strong>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you watched any part of the Democratic National Convention this week, you probably noticed a small but visible group of attendees protesting something called the “TPP.” Some held signs and banners. Some even heckled during various speeches, including President Obama’s address Wednesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The focus of discontent is a massive trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a plan spearheaded by the Obama Administration that would set new trade rules between the United States and other eleven Pacific Rim nations. It has yet to be approved by Congress, and both major party nominees say they oppose the deal. The issue nevertheless has become a flashpoint in this year’s presidential campaign, particularly among some ardent supporters of former candidate Bernie Sanders, who remain suspicious of Hillary Clinton’s intentions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why all the drama?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help make some sense of it, we’ve put together a quick guide to the TPP. If you have questions that aren’t answered here, feel free to leave us a comment – we’ll do our best to get back to you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What is the TPP?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The TPP is a trade agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific-Rim nations: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The deal would reduce trade costs between these 12 countries, which are collectively responsible for about 40 percent of global GDP and roughly a third of global trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18638\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 641px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-18638 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB.jpg\" alt=\"Congressional Research Bureau\" width=\"641\" height=\"817\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB.jpg 641w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/CRB-400x510.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 641px) 100vw, 641px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Congressional Research Service\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After five years of negotiations, \u003ca href=\"http://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-tpp-idUSKCN0VD08S\">the agreement\u003c/a> was agreed to and signed in February by representatives of all 12 member nations. But the deal can't go into effect until at least six of them individually ratify it -- and the U.S. and Japan must be included (because of the size of their economies)\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> In other words, if either Japanese or U.S. lawmakers fail to approve it, the TPP is dead in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Japan, lawmakers are \u003ca href=\"http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/what-the-tpp-means-for-japan/\">divided\u003c/a> about the merits of the deal, and unlikely to vote on it before 2017. And in the United States, Congress probably won't take it up until after the election. President Obama has said he's confident about the deal's chances, but a decent number of Democratic lawmakers continue to oppose it -- so ratification is far from assured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most notably absent from the deal is China, Asia’s largest economy, which already has free trade agreements with many of the TPP countries. It could, though, potentially\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/business/international/once-concerned-china-is-quiet-about-trans-pacific-trade-deal.html?_r=0\"> sign on in the future\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What’s covered in the TPP?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The deal is literally \u003ca href=\"https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/trans-pacific-partnership/tpp-full-text\">thousands of pages long\u003c/a>, and leisure reading it ain’t. So unless you’re game to scrutinize the whole thing, here are some key details:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tariffs - \u003c/strong>The TPP would reduce or eliminate tariffs (taxes on imports and exports) among signatory countries, making it easier and cheaper for those countries to trade with each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Environmental and labor standards -\u003c/strong> The TPP also addresses a host of issues that are less obviously trade-related, from illegal fishing to climate change to labor rights. For instance, it includes efforts to reduce forced labor, illegally traded plants and animals, and overfishing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Intellectual property rights\u003c/strong>. The United States has pushed for stricter international enforcement of intellectual property rights, like patents and trademarks. Right now, U.S. law provides for longer copyright terms (life + 70 years) than most of the other TPP countries. The TPP would require those other countries to lengthen their copyright terms to match the U.S. standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Investor-state dispute settlement. \u003c/strong>These measures would, under certain circumstances, allow a private company to take legal action against the government of another member state. Let’s say, for example, that the Canadian government bans a certain pesticide because of environmental concerns. A U.S, chemical company that manufactures that pesticide could potentially sue the Canadian government to recover financial losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read a more detailed rundown of provisions \u003ca href=\"https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44278.pdf\">here\u003c/a>, or the full text \u003ca href=\"https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/trans-pacific-partnership/tpp-full-text\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/7gBfiQQAuwQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/7gBfiQQAuwQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch4>Who supports the deal?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The Obama Administration has pushed hard for the deal, arguing that it will \u003ca href=\"https://ustr.gov/tpp\">strengthen the U.S. economy\u003c/a> and help increase American exports to fast-growing Asian economies. If it takes effect, the TPP would be a powerful demonstration of the administration’s “pivot to Asia,” and a major foreign policy \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/world/asia/the-trans-pacific-trade-deal-and-a-presidents-legacy.html\">legacy\u003c/a> for the president. Interestingly, many Republican leaders in Congress who don’t usually agree with the president on much of anything also support the TPP. There’s actually more support in Congress from Republicans than from Democrats on this issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of \u003ca href=\"http://tppcoalition.org/about/\">business leaders\u003c/a> are also pushing for the deal, including many of America’s largest corporations: Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Walmart, Boeing, Coca Cola, Disney, Pfizer, Microsoft, Facebook, and many others. Entertainment and drug companies – like Disney and Pfizer – like the deal’s stringent intellectual property protections, while retailers and manufacturers – like Walmart and Boeing – want to be able to more easily sell their products in Asian markets. The deal could yield $78 billion in annual income gains for the U.S. – and global income gains of $295 billion annually, according to an \u003ca href=\"http://www.iie.com/publications/pb/pb12-16.pdf\">analysis\u003c/a> by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more controversial question, however, is how the deal would impact U.S. jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A majority of Americans have a generally \u003ca href=\"http://www.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/190427/american-public-opinion-foreign-trade.aspx\">positive\u003c/a> view of free trade, according to several recent surveys. But the same polls also show real concern about the impact free trade can have on U.S. jobs. Along those lines, anti-trade rhetoric on the campaign trail often resonates strongly with those struggling to get by.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Who opposes it?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>This is one of the few issues that Donald Trump supporters and liberal Democrats actually seem to agree on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both oppose the deal, but with very different levels of fervor. Trump has called it \"\u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/File:TrumpTPP,_2015-10-05_at_9.50.56_PM.png\">terrible deal\u003c/a>\" that would be a \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/full-transcript-trump-job-plan-speech-224891\">death blow\u003c/a> for American manufacturing.\" For Clinton, the issue is more nuanced. After initially wavering, she announced last fall that the final version of the agreement \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/13/the-oct-13-democratic-debate-who-said-what-and-what-it-means/\">did not meet her standards\u003c/a>. However, as Secretary of State in the Obama Administration, she \u003ca href=\"http://www.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2012/11/200565.htm\">supported\u003c/a> the initial workings of the deal. And that’s a big reason why some Bernie Sanders supporters don’t trust her on the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of left-leaning Democratic leaders -- notably Sanders and Elizabeth Warren -- strongly oppose the TPP on economic grounds. One of the main points of contention is that the deal was negotiated secretly; few knew what was on the table until after it had been signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor and environmental groups are also generally skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Trade/Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Free-Trade-Agreement-TPP\">AFL-CIO\u003c/a> argues that the TPP focuses more on increasing corporate profits than on protecting American jobs and wages, and a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/TPP-2013-09.pdf\">report\u003c/a> from the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research makes the case that the TPP could actually increase income inequality. Unions are worried that the deal will make it easier for U.S. companies to move jobs out of the country to places where labor and production costs are much lower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the \u003ca href=\"http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/TPP_Enviro_Analysis.pdf?docID=14842\">Sierra Club\u003c/a> and a number of other green groups say that the deal’s environmental regulations are too weak. And other activists have voiced concern that the deal’s stronger intellectual property laws could \u003ca href=\"http://www.msfaccess.org/spotlight-on/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement\">limit access to generic drugs\u003c/a> in developing countries and restrict \u003ca href=\"https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp\">internet freedom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/211684101&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How similar is the TPP to NAFTA?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The North American Free Trade Agreement is a trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada that took effect in 1994, under President Bill Clinton. The agreement got rid of most tariffs on goods traded between the three countries. It’s similar to the TPP, but much smaller in scope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the TPP, NAFTA was highly contested when it passed, and Americans have \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/us/twenty-years-later-nafta-remains-a-source-of-tension.html\">continued\u003c/a> to disagree about its costs and benefits. Those who believe NAFTA has been good for the United States, argue that the TPP will expand \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/12/11/qa-explaining-the-trans-pacific-partnership-talks/\">those benefits\u003c/a>; those who think NAFTA’s impact has been detrimental, \u003ca href=\"http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids\">argue\u003c/a> it'll just make things that much worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, President Obama has tried to make the case that the TPP is \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/04/23/chart-week-how-trans-pacific-partnership-improves-nafta\">different and better than NAFTA\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to tease out the exact impact that NAFTA's had on the U.S. economy. After it took effect, trade among the three countries did increase, and some U.S. manufacturing moved to Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service comes to a muted \u003ca href=\"http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42965.pdf\">conclusion\u003c/a>: in the end, NAFTA “did not cause the huge job losses feared by the critics or the large economic gains predicted by supporters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18634\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 444px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-18634\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/06/wto-protest3.jpg\" alt=\"WTO protestors in Seattle, 1999.