BillMoyers.com encourages conversation and debate around issues, events and ideas related to content on Moyers & Company and the BillMoyers.com website.

• The editorial staff reserves the right to take down comments it deems inappropriate.
• Profanity, personal attacks, hate speech, off-topic posts, advertisements and spam will not be tolerated.
• Do not intentionally make false or misleading statements, impersonate someone else, break the law, or condone or encourage unlawful activity.

If your comments consistently or intentionally make this community a less civil and enjoyable place to be, you and your comments will be excluded from it.

We need your help with this. If you feel a post is not in line with the comment policy, please flag it so that we can take a look. Comments and questions about our policy are welcome. Please send an email to feedback@billmoyers.com

Find out more about BillMoyers.com's privacy policy and terms of service.

• frigate

   Please read and comment:

  The Initiative and Referendum Institute
  Guidebook to Direct Democracy
  In Switzerland and Beyond

  http://www.iri-europe.org/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/guidebook_ddemocracy08_en_small.pdf

• Gayle

  There is no “Contact Us” that I can find.  I want to know if your programs are available in MP3 format for downloads–I cannot find them.  Thanks!  Gayle

• Ana Sanchez

  Just watched Kathleen Hall Jamieson discussing what we should  be focussing on to determine what of the political ad campaigns can be fraudulent or misleading.  That’s a lot of processing for an individual to do for a 60 second ad!  
  What I would REALLY like to see is if your fact checkers found errors in a campaign ad they could  report it to the FCC and  the people who produce the ad MUST issue a retraction, receive a fine and ADMIT what they said incorrectly in a like forum, for example- an ad run on tv must have a retraction on TV, an ad on the radio likewise, newspaper and computer.   PLUS they are obligated to pay the total costs out of their own pocket for the correction.  They would be more careful of what they if there were penalties involved I don’t understand how they can get away with such dishonesty in politics today!  

• Gary Bradley

  I watched your segment on the Financial Transaction Tax with some amazement that your guest purported that it was only a tax on rich institutions like banks. For a person near retirement, the tax on a typical 401K of $150,000 to convert to cash and then back to equities during a market correction would be $1500. This is no small amount to a person about to retire. A method that would, indeed, go after institutional investors would apply the tax over calender quarters, exempt the first $100k to $200k, and increase the rate for each order of magnitude of trading e.g. 0.01% below $1 million, 0.02 over $1 million to $10 million, 0.03% over $10 million to $100 million, etc.

  This progressive variant of the tax would raise nearly as much, probably in excess of $200 billion, and target the most egregious players, those that try to skew the market with excess volatility to run mathematical models. I will assume that since nurses are paid more than the national average, she would not be in favor of a law that harshly punishes any of her union members that actively manage their retirement funds, but I could be wrong. If the goal is to punish the rich, a health care professional at the end of a forty year career probably qualifies.

• dsimon

  I have two points to make on Kathleen Hall Jamison’s segment. She decries the separation of campaigning and governance. I agree that it would be better to have campaigns focusing on real governance issues rather than portraying half-truths which avoid the hard decisions we need to make as a nation. But politically no one is going to deliver those truths until after the election. This is hardly a new phenomenon: both sides know that all the policy in the world doesn’t matter unless you win on the politics,  which is why we get debates over the Pledge of Allegiance (Bush-Dukakis) and lapel pins (McCain-Obama). So I think a little realism is called for here: that the time for putting forward a real plan for governance will be after the election, when there’s the political space for putting forward unpopular but necessary measures.

  Second, she, along with others, claims that we are a polarized electorate. I don’t think that’s entirely true. Congress is polarized, but there are many things that majorities in both parties in the electorate agree on (a balanced approach to resolving our fiscal situation, raising income tax rates on higher incomes, disclosure of political spending). Perhaps after this election, more of those in Congress will be willing to vote for the sensible preferences of their constituents instead of blindly following their preconceived ideology.

• David Lockmiller

  I tried to post a story proposal in your “contact us” section. But I kept getting a message about illicit characters in the posting. I think that the story suggestion is worthy of your consideration. If you would send me an email to david.lockmiller@marcheseco.com, I will reply with a posting to the body of the email.
  @marcheseco:disqus 
  Thank you, and keep up the good work that you have been doing for this democracy for many years.

• moderator

   feedback@billmoyers.com

• Michael J. Taylor

  After watching your interview with Luis Alberto Urrea, I read The Devil’s Highway.  This book should be on every school’s required reading list, not among its censored books, or rather – what was the euphemism? – the “boxed” books, to be requested at the risk of losing one’s employment.

• Steve Woodward

  “Moyers and Company” is available to download for free from iTunes Store.

• Goingnativenursery

  Melvina Reynolds protest music is so relevant today as it was when she was alive. I hope she could get some airtime in this day and age. She has such a positive spin to her stuff, reminding people to remain compassionate towards the world and it’s people.

• Mark

  I was watching your conversation with Garrison Keillor on C-span, from last year, and you both were stumped as to how the evangelicals became so corrupted. I’d suggest you both should read St. John of the Cross’s: “Dark Night of the Soul”, which explains it brilliantly!

• Carolsachal

  At last I am validated when my husband spouts his DOOM AND GLOOM, as a Russian, saavy of the Trilateral, the Committee of Foreign Relations, the sabotage of our brilliant constitution and me, the Great Great Granddaughter of Prof. Jos. Neumann who made the first SILK flag of the US in 1865, transported it to Congress in 1871, named his first son, George Washington Neumann, and his second son, my Great Grandfather, Abraham Lincoln Neumann…and I believe in THE INDIVIDUAL and here comes Tom Morello, if the forces “that be” allow him to breathe and tell our story, as so many have, including my only President, JFK, and I am so moved and inspired…

  Thank you Bill Moyers…for bringing him to the attention of many…

• http://billmoyers.com BillMoyers.com

   This may also help:

  http://feeds.feedburner.com/moyers

• Anonymous

  TREATY CLAUSE IN CONSTITUTION AMERICA’S SEED OF PLANNED DESTRUCTION
  Higher
  education becomes a dangerous threat to the unschooled in the art of
  political science when used in steering away from original
  Constitutional studies of which are imperative. At this point we learn
  that Sec.6, Art. 6 on TREATIES was an input after the Constitution was
  originally ratified. This little item has been used as the the shaker
  and mover in bringing America down. There is no other cause in the
  flooding of our nation over the years as professional revolutionaries
  have been flooding our shores since 1819 in setting up ghettos from
  whence Communism found its birth in a land that offered freedom from
  oppression. A stop gap must end this post socializing of our nation and
  one must plow beneath the the surface of planned ignorance that has
  perverted out national educational system. The ignorant and the super
  ignorant must be awakened.
  For an example comes the dredging up of
  Harry Hopkins as just another political whore. Hopkins was nothing less
  than a liberally driven sicko psycho genetically coined traitor.
  Treading backwards through the furrows of time to our founding father’s
  era lies the master key to the declination of the American Republic as
  the political science of pseudo democracy crept along our national era
  saddled to a little known clause previously brought to light.
  In the
  final days of laying down a master plan for an emerging of a people
  under the United States Constitution careful examination of this
  document reveals the mystery of iniquity, as so subtly revealed in Art.
  6, Sec..6 regarding ( TREATIES ). The only conclusion is that the little
  known ” CITY of Gold ” housed in London England, but under a newer name
  today, managed to sabotage our new born Republic in the beginning.
  Please read this article carefully and ponder as to when and where
  freedom of speech will finally be annulled. COMMUNISM is thought
  control, nothing more, nor less; and out national republic is under
  thought control! We cannot expose the enemy within. In essence, The
  Disunited States of America is merely a province of mother England!
  Returning
  to Harry Hopkins is to recall that this pro-commie traitor was special
  adviser to the late President Franklin Roosevelt. Hopkins became one of
  the most important individuals upon the earth during WW!!. He was a
  go-between Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill, Priminister of Great
  Britain. In post WW!! England lost all of her colonies. Thus America has
  been taken over by many questionable people from eastern Europe while
  political whores and corrupt State Department employees use the TREATY
  trick in putting a noose around an unthinking and brainwashed national
  population. The problem is that we have too many Harry Hopkins holding
  seats with the Congress of the United States.
  The ancient
  philosopher, Socrates, was a championed Republican/Democrat. Through a
  pseudo democracy this wise man detested thought control. He was put to
  death for warning Athenians that true Democracy was the best form of
  government, being the brain child of Republicanism. The most frightful
  situation in America is that the people are misinformed. We might
  consider a national government being based upon Machiavellian intrusion
  as alien to a free republic. Freedom of the press and open discussion
  being suppressed, is the first step to a home made scaffold. A
  Guillotine of political poison was designed as a form of death for
  Socratese and of which is to bring our nation to an alike ending. A few
  more planks under an unsuspecting nation that, like a scorpion, carries
  the poison that will eventually kill itself, this is crime, corruption,
  poverty and disease This is a fifty state prediction !.

• Mark Donnelly

  I was very impressed with Tom Morello in the conversation with Bill Moyers tonight. I was aware of the band name “Rage Against the Machine,” but hadn’t heard the music and wasn’t aware of Tom as an individual singer/songwriter. I grew up in a union family in New York – Steamfitters Local 638 and have long been inspired by the music of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen. I am currently writing a play about Mother Jones, the labor organizer from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tom Morello’s statements, passion and music tonight have encouraged me to keep going. Thanks.
  Mark Donnelly

• MR. M. Cornett

  Why is  there reading list???

• Mary McPherson

  My comment is on a different subject -
  Arizona’s Secretary of State is ALSO chair of Mitt Romney’s reelection committee in the state.
  That was also a problem in 2000 (Florida – Katherine Harris) and 2004 (Ohio).
  To me this seems like a conflict of interest.
  If one is a “public servant”, an elected officer supposedly representing ALL the state,
  then one should NOT have a political influence for one party.

  Is this worth a TV discussion?

  I think it’s WRONG !!

  Also – do you have an e-mail address?

• Sanfiv

  Correction, Bill Moyers, how can Al katani be the 20th hijacker, we thought they already used that excuse for Jose Padilla?  Also, please do a show on Architects & Engineers for 9-11 truth.  The FBI says there is no evidence linking Al-Quaeda to 9-11.  Thank you!

• Maryvrc1

  After watching today’s show about our country’s use of torture and its documentation of not only the experiences of its victims but the information which reveals the chain of authority and command which brought about this travesty, I was extremely disappointed when not one person asked this question.  Did anyone or is anyone trying to make those responsible for ordering the torture accountable for their crimes against humanity?  for breaking the Geneva Accords?  For breaking American laws?  If we can impeach a president for lying about  sexual encounters where is the outrage against a sitting president who lied to go to war and killed and maimed  our sons and daughters doing it?     How could you not ask these questions?  
       
