December 8 - Mandela's Legacy and the Challenges Ahead; The Latest Koch Brothers' Front Group; Unseating Congressman Paul Ryan

Full Program

Part 1

With 60 heads of state planning to attend the memorial for Nelson Mandela in South Africa, we will begin with the global outpouring of tributes from both those who Mandela helped free and those who resisted freedom, democracy and majority rule in South Africa. Dr. Mueni Wa Muiu, a professor of Political Science at Winston-Salem State University and author of “The Pitfalls of Liberal Democracy and Late Nationalism in South Africa” joins us to discuss the economic and social challenges that remain to be addressed in the new South Africa.

Part 2

Then we examine the latest front group funded by the Koch brothers, a tax-exempt charity, the State Policy Network, which is a so-called “free market think tank” campaigning to cut public sector wages and pensions, eliminate income taxes, replace public education with vouchers while opposing Medicaid and efforts to combat global warming. Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy joins us to discuss the role of the Kochs, Kraft Foods and Searle Pharmaceuticals in appearing to promote local interests while funding a national template to radically alter government.

Part 3

Then finally, with this week's one year anniversary of the Newtown school massacre, Amardeep Kaleka joins us in the studio to discuss the lack of progress on gun control and legislation to reduce hate crimes and mass shootings. The son of the president of the Sikh Temple who was murdered along with five members of his congregation by a white supremacist, Amardeep Kaleka is running for Congress to unseat Representative Paul Ryan in whose district his father was shot.