\" width=\"444\" height=\"286\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">WTO protestors in Seattle, 1999. \u003ccite>(Photo by Al Crespo, courtesy University of Washington)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the years since NAFTA was passed, trade deals have continued to stir up strong emotions. In 1999, some \u003ca href=\"http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/WTO-riots-in-Seattle-15-years-ago-5915088.php\">40,000 protestors\u003c/a> set up camp around the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. The activists there included many of the groups that opposed NAFTA and that now oppose the TPP – unions, environmental groups, and consumer protection organizations. The event became known as the “Battle in Seattle,” after a series of serious clashes between protestors and police.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>And finally ... why should I care about any of this?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Let’s be honest: there’s nothing too sexy about international trade deals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But like it or not, we live in a globalized world. And if you buy stuff on a regular basis, you're probably more affected by international trade agreements than you might realize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of products we purchase -- from cars to clothing, computers to smartphones, even lots of foods -- are manufactured (or grown) through a vast global production process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trade deals can make it easier or harder for companies to produce things -- impacting jobs, pay, working conditions, and the price tag of products once they hit the store … like that shiny new iPhone you’ve been eyeing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And unlike those painfully dull 19\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> century trade deals you likely snoozed through in history class, modern-day trade agreements address all kinds of controversial political issues that hardly seem connected to trade at all, like climate change, collective bargaining rights, music piracy -- even rules about how your online data is stored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So stay tuned.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>https://youtu.be/PvLSN3Vr8W0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Rico is drowning in debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->The cash-strapped U.S. island territory in the Caribbean hasn’t been financially sound for at least a decade, and for years has borrowed huge sums of money to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it’s buried under $72 billion of debt - equivalent to about $20,000 per resident. Puerto Rico’s governor called the situation a “death spiral” and last summer conceded that the amount was simply \"not payable.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for the past year, Puerto Rico has repeatedly defaulted (skipped out) on \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-defaults-on-principal-of-422-million-debt-payment.html\">large debt payments\u003c/a>. And last Friday, the island did something that hasn’t happened on any U.S. territory since the height of the Great Depression in the 1930s: it skipped out on a \u003ca href=\"http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/12/investing/puerto-rico-debt-crisis/?iid=EL\">$3 billion payment\u003c/a> to creditors who held general obligation bonds, a debt it was legally required to pay back before funding anything else, even emergency services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an attempt to stop the bleeding, Congress passed a financial rescue bill on June 30, placing the island’s finances under the control of a federally-appointed oversight board.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What does the new law do?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The new law is called the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act -- PROMESA, for short. It creates an oversight board tasked with resolving the island’s crisis by negotiating with Puerto Rico's creditors –- the bondholders -- and the Puerto Rican government to \"restructure\" the debt. That might mean allowing Puerto Rico to pay it back over a longer period of time and convincing creditors to forgive some of what they’re owed. The full text of the law is \u003ca href=\"https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114s2328enr/pdf/BILLS-114s2328enr.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most importantly, the measure shields Puerto Rico until 2017 from being sued by creditors if it misses a debt payment. This, in theory, buys the board time to come up with a deal without Puerto Rico getting slapped with lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t mistake it for a bailout. It’s far from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PROMESA doesn't actually provide any money to Puerto Rico's government. It just shifts decision-making authority from its locally elected government to the federal oversight board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board will have seven voting members who are supposed to be experts in finance or law. The members will be appointed by President Obama, with input from Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just one of those seats is reserved for someone who lives or works in Puerto Rico. And to the chagrin of Puerto Rican officials, members of its own government are barred from serving.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Why doesn’t Puerto Rico just declare bankruptcy?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory is definitely not working in its favor at the moment. Unlike cities or counties in U.S. states, the island can’t file for bankruptcy – as\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=248568485\"> Detroit did in 2013\u003c/a>. The federal government has been unwilling to declare emergency measures to help the island’s most vulnerable residents, as it might have if a U.S. state were undergoing a similar crisis. And unlike sovereign nations, such as Greece, it can’t seek emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Who supports the law?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>PROMESA garnered a rare showing of bipartisan support, including the backing of both President Obama \u003ci>and\u003c/i> House Speaker Paul Ryan. Most members of Congress see it as the best way to manage a bad situation. Some Republicans worry it sets a precedent for federal intervention in fiscally-troubled states, although party leaders are quick to emphasize that it is by no means a taxpayer bailout. And some Democrats are unhappy about a provision in the law that would decrease the minimum wage for young workers on the island to $4.25/hour. Nonetheless, the bill passed both the House and the Senate by wide margins.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Who's opposed to it?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The island's governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, has been less enthusiastic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garcia Padilla argues that PROMESA's oversight board would place too much power in the hands of outside, unelected officials, undermining the rights of Puerto Ricans to determine their own destiny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He now appears, however, to have reluctantly accepted this path as a necessary evil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Rico has turned into “a colony of Wall Street,” Garcia Padilla said during a recent press conference. “We are starting the process of putting it back in the hands of Puerto Ricans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Congress, \u003ca href=\"https://www.menendez.senate.gov/news-and-events/press/menendez-speaks-in-opposition-to-house-puerto-rico-bill\">Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)\u003c/a> has been most the vocal opponent of the measure, calling it \"blatant neocolonialism.\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4608491/promesa-testimony\">Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.)\u003c/a> has consistently echoed that assessment, referring to PROMESA as a \"terrible piece of legislation\" that \"treat[s] Puerto Rico as a colony.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Puerto Rican residents have publicly protested the bill, labeling it an instrument of colonialism. A smaller contingent have even\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt-relief-law-stirs-colonial-resentment.html?_r=1\"> called for a “Prexit”\u003c/a> – a Puerto Rican exit from the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How bad are conditions on the island?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Pretty bad. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently\u003ca href=\"http://www.reid.senate.gov/press_releases/2016-06-29-reid-puerto-rico-bill-is-far-from-perfect-but-we-must-address-the-economic-crisis#.V3aSxZMrLow\"> described\u003c/a> the situation as nothing short of \"a humanitarian disaster.” The crisis hits the island’s public services and poorest residents particularly hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 150 schools have already been shuttered for lack of funds, and hundreds more are expected to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the looming threat of a Zika virus outbreak, Puerto Rico's largest\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/03/468907162/puerto-ricos-growing-financial-crisis-threatens-health-care-too\"> pediatric hospital\u003c/a> recently cut its hours and shut down two wings. Another hospital is operating without electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Puerto Rican officials have raised taxes and laid off thousands of public employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate has climbed to nearly \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.pr.htm\">12 percent\u003c/a>, more than double the national rate. And almost half of the island’s residents now live below the federal poverty line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this has prompted a mass exodus, particularly among sets of desperately-needed skilled workers, like doctors, who are moving in droves to the mainland. In the past decade, almost 10 percent of the population has departed, according to recent Census data.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How did Puerto Rico get into this mess?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>A combination of factors. For starters, Puerto Rico for decades was a manufacturing powerhouse, fueled by U.S. companies that received a hefty tax break for basing their operations there. In 2006, though, that incentive was phased out and companies relocated, spurring a major drop in the island’s revenue and jobs. Economic conditions deteriorated further when the U.S. financial crisis hit in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/OwTJ1daiUfQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also been extremely easy – much too easy, it turns out – for Puerto Rico to borrow money. Lending has generally been through municipal bonds, which are “triple tax exempt.” This means that anyone who buys a Puerto Rican bond (which, in effect, lends money to the Puerto Rican government) doesn't have to pay federal, state, or local taxes on the interest they earn. Large numbers of investors, including big hedge funds, gravitated toward Puerto Rican bonds despite strong signs its economy was tanking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, borrowed cash poured in. As Puerto Rico’s inefficient government spent much more than it took in, public debt skyrocketed -- from $43.5 billion in 2006 to $72 billion today. Now it’s loans are due, and the island can hardly begin to pay them back.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What’s next?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Once its members are chosen, the oversight board will begin working on a deal that can at least temporarily stabilize the island's finances. In the long run, investors will most likely have to accept that Puerto Rico simply won’t be able to pay back the full amount it owes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s poorest residents will continue to be hit hardest, as the island endures prolonged cost-cutting measures, similar to\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2015/07/17/confused-about-the-greek-economic-crisis-heres-whats-going-on/\"> Greece’s austerity reforms\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will probably mean even fewer jobs, increased taxes and further cuts to education, health and other and crucial public services, which in turn will accelerate the exodus to the mainland for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, things in Puerto Rico stand to get worse before they get better.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/PvLSN3Vr8W0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/PvLSN3Vr8W0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Puerto Rico is drowning in debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->The cash-strapped U.S. island territory in the Caribbean hasn’t been financially sound for at least a decade, and for years has borrowed huge sums of money to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it’s buried under $72 billion of debt - equivalent to about $20,000 per resident. Puerto Rico’s governor called the situation a “death spiral” and last summer conceded that the amount was simply \"not payable.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for the past year, Puerto Rico has repeatedly defaulted (skipped out) on \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-defaults-on-principal-of-422-million-debt-payment.html\">large debt payments\u003c/a>. And last Friday, the island did something that hasn’t happened on any U.S. territory since the height of the Great Depression in the 1930s: it skipped out on a \u003ca href=\"http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/12/investing/puerto-rico-debt-crisis/?iid=EL\">$3 billion payment\u003c/a> to creditors who held general obligation bonds, a debt it was legally required to pay back before funding anything else, even emergency services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an attempt to stop the bleeding, Congress passed a financial rescue bill on June 30, placing the island’s finances under the control of a federally-appointed oversight board.