  Where is the law’s power now that these abuses of political power and the horrible suffering of its victims have  been revealed?       Who will bell the cat?
  We are watching and waiting and hoping.

  Mary Cunningham, mother of three

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Jer-Greenspan/100000127438210 Jer Greenspan

  American Justice Belongs to Americans not others. I ask this simple questions of anyone who feels that the means we use against  non-Americans to protect our county, bar what is is, Would you stop the torture if you family was  about to die and you could save them, with any methods.?!!!!! And if you don’t’ get it, If you son, daughter, wife or family member was going to be blow up that evening and you could save them, would you torture the non-American yourself to save. If you say no  you lie.

• Ocpeters

  To Moyers & Co.~  Please consider interviewing Thomas Mann & Norm Ornstein who have been shunned by the media since they published their book criticizing the Republican establishment.  The full article in Al Jazeera is at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/05/201252310114193943.htmlSince the mainstream corporate media won’t interview them, it’s up to you, Moyers & Co., to do what you do best – shed the light of good journalism on important news.Excerpt from Al Jazeera article cited above:”Consider this stunning piece of evidence: On April 27, two pillars of the American political establishment – Thomas E Mann and Norman J Ornstein, two of the most-quoted men in America – dared to break ranks with that dogma in aWashington Post op-ed, based on a book they’ve just published, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. Although the online response was unprecedented, generating more interest than for any other book they have written, the two have been entirely shut out of the Sunday talk show circuit and almost completely shut out of the top five national print outlets as well.  The establishment they have been keystone members of, for going on four decades, has suddenly forgotten that they ever even exist.”

• Branchard

  Your show just sent me an email invite to re-watch your Jonathan Haidt interview.  I’d sooner cut my ears off. I am totally confused over this new direction you have taken with this show.  Just letting some book-peddling windbag make a speech while you question NOTHING? I have 12 relevant questions I would have asked him and I was only allowed one year of college.

• Jaycie

  I just finished watching your Haidt program which I found confusing, at best!  To me, here is the differnece between progressives and conservatives.  Progressives believe in community – “We’re all in this together” while Conservatives believe in individualism – “Every man for himself”.  All over the country, Republicans are defunding public schools; in fact, they want to get rid of public education, along with public libraries, public parks, the Postal Service, etc.  What kind of a terrible country would this be if Republicans with their Paul Ryan budget actually got their way?  What would it be like if there was no Social Security, no Medicare/Medicaid, no public education, no Public Health Service, no Food Stamps, no public service of any kind?  What would it be like to have thousands, perhaps millions of people, including the elderly, homeless, living on the streets, begging for food, with no health care, no income of any kind, no public schools for the children, no public help of any kind for anyone?  Is this really what Republicans, who claim to be “Christians” (they’re actions show they’re not) really want?  I’m afraid so, and we’re well on our way down this path thanks to Republican intransigence and the lack of courage on the part of Democrats to stand up to them!

• Michael Adkison

  Just watched your show with the so-called social psychologist you had on, and I feel like vomiting. Liberals are just better, smarter, and much more compassinate than the rest of us, and could solve all the world’s problems and ills if it weren’t for us sorry conservatives. According to you and your guest, conservatives have no empathy for others who aren’t like us, anyone who disagrees with us, and even animals. You and your guest are so out of touch with average Americans it is pathetic. Your wealth, perceived social statuses, and pseudo intellectualism separate you and your guest from reality and the problems and thoughts of average Americans in both parties. Demeaning conversations about anyone like the one you and your falsely pious guest just had, not to mention the ones that you have on an almost weekly basis on your show, divide the country even further, and prove that your understanding of the real America and real Americans in both parties is severely limited. I guess when you live in an ivory tower it is easy to recognize and point out all the perceived shortcomings of us peasants. It disgusts me that PBS has become obviously as liberal as CNN considering they receive some tax monies from the very Americans, who are also republicans, that are trashed on virtually every program that airs on PBS. Your program is some of the most vile and baseless liberal trash on all of television.

• Michael

  Hating on Bush AGAIN. How original.

• Lucius

  Prof. Haidt makes a case that left brain and right brain types need to learn to speak to one another across a conceptual and perceptual divide.  But what happens when xtian fundamentalists teach little children that genocide is not only acceptable but endorsed by their ‘god’? How is that chasm bridged?  See…
  http://www.alternet.org/story/...
   
  The problem is not that each ‘side’ maintains different values and sees the world differently, but that there are folks on one side who are deranged sociopaths in positions of influence.  Now I know Prof. Haidt would call that ‘demonizing’, but it’s also calling a spade a spade.  Teaching children that the extermination of non-believers is perfectly in accord with the ‘wishes’ of their insane ‘god’ goes well beyond simply maintaining different values.  These kind of malevolent, demented values hearken back to Germany of 1939.  All values are not created equal.

• Restepp10

   I don’t mean to sound cynical but
  you should watch the PBS Documentary “The Mormons”, it’s very spooky to
  have ONE of their cult running for President of  the United States of
  America, forget about all the rest of the regular political lies,
  half-truths and broken promises, this is THE SCARY ISSUE. It  may be
  unpleasant and seem below the belt but it is what it is, YOU CAN NOT
  IGNORE IT., NOR SHOULD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

• Jpotamites

  Go back to the Jonathan Haidt show and count the universals , the absolutes, the superlatives.  Add the declarations, the presumptions, the assumptions.  And you’ll see that few speakers, deities and their scribes have spoken so many in an hour or such short a transcript.   

• Garyh3000

  On the Jonathan Haidt segment : This man is an idiot, He leaves out Racism and Opression when he says that people want a hand out, give them jobs. In a neighborhood close by there are 200 wharehouses and other buisness that dont hire people from that neighborhood.   

• Garyh3000

  On the Jonathan Haidt segment : This man is an idiot, He leaves out Racism and Opression when he says that people want a hand out, give them jobs. In a neighborhood close by there are 200 wharehouses and other buisness that dont hire people from that neighborhood.   

• Anonymous

  I found Mr. Haidt’s interview very provocative and I look forward to reading his book.  It made me feel defensive and uncomfortable.  I know my most significant learning takes place when I am forced to confront my assumptions.

  Also, I would like to suggest Professor Robert N. Proctor of Stanford as a guest for the show.  I am reading his new book Golden Holocaust and find it extremely interesting.

• David

  I was unable to view the show with Jonathan Haidt, from the website, because when
  I longed-on to it, the picture & sound kept starting and stopping for now reason.
  I’ve NEVER had this problem before when viewing shows online, many times.
  What’s going on with the Jonathan Haidt, online video/show.  It was aired on 6-1-2012.
  David
  Chicago, IL

• Crosstimbers Okie

  Bill, an author you should interview is Neil Howe of “The Fourth Turning.”  
  http://www.fourthturning.com/index.html

  Expand your horizons a little. 

• Karsten Sorensen

  During the interview of Prof. Haidt, there was a missed opportunity to pursue the question of personal choice when the issue of the hypothetical man who refused to have health insurance and then became very ill. It should have been pointed out that this was not all that hypothetical as one of Ron Paul’s staff became sick with pneumonia and died leaving behind a $400,000 hospital bill to the man’s mother.
  But the question that should have been pursued was “what if the hypothetical man did not choose of his own volition not to have health insurance?” The Paul campaign did not offer its staff health insurance. Likewise, perhaps this man’s employer did not offer health insurance. There have been several articles in the N.Y. Times of the difficulty of finding individual policies. Or perhaps the man was refused a policy due to a pre-existing condition. Or finally, perhaps the available policies were just too expensive given the man’s income.
  I think the fundamental difference between conservative and liberal philosophies is that conservatives believe we are the product of our own decisions and willingness to take chances and work hard, while liberals believe that much of where we are is due to the “roll of the dice”.

• Vincent DeMattia

  Hello, Mr. Moyers… I watch nearly all of your shows and I always walk away from them, more well informed… but with a kind of empty feeling.  I think those things mentioned in your shows are important and delivered truthfully without prejudices worked into them… but, I believe you need to bring guests onto your show who can tell us, what we can do about all these problems we know we have.  It’s all complaints and questions… but noone invited on to tell us what we can do to get the government back. I often think that Bruce Fein who has appeared on your program is one of the people that can do that.  Tell us what tools the Constitution gives the People to bring about the taking back of the government. I think you should do a series of shows that aim specifically at solutions… strategies, etc. to wrest control of our government. I like Mr. Fein because he loves the Constitution… and if you can put together a panel of Mr. Fein and other Constitutional scholars… who can give us some ideas on just how to get that done. We need to take back the government from the special interest and lobbyists and the bought-and-paid-for politicians. I myself think of things like changing the number of terms a Senator can hold to ONE. Yes, One 6-year term… Period!  Quite frankly, I don’t see what the problem would be… after all, the President gets only 8 years… and he’s gotta fight like hell to get the second four of those years. That would seem to reduce the need for huge campaign funds from special interest. Also, we’ve got to limit contact between Senators and members of the House with lobbyists. We should go back to lobbyists only having the opportunity to talk to members of Congress… in the lobbies of the Capital… and make it a crime for Senators and members of the House… to have any other contact with them. But, to go back to my original purpose here… whether we the People decide that those things would be good ideas… good remedies…. HOW DO WE GET THAT DONE!? Thank you, Mr. Moyers. And thank whatever God has blessed us with you!

• Ewan S Fallon

   I think your anger is based on guilt. Are you really happy about Republicans ruining the world economy and are desperately trying to justify it?      

• Ewan S Fallon

  Bush-ites typical devastating response to all charges.  

• Pam Andrews

  Dear Mr. Moyers,
  My husband and I watched your program with Marty Kaplan.  We are of the same mind about the news “shows” and the “food throwing” discussions on CNN & Fox, etc.  Mr. Kaplan’s remark about “well, we’ll have to end this for now…”, and so because of these antics we are so turned off, and I can’t describe how frustrated with the politicians and the news shows we are.  We do like “Washington Week in Review.”
  But I have a question.  What’s a 66 year-old grandmother living in right-wing Oklahoma to do???  Am I supposed to start an independent party, run for office?  Those are way out of my purview.  Tell me, please, Mr. Moyers, what can one do?  We feel our votes don’t matter anymore.  It could be said that Mr. Kaplan and you have left us in the lurch, too.
  Respectfully,
  Pam Andrews
  Oklahoma City, OK

• Wayne C Mason

  Hello Bill,

  I have watched you for years and felt that if you and Diann Rhems programs could be required listening or a video shown to every student  in every senior high school each week in the US, this Country would be the best informed, most practical,  and rational  Nation on the Planet.

