The Progressive Page Turner

Episode 11: Paul Johnson - Challenging Inequalities

Paul Johnson takes a look at the impact of economic inequalities in the US and the UK in his book Challenging Inequalities.

Episode 10: Ryan Griffiths - The Disunited States

In September of 2025 Marjorie Taylor Greene called for a national divorce arguing that Red and Blue states had so little in common it was time for them to part company.  She isn’t alone. There are secession movements on both the right and the left as polarization in the country is on the rise. But what would that entail? In his book The Disunited States Ryan D. Griffiths looks at how secession has played out in other countries and what it might look like in the United States.

Episode 9: Dean Spade - Love in a F*cked up World

There is an epidemic of loneliness in the United States. Alone, we watch the country slide away from democracy and toward dictatorship. We need to band together to fight for what had already been won.  Staying in it for the long run means learning how to get along with others. In his book Love in an F*ed- up World Dean Spade looks at how to build enduring private and public relationships for the work ahead.

Episode 8: Clara Mattei - Escape from Capitalism

What if we have it all wrong? We accept unemployment, inflation, low wages, lack of access to healthcare and education, periodic recessions, ecological collapse, food insecurity and endless wars as inevitable. The underlying belief in a market driven system is the bedrock of our economy. We’ve handed our lives and resources over to a mechanism that doesn’t value humans or their well-being. But humans created this system and humans can change it. In her book Escape From Capitalism Clara Mattei makes the case that we can build systems that serve people not the market. Her organization is the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation (freeforum.org).

Episode 7: John Washington - The Case for Open Borders

The cost to our nation from militarized borders goes beyond the cost of enforcement. Both legal and undocumented migrants pay into our tax system. They boost the economy by spending money on the basics like food and rent. Many of our skilled workers in tech and medicine are immigrants. They also are the backbone of construction, agriculture and food services.  When we discourage people from entering or deport people already here we’re not safer, we’re poorer. John Washington takes a look at possible solutions in his book The Case for Open Borders.