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What does the new law do?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The new law is called the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act -- PROMESA, for short. It creates an oversight board tasked with resolving the island’s crisis by negotiating with Puerto Rico's creditors –- the bondholders -- and the Puerto Rican government to \"restructure\" the debt. That might mean allowing Puerto Rico to pay it back over a longer period of time and convincing creditors to forgive some of what they’re owed. The full text of the law is \u003ca href=\"https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114s2328enr/pdf/BILLS-114s2328enr.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most importantly, the measure shields Puerto Rico until 2017 from being sued by creditors if it misses a debt payment. This, in theory, buys the board time to come up with a deal without Puerto Rico getting slapped with lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t mistake it for a bailout. It’s far from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PROMESA doesn't actually provide any money to Puerto Rico's government. It just shifts decision-making authority from its locally elected government to the federal oversight board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board will have seven voting members who are supposed to be experts in finance or law. The members will be appointed by President Obama, with input from Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just one of those seats is reserved for someone who lives or works in Puerto Rico. And to the chagrin of Puerto Rican officials, members of its own government are barred from serving.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Why doesn’t Puerto Rico just declare bankruptcy?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory is definitely not working in its favor at the moment. Unlike cities or counties in U.S. states, the island can’t file for bankruptcy – as\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=248568485\"> Detroit did in 2013\u003c/a>. The federal government has been unwilling to declare emergency measures to help the island’s most vulnerable residents, as it might have if a U.S. state were undergoing a similar crisis. And unlike sovereign nations, such as Greece, it can’t seek emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Who supports the law?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>PROMESA garnered a rare showing of bipartisan support, including the backing of both President Obama \u003ci>and\u003c/i> House Speaker Paul Ryan. Most members of Congress see it as the best way to manage a bad situation. Some Republicans worry it sets a precedent for federal intervention in fiscally-troubled states, although party leaders are quick to emphasize that it is by no means a taxpayer bailout. And some Democrats are unhappy about a provision in the law that would decrease the minimum wage for young workers on the island to $4.25/hour. Nonetheless, the bill passed both the House and the Senate by wide margins.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Who's opposed to it?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The island's governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, has been less enthusiastic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garcia Padilla argues that PROMESA's oversight board would place too much power in the hands of outside, unelected officials, undermining the rights of Puerto Ricans to determine their own destiny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He now appears, however, to have reluctantly accepted this path as a necessary evil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Rico has turned into “a colony of Wall Street,” Garcia Padilla said during a recent press conference. “We are starting the process of putting it back in the hands of Puerto Ricans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Congress, \u003ca href=\"https://www.menendez.senate.gov/news-and-events/press/menendez-speaks-in-opposition-to-house-puerto-rico-bill\">Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)\u003c/a> has been most the vocal opponent of the measure, calling it \"blatant neocolonialism.\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4608491/promesa-testimony\">Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.)\u003c/a> has consistently echoed that assessment, referring to PROMESA as a \"terrible piece of legislation\" that \"treat[s] Puerto Rico as a colony.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Puerto Rican residents have publicly protested the bill, labeling it an instrument of colonialism. A smaller contingent have even\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt-relief-law-stirs-colonial-resentment.html?_r=1\"> called for a “Prexit”\u003c/a> – a Puerto Rican exit from the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How bad are conditions on the island?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Pretty bad. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently\u003ca href=\"http://www.reid.senate.gov/press_releases/2016-06-29-reid-puerto-rico-bill-is-far-from-perfect-but-we-must-address-the-economic-crisis#.V3aSxZMrLow\"> described\u003c/a> the situation as nothing short of \"a humanitarian disaster.” The crisis hits the island’s public services and poorest residents particularly hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 150 schools have already been shuttered for lack of funds, and hundreds more are expected to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the looming threat of a Zika virus outbreak, Puerto Rico's largest\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/03/468907162/puerto-ricos-growing-financial-crisis-threatens-health-care-too\"> pediatric hospital\u003c/a> recently cut its hours and shut down two wings. Another hospital is operating without electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Puerto Rican officials have raised taxes and laid off thousands of public employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate has climbed to nearly \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.pr.htm\">12 percent\u003c/a>, more than double the national rate. And almost half of the island’s residents now live below the federal poverty line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this has prompted a mass exodus, particularly among sets of desperately-needed skilled workers, like doctors, who are moving in droves to the mainland. In the past decade, almost 10 percent of the population has departed, according to recent Census data.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How did Puerto Rico get into this mess?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>A combination of factors. For starters, Puerto Rico for decades was a manufacturing powerhouse, fueled by U.S. companies that received a hefty tax break for basing their operations there. In 2006, though, that incentive was phased out and companies relocated, spurring a major drop in the island’s revenue and jobs. Economic conditions deteriorated further when the U.S. financial crisis hit in 2008.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/OwTJ1daiUfQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/OwTJ1daiUfQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s also been extremely easy – much too easy, it turns out – for Puerto Rico to borrow money. Lending has generally been through municipal bonds, which are “triple tax exempt.” This means that anyone who buys a Puerto Rican bond (which, in effect, lends money to the Puerto Rican government) doesn't have to pay federal, state, or local taxes on the interest they earn. Large numbers of investors, including big hedge funds, gravitated toward Puerto Rican bonds despite strong signs its economy was tanking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, borrowed cash poured in. As Puerto Rico’s inefficient government spent much more than it took in, public debt skyrocketed -- from $43.5 billion in 2006 to $72 billion today. Now it’s loans are due, and the island can hardly begin to pay them back.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What’s next?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Once its members are chosen, the oversight board will begin working on a deal that can at least temporarily stabilize the island's finances. In the long run, investors will most likely have to accept that Puerto Rico simply won’t be able to pay back the full amount it owes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s poorest residents will continue to be hit hardest, as the island endures prolonged cost-cutting measures, similar to\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2015/07/17/confused-about-the-greek-economic-crisis-heres-whats-going-on/\"> Greece’s austerity reforms\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will probably mean even fewer jobs, increased taxes and further cuts to education, health and other and crucial public services, which in turn will accelerate the exodus to the mainland for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, things in Puerto Rico stand to get worse before they get better.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Memorial Day was born out of the collective trauma of the Civil War.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1868, the head of a major veterans association, declared that the 30th of May would be dedicated to “strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades” who had died fighting for the Union. Nearly 5,000 people attended an official ceremony that year at the newly established Arlington National Cemetery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The practice spread, and many northern states designated Memorial Day (or Decoration Day, as it was originally called) an official holiday. Civic groups in the South also gathered to honor the Confederate dead, often on the birthday of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis (June 3) or the day marking the death of legendary commander Stonewall Jackson (May 10).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/opinion/30blight.html\">Yale historian David Blight\u003c/a> has evidence that suggests a notably different Memorial Day story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrary to popular belief, he argues, the holiday actually stemmed from a ceremony performed in 1865, by recently freed blacks in the smoldering city of Charleston, S.C. In researching his book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://anthony-fatato-cvq1.squarespace.com/books/#race\" target=\"_blank\">Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American History\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, Professor Blight unearthed documents that, he claims, tells the story of the all-but-forgotten event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some 620,000 soldiers (Union and Confederate) are commonly believed to have been killed during the Civil War (although \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/civil-war-toll-up-by-20-percent-in-new-estimate.html\">a recent analysis\u003c/a> suggests the complete death toll was closer to 750,000)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Far more Americans died in the Civil War than in any other. The war claimed roughly six times more lives than World War II, America's second deadliest conflict.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">' What you have there is black Americans recently freed from slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, and their feet, and their songs, what the war had been about.'\u003ccite>David Blight\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In the war's aftermath, shell-shocked communities throughout the country didn't know what to do with so many bodies, writes historian Drew Gilpin Faust, author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17957712\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cem>This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War.\u003c/em> \u003c/a>When the fighting began, there were no national cemeteries and few reliable systems to track deaths. Nearly half of the war dead were unidentified at burial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By Spring of 1865, most Confederate supporters had already fled the now Union-occupied city of Charleston, and the city's remaining inhabitants were primarily recently freed blacks. It must have been a strange time: rubble in the streets, azaleas blooming, the shock and euphoria of the war’s end and the cautious embrace of freedom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22204\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 493px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-22204 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650.jpg\" alt=\"Union soldiers' graves at Washington Racecourse, 1865.\" width=\"493\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650.jpg 493w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650-400x474.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Union soldiers' graves at Washington Racecourse, 1865. \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At some point during this period, a group of black workmen walked through the ruined city to the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club, which the Confederate army had converted during the war into a open air prison for captured Union soldiers. Hundreds of prisoners there had died of disease and exposure and were buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand. The workers dug up the mass graves and reinterred each unidentified body in proper graves. They also built a fence around the site, identifying it as a cemetery. Over the entrance, they raised an arch inscribed with the words “Martyrs of the Race Track.