  You are a master of presentation and with persons like Mr. Haight and Mr. Kaplan to bring truth and facts to all kinds of personalities, this World would be a better place.

  Thank you so much for your valiant efforts!    

• http://twitter.com/harveyjkaye Harvey J Kaye

  Bill _ I would love to talk to you about what you wrote 5 years ago re FDR/NewDeal and American historical memory:
  The great leaders of our tradition–Jefferson, Lincoln and the two Roosevelts–understood the power of our story. In my time it was FDR, who exposed the false freedom of the aristocratic narrative. He made the simple but obvious point that where once political royalists stalked the land, now economic royalists owned everything standing. Mindful of Plutarch’s warning that “an imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics,” Roosevelt famously told America, in 1936, that “the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man.” He gathered together the remnants of the great reform movements of the Progressive Age–including those of his late-blooming cousin, Teddy–into a singular political cause that would be ratified again and again by people who categorically rejected the laissez-faire anarchy that had produced destructive, unfettered and ungovernable power. Now came collective bargaining and workplace rules, cash assistance for poor children, Social Security, the GI Bill, home mortgage subsidies, progressive taxation–democratic instruments that checked economic tyranny and helped secure America’s great middle class. And these were only the beginning. The Marshall Plan, the civil rights revolution, reaching the moon, a huge leap in life expectancy–every one of these great outward achievements of the last century grew from shared goals and collaboration in the public interest.

• Nrbowden

  have you considered addressing the huge health threat from GMO’s in our food sources? This is a well-understood problem in Europe but a suppressed story in the US. This is related to the parallel problem of bee colony collapse that threatens 40% of the diversity of our food choices. I recommend the website responsibletechnolgy.org. More and more doctors are seeing the effects of these non-natural foods, not only on digestive issues but potentially also underlying the rise in rates of obesity and of autism, among others. I believe this is the premier health issue in front of us today, and it needs reliable, fearless media coverage.

• Mharper91

  the problem with $$$ in politics is that we read the mail and watch the TV ads…we need to fight back by getting our fellow citizens to get it….that the big $$$$ people want to buy our minds. We should have community bonfires and burn all the mailings unread and we should CLICK OFF THE  SOUND when TV ads come on….we should make ourselves angry and ashamed to have our minds so colonized. We are the problem!

• Dawn E. Williams

   I watch your show twice per week: the half hour after Washington Week on Friday and the whole hour on Sunday. I always bless you for returning to television as the voice of reason in a democracy gone off track . I was particularly touched tonight by your commentary about your grandson’s graduation as I flew from California to Utah on May 30th to attend the graduation of a great-granddaughter, the second of her generation in our family to graduate and go on to college (with a Pell grant and a lot of faith).  She is one of my 23 great-grandchildren and I worry about the country we are leaving to them. I am nearly 84 and will not live to see another 20 years, so I am doing all I can while I am alive to better their chances. I am sending you a copy of Jim Hightower’s “Hightower Lowdown”. a monthly newsletter of excellent investigative reporting. Texas does sometimes produce an honest native son/daughter. (Molly Ivens, we miss you!) Dawn Williams California Native Daughter

• MB

  Why don’t we, the [human being] people, form a “more perfect union” in order to have negotiating capacity against corporations which the Supreme Court has determined are people and that their wealth is speech?  This “more perfect union” can be tens of millions of human beings strong!  It can recruit and support candidates totally un-beholden to corporations and special interests, and be representative of “We, the people” envisioned by the Founding Fathers. 

• Copyhawk

  It may have been a post script to the Marty Kaplan interview but it took me back to the McCarthy days; I lived through them as a writer/editor at the Voice of  America . What historians may not know is that Joe had allies in the agency’s English language section looking for “subversives.”  They called themselves “the loyal American underground.”  Sound familiar?

• Ontherealproductions

  On Campaign Disclosure,Two Words-” Noblesse Oblige”-
  The Foreign Interest Whose Money As Well Can’t Be Tracked in Our Elections (Just Keeping it Real),
  Expect and Not Surprisingly so, a return on their Money, oops…, According to the Supreme Court Money is Speech, therefore…, Foreign Cryptic Citizens have gained more in Rights and Numbers than the mere 300 Million American Citizens could possibly imagine.
  “To Whom Much is Given Much is Required”. A Typically Disenfranchised American Middle Class Voter is a De Facto Foreign Serf!

• Pwilson651

  I make this challenge to Bill Moyer. I challenge I make this challenge to Bill Moyer. I challenge you to stand up and debate me on the current would environment. I truly believe you do not have the “balls” to debate a real world person on national TV, hiding behind a none accessible media environment. media environment. Stand up and answer a real person and defend your side of the debate!

• Anonymous

  Hi Bill, 
  Enjoyed your last program on Dark Money.   The citizens united decision was affirmed by the five republicans on the supreme court.  I agree that that is a travesty and our democracy will be paying the price.  However, in the program you forgot to mention that an unfair moneyadvantage certainly contributed to Obama’s victory over John McCain.  Obama raised twice the money as McCain by not taking federal moneys so he didn’t have to play by the rules.  So, he manipulated the symstem to his advantage.  Also, shouldn’t  we mention the dark money now in play by both sides – republican and democrat.  So, my friend said that by portraying the problem as just a republican conservative cabal you lose credibility.  Seems like there’s plenty of dark money flowing around on both sides.   Using money to manipulate the system is both and republican and democratic problem.  Matter of fact it’s a human problem.

• Anonymous

  Well, this is a kind of a bazar example.  If a person has no principles or values, they’re going to do whatever is expedient.  But who would want to live in a world like that governed by people with no values.

• Anonymous

  Ralph Nader recently commented on the Wisconsin debacle. He said the problem was that the public sector union members stood idly by while private sector unions were ravaged, mistakenly thinking that they had no dog in that fight because their jobs were secure. Then their turn came. Now the Middle Class (code word for White) is under attack and falling into the void. They paid no attention when Indians languished on reservations (concentration camps without fences); blacks languished in ghettos; Latino braceros labored for slave wages in sun scorched fields; and the poor everywhere struggled desperately for meager food and shelter. Everyone who was doing fine ignored those who were not. Why are we surprised that the rich 1% are concerned with their welfare only and care nothing about the losers in a society favoring only them? In time, the economy will completely collapse. The dollar will lose its buying power. Then, and only then, we will all be on the same sinking ship.

• Multiservces

   Attn: Bill MoyersA WAY AWAY
  …But Don’t keep building upon sand! The national
  and world  economy is dangerously flawed and unsoundly based and therefore now
   undergoing severe long  foretold judgments of  ’many strokes” as governments so
  dependent and built upon such ‘sands’  are  collapsing from borrowing at exorbitant rates, insider trading, warmongering etc..
   
  The stirring portrayals in a recent POINT OF VIEW
  radio newsletter of certificate ‘bills’ comparisons , illustrates what     Zechariah
  centuries ago referred to as ”’wickedness” “This is wickedness” he wrot See
  Zechariah chapter 5].
   
  Habakkuk too refers to the subjugating scheme from
  which peoples will -and must-   awake and throw off.
   
  Thus too  its because of  such excesses, the current
  onerous burdensome enslaving  ‘econonmy” IS JUDGED aright  and being brought to
  ruin; since the planets actual Owner has so purposed and also as long ago
  written “He shall bring to ruin those who are ruining the earth.” This is why
  none of the ‘bankers candidates’ will ‘turn things around’ to their
  ‘normal’.
   
  Since each of the ‘bills’ portrayed cost no more
  than the ink and paper to print, store  and ship, the ‘assumed profits’ to the
  bankers manufacturing them is wickedly exorbitant and as with ‘Humpty Dumpty’
  cannot be ‘put together again’.
   
  The further cause for alarm is what may yet occur
  as the judgment precedes apace, as governments yet dare to  wage war against God
  The Almighty’ Who is still  determined to ‘deliver us from evil’ and have even
  the ‘sea give up their dead…’
   
   and can do so as foretold in Daniel[‘s prophesy
  ‘broken without hands ” KEEP ON THE WATCH”.
   t
   No government can prevail against “The Mighty  God     consigned   to  A never to be repeated history. multiservices@surewest.net
   
  916 978 4015

• Hardin Betty

  Your programming disappeared from our Public Broadcasting Stations.  We have been watching since January and suddenly it was gone!  I now find it is being shown at 1:00 AM!  Come on!  Who do they think we are?  We have lives!  Your program is the most intelligent and encouraging one we have found concerning vital issues of our day.  Something is wrong that the program is being relagated to 1:00 AM!  This is KQED and other Bay area Public Broadcasting Stations!  We need this program!

• Henrika Conner

  The most intriguing, thought-provoking commentary anywhere.   Thank you!

• Livent

  Dear Bill,

  yours “BM & Company” is the most watchable by me political show. I did it today, on 05/22/12, too, and I’d like you to do me a favor. In both parts, Matt Taibbi, Yves Smith in the first and Mr. Edelman in the second, the experts in the social and economical problems with pretty clear positions and deep understanding of the processes in our society, kept repeating “Oh, something is wrong in the system!”,  ”Oh, something is wrong in the system!”, and so forth. Could you please ask them – do they really know and could they say it clearly what is wrong and why and how deep exactly? If they know, why they don’t say it? Are they  afraid something and keeping the shadow side of the street? Is Jammy Dimon a criminal and is his place in jail? If they, very experienced, avoid to pronounce the verdict in just civic terms, where is the boy to say that the whole US king is naked? 

  Truly yours,
  bz.

• Jaleh

  Dear Bill,
   
  I have watched you since your earliest appearances on TV. Your interviews add up to hundreds of essential university courses in humanistic thought. You enable me to breathe. Thank you.

• Kerry Pay Mann

  Betty,

  I live in the East Bay KQED area and have Direct TV.  The broadcast should be on somewhere between 7p.m.-11 p.m. and it is re-broadcast at 1 a.m. For a rental of $6 a month I just could not live without my DVR rental because I do not want the TV broadcasting schedule to dictate my live . Before the DVR, I use to set up my video tape recorder to automatically tape programs and I have hundreds of old shows that I have kept.