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Blight, ten thousand mostly black residents gathered at the racetrack on May 1, to honor the fallen Union prisoners and celebrate their own nascent freedom. Children carried armfuls of roses; women brought crosses and wreaths to decorate the graves. A children’s choir sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and ministers read from the Bible. Black men marched alongside black and white Union soldiers singing “John Brown’s Body.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119/lecture-19\" target=\"_blank\">recent lecture\u003c/a> on the topic, Blight describes the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\"This was the first Memorial Day. African-Americans invented Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina ... What you have there is black Americans recently freed from slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, and their feet, and their songs, what the war had been about. What they basically were creating was the Independence Day of a Second American Revolution. That story got lost for more than a century. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blight notes that during his research, he contacted archives and libraries in Charleston to find out more about the ceremony only to discover the event had been pretty much wiped from the local historical record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It showed the power of the lost cause in the wake of the war to erase the story,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further digging, though, unearthed more evidence of the event, including a drawing of the cemetery in a 1867 issue of Harper's Weekly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the physical evidence of that first Memorial Day has all but disappeared. The bodies of the prisoners were dug up again in the 1880s and reinterred yet again in another cemetery seventy miles away. The grandstand is gone and the site is now a public park, ironically renamed after Wade Hampton, the former Confederate Civil War general and white supremacist governor of South Carolina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasn528/4661977250/in/photostream%22\" target=\"_blank\">One small plaque, \u003c/a>recently installed at the site, is the only recognition of that first momentous Memorial Day celebration more than 150 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Memorial Day was born out of the collective trauma of the Civil War.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1868, the head of a major veterans association, declared that the 30th of May would be dedicated to “strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades” who had died fighting for the Union. Nearly 5,000 people attended an official ceremony that year at the newly established Arlington National Cemetery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The practice spread, and many northern states designated Memorial Day (or Decoration Day, as it was originally called) an official holiday. Civic groups in the South also gathered to honor the Confederate dead, often on the birthday of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis (June 3) or the day marking the death of legendary commander Stonewall Jackson (May 10).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/opinion/30blight.html\">Yale historian David Blight\u003c/a> has evidence that suggests a notably different Memorial Day story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrary to popular belief, he argues, the holiday actually stemmed from a ceremony performed in 1865, by recently freed blacks in the smoldering city of Charleston, S.C. In researching his book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://anthony-fatato-cvq1.squarespace.com/books/#race\" target=\"_blank\">Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American History\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, Professor Blight unearthed documents that, he claims, tells the story of the all-but-forgotten event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some 620,000 soldiers (Union and Confederate) are commonly believed to have been killed during the Civil War (although \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/civil-war-toll-up-by-20-percent-in-new-estimate.html\">a recent analysis\u003c/a> suggests the complete death toll was closer to 750,000)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Far more Americans died in the Civil War than in any other. The war claimed roughly six times more lives than World War II, America's second deadliest conflict.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">' What you have there is black Americans recently freed from slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, and their feet, and their songs, what the war had been about.'\u003ccite>David Blight\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In the war's aftermath, shell-shocked communities throughout the country didn't know what to do with so many bodies, writes historian Drew Gilpin Faust, author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17957712\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cem>This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War.\u003c/em> \u003c/a>When the fighting began, there were no national cemeteries and few reliable systems to track deaths. Nearly half of the war dead were unidentified at burial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By Spring of 1865, most Confederate supporters had already fled the now Union-occupied city of Charleston, and the city's remaining inhabitants were primarily recently freed blacks. It must have been a strange time: rubble in the streets, azaleas blooming, the shock and euphoria of the war’s end and the cautious embrace of freedom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22204\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 493px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-22204 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650.jpg\" alt=\"Union soldiers' graves at Washington Racecourse, 1865.\" width=\"493\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650.jpg 493w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/05/UnionGravesEdited_650x650-400x474.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Union soldiers' graves at Washington Racecourse, 1865. \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At some point during this period, a group of black workmen walked through the ruined city to the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club, which the Confederate army had converted during the war into a open air prison for captured Union soldiers. Hundreds of prisoners there had died of disease and exposure and were buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand. The workers dug up the mass graves and reinterred each unidentified body in proper graves. They also built a fence around the site, identifying it as a cemetery. Over the entrance, they raised an arch inscribed with the words “Martyrs of the Race Track.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Blight, ten thousand mostly black residents gathered at the racetrack on May 1, to honor the fallen Union prisoners and celebrate their own nascent freedom. Children carried armfuls of roses; women brought crosses and wreaths to decorate the graves. A children’s choir sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and ministers read from the Bible. Black men marched alongside black and white Union soldiers singing “John Brown’s Body.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119/lecture-19\" target=\"_blank\">recent lecture\u003c/a> on the topic, Blight describes the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\"This was the first Memorial Day. African-Americans invented Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina ... What you have there is black Americans recently freed from slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, and their feet, and their songs, what the war had been about. What they basically were creating was the Independence Day of a Second American Revolution. That story got lost for more than a century. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blight notes that during his research, he contacted archives and libraries in Charleston to find out more about the ceremony only to discover the event had been pretty much wiped from the local historical record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It showed the power of the lost cause in the wake of the war to erase the story,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further digging, though, unearthed more evidence of the event, including a drawing of the cemetery in a 1867 issue of Harper's Weekly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the physical evidence of that first Memorial Day has all but disappeared. The bodies of the prisoners were dug up again in the 1880s and reinterred yet again in another cemetery seventy miles away. The grandstand is gone and the site is now a public park, ironically renamed after Wade Hampton, the former Confederate Civil War general and white supremacist governor of South Carolina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasn528/4661977250/in/photostream%22\" target=\"_blank\">One small plaque, \u003c/a>recently installed at the site, is the only recognition of that first momentous Memorial Day celebration more than 150 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "The Iran Nuclear Deal Explained",
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"content": "\u003cp>https://youtu.be/oqvghou5m3U\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agreed to in July 2015 by the U.S., Iran, and five other nations, the 159-page long deal – officially titled the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2165388-iran-deal-text.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action\u003c/a> -- came after twenty months of tense negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you don't feel too keen on reading the agreement cover-to-cover, here’s the basic gist:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What’s the main goal?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The number one goal (from the U.S. perspective) is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has agreed to restrict many of its nuclear programs, and allow international inspectors access to sensitive sites. In return, the U.S., the European Union and the United Nations will lift economic sanctions that have helped cripple Iran’s economy over the past ten years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\u003cstrong>Who’s involved besides the U.S. and Iran?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Representatives from five additional countries were involved in the negotiations: the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France and Germany. The non-Iranian side of negotiations is often referred to as the P5+1 (permanent United Nations Security Council members + Germany) or the EU3+3 (three EU members + the U.S., Russia, and China).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\u003cstrong>How would it stop Iran from making a nuclear bomb?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The deal is designed to increase Iran’s “breakout time.” That is, the time it would need, given its resources, to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear weapon. Right now, Iran’s breakout time is \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-nuclear-breakout-time-a-fact-sheet/\">estimated\u003c/a> at roughly three months. The Obama administration \u003ca href=\"http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/07/244885.htm\">argues\u003c/a> that the deal would increase Iran’s breakout time to at least a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/25599/iran_nuclear_deal.html\">Specifically\u003c/a>, the deal would cut off Iran’s access to two materials used to manufacture nuclear weapons: highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Both of these are so-called fissile materials, meaning they can sustain the kind of chain reaction that powers a nuclear weapon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both are derived from raw uranium, which is a fissile material that can either be spun around in a centrifuge (creating enriched uranium) or irradiated in a nuclear reactor (creating plutonium). The deal aims to limit Iran’s ability to complete these two processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here how:\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>- Restrictions on uranium enrichment: \u003c/strong>Under the deal Iran can continue to enrich some uranium for peaceful purposes. But it restricts enrichment to one facility (for the next 10 years), and limits the enrichment level to under 4 percent (for 15 years). Uranium at that level of enrichment is useful for operating nuclear power plants, but not enough to be used to produce a weapon. Iran has also agreed to eliminate most of its stockpile of enriched uranium, and to scrap two-thirds of its centrifuges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>- Restrictions on plutonium: \u003c/strong>Iran’s heavy-water reactor in in the northern city of Arak, which today could potentially produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon, will be redesigned and converted to a research facility. The reactor’s spent fuel -- also a weapons risk -- will be moved out of the country. Iran has also committed to not building another heavy water reactor for fifteen years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is tasked with verifying that Iran actually does these things, and the deal spells out in some detail how these inspections will work. In return, economic sanctions against Iran will be lifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What are the sanctions all about?