  I live in Martinez the county seat of the Contra Costa County e-mail kerrypw@gmail.com

• Hazelreaves

  hazel  your kind are to afraid of meeting my kind { poor people} on camera.to see our thoughts on why some people are on food stamps

• Stephen_Tardrew

  Bill I love your work and in fact love ya man. Am an Ausie who sees you as a shining knight in corporate USA. First contact was through Power of Myth many years ago. You would make a great President. Your journalistic ethics are second to none. I am a great admirer of your work and God only knows we need many more like you. Thank you for your gift.
  In art and Love.
  Stephen.

• Rdatesman

  Was the ‘greatest generation’ a sham? so many within our nation seem to be bitter, vindictive and petty. How could we have forgotten so quickly the lessons of this past generation?

• Ellen_j_v

  It is with great interest  that I have been following your discussions, starting with the winner-take-all-politics series.  I find your series a real eye opener.  Recently, there was a discussion about political sociopaths.  One thing no one has touched on are the outrageous salaries ($ 100k – $1 million) that are being paid at the university level, despite the cutback in classes as well as the tremendous increases in student fees.  I feel there is a serious sense of entitlement going on among college/university presidents, chancellors, regents as well as coaches.

• LilClaraCohen

  Dear, Wonderful Bill Moyers.  Take care of yourself.  Live forever, but PLEASE, PLEASE
  mention the name of the book you’re discussing for those of us who miss it during the
  program.  Like:  Kahlil Gibran Mohammed’s “Condemnation of Blackness” which took me a while to track down. Lil Cohen, Ithaca, NY

• Charles Hill

  I was just watching the show with Khalil Muhammed and it was truly informative.It would be great if Mr.Moyer did a follow-up with guest and suggestions to over come these problems in our country.

• Ginniebivona

  Brilliant show! I am deeply grateful to you, Mr. Moyers, as well as your extraordinary guest, Professor Mohammed for the incredible history I learned this morning. I think perhaps Jefferson framed the constitution for all white men with absolutely no concept of the black race as a part of it. Ownership of lesser human beings was as normal as the ownership of animals, and when he refers to ALL men being equal, he was not thinking about blacks at all. They didn’t exist as men. He would have been more than baffled if someone had asked him if his work included men (not to mention women) of all races. It’s up to us now to continue the work in the fullest sense of the words, not as they were intended then, but as what they mean today. 

• Anonymous

  Dear Bill,

  I came to the US from my native Iran in 1981.  While an engineer by training, I started with a minimum wage part time job and, although now a CEO, I have not forgotten my past.  Since I heard your interviews with Joseph Campbell, I have been a strong fan of your humanistic way of dissecting and analyzing our society and politics.  In this world of “high impact slogans” you have remained the thoughtful and generous journalist you always were and have always crisply highlighted the evolution of our politicians, especially of the Republican kind, that seem so eager to emulate the take-no-prisoners and the no-concession style of the ayatollahs of my home country.  

  You represent to my eyes the best of of America. Thank you for keeping the light of decency and intellectual honesty shining bright.

• Francine St.Jean

  Dear Mr. Moyers-your sensitivity and intellect is magical! Thank you, humbly, for your work.  Certainly, the way you interweave political/ historical discussion must be the way to realize the promise of America. I am so touched. 

• NYCer

  Your recent show, Confronting America’s Past, left me pondering some unanswered questions.  While I am a NYC resident that welcomes criticism of Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, I found the discussion about NYPD’s Stop & Frisk policy somewhat one sided.  Firstly there are several undeniable truths:  youths in NYC are often involved in gangs, gangs are predominantly made up of latino, black or asian youth and the territory for these gangs is in the disenfranchised neighborhoods and outer boroughs. The Mayor’s policy does not seem unwarranted or repressive. Indeed the percentage of blacks and latino youth stopped may be very high, but  what the statistics don’t tell is how many of these annual police stops consist of individual repeat offenders? 
  Another facet of the debate over the policy that was not addressed is how do we reconcile the fact that law enforcement, public officials, educators and other city leaders are now diversely integrated.  With so so many blacks and latinos in leadership positions and on the streets enforcing the laws, educating children, how then can the mayor’s policy be seen as repressive?  There is a problem with youth and crime in NYC.  I believe that members of the minority population want it to be controlled just as much as anyone else.  The problem is how and how effective are draconian measures like the mayor’s policy.

• Zenda

  Regarding your show on Unions – Public Sector Unions are failing because you are raising your members financial worth on the backs of the rest of us -the private sector workers that pay taxes, fees and assessments in order to pay for the over-sized saleries & Benefits of the public sector employees! “Public employees” weren’t they supposed to be working for the benefit of the people? The greed that exists in the public sector,with employees retiring right after they get a salary upgrade so they can make more retired than they did employed, makes me angry. You claim it is because I am jealous -wrong- it is because I have no control over the greed I see on Wall Street & their out-sized salaries for No Work -but With the greed in the public sector I have a way to express my outrage -I can vote -not to pay them -and I will everytime I am given a chance!!!!  I am not alone. And it is why Your Public Sector Unions will be brought down …You have over-reached -you have forgotten that it is the downtrodden -working 7 days a week private sector guy that pays your bills —–and Since we cannot express our outrage to wall street we will let you feel our outrage….You want it to change? Then give us a way to bring down the corporate executives..(besides outright revolution) and we will. Otherwise -stand back -because you have no clue just jow angry and fed up the private workers really are -with Unions -With Coruption in Goverment -With Gover’t (especially small gover’t corruption and beuaracry in general)….Nor does Governor Brown ….just wait till November when his tax proposal bites the dust…..Jerry -You should have read ”Small is Beautiful” closer because man you have missed the boat too…….. 

• Comment#1

  The problem with Unions has been their Public Relations.  I think they must be nonexistent or sleep at the switch.  The public should be reminded that Unions exist to defend individuals  against big organizations such as corporations or government.  The public needs to be reminded that unions are the reason for a big middle class.  Of course Jimmy Hoffa didn’t help the reputation. 

• Tgreg99

  Please stop ranting about what is wrong in this country. We are well aware of it. And please stop asking only “why” we have problems.  We know the answer: usually its money. What we need are some well thought out SOLUTIONS! Some of solutions may be radical, but we need to consider them, discuss them, and improve them. Bill Moyers has a mass of followers who are sufficiently careful thinkers to make progress on this. Bill, please your position to organize a team to provide SOLUTIONS. Here is my suggestion: google direct democracy or tgmanifesto. 

• anonymous

  I was extremely disappointed that Bill repeated propaganda used by the 1% during his show on Labor.  Bill stated that “Twenty CA counties allow some public workers to make more in retirement than they did while working; …and there’s one county executive retied at 62 so she could bring down a pension of $272,000 a year for life.” 
  Hello–this is a COUNTY EXECUTIVE NOT A UNION MEMBER!!!  This is not what the average rank and file union member receives.I work for the Orange County in CA. I pay 19% of my meager social worker salary for my pension while our county executives have TWO pension plans totally paid for by the county. They received 5% raises while they laid off workers. Workers had to take furloughs and have had no cost of living raises for several years. The average union member in Orange County receives a pension of $29,000 a year .See OCEA website: http://www.oceamember.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=khKSIYPxEmE&b=6372337&ct=8827359In the public sector, just as in the private sector, there is great inequality. Please do not repeat propaganda used against workers.

• Revko

  I thought the EXACT same thing although I was disappointed that the two union advocates didn’t catch that either. There is a MAJOR distinction between a government EXECUTIVE and a government rank and file employee and this needs to be pointed out.

  I had the same beef with union reps a few years ago on TV during autoworkers union discussions and the right wing exaggeration with how much an American auto worker was paid when all the union reps needed to do is get out a contract and SHOW them the pay scale.

• Sylvia DeR

  The critiques below notwithstanding I see everyone of your programs as a valuable gift in a time of few gifts. Thank you.

• Gjlarson89

  Just this morning on “face the nation”, top gun hot shot turned viet nam “pow” (because he was being an adolescent showoff for his navy pilot pals), john mcain (running mate of the brilliant sarah pallin in 2008) said the American taxpayers need to send more of our hard-earned (assuming we have a job to pay taxes on) money down a rathole so “we can overthrow the assad government in syria.” When did America get into the business of foreign regime change when some republican legislator in a $2,000 suit says it’s our responsibility, notwithstanding our huge federal deficit caused by President Obama’s “tax & spend” policies? When bin laden was killed he was in pakistan, not iraq or afghanistan. We wasted thousands of lives, military & civilian in “the war on terror” in the wrong countries. Bin laden was in pakistan, our great “ally” all along. And how many TRILLIONS of dollars did we and are we continuing to waste in those 2 unnecessary wars? And then there are the thousands of vets and their families struggling with horrendous injuries PTSD (now that the military got their heads out os their collective butts &
  recognized they had to help not ridicule these vets), and the lost dreams of these families &vets due to the trauma inflicted on them by the greedy pals of dick cheney at halliburton.
  Then mcain had the gall to say that the economy & jobs are the key issue in this campaign!!!!

  Most of the deficit is caused by dropping our money in quicksand in the middle east where corruption & despotism is the fabric of their culture & has been for 1,000′s of years. The USA does not have a right to impose “democracy” on cultures happy with the status quo.

  How was it that hamas came into power? Oh, that’ right they had a “democratic” election & hamas won the election!!!! Thanks for wasting our money and our youth, W!!!

• Doris

  I have just finished watching your program with the guys promoting unions and “togetherness” in dealing  with the present state of the U.S.  Here I was also introduced to the poet Mr. Appleman.  The  whole program was so very interesting (as are most of your shows.) 

   But this one was especially relevant as I am a senior citizen who was fortunate enough to have lived when unions were powerful.  My step-dad worked for Lockheed in Southern California for 40 years, made a decent living, bought a home, and fed us five kids, and put some money aside.  This was the benefit of collective bargaining in good faith. Thanks to this and  to Social Security Mom and Dad were able to live comfortably for many years.I am going to buy EVERY book that Mr  Appleman wrote.  What a joy to hear his readings.

  Doris Raisanen – Minnesota

• Ben7890

  As a former member of a public employees union, in a state government whose method of setting wages is to pay 20% less for comparable work across the board, I’m amazed by people who see such employment as some sort of great deal, that it will someow improve their lot if they can just figure out how to screw it up for somebody else. The fact that public employment even looks good only shows how bad off the private sector worker is.

  I have about 45 years in the workforce right now, and I’ve worked private sector, public sector, union, and non-union. I’ve worked for mom-and-pop operations, and national companies. I’ve seen a lot in that time. I would simply say that the vast majority of people who have worked in a union prefer it. The vast majority of people who would do away with unions have never been in one, and they really should try it before they condemn it.

  Somehow, people in this country believe they can become wealthy, when every piece of evidence should tell them they don’t have a shred of a chance. Worse yet, they let this delusion lead them to vote like the wealthy, against their own real interest. But in reality, their best chance of bettering their own situation would be to join a union. Their odds of being able to join a union are still quite good.  And if doing so led them to actually vote like a working person, they would actually vote in their own interest for a change.

  Of course, people really will vote to cut someone else’s pay, if they can’t ever get a raise in their own paycheck. They can even be fooled into damaging Social Security, as long as they themselves don’t need it yet. That is human nature at it’s worst.

  The purveyors of poopyhead politics need to remember a simple truth about how the system works: You can forget about ever seeing more than a few cents of the “savings” you vote for, but you will most certainly see the effects of your decisions when the remaining competent and honest people are forced out of public employment and the ones that are left deliver your services. Or not…

• Elriv

  I watched your recent program related to unions and found myself being pulled apart. Your guests had good comments and you also had good questions. However what struck me was the absence of their voices in mainstream media. After the Mexican election of Nieto who was the darling of Mexico’s MSM, whose propaganda was noted by the movement “Yo soy 132!” (which was hardly mentioned here). After the recent devastating heat (forest fires, derechos, 72+ deaths, etc.) and hardly any in the MSM used the phrases “global warming” or “climate change”. Even if pro-labor groups had excellent points, it will not be mentioned in the MSM.

  Walker’s recent success in WI was noted that a major portion of the populace stated “I didn’t vote for him, but recall is not the way to do it”. That very sentiment was advertised on all of WI’s media for over a month. Control the media, control the masses.

  If you look at the amount of Right-wing radio stations are in the area vs progams like yours, or Rachel Maddow, or Amy Goodman, the thought of being able to let the general public understand concepts like “collective bargaining” is closer to a dream.

  There’s a wonderful CD regarding the history of advertising and propaganda called, “The Century of the Self”. I hope watch it. Perhaps you can make a program of how the USA is drowning in rightwing propaganda. 

• Charles Adler

  THE FOURTH OF JULY

  Music filled and starry skies
  Bursting sprays of painted pride
  Children laugh with open eyes
  Their elders hide what’s deep inside

  Pale echoes of deliverance
  We celebrate the birth
  Of ideas grand with eloquence 
  Without measuring their worth

  With hope and worry; wish and woe
  We sailed forth with pride
  Swamping every well met foe
  Heedless of returning tide

  The fireworks are on display 
  to underscore our might
  The simple food and ways we play
  Should fill us with delight

  I cannot help but feel the pain
  Of promise unfulfilled
  The sacrifice with which we gained
  What seemed divinely willed

  The sins we left to hide away
  And never show their face
  Have looked upon us every day
  From the soul of every race

  The gap that widens evermore
  Twixt what we live and claim
  Anticipates what is in store
  When anger turns to blame

  What is the future for this land
  Supreme in all the world
  Content to shadow all it can
  Beneath its flag unfurled

  Renewal and rebalance
  Is what we must pray for
  Until we can remember
  The meaning of the Fourth                   Charles Adler

• http://twitter.com/vernonsm vernon

  Just finished listening to these 2 Union Organizers and it’s so obvious that they are simply communists, despising Capitalism and promoting Marxist views.  ”Social Justice” is another way of saying we despise prosperity because it’s unequal.   This show was totally Marxist propaganda but Im glad I watched because the enemy of America became crystal clear to me —- Unions. 

• Ernest Scarano

  The patter and presentation was perfectly practiced……Phillip Applebaum.  On the face of things, he presents like a sweet and cultured gentleman.  The message that came across was just the opposite.  For all the self proclaimed search for truth, he has found very little; at least in the selections that were chosen to be read.  This man, who has lived a privileged life, filled with success;  houses on stilts in Malibu, a talented wife who produces numerous stage plays, the gift of many years and a large income to explore life and love, is an ingrate.  It seems to me he should be thankful for these blessings.  While I can understand his sorrow about having to watch his mother suffer with arthritis, I hardly think blaming God is appropriate; actually, it came off as being petulant, somewhat pompous and more than a bit childish.   While he still has time, someone should remind this man that he has a navel.  The simple, significant, import of this  is, that he did not create himself.  Plainly stated, creatures, beings with navels, don’t get to question the creator…which is, by the way, the single, major theological message of the book of Job (which he completely missed in his one poem)…..”where were you when I placed fire in the  wild stallion? were you present when  I told to the sea you may go to this point and NO further?  Was it your counsel I sought when I placed the stars in heavens?

  So, he searched the major religions for answers….got none that suited him, and concluded that life is, or should be, an exercise in humanism…..it’s more an exercise in Narcissism.
  By simple definition, faith is belief in things that cannot be proven.  You can search and study, and all this is good.  But in the end, no one gets the answers….when you DEMAND answers you miss the entire point of the quest.  All a sober and serious minded person can do is humbly request….”put me not, to the test”

  Life is a mixed bag…..sometimes it is suffering and loss; pain and loneliness.  Sometimes it is joy and incredible contentment…..but it is ALWAYS a gift…..the greatest gift from where I sit….you haven’t lived until you’ve lived.  And in the end you just don’t get to demand answers.

• Joe Murphy

  Dear Mr. Moyers,
  I  would recomend you cosider a guest speaker–known as Ms. Elaine Pagels of Princeton University. I’ve read many of her books with a few more to go. Much of her thoughts Can be found in Brown’s book “The Devinci Code.” it was after reading that book that I went into his sources and found Ms. Pagels.  What she has to say about other Biblical sources is interesting and profound.
  Thank you for any time and considerstion you give to this sugestion.

  Sincerely,
  Joe Murphy

• Dell Hood

  Mr. Moyers,
  Thank you for your continuing excellence in thoughtful and  provocative commentary, and for the superb quality of your guests. The American people ignore the perspectives you give at their peril.  May you long continue in this needed work.

  Dell Hood
  Wimberley, Texas

• http://www.facebook.com/gregory.adams.9480 Gregory Adams

  it was a good thing that you came back my wife and i had missed you and your commentary i am 63 my wife is 60, i was raised on a small farm im michigan, its sad to think that monsanto and others want to monopolize the seed industry, GREED IS WHAT IT IS GREED They are out to kill us all with their seed the judge that gave them the ability to do what they are doing should be ran out of town the congress and senate and house should be ran out of town,what is wrong with the american people, why cant they see what is happening to them, maybe that is why they want to get rid of those of us who know what they are attempting to do,I am a Black american,born and raised in the US, what do you really Think about Obama, is He a Lyndon Johnson,I dont think so what happened to executive orders.

• http://www.facebook.com/gregory.adams.9480 Gregory Adams

  This has become an America for the rich we must stop paying them to kill us i say get rid ofmtrhe federal reserve, file bankruptcy against the debt, I agree with ross perot what ever happened to him and his type he was rich but he wanted everyone to live these people dont want you to live they want you to die,

• Barbara Sarao

  Bill Moyers:

  Thank you for your continuing offering of wonderful, insightful, individuals you interview who add so much enlightenment to my life.  I am a 69 year old widow, probably a “moderate democrat” who benefits from your, and your guests information and sharing of their view of our world.  I am not as well informed as I would like to be, however your presentations have added much to my understanding of many opinions and situations, I may never have even considered.  Keep up providing this kind of programming. 

• Justicepatiencecourage

  Well said, but these candidates must be un-beholden to the two parties also.

• Justicepatiencecourage

  Mr. Moyers, My book, due out by years end, hones closely to both of last nights guests: Sheila Bair and Vandana Shiva who was a refreshing person to hear. But it does have controversal analysis that you would likely disagree with. Titled – I’d Much Rather Laugh!/Preferisco Ridere! with a sub-title of How You can save America from Ridicule and Ruin, I hope to get a copy to you and have you see a citizens view of our collective difficulty and hope. Vinny Licitra   

• Sshrrd

  Your shows are informative but deeply depressing to me. We seem to be in a plutocracy with no way out. Even when the bankers are clearly guilty, no one gets charged with criminal behavior. No one goes to jail. One thing I would like to know is when these banks/investment companies are fined do they actually pay the money or is it some sort of accounting write-off? Where does the money go? Into a general fund or does some of it go to pay for the apparently needed staff for investigations by the SEC?
  Is this just another gimmic to make it look like banks are getting caught and fined but the fines are never collected?

• Catherine Burke

  There may be a way to stop voter suppression — the 24th Amendment to the Constitution.  See info following.
  TWENTY-FOURTH AMENDMENTSECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.EXPANSION OF THE RIGHT TO VOTERatification of the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 marked the culmination of an endeavor begun in Congress in 1939 to effect elimination of the poll tax as a qualification for voting in federal elections. Property qualifications extend back to colonial days, but the poll tax itself as a qualification was instituted in eleven States of the South following the end of Reconstruction, although at the time of the ratification of this Amendment only five States still retained it.1 Congress viewed the qualification as ”an obstacle to the proper exercise of a citizen’s franchise” and expected its removal to ”provide a more direct approach to participation by more of the people in their government.” Congress similarly thought a constitutional amendment necessary,2inasmuch as the qualifications had previously escaped constitutional challenge on several grounds.3Not long after ratification of the Amendment – applicable only to federal elections – Congress by statute authorized the Attorney General to seek injunctive relief against use of the poll tax as a means of racial discrimination in state elections,4 and the Supreme Court held that the poll tax discriminated on the basis of wealth in violation of the equal protection clause.51 Harman v. Forssenius, 380 U.S. 528, 538-40, 543-44 (1965); United States v. Texas, 252 F. Supp. 234, 238-45 (W.D. Tex.) (three-judge court), aff’d on other grounds, 384 U.S. 155 (1966).
  2 H.R. Rep. No. 1821, 87th Cong., 2d Sess. 3, 5 (1962).
  3 Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277 (1937); Saunders v. Wilkins, 152 F.2d 235 (4th Cir. 1945), cert. denied, 328 U.S. 870 (1946); Butler v. Thompson, 97 F. Supp. 17 (E.D. Va), aff’d, 341 U.S. 937 (1951).
  4 Voting Rights Act of 1965, � 10, 79 Stat. 442, 42 U.S.C. � 1973h. For the results of actions instituted by the Attorney General under direction of this section, see United States v. Texas, 252 F. Supp. 234 (W.D. Tex.) (three-judge court). aff’d on other grounds, 384 U.S. 155 (1966); United States v. Alabama, 252 F. Supp. 95 (M.D. Ala. 1966) (three-judge court).In Harman v. Forssenius,6 the Court struck down a Virginia statute which eliminated the poll tax as an absolute qualification for voting in federal elections and gave federal voters the choice either of paying the tax or of filing a certificate of residence six months before the election. Viewing the latter requirement as imposing upon voters in federal elections an onerous procedural requirement which was not imposed on those who continued to pay the tax, the Court unanimously held the law to conflict with the new Amendment by penalizing those who chose to exercise a right guaranteed them by the Amendment.5 Harper v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966) (invalid discrimination based on wealth).6 380 U.S. 528 (1965).