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The U.S. first placed sanctions against Iran in 1979, under President Carter, when Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and overthrew the U.S.-backed government. In 1987, under President Reagan, the U.S. raised the stakes by blocking the import of all Iranian goods. These early sanctions were intended to “compel Iran to cease supporting acts of terrorism” and to generally limit its power, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS20871.pdfAccording%20to%20the%20Congressional%20Research%20Service\">Congressional Research Service\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recent sanctions have focused more specifically on curbing Iran’s nuclear program. In 2005, the IAEA \u003ca href=\"https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/gov2005-77.pdf\">found\u003c/a> evidence that Iran had flouted certain nonproliferation rules. The UN and the EU joined the U.S. in imposing \u003ca href=\"http://www.cfr.org/iran/international-sanctions-iran/p20258\">additional sanctions\u003c/a>, which restricted other countries’ trade and financial dealings with Iran. Sanctions have made it difficult for Iran to sell oil, one of it’s biggest and most lucrative exports, and limited the technology and materials the Iran can acquire. As a result, the value of Iran’s currency – the rial –has \u003ca href=\"http://iranmatters.belfercenter.org/sanctions\">dropped\u003c/a> precipitously over the last decade, while the cost of everyday goods continues to rapidly rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuclear deal \u003ca href=\"http://www.ecfr.eu/article/iran_explainer3070\">promises to lift\u003c/a> many of these sanctions. Sometime in the first half of 2016, the IAEA will verify that Iran has implemented its end of the deal. Once the IAEA gives the thumbs-up, most UN, EU, and U.S. nuclear-related sanctions will be lifted. However, other sanctions related to terrorism and human rights violations are set to remain in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What happens if Iran cheats?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>If any of the signatories to the deal have reason to believe that Iran is cheating, they can appeal to an eight-member commission – representatives of the seven parties, plus the EU -- tasked with enforcement. This group then has 35 days to try to resolve the issue; if they cannot, the matter gets passed on to the UN Security Council. Sanctions will then automatically “snap back” into place, unless the Security Council votes unanimously to keep lifting them. (Setting this “snap back” as the default basically ensures that UN sanctions on Iran can’t be lifted without U.S. approval.)\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How will we know if Iran is cheating?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>That’s the question a lot of Republican skeptics are \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-deal-faces-u-s-lawmakers-scrutiny-1436868209\">asking\u003c/a>. Under the deal, the IAEA does not have so-called “anytime, anywhere” access to Iran’s facilities. In certain cases, inspectors might have to wait up to 24 days for access to certain sites -- a compromise that some experts \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-iranian-nuclear-inspection-charade-1437001048\">find troubling\u003c/a>. But overall, most nuclear security \u003ca href=\"http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/news/transcripts/can-the-iaea-effectively-verify-an-agreement-between-iran-and-the-p5-1\">experts\u003c/a> that have weighed in on the issue seem to agree that the monitoring and verification provisions are about as good a deal as could have been negotiated under the circumstances. In July, a bipartisan group of sixty national security experts released a \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/271988995/Statement-by-60-National-Security-Leaders-on-the-Announcement-of-a-Joint-Comprehensive-Plan-of-Action\">statement\u003c/a> arguing that the deal’s monitoring provisions would be “highly effective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How have key players reacted to the deal?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In the U.S., Republican leaders have been overwhelmingly critical. Speaker of the House John Boehner called the deal “\u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-deal-faces-u-s-lawmakers-scrutiny-1436868209\">unacceptable\u003c/a>, and it’s been \u003ca href=\"http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/07/14/gop_reaction_iran_deal_scott_walker_lindsey_graham_denounced_historic_deal.html\">universally panned\u003c/a> by GOP presidential candidates. In one notably hyperbolic instance, Mike Huckabee warned that the deal “will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hillary Clinton \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/10/clinton-pledges-to-build-on-iran-deal-as-president-and-keep-the-lid-on-iranian-nuclear-program/\">supports\u003c/a> the deal, as do most \u003ca href=\"http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/key-democrats-skeptical-of-iran-deal-120123.html\">congressional Democrats\u003c/a>. However, a number of influential Democrat have recently announced their opposition, including Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@SenSchumer/my-position-on-the-iran-deal-e976b2f13478\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote \u003c/a>that the Iran will “use the agreement to pursue its nefarious goals.” It’s widely suspected that many of these elected leaders have been influenced in part by powerful conservative pro-Israeli lobbying groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which strongly opposes the agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/HassanRouhani/status/620926429740576768\">praised\u003c/a> the deal on Twitter, and polling \u003ca href=\"http://cissm.umd.edu/news/majority-iranian-public-approves-pursuing-nuclear-agreement-new-study-finds\">suggests\u003c/a> that most Iranian citizens support the deal. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been circumspect, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/621016835442483201\">praising\u003c/a> negotiators while \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/world/middleeast/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-of-iran-backs-negotiators-and-doesnt-criticize-nuclear-deal.html\">heading off\u003c/a> any idea of U.S.-Iran reconciliation. Some hardliners like former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are against the deal, \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/iran-deal-politics-rouhani-khamenei/400985/\">arguing\u003c/a> that it undermines Iran’s security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the deal as “\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/14/world/middleeast/reactions-to-iran-nuclear-deal.html\">a historic mistake\u003c/a>.” Other conservative Israeli leaders have also been overtly critical: Education Minister Naftali Bennet \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-blasts-iran-deal-as-dark-day-in-history/2015/07/14/feba23ae-0018-403f-82f3-3cd54e87a23b_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called it\u003c/a> “one of the darkest days in world history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Saudi Arabia, Iran’s other major regional enemy, the deal has received a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/07/24/425978808/saudi-arabia-softens-opposition-to-iran-nuclear-deal\">lukewarm\u003c/a> reception. Although the Saudis \u003ca href=\"https://www.saudiembassy.net/latest_news/news07141501.aspx\">express support\u003c/a> for a nuclear deal, leaders there have cautioned that if Iran tries to “incite turmoil in the region,” it should expect “harsh and determined responses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Russia, President Vladimir Putin said in a \u003ca href=\"http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/49957\">statement\u003c/a> that his country welcomed the agreement and that the world had “breathed a sigh of relief” at the deal’s completion. A similar view is held by the European nations that participated in negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What happens next?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-nuclear-deal-approved-by-un-security-council-in-unanimous-vote/\">UN\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/20/us-iran-nuclear-eu-idUSKCN0PU0S520150720\">EU\u003c/a> have already approved the deal. Congress has until September 17 to review it. Congressional Republicans plan to issue what’s called a “bill of disapproval,” that rejects the deal. The Democratic leadership is currently trying to round up enough votes to filibuster that bill, and it's \u003ca href=\"http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-08-28/congressional-fight-on-iran-deal-is-all-but-over\">unclear\u003c/a> if they’ll be able to. But even if they don’t, and the bill of disapproval is passed, President Obama is guaranteed to veto it. And as we found out Wednesday, the Senate won’t have enough votes to override that veto. So, barring any extraordinary circumstances, this deal is -- well -- a done deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, fierce opposition will continue to rage into the foreseeable future. GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have already planned a \u003ca href=\"http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/252134-trump-cruz-to-hold-joint-anti-iran-rally-on-capitol-hill\">joint rally\u003c/a> against the deal, and we can \u003ca href=\"http://www.voanews.com/content/iran-nuclear-deal-becomes-a-us-campaign-issue/2935079.html\">expect\u003c/a> both Republicans and Democrats to lean heavily on the Iran as a key issue in the 2016 election. The political fight has also \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/29/us/politics/iran-deal-opens-a-vitriolic-divide-among-american-jews.html?_r=0\">deepened divisions\u003c/a> within the America's Jewish community, bringing a new level of vitriol to an old debate over how best to support and protect Israel.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Additional interactive background resources on Iran\u003c/h4>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2013/iran/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Associated Press \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cfr.org/interactives/CG_Iran/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Council on Foreign Relations \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/oqvghou5m3U'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/oqvghou5m3U'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agreed to in July 2015 by the U.S., Iran, and five other nations, the 159-page long deal – officially titled the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2165388-iran-deal-text.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action\u003c/a> -- came after twenty months of tense negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you don't feel too keen on reading the agreement cover-to-cover, here’s the basic gist:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What’s the main goal?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The number one goal (from the U.S. perspective) is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has agreed to restrict many of its nuclear programs, and allow international inspectors access to sensitive sites. In return, the U.S., the European Union and the United Nations will lift economic sanctions that have helped cripple Iran’s economy over the past ten years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\u003cstrong>Who’s involved besides the U.S. and Iran?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Representatives from five additional countries were involved in the negotiations: the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France and Germany. The non-Iranian side of negotiations is often referred to as the P5+1 (permanent United Nations Security Council members + Germany) or the EU3+3 (three EU members + the U.S., Russia, and China).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\u003cstrong>How would it stop Iran from making a nuclear bomb?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The deal is designed to increase Iran’s “breakout time.” That is, the time it would need, given its resources, to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear weapon. Right now, Iran’s breakout time is \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-nuclear-breakout-time-a-fact-sheet/\">estimated\u003c/a> at roughly three months. The Obama administration \u003ca href=\"http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/07/244885.htm\">argues\u003c/a> that the deal would increase Iran’s breakout time to at least a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/25599/iran_nuclear_deal.html\">Specifically\u003c/a>, the deal would cut off Iran’s access to two materials used to manufacture nuclear weapons: highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Both of these are so-called fissile materials, meaning they can sustain the kind of chain reaction that powers a nuclear weapon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both are derived from raw uranium, which is a fissile material that can either be spun around in a centrifuge (creating enriched uranium) or irradiated in a nuclear reactor (creating plutonium). The deal aims to limit Iran’s ability to complete these two processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here how:\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>- Restrictions on uranium enrichment: \u003c/strong>Under the deal Iran can continue to enrich some uranium for peaceful purposes. But it restricts enrichment to one facility (for the next 10 years), and limits the enrichment level to under 4 percent (for 15 years). Uranium at that level of enrichment is useful for operating nuclear power plants, but not enough to be used to produce a weapon. Iran has also agreed to eliminate most of its stockpile of enriched uranium, and to scrap two-thirds of its centrifuges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>- Restrictions on plutonium: \u003c/strong>Iran’s heavy-water reactor in in the northern city of Arak, which today could potentially produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon, will be redesigned and converted to a research facility. The reactor’s spent fuel -- also a weapons risk -- will be moved out of the country. Iran has also committed to not building another heavy water reactor for fifteen years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is tasked with verifying that Iran actually does these things, and the deal spells out in some detail how these inspections will work. In return, economic sanctions against Iran will be lifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What are the sanctions all about?