• Lorielevine

  What’s even more exasperating (than secrecy and theft) is how poorly these people handle  power!  When it is suddenly foisted upon them they don’t know whether to acknowledge it (the elephant in the room), shrug it off or ignore it.  How many of them actually address issues openly and directly as human beings? They live in bubbles and the only human discourse is philisophical oration laced with jokes promises and humor. I really wish they had more positive charisma(at least).  Ifeel violated as an individual.  The issues are not problems that they will correct even on a human level, but inflated air baloons they use for their careers(which  seemingly wouldn’t exist were it not for problems they have no intention of truly correcting).

• Lorielevine

  the world truly lives on credit.  the only difference is that big shots and governments usually don’t pay off their balances, like most people.  Credit is money.

• Lorielevine

  did you write that awesome poem?????  It’s pure poetry!  have you read 77 dream songs by john berryman? he has one about the 4th… “while the dying man          forgone by you  creator  is betrayed by you who forgives, cries “thomas jefferson still lives…invain in vain  in vain….I am henry pussycat, my whiskers fly.  Not the right words, but something like the ending of the poem.

• Lorielevine

  you  are a godsend in a confused inarticulate world.  and being thus at least you are a pacifist (there are too many belligerent  yet powerful and articulate people in this world)

• Art Baron

  Dear Bill, We are so thrilled to have you back at this critical time.  One thing just came to me the other day.  The Supreme Court has granted all the rights of personhood to corporations.  That is a given now, and one I hope comes down.  But while we are saddled with this, how about the other aspect; along with the rights of being a citizen, then would’t it follow that the corporations would have to follow the RESPONSIBILITIES of being a person?  Doesn’t it follow that in order for corporations to enjoy the rights of being a citizen of the USA, that they have to pay the responsibility of paying taxes?  A corporation enjoying the rights of citizenship then has the responsibility of paying its fair share of taxes.  How is this point missed?  
  They can no longer have it both ways.  Pay up, corporations.  No more loopholes, off-shore banks. PAY YOUR TAXES LIKE THE REST OF US.  Thank you so much, Art Baron, NYC

• Simon

  In your recent show with Ms. Shiva there was a comment fresh fruits and vegetables and food stamps.  In Vermont, many farmers markets provide a service where a person can exchange food stamps for “currency” for shopping.  At the end of the day, the farmer turns in the “currency” for cash.  This program is supported by the state to ensure everyone can shop locally.  Quick and easy solution.

• Azskye

  I love your show – it’s a favorite in our household – thank you for doing this service for our nation!! This week’s show with Chris Hedges is a great example of  your week-in and week-out excellence in reporting and critical thinking.  I fear we may be too late to make significant change, but like others, cannot remain silent.  Protest must continue — revolt may be necessary — but we cannot leave *this* country/world to our grandchildren.  Our generation really screwed this up and we must take responsibility for change NOW!  Your thoughtful voice continues to give us renewed strength and resolve!!

• Azskye

   The Unions are the enemy??  I fail to follow your logic.  Without unionized labor, our middle-class existence would not have happened.  We have safer workplaces, pensions and insurance, better health and medical care, improved transportation and communication, etc., etc., thanks to unionized labor.  Yes, they are not perfect, and need change, but we owe them much.  If you are a regular viewer, then you should see how unionized labor pales in comparison to the bankers, wall street and general corporatized greed!!

• GuestToo

   If Bill stopped ranting about what’s wrong, who would be left?  Every week Bill brings us new voices and perspectives that are critical to a well informed voter and citizen.  Yes, it would be lovely if he had solutions handy too, but just because he doesn’t, should not mean he should, instead, be quiet!!  It’s up to every person to be inspired by this show, and create thoughtful conversation and perhaps, also a solution. 

  Discussion must be kept alive and well for solutions to be birthed.  We must also remember that failure is not an evil, but a learning tool that hones our resolve and approach to problem solving.  Those who hold failure in contempt have feared of the trying, and are weakened by it.  ‘Tis better to try and fail … and keep trying!

• alex

  The most powerful show on TV.  I cant believe you are allowed to have a show.  your lasts two interviews with Chris Hedges and Vandana Shiva brought tears to my eyes.  I have never seen anyone EXPLAIN our times so clearly as they did.  Thank you for your show and your commiment to help humanity.

• Herbert Pairitz

  This is a letter to Bill Moyers as well as the general public.  I have written a manuscript that has outlines what is wrong with our government and our economy and how to fix it.  If the programs recommended were to be installed it would result in prosperity for the working-class citizens, so promoting the manuscript would be a service to the public.  The first part of the manuscript is presented below for your review to determine it is worth your consideration.  If Moyers and Company desires to present the entire manuscript to the public I will send it to them.  If the readers want to  view the remainder of the manuscript they can purchase it as a book from Amazon.com under the title of Fixing Our Government.  

                          Section 1.  What’s Wrong With

                             Our
  Government                                                                                  

                         

  In the last ten years we have experienced a
  cultural degradation whereby businesses are no longer required to help the
  American workers and have resorted to reducing their benefits and
  sending their jobs overseas to the lowest bidder.  With all of our resources we would be able to provide prosperity
  to every citizen, but greedy big business investors chose not to let this
  happen.  The United States Government is
  not serving all of the people as it should. 
  It is doing exceptionally well for the wealthy business investors, but
  doing poorly for the working class citizens. 
  And why is this so?  The wealthy
  have the money to invest in their financial futures and assure themselves of
  financial stability and they influence our government to their advantage.  Most working class citizens have to depend
  upon business owners providing them with a job whereby they can earn a living
  wage to obtain the necessities of life and possibly a prosperous future.  This struggle between the “haves”
  and the “have-nots” goes way back to the age of the cave man. Back in
  those days they didn’t have a government but probably there were family members
  that said that if someone is starving you should help them.  Today we do have a government and I believe
  it is the responsibility of our government to give assistance to those that are
  in a weak financial condition.  This
  could be due to health problems, living circumstances or just a desire to avoid
  working for a living.  I believe our
  government should assist them all, providing the loafer with only the bare
  necessities of life. The creators of The Constitution of the United States
  thought so when they wrote the preamble to” promote the general
  welfare,” which I believe is the underlying meaning of the whole
  document.  Unfortunately there are many
  people in high government offices that don’t believe in this idea and fight it,
  with very little opposition from politicians, government office holders and the
  news media.  They found out that you
  don’t make much money by promoting the general welfare, you make it by
  promoting the corporate welfare.  Big
  corporations do not have humane thoughts, just boards of directors who only
  value their final profit line.  A good
  government should strive to insure that the working- class citizens get a fair
  share of business profits and that the big corporations are not permitted to
  exploit them and drive them into poverty. 
  If you want to make a lot of money you are less likely to get it from
  the wealthy citizens or businesses.  But
  if you can extract just one dollar from each member of the working class by
  some gimmick or scam you end up with about three hundred million dollars. The
  easy way to make lots of money is to exploit the working class.  The financial spread between the working
  class and the wealthy in this country has increased greatly since the
  regulation of businesses has been decreased. According to the Bureau of Labor
  Statistics the lower 60% of households (which is the working class) possess
  only 4% of the nation’s wealth.  This is
  morally and economically wrong. This unbalance of wealth proves that the wealthy
  people in this country are taking advantage of the working class people.  The wealthy people have money that they will
  never spend or need, yet some people do not have access to the bare necessities
  of life. The members of the working class in America are not primarily the
  victims of circumstances, coincidence or natural economic activities, but are
  primarily the victims of a planned attack by the wealthy big business investors
  and politicians who intentionally exploit them to satisfy their greed for
  money.

   

  So why is our government
  promoting corporate welfare and ignoring the promotion of the general
  welfare?  Everybody knows the answer,
  but few people want to talk about it because if you do you lose your
  contributions from big corporations to government office holders, politicians,
  the news media and just about everyone else. Even The United States Supreme
  Court ignored the general welfare in favor of corporate welfare when they
  concluded that campaign contributions (a form of bribery) were a form of free
  speech and should not be limited.   This
  further strengthened the control of big corporations over our government. That
  brings us to the basic number one reason why Congress or the White House cannot
  get any legislation passed to resolve our economic problems and many other
  problems.  Big corporation money has
  completely corrupted our government and controls the operation of the
  government.  Currently most of the
  members of Congress receive large campaign contributions from big
  corporations.  This money is intended to
  be spent for the benefit of the individual members of Congress, so it is their
  money to be used to keep them in office, maybe for life.  Most of it probably pays for campaign
  expenses, but it can also be used for making your wife a member of the campaign
  at $100,000 a year, parties at a night club, personal court costs, etc.  The rules are very flexible and they
  certainly are not enforced.  Politicians
  and officeholders claim they are given this money because the donator likes
  their ideology and wants to support it. However, if the politician or
  officeholder reverses his or her ideology the money will be cut off and they
  both know that, so it is a pure bribe. Another device employed by big business
  investors to influence office holders is the threat of launching a negative
  publicity campaign against any office holder that opposes their desires.  We no longer have a democratic form of
  government that is “ruled by the ruled,” but have a plutocracy, which
  is “ ruled by money.”  Our government is corrupt, and so
  are most politicians and both political parties and many office holders that
  take bribes and favors from big corporations for complying with their wishes.
  If you were a member of Congress would you pass a bill on complete campaign finance
  reform where the taxpayers finance all campaigns or would you choose to receive
  a slush fund of about five million dollars a year from big business to keep you
  in office indefinitely? Most of the members of Congress have chosen the latter,
  and the working class takes a big hit! 
  Government offices have been purchased by spending overwhelming amounts
  of money on campaigns and it has been estimated that members of Congress now
  spend over half of their minimal working hours on fundraising. There is no
  recovery in sight until we take the money out of politics and the control
  of our government is given back to the citizens. 