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The U.S. first placed sanctions against Iran in 1979, under President Carter, when Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and overthrew the U.S.-backed government. In 1987, under President Reagan, the U.S. raised the stakes by blocking the import of all Iranian goods. These early sanctions were intended to “compel Iran to cease supporting acts of terrorism” and to generally limit its power, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS20871.pdfAccording%20to%20the%20Congressional%20Research%20Service\">Congressional Research Service\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recent sanctions have focused more specifically on curbing Iran’s nuclear program. In 2005, the IAEA \u003ca href=\"https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/gov2005-77.pdf\">found\u003c/a> evidence that Iran had flouted certain nonproliferation rules. The UN and the EU joined the U.S. in imposing \u003ca href=\"http://www.cfr.org/iran/international-sanctions-iran/p20258\">additional sanctions\u003c/a>, which restricted other countries’ trade and financial dealings with Iran. Sanctions have made it difficult for Iran to sell oil, one of it’s biggest and most lucrative exports, and limited the technology and materials the Iran can acquire. As a result, the value of Iran’s currency – the rial –has \u003ca href=\"http://iranmatters.belfercenter.org/sanctions\">dropped\u003c/a> precipitously over the last decade, while the cost of everyday goods continues to rapidly rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuclear deal \u003ca href=\"http://www.ecfr.eu/article/iran_explainer3070\">promises to lift\u003c/a> many of these sanctions. Sometime in the first half of 2016, the IAEA will verify that Iran has implemented its end of the deal. Once the IAEA gives the thumbs-up, most UN, EU, and U.S. nuclear-related sanctions will be lifted. However, other sanctions related to terrorism and human rights violations are set to remain in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What happens if Iran cheats?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>If any of the signatories to the deal have reason to believe that Iran is cheating, they can appeal to an eight-member commission – representatives of the seven parties, plus the EU -- tasked with enforcement. This group then has 35 days to try to resolve the issue; if they cannot, the matter gets passed on to the UN Security Council. Sanctions will then automatically “snap back” into place, unless the Security Council votes unanimously to keep lifting them. (Setting this “snap back” as the default basically ensures that UN sanctions on Iran can’t be lifted without U.S. approval.)\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How will we know if Iran is cheating?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>That’s the question a lot of Republican skeptics are \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-deal-faces-u-s-lawmakers-scrutiny-1436868209\">asking\u003c/a>. Under the deal, the IAEA does not have so-called “anytime, anywhere” access to Iran’s facilities. In certain cases, inspectors might have to wait up to 24 days for access to certain sites -- a compromise that some experts \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-iranian-nuclear-inspection-charade-1437001048\">find troubling\u003c/a>. But overall, most nuclear security \u003ca href=\"http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/news/transcripts/can-the-iaea-effectively-verify-an-agreement-between-iran-and-the-p5-1\">experts\u003c/a> that have weighed in on the issue seem to agree that the monitoring and verification provisions are about as good a deal as could have been negotiated under the circumstances. In July, a bipartisan group of sixty national security experts released a \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/271988995/Statement-by-60-National-Security-Leaders-on-the-Announcement-of-a-Joint-Comprehensive-Plan-of-Action\">statement\u003c/a> arguing that the deal’s monitoring provisions would be “highly effective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>How have key players reacted to the deal?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>In the U.S., Republican leaders have been overwhelmingly critical. Speaker of the House John Boehner called the deal “\u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-deal-faces-u-s-lawmakers-scrutiny-1436868209\">unacceptable\u003c/a>, and it’s been \u003ca href=\"http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/07/14/gop_reaction_iran_deal_scott_walker_lindsey_graham_denounced_historic_deal.html\">universally panned\u003c/a> by GOP presidential candidates. In one notably hyperbolic instance, Mike Huckabee warned that the deal “will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hillary Clinton \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/10/clinton-pledges-to-build-on-iran-deal-as-president-and-keep-the-lid-on-iranian-nuclear-program/\">supports\u003c/a> the deal, as do most \u003ca href=\"http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/key-democrats-skeptical-of-iran-deal-120123.html\">congressional Democrats\u003c/a>. However, a number of influential Democrat have recently announced their opposition, including Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@SenSchumer/my-position-on-the-iran-deal-e976b2f13478\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote \u003c/a>that the Iran will “use the agreement to pursue its nefarious goals.” It’s widely suspected that many of these elected leaders have been influenced in part by powerful conservative pro-Israeli lobbying groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which strongly opposes the agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/HassanRouhani/status/620926429740576768\">praised\u003c/a> the deal on Twitter, and polling \u003ca href=\"http://cissm.umd.edu/news/majority-iranian-public-approves-pursuing-nuclear-agreement-new-study-finds\">suggests\u003c/a> that most Iranian citizens support the deal. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been circumspect, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/621016835442483201\">praising\u003c/a> negotiators while \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/world/middleeast/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-of-iran-backs-negotiators-and-doesnt-criticize-nuclear-deal.html\">heading off\u003c/a> any idea of U.S.-Iran reconciliation. Some hardliners like former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are against the deal, \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/iran-deal-politics-rouhani-khamenei/400985/\">arguing\u003c/a> that it undermines Iran’s security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the deal as “\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/14/world/middleeast/reactions-to-iran-nuclear-deal.html\">a historic mistake\u003c/a>.” Other conservative Israeli leaders have also been overtly critical: Education Minister Naftali Bennet \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-blasts-iran-deal-as-dark-day-in-history/2015/07/14/feba23ae-0018-403f-82f3-3cd54e87a23b_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called it\u003c/a> “one of the darkest days in world history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Saudi Arabia, Iran’s other major regional enemy, the deal has received a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/07/24/425978808/saudi-arabia-softens-opposition-to-iran-nuclear-deal\">lukewarm\u003c/a> reception. Although the Saudis \u003ca href=\"https://www.saudiembassy.net/latest_news/news07141501.aspx\">express support\u003c/a> for a nuclear deal, leaders there have cautioned that if Iran tries to “incite turmoil in the region,” it should expect “harsh and determined responses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Russia, President Vladimir Putin said in a \u003ca href=\"http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/49957\">statement\u003c/a> that his country welcomed the agreement and that the world had “breathed a sigh of relief” at the deal’s completion. A similar view is held by the European nations that participated in negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>What happens next?\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-nuclear-deal-approved-by-un-security-council-in-unanimous-vote/\">UN\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/20/us-iran-nuclear-eu-idUSKCN0PU0S520150720\">EU\u003c/a> have already approved the deal. Congress has until September 17 to review it. Congressional Republicans plan to issue what’s called a “bill of disapproval,” that rejects the deal. The Democratic leadership is currently trying to round up enough votes to filibuster that bill, and it's \u003ca href=\"http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-08-28/congressional-fight-on-iran-deal-is-all-but-over\">unclear\u003c/a> if they’ll be able to. But even if they don’t, and the bill of disapproval is passed, President Obama is guaranteed to veto it. And as we found out Wednesday, the Senate won’t have enough votes to override that veto. So, barring any extraordinary circumstances, this deal is -- well -- a done deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, fierce opposition will continue to rage into the foreseeable future. GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have already planned a \u003ca href=\"http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/252134-trump-cruz-to-hold-joint-anti-iran-rally-on-capitol-hill\">joint rally\u003c/a> against the deal, and we can \u003ca href=\"http://www.voanews.com/content/iran-nuclear-deal-becomes-a-us-campaign-issue/2935079.html\">expect\u003c/a> both Republicans and Democrats to lean heavily on the Iran as a key issue in the 2016 election. The political fight has also \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/29/us/politics/iran-deal-opens-a-vitriolic-divide-among-american-jews.html?_r=0\">deepened divisions\u003c/a> within the America's Jewish community, bringing a new level of vitriol to an old debate over how best to support and protect Israel.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Additional interactive background resources on Iran\u003c/h4>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2013/iran/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Associated Press \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cfr.org/interactives/CG_Iran/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Council on Foreign Relations \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "How the Birthplace of the Modern Ku Klux Klan Became the Site of America's Largest Confederate Monument",
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"content": "\u003cp>Just outside of Atlanta, an enormous hunk of rock looms over the countryside. Over 800 feet tall and a mile and a half wide, the site draws some 4 million visitors a year. They come in part to see a huge bas-relief covering the northern face of the mountain that depicts three legendary leaders of the Confederacy – Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis -- all astride horses, each holding a hat over his heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is Stone Mountain, and it’s become part of a heated national debate about Confederate flags and monuments, an issue that flared anew in June 2015 after Dylann Roof, a young man with suspected white supremacist leanings, murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston, SC. Authorities later discovered photos of Roof posing with a Confederate flag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tragedy has prompted communities across the nation to engage in searching discussions about the role and impact that Confederate symbolism has in public life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue has spread as far as California, where \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article27222211.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lawmakers\u003c/a> are currently debating legislation to ban Confederate names on schools and other public property. If successful, the bill would force at least two Southern California public elementary schools named after Robert E. Lee to change their names (the North Coast city of Fort Bragg, named after Braxton Bragg, a U.S. Army officer who served as a Confederate general, would not be forced to change its name).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The removal of the Confederate battle flag from South Carolina’s statehouse this month, which lawmakers approved after weeks of heated deliberation, was just one step in a broader critical examination of the Confederate emblems and names still on display in \u003ca href=\"http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/06/confederate_flag_removed_from.html\">other state capitols\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/house-republicans-ax-spending-bill-talks-confederate-flag-amendments/\">cemeteries\u003c/a>, and on \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginias-mcauliffe-plans-to-phase-out-confederate-flag-license-plate/2015/06/23/bb8a1738-19b0-11e5-93b7-5eddc056ad8a_story.html\">license plates\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/a-road-named-for-confederate-leader-comes-under-fire-150-years-after-war/2015/07/10/dc00a05a-2715-11e5-aae2-6c4f59b050aa_story.html\">roads\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-cap-confederacy-20150713-column.html\">schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-stone-mountain-georgia-naacp-20150714-story.html\">is now demanding\u003c/a> that Stone Mountain’s slate be wiped clean -- literally. Calling the image “a glorification of white supremacy,” the group wants it scraped from the mountain’s face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s no secret that Confederate leaders during the Civil War \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/\">explicitly\u003c/a> defined their cause as a defense of slavery and white supremacy. A towering carving of the Confederacy’s most powerful political and military leaders would, therefore, seem a clear glorification of that cause. And the same could be said for other Confederate monuments across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many staunch defenders of the Confederate battle flag argue it’s an important symbol of Southern heritage and culture, and commemorates the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who valiantly fought and died for “the Lost Cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stone Mountain’s role in memorializing this cause, however, is a bit more nuanced. Embedded in this mountain are two stories, only one of which is captured in the bas-relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19142\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 226px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-19142\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established-400x446.jpg\" alt=\"An Atlanta Constitution clipping from Nov. 28, 1915 describing the Klan re-establishment atop Stone Mountain.\" width=\"226\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established-400x446.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established.jpg 752w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Atlanta Constitution clipping from Nov. 28, 1915 describing the Klan re-establishment atop Stone Mountain. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain#/media/File:19151128AC_Klan_re-established.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lesser known is that Stone Mountain is the symbolic birthplace of the modern Ku Klux Klan. The original Klan, founded in 1865, had been largely stamped out by the mid-1870s after a period of aggressive federal intervention during Reconstruction. In 1915, William J. Simmons, a former Methodist preacher, launched a campaign to reestablish the group. Purportedly inspired by the film \"The Birth of a Nation,\" a blatantly racist “historical romance” glorifying the original Klan, Simmons led a small group up Stone Mountain one November night in advance of the film’s Atlanta debut. At the summit, they set a cross ablaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reestablished Klan's white supremacist ideology -- primarily targeting blacks, but also Jews, Catholics and foreigners -- struck a chord in the South, and the group rapidly expanded. By the mid-1920s, national membership was estimated in the millions, including sizable pockets in some northern states. Minority communities found themselves increasingly terrorized by vigilante gangs of hooded, white-robed men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This historical footnote is, not surprisingly, omitted from the description on Stone Mountain's \u003ca href=\"http://www.stonemountainpark.com/\">corporate website\u003c/a>. But the two histories are inextricably linked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the Klan’s resurgence, Stone Mountain was owned by aa quarry operator named Samuel Venable. A fan of \"The Birth of a Nation,\" Venable accompanied Simmons on that November night and became an active member of the group, hosting regular Klan ceremonies on the mountain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Venable later leased a portion of the land to a Georgia chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy who set out to build a memorial to the Lost Cause. Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American sculptor and Klan member designed the massive bas-release, proclaiming it would be the “the greatest monument ever built,” comparable to the Egyptian pyramids. Helen Plane, head of the local UDOC chapter, went to great lengths to persuade Borglum to include the Klan in the memorial. She wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel it is due to the Klan which saved us from Negro domination and carpetbag rule, that it be immortalized on Stone Mountain. Why not represent a small group of them in their nightly uniform approaching in the distance?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was strong support for the idea, and it would may have come to pass had the project not run out of funding. Borglum left in a huff, and the effort languished for decades, with only the carving of Lee’s head finished. (Borglum later established his reputation with another monumental project: Mount Rushmore.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spark that finally spurred Stone Mountain’s completion came from an unexpected place: the Civil Rights Movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the run-up to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision prohibiting racial segregation, pro-segregationists breathed new life into Confederate symbolism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strom Thurmond’s breakaway Dixiecrats \u003ca href=\"http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/store/Products/87703-dixiecrat-convention.aspx\">displayed\u003c/a> the battle flag prominently at their convention in 1948. By 1951, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.newspapers.com/image/3860209/\">newspaper\u003c/a> in Gastonia, North Carolina, was commenting on “the rash of Confederate flags which have broken out on Southern windshields, ties, and other decorative spots.” The same year, \u003ca href=\"http://www.thenation.com/article/the-confederate-flag-doesnt-commemorate-the-souths-lost-cause-its-the-symbol-of-a-cause-won/\">The Nation\u003c/a> reported that “nearly one car out of ten now flies the Stars and Bars [sic] defiantly from its radio aerial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, the flag made its way into official symbolism. In 1956, Georgia adopted a new state flag with a design incorporating the Confederate flag. And in 1961, \u003ca href=\"http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jun/22/eugene-robinson/confederate-flag-wasnt-flown-south-carolina-state-/\">South Carolina\u003c/a> raised the Confederate flag over its statehouse to ostensibly commemorate the centennial of the Civil War’s start. Alabama followed suit in 1963, after Gov. George Wallace ordered it raised in advance of a visit by U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy to address Wallace's resistance to integration of the University of Alabama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1958, the state of Georgia had bought Stone Mountain and pushed ahead with plans for a revised bas-relief design featuring Lee, Jackson, and Davis, sans Klansmen. Work surged forward, and piece by piece the image of the Confederacy was hammered into stone. As the Civil Rights Movement roiled across the country, workers used thermo-jet torches to finalize the details of Jefferson Davis’ eyebrows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-19143 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2.jpg\" alt=\"1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2\" width=\"1920\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-400x200.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-800x400.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-1440x720.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-1400x700.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-1180x590.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-960x480.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bas-relief close up \u003ccite>(Wikimedia)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the eyes of state leaders, \u003ca href=\"http://www.jstor.org/stable/40583695\">writes\u003c/a> historian Grace Hale, “the carving would demonstrate to the rest of the nation that 'progress' meant not black rights but the maintenance of white supremacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After decades of work, the monument was formally dedicated in 1970. Republican Vice President Spiro Agnew, flanked by segregationist Democrats, addressed thousands of attendees who came to witness the unveiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, millions of visitors each year flock to Stone Mountain, now Georgia’s most visited attraction. The park offers hiking, fishing, golf and rides. There's even a laser light show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also offers visitors a cunningly crafted view of the past, eulogizing the leaders of the Confederacy and celebrating their cause as valiant and noble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a mythology that's seeped more deeply into American culture than many realize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is evident in some history \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101907974.html\">textbooks\u003c/a> claiming that thousands of black Southerners fought for the Confederacy. It's evident in Tennessee’s 2015 commemoration of \u003ca href=\"http://tnsos.net/publications/proclamations/files/823.pdf\">Nathan Bedford Forrest Day\u003c/a>, whose namesake, a Confederate Army general, was also a former slave trader. It's evident in the vitriolic manifesto of alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof, who \u003ca href=\"http://lastrhodesian.com/data/documents/rtf88.txt\">claims\u003c/a> to have read hundreds of slave narratives, “almost all of [which] were positive.” It's even evident in Calhoun Street where the church shooting happened: John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson's vice president, was perhaps best known for his vehement defense of slavery as a positive good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roof didn't have go digging through the archives to assemble the white supremacist worldview for motivated. It was all around him, continually repurposed and made visible in monuments and flags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ironically, it’s the relative restraint of Stone Mountain’s design that’s made it such an effective vector for this line of thinking. While the Klan’s decades of terrorism ultimately relegated it to the proverbial shadows of white America, Stone Mountain never faced such a backlash. One hundred years after the monument was first imagined, most Americans have no idea how closely its history is entangled with the birth of the 20th century Ku Klux Klan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, Stone Mountain endures, its message carved into the American landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cu>Further Reading:\u003c/u>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Martinez, James Michael et al., eds. \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=ERsyiUOYI4kC&dq=george+wallace+confederate+flag+segregation+forever&source=gbs_navlinks_s\">Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South\u003c/a>. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. 2000.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Bruce Stewart, \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/stone-mountain\">Stone Mountain\u003c/a>,\" New Georgia Encyclopedia. 07 May 2015.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Grace Elizabeth Hale, \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.jstor.org/stable/40583695\">Granite Stopped Time: The Stone Mountain Memorial and the Representation of White Southern Identity\u003c/a>,\" \u003cem>Georgia Historical Quarterly\u003c/em> 82 (spring 1998): 22-44.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Carole Blair and Neil Michel, “The Rushmore Effect: Ethos and National Collective Identity.” \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=vJmzeZzz7cMC&q=carpetbaggers#v=onepage&q&f=false\">The Ethos of Rhetoric\u003c/a>. Ed. Michael Hyde 156-184. 2004.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Just outside of Atlanta, an enormous hunk of rock looms over the countryside. Over 800 feet tall and a mile and a half wide, the site draws some 4 million visitors a year. They come in part to see a huge bas-relief covering the northern face of the mountain that depicts three legendary leaders of the Confederacy – Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis -- all astride horses, each holding a hat over his heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is Stone Mountain, and it’s become part of a heated national debate about Confederate flags and monuments, an issue that flared anew in June 2015 after Dylann Roof, a young man with suspected white supremacist leanings, murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston, SC. Authorities later discovered photos of Roof posing with a Confederate flag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tragedy has prompted communities across the nation to engage in searching discussions about the role and impact that Confederate symbolism has in public life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue has spread as far as California, where \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article27222211.