• Roland West

  In 1913, the US Congress passed the Federal Reserve Corp Act. The stock of this corp was sold to the wall street banks. These banks were bailed out using US taxpayers money. The book, The Secrets Of The Federal Reserve, by eustace Mullins, second printing 1984 published by Bankaers Research Institute, pages 34, 35, 173, 174, 179 contains information on these transactions. This book should be read by all taxpayers. The magazine, Mother Jones, Feb. 2010, article, Capital City, pages 37 through 43 contains information on the wall street bank mergers, and lists the top 10 politicians that received money from the wall street banks. Nine of the top 10 were democrats. Although we are told that republicans support the wall street banks. This book and magazine article should be read and a report and program be done by Bill moyers.

• Anonymous

  Bill Moyers is one of the all time great interviewers – it is too bad his show is not required viewing by members of the House and Senate. I would love to see him do an interview that examines the difference between the pay and pensions for the senior executive suite of corporations like ford, gm. Boeing, etc versus that of the ordinary employees who are seeing their pay and pensions cut to support the high living senior people.

• Anonymous

  What a great post – good to be reminded with facts about just how grotesque the efforts by faux Republicans to deprive people of their voting rights. Some voting rights organization should assemble a wall with photos and information about each person – starting with florida- told that their citizenship was suspect (91 year WWII hero born in Brooklyn) and required to spend time and money to clarify the situation. Each state doing this should have to post online and in public exactly what information they had that suggested that the people targeted were not citizens and if it was based on some 3rd party input – who exactly that 3rd party is – name and everything. No secret denunciations in this country.

• Anonymous

  The real reason that we care at all about Afghanistan is because of Pakistan which has proven nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them quite long distances. No one should think that taliban al queda types are stupid just because they are religious and political fanatics.

• Paul Booker

  Bill. Thanks for being the voice of sanity. With the likes of Fox and other media outlets that mistakenly are referred to as news and not entertainment, you brighten my heart and mind with both information and hope that we Americans can find a way to step back from the abyss of violence and death that our culture is most adamantly pursuing. Please don’t quit. We need you!

• David Jacquez

  Hello Bill Moyers:
  I though you had retired. Its great to know that you are still around and there is still a voice of reason and fair jornalism in this age where some many newspapers and television networks have sold out to greed.
  David Jacquez

• Anonymous

  I’ve been a progressive for a long time and had imagined that I had heard all the arguments, but this show consistently introduces me to new ways of looking at things and very interesting people.

• timpala

  My view of our veterans was unexpectedly, yet conclusively, reversed within the span of a few sentences tonight by Karl Marlantes. Whereas I knew better than to jeer our returning troops for fear of political consequences, it is secretly what I’ve wanted to do. I actually thought military volunteers were entering service for all the wrong reasons — financial or social desperation, bravado, military breeding — and did not deserve high praise for their commitment to fighting our battles (OUR being the operative word). It’s been a surprisingly emotional wake-up call…if young men are actually enlisting for my suspected reasons it is on us…not them. Cheering those combat veterans is a mindless activity. Solemn, respectful support is what is owed them, especially those who pretend to still lust after the violence of war.

• Fran

  We always tune in to your show and the interesting guests. Thank you.
  May I mention that I appreciate that the camera is still and not moving around the stage as before. It makes me dizzy and I find concentration difficult when the camera moves around.

• Dave Kay

  There aren’t words to express my admiration for Bill Moyers. His dogged pursuit to open the eyes of the people to the fact that the “Roman Empire is crumbling” is inspiring.
  However, he must be utterly discouraged. I get discouraged watching his weekly “expose”. He has to live it everyday! How does he do it???
  “Change it with your vote”, it is said. That is a mere platitude. Vote for who? Vote for which criminal? Even if a good man were to get into the presidency or congress, they are helpless against the machinery. And it is only a matter of time before the most scrupulous are corrupted.
  Witness our current president. He was not raised in the machinery. He came from humble backgrounds. He wasn’t in congress long enough to get fully corrupted, and he has high ideals for what is truly right. But he was quickly beat into submission. He then had turn to the power people to “potentially keep his job. Ergo, the scrupulous get corrupted.
  Is there really an answer?
  Rome is falling, and the privileged few will gain the spoils.
  Even if we got 435 Bill Moyer’s into congress and a 100 more in the Senate, kicked out all the corporate lobbyist, it would still take another 100 years to undo the tangled web the lawyers, lobbyist, and the self-serving politicians have wove.
  Regardless, I’d like to see Bill Moyers sitting in the oval office for just ONE TERM, just long enough to turn the capitol upside down and shake out all the corruption.
  Bill, will you do it ? ? ? ! ! !

• HypatiaX

  Bill, Regarding Moyers & Company interview with Marine Vietnam Vet…Why not ask the fundamental question: Why War?’ It is important to hear how one man’s life was destroyed by his need to kill or be killed, but the fundamental question must be addressed: Why War?’
  Foucault identified the objective of ‘defining’ others as different, which then allows the powers that be, to target them in ways that are unjust – Nazi vs. Jews and Romany, US colonists vs. Native Americans, etc…ad nauseum… War mongers do the same thing…Why is it that American values evaporate one we cross our frontier?
  Plese see my note below on the same theme: Humanity and Respect below:
  Subject: Humanity and Respect…
  Date: May 28, 2012 8:05:41 AM PDT
  To: remembrance@capitalconcerts.org

  Memorial Day Concert cancelled due to storm. It was sad to see that happen, yet, somehow, it was a relief from all the grief: the result of old men sending young men to war.
  Wait a minute? If we are all human beings on Planet Earth, surely it is time to change our thinking to match that reality.
  I wish we could all begin to think ‘outside the box’…of one’s country…dying for one’s country…and think rather in terms of being ‘Earthlings’…living together on Planet Earth…
  ‘How can we work together…help each other?’ Rather than, ‘Accept my ideas of how the world should be…or I will kill you!’ The latter being little better than that of all the murderous dictators of the past and the present…In destroying others, we destroy ourselves.
  We are all citizens of Planet Earth, not just of a particular geographical area, with particular cultural practices, each deserving of respect.
  What if we all undertook an exercise in defining what the idea of respect might mean in actual practice? And then, further undertake the continuous task of translating ‘respect’ into our cultural, social and interpersonal behaviors? Let the huge US military apparatus lead the way?
  Just look at what the United States did in rescuing the blind Chinese so-called dissident – there is a beginning of the notion of respect in practice. We have so much more to do…Let us not waste a minute…I suggest that next year’s Memorial Day Concert be conducted around the theme of ‘Respect.’ Respect for ourselves, for the other.. for Planet Earth, and all its inhabitants, human and animal It calls on the best in humanity: generosity and kindness. War, on the other hand, brings forth the worst…Just look at the atrocities committed – of which we are rightly ashamed…I do not need to name them…
  What contribution can we make during our short lives on earth? Can we not begin to harbor the thoughts, the thinking that will allow us to move beyond power and force, to truly institute values of love and respect in our daily lives. If we did so, we could change the world and in doing so, change ourselves, irrevocably.
  PS Am posting this here…as can’t seem to post it elsewhere on your sites? Sorry…

• falcon

  On What’s it like to go to War – great insight into the topic too bad he didn’t have more time and could be less PC … many items were missed like putting it down on our own troops and the friendly fire issues – I know I was ordered to put it down and killed some of our own – try living with that ! (remember we also saved a lot of lives as well because of this action) also today we have an all volunteer Military and we should tell our sons and daughters that by definition they are classified as Mercenaries i.e. professional soldiers that in some cases Kill for a Living otherwise support the killers – in Nam we were Patriots and drafted against our will (70% of the time as unlike WWII most did not support the involvement).

  This is a BIG distinction between Nam and Today’s Military troops – not to mention all the material support, and great benefits today’s troops get to join and retain their services.

  I have no reservation saying that if today’s troops were treated like our Viet Nam Military were – recruitment would be down to near nothing even with the dismal job market.

  Dose of reality for discussion from someone that was THERE!

• ryanson

  I wish every American watched mr. moyers interview of mr. marlantes.In particular the people who run this country.i doubt we would be going to war so easily.One young man was on his seventh tour in afghanistan.this is criminal.Just another example of how broken we are a s a country

• MK64

  I am sooooooo calmed when I watch you and your show. I wish you were our president! A voice of reason and perspective! Please continue doing what you do best and never give up!

• Catherine67

  Great show with Karl Marlantes, and yes, our service men deserve ‘good’ healthcare. It would be wonderful if you would investigate and do a segment on the actual care our service men are getting or are trying to get. Interview those that have been required to use it for their service related injuries. Now that would be interesting.

  Thanks

• David Crooks

  Love your program; been watching Moyers shows regularly since mid-1980s, and have loved them all. He even persuades my wife and I to contribute to our public TV station regularly, both when we lived on the east coast and since coming Arizona. Only other show on TV that approaches it in quality is CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

• http://twitter.com/janedarle Darla Jane Treat

  Thank you Bill, for coming back to us. Your voice and your guests voice really need to be heard. I watch you today about voter id and wanted to share my story. I moved from Texas to Indiana in 2005 to care for my father. In 1997 I divorced and changed my name through my divorce decree. It is an AKA. At the time, in Texas, social security, my employer, DMV, credit cards, etc., accepted this change. Indiana did not accept my Texas ID.or my vehicle registration. To switch, Indiana wanted my “original” birth certificate, marriage licence, divorce decree. Born in Michigan, they would not give me my birth certificate because my ID did not match the name of my birth certificate. Luckily, Mom was still alive and I was able to get it through her. Also, luckily, I had a decent job and was able to afford the costs of originals of all these documents. The fact that Indiana would not accept a Texas ID baffled me. I attributed it to 9/11 at the time, but now I know better. I am a white female. I can only imagine what the poor, elderly and minorities are going through. It saddens me. I am a Navy veteran of 10 years and USPS postal employee (now retired), and none of that made a difference. i always thought of myself as a proud American citizen, a patriot, and that is all fading in these changing times.

• Lake Carlson

  I watched your show on Voter Identification Laws (8/3/12) and I kept wating for the other side of the argument. How can you spend an entire show on an isssue of such importance and never once offer the other side of the issue. It’s impossible to have a meaning full conversation without an opposing viewpoint and its value is neither newsworthy nor truthfully informative.