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lawmakers\u003c/a> are currently debating legislation to ban Confederate names on schools and other public property. If successful, the bill would force at least two Southern California public elementary schools named after Robert E. Lee to change their names (the North Coast city of Fort Bragg, named after Braxton Bragg, a U.S. Army officer who served as a Confederate general, would not be forced to change its name).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The removal of the Confederate battle flag from South Carolina’s statehouse this month, which lawmakers approved after weeks of heated deliberation, was just one step in a broader critical examination of the Confederate emblems and names still on display in \u003ca href=\"http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/06/confederate_flag_removed_from.html\">other state capitols\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/house-republicans-ax-spending-bill-talks-confederate-flag-amendments/\">cemeteries\u003c/a>, and on \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginias-mcauliffe-plans-to-phase-out-confederate-flag-license-plate/2015/06/23/bb8a1738-19b0-11e5-93b7-5eddc056ad8a_story.html\">license plates\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/a-road-named-for-confederate-leader-comes-under-fire-150-years-after-war/2015/07/10/dc00a05a-2715-11e5-aae2-6c4f59b050aa_story.html\">roads\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-cap-confederacy-20150713-column.html\">schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-stone-mountain-georgia-naacp-20150714-story.html\">is now demanding\u003c/a> that Stone Mountain’s slate be wiped clean -- literally. Calling the image “a glorification of white supremacy,” the group wants it scraped from the mountain’s face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s no secret that Confederate leaders during the Civil War \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/\">explicitly\u003c/a> defined their cause as a defense of slavery and white supremacy. A towering carving of the Confederacy’s most powerful political and military leaders would, therefore, seem a clear glorification of that cause. And the same could be said for other Confederate monuments across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many staunch defenders of the Confederate battle flag argue it’s an important symbol of Southern heritage and culture, and commemorates the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who valiantly fought and died for “the Lost Cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stone Mountain’s role in memorializing this cause, however, is a bit more nuanced. Embedded in this mountain are two stories, only one of which is captured in the bas-relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19142\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 226px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-19142\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established-400x446.jpg\" alt=\"An Atlanta Constitution clipping from Nov. 28, 1915 describing the Klan re-establishment atop Stone Mountain.\" width=\"226\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established-400x446.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/19151128AC_Klan_re-established.jpg 752w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Atlanta Constitution clipping from Nov. 28, 1915 describing the Klan re-establishment atop Stone Mountain. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain#/media/File:19151128AC_Klan_re-established.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lesser known is that Stone Mountain is the symbolic birthplace of the modern Ku Klux Klan. The original Klan, founded in 1865, had been largely stamped out by the mid-1870s after a period of aggressive federal intervention during Reconstruction. In 1915, William J. Simmons, a former Methodist preacher, launched a campaign to reestablish the group. Purportedly inspired by the film \"The Birth of a Nation,\" a blatantly racist “historical romance” glorifying the original Klan, Simmons led a small group up Stone Mountain one November night in advance of the film’s Atlanta debut. At the summit, they set a cross ablaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reestablished Klan's white supremacist ideology -- primarily targeting blacks, but also Jews, Catholics and foreigners -- struck a chord in the South, and the group rapidly expanded. By the mid-1920s, national membership was estimated in the millions, including sizable pockets in some northern states. Minority communities found themselves increasingly terrorized by vigilante gangs of hooded, white-robed men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This historical footnote is, not surprisingly, omitted from the description on Stone Mountain's \u003ca href=\"http://www.stonemountainpark.com/\">corporate website\u003c/a>. But the two histories are inextricably linked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the Klan’s resurgence, Stone Mountain was owned by aa quarry operator named Samuel Venable. A fan of \"The Birth of a Nation,\" Venable accompanied Simmons on that November night and became an active member of the group, hosting regular Klan ceremonies on the mountain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Venable later leased a portion of the land to a Georgia chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy who set out to build a memorial to the Lost Cause. Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American sculptor and Klan member designed the massive bas-release, proclaiming it would be the “the greatest monument ever built,” comparable to the Egyptian pyramids. Helen Plane, head of the local UDOC chapter, went to great lengths to persuade Borglum to include the Klan in the memorial. She wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel it is due to the Klan which saved us from Negro domination and carpetbag rule, that it be immortalized on Stone Mountain. Why not represent a small group of them in their nightly uniform approaching in the distance?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was strong support for the idea, and it would may have come to pass had the project not run out of funding. Borglum left in a huff, and the effort languished for decades, with only the carving of Lee’s head finished. (Borglum later established his reputation with another monumental project: Mount Rushmore.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spark that finally spurred Stone Mountain’s completion came from an unexpected place: the Civil Rights Movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the run-up to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision prohibiting racial segregation, pro-segregationists breathed new life into Confederate symbolism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strom Thurmond’s breakaway Dixiecrats \u003ca href=\"http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/store/Products/87703-dixiecrat-convention.aspx\">displayed\u003c/a> the battle flag prominently at their convention in 1948. By 1951, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.newspapers.com/image/3860209/\">newspaper\u003c/a> in Gastonia, North Carolina, was commenting on “the rash of Confederate flags which have broken out on Southern windshields, ties, and other decorative spots.” The same year, \u003ca href=\"http://www.thenation.com/article/the-confederate-flag-doesnt-commemorate-the-souths-lost-cause-its-the-symbol-of-a-cause-won/\">The Nation\u003c/a> reported that “nearly one car out of ten now flies the Stars and Bars [sic] defiantly from its radio aerial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, the flag made its way into official symbolism. In 1956, Georgia adopted a new state flag with a design incorporating the Confederate flag. And in 1961, \u003ca href=\"http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jun/22/eugene-robinson/confederate-flag-wasnt-flown-south-carolina-state-/\">South Carolina\u003c/a> raised the Confederate flag over its statehouse to ostensibly commemorate the centennial of the Civil War’s start. Alabama followed suit in 1963, after Gov. George Wallace ordered it raised in advance of a visit by U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy to address Wallace's resistance to integration of the University of Alabama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1958, the state of Georgia had bought Stone Mountain and pushed ahead with plans for a revised bas-relief design featuring Lee, Jackson, and Davis, sans Klansmen. Work surged forward, and piece by piece the image of the Confederacy was hammered into stone. As the Civil Rights Movement roiled across the country, workers used thermo-jet torches to finalize the details of Jefferson Davis’ eyebrows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-19143 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2.jpg\" alt=\"1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2\" width=\"1920\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-400x200.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-800x400.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-1440x720.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-1400x700.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-1180x590.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/26/2015/07/1920px-Stone_Mountain_Carving_2-960x480.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bas-relief close up \u003ccite>(Wikimedia)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the eyes of state leaders, \u003ca href=\"http://www.jstor.org/stable/40583695\">writes\u003c/a> historian Grace Hale, “the carving would demonstrate to the rest of the nation that 'progress' meant not black rights but the maintenance of white supremacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After decades of work, the monument was formally dedicated in 1970. Republican Vice President Spiro Agnew, flanked by segregationist Democrats, addressed thousands of attendees who came to witness the unveiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, millions of visitors each year flock to Stone Mountain, now Georgia’s most visited attraction. The park offers hiking, fishing, golf and rides. There's even a laser light show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also offers visitors a cunningly crafted view of the past, eulogizing the leaders of the Confederacy and celebrating their cause as valiant and noble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a mythology that's seeped more deeply into American culture than many realize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is evident in some history \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101907974.html\">textbooks\u003c/a> claiming that thousands of black Southerners fought for the Confederacy. It's evident in Tennessee’s 2015 commemoration of \u003ca href=\"http://tnsos.net/publications/proclamations/files/823.pdf\">Nathan Bedford Forrest Day\u003c/a>, whose namesake, a Confederate Army general, was also a former slave trader. It's evident in the vitriolic manifesto of alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof, who \u003ca href=\"http://lastrhodesian.com/data/documents/rtf88.txt\">claims\u003c/a> to have read hundreds of slave narratives, “almost all of [which] were positive.” It's even evident in Calhoun Street where the church shooting happened: John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson's vice president, was perhaps best known for his vehement defense of slavery as a positive good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roof didn't have go digging through the archives to assemble the white supremacist worldview for motivated. It was all around him, continually repurposed and made visible in monuments and flags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ironically, it’s the relative restraint of Stone Mountain’s design that’s made it such an effective vector for this line of thinking. While the Klan’s decades of terrorism ultimately relegated it to the proverbial shadows of white America, Stone Mountain never faced such a backlash. One hundred years after the monument was first imagined, most Americans have no idea how closely its history is entangled with the birth of the 20th century Ku Klux Klan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, Stone Mountain endures, its message carved into the American landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cu>Further Reading:\u003c/u>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Martinez, James Michael et al., eds. \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=ERsyiUOYI4kC&dq=george+wallace+confederate+flag+segregation+forever&source=gbs_navlinks_s\">Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South\u003c/a>. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. 2000.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Bruce Stewart, \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/stone-mountain\">Stone Mountain\u003c/a>,\" New Georgia Encyclopedia. 07 May 2015.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Grace Elizabeth Hale, \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.jstor.org/stable/40583695\">Granite Stopped Time: The Stone Mountain Memorial and the Representation of White Southern Identity\u003c/a>,\" \u003cem>Georgia Historical Quarterly\u003c/em> 82 (spring 1998): 22-44.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Carole Blair and Neil Michel, “The Rushmore Effect: Ethos and National Collective Identity.” \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=vJmzeZzz7cMC&q=carpetbaggers#v=onepage&q&f=false\">The Ethos of Rhetoric\u003c/a>. Ed. Michael Hyde 156-184. 2004.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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