• Pat Davidson

  Anthony Baxter missed the mark with “Trumped (sic)…”. And Bill Moyers was less than sharp by letting this interview go with no mention or outrage toward the local Scots who backed Trump. Who were these men/women? What are their names, how did they conspire to get Trump everything he wanted, why were they not named, exposed, questioned, listed as some of Scotland’s anti-heroes???? We couldn’t (my husband and I) believe that such effort and talent went into this film and then such prominent exposure given by BM to this disgrace and NOTHING was brought home about the real people behind this destruction. Locals, mayors, officials, even THE QUEEN, must have had some input. Were they all bought? Seems so! The shame is not Donald’s but THEIRS! Next time, let’s hear about the living, breathing 1% of idle rich Scots who put their greed ahead of their land. Shame them! Name them! Document them!! PLEASE. Trump doesn’t

• snagger

  voter suppression? you mean like what obama is doing in ohio with the military vote?your selective outrage is disturbing Bill

• Jay R Smith

  I was recently channel surfing and saw Mr. Moyer’s interview with Keesha Gaskins and Michael Waldman on how difficult it is for some American’s to vote. As if voting laws are somehow disenfranchising them? LOL…..it’s called (Get an ID) Is that really that hard? C’mon! I’m not buying that rubbish for a minute. I would assume they are talking about some of the same folks who have no problem obtaining food stamps or government assistance of some sort? I wouldn’t even know the first place to start with that and I’m not rich. But I do have an ID. I even needed it to return a Christmas gift to Best Buy this past year. Wow! Really? I think Ms. Gaskins and Mr. Waldman could really find something more productive to do with their time. In the spirit of fairness, I think we as American’s would all want free and fair elections. Not multiple votes by individuals or those that somehow return eerily from the dead to vote for their favorite Democrat. ID to vote vs ID to return a Christmas gift. Hmmmph.

• Jared

  .I am watching your show on immigration, which generates controversy 24/7 in the U.S. Have you found anyone willing to talk about what is being done in Mexico to create development and opportunity for its’ own citizens?
  Mexico is repuited to have tremendous resources

• aiti aiti

  I would like for Bill to have someone on to discuss the Tran-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. I am concerned that there has been no news regarding the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement on Morning Edition nor on All Things Considered. I understand that major corporations are writing the agreement. When I called my Senators the persons who answered the phone knew nothing about it.

  I do not understand how a trade agreement that is going to include so many countries and is being written by corporations is not generating any news articles or information regarding what it contains. I am curious regarding what exactly it contains and why my Senators staff are not familiar with it.

  From the little I have read about it, it is not going to provide jobs for the citizens of the US. nor will we have any right to protect our environment from foreign corporations who decide to come to the US.

• Artelle

  Who do you trust? For my parents generation it was Walter Cronkite. For me it has been Bill Moyers ever since he introduced me to Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth. I was elated when Moyers and Company made its appearance on PBS and I follow closely all of the subjects. Where else, I thought, can I be directed with reasonable assurance through the tangle of extremist rhetoric blasted at me through the media.

  A list of suggested reading on BillMoyers.com appeared about the same time the authors of Reckless Endangerment and Winner Take All Politics were interviewed. I took seriously the need to be an informed citizen and I purchased eight of the books, which included these two and also Age of Greed, Shock Doctrine, This Changes Everything, Corporations Are Not People and Democracy, Inc. I’ve read all of them and I am now embarking on Throw Them All Out.

  This last book has me befuddled. It is beginning to sound alarmist and not informative but decidedly biased. So, I decided to take a look for commentaries on the internet. I’ve come upon MediaMatters for America. An article titled “Throw It All Out: Schweizer’s DOE claims rest on Bad Math.” This has me wondering; was this suggested reading thrown in to appease conservative viewership? Have the other books I’ve read been offered to appease the left?

  Am I informed or am I a molded mind? Who can I trust Bill?

• Eleanor Telemaque

  Fantastic program and tremendous work by your editors to give your program the best and most honest analysis of today’s events for all ages, including old fogies like me born in the radio age and computer illiterate

• Björn Lindgren

  Dear Bill Moyers,
  I hope you are well and ok.
  First, many, many thanks for the excellent way you interview people.
  The way you do it is warm, compassionate, curious, and faithful to
  deep values, norms, goals, and good hypothesis about reality. In
  search for and insistance on the truth, satyyagraha.
  Second, the late Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess has written
  Ecology, Community and Lifestyle, Cambridge University Press,
  Cambridge 1989. One of the most important books I´ve ever read.
  And I have read many books.
  Naess´ book is extremely relevant and valueable. By looking deeply
  into our norms and values, he writes and reflects about our place in
  space, gemeinschaft, and the future in a long – long! – perspective:
  With a minimum of effort, we should achieve a maximum
  of satisfaction and joy. But we do the opposite!
  Maybe, there is a point in interviewing one of his colleagues and friends,
  (Bill Devall or and George Sessions)?
  Warm regards
  Björn Lindgren
  PS: Pushing back “economists”, military, and (Christian) Fascists is,
  indeed, a compassionate and blessed work.
  Björn Lindgren

  —

• Duane Strickland

  I just recently found your podcasts. I have downloaded all that are available and am listening to them on my long commute to work. Thanks for coming back. You are very much needed in these difficult times..

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1298105599 Chris Peterson

  Mr Moyers: I just finished watching your program about the Nuns on the Bus, and while I understand that Robert Royal was there to provide a counterpoint to Sister Simone, I’m disappointed that some of Mr Royal’s assertions were not challenged. For example (paraphrasing):
  > “churches built sanctuaries, schools and hospitals without government funding” – not true, because churches are exempt from property tax, and donations made to churches are tax deductible by those who make them.
  > “50% of the people pay no taxes” – this is a conservative talking point, and it’s incorrect. The poorest among us pay no federal income tax, but they pay payroll taxes, state taxes, property taxes (directly or indirectly) and sales tax. That’s a far cry from “pay no taxes.”
  > “the wealthiest people pay 70% of taxes” – this makes the wealthy sound magnanimous, but it’s a function of what they earn. If I earn 10 times more than you, I’m going to pay a lot more tax than you, unless I’m gaming the system. The income gap is so great that it should surprise no one that the wealthy pay a large portion of tax revenue, and, as Sister Simone pointed out, a lot of wealthy people pay a lower effective rate than those in the middle class.
  > Mr Royal spoke of Europe’s current economic woes without noting that they stem, at least in part, from the kind of austerity programs that he seems to support, and which the United States has not yet adopted.
  > “Does Paul Ryan look like the kind of man who would [hurt people]?” – a patently absurd question that deserved laughter, if not contempt.
  I doubt that challenging these assertions would have changed Mr Royal’s mind (he seems fairly well rooted in libertarianism) but letting them go gives them credibility they don’t deserve, and with the greatest of respect, Mr Moyers, I expect better from your program.

• Joe J.

  I was a bit surprised to see someone like Robert Royal on the show tonight. Not because of what he said, but because of how he said it. Perfect authenticity. Smug, selfish, condescending ideas presented in a smug, selfish, and condescending manner. And to a nun no less. It is refreshing to see a lobbyist unapologetically act in a way that represents his ideals. He was the best possible support for Sister Simone’s argument.

• LNelson

  That is what Moyers does best.. discusses the liberal point of view… His old boss LBJ got elected in Texas by counting the dead….Chicago voting has a history of being very corrupt.. Old man Daly helped JFK carry Illinois buy creative accounting of votes..

• LNelson

  The program was all about condemning the Ryan budget when in fact Romney has his own ideas about his own budget.. The nun put false fear the viewers minds.. I ask is that Christian?? She acted like mankind was going to suffer because of Ryan’s budget which is not going to be activated.. He is not on the top of the ticket.. Moyers got his scare tactics accomplished… again the Romney ticket.. There was not discussion about Obama’s plan… Because he has not told us of one.. Just letting Medicare go broke without a plan to save it. Is that leadership

• Steven

  One thing that was overlooked on the “Nuns On A Bus” program was that the conservative policies have been done before with disasterous results.

• Steven

  One thing I meant to mention. Many people who have been disappointed with Obama are wondering whether they should vote in November.
  But, surveys are showing that the Republicans have a chance of taking the Senate while retaining control of the House. In that case, if Romney/Ryan gets elected, it will give the Republicans, once again, control of all three branches of government.
  Considering what happend last time, do we want a repeat? Do we want Ryan’s radical agenda imposed on the nation? For, there will be no one in government to say no!

• LNelson

  Steve, you speak about what happened last time.. Are you referring to the repealing GlassSeagel by Clinton which allowed commerical banks to operate like invest banks… fast & lose… coupled together with the deregulation of the commodities market by Robert Rubin; Larry Sumner; Allen Greenspan & Chris Dodd, who stated the market would “regulate” itself.. How did that work out with the credit default swaps; direvitives; & hedge funds????? Yes the last time with clinton & the present time with a failed administration is something this nation does not want to go forward with unless you like to Greece economy.

• Mary Ann

  Thank you for the excellent program “Nuns, Faith, and Politics”. It showed that not all Catholics agree on various issues, that there are thoughtful and substantive and faith-based disagreements. It was the kind of civil discussion that we need to see more of in this contentious and partisan election-year environment. It also showed that Catholics are not a solid voting block. and should not be thought of in such a simplistic way. Please keep up the good work!

• http://www.facebook.com/pennyfickle Betty Douthitt

  Robert Royal doesn’t know what he is talking about. He is out of touch with the working USA Citizen. I am 55 years old. I have worked since I was 16 years old. I was a single parent at age 21. I have never received any assistance from any State or Federal Governmental agency. My wages have always been taxed by the Federal Government automatically deducting Income Taxes, Social Security Taxes, Medicaid and more. The state where I live has State Sales Taxes and the community where I live has local sales taxes that I pay. My current net income barely pays my mortgage, utility bills, homeowners and auto insurance responsibilities, cost of gasoline for my daily commute to my job, food and necessities. My utility bills are lower than most people I know and I am very conservative. Costs of the aforementioned items have enourmously increased over the last 20 years while my income has not risen to even come close to keep up with the rise in the cost of living. Does Robert Royal actually realize the differences in the stagnation of the rise in wages compared to the enourmous increases in the costs of food, gasoline, Medical Costs, Auto and Homeowners Insurance, Medical Care and other necessities people have? Twenty years ago I could pay rent or mortgage, car payment, Child Care expenses, utilities, buy food, necessities, pay auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and other necessities and I lived significantly better than I do now. I have no savings for retirement, therefore I feel I am in a position where I will have to work until the day I die. Because, even after having Social Security taxes deducted from my income for the last 40 years, the Trustees of the Social Security Admin. believe that Social Security will be bankrupt before I reach the qualifying age to receive any benefits from my lifetime of contributions. I believe that the US Governemt that was supposed to be, “Of the People, By the People, and for the People”, is bankrupting the working people and working for the Big Banks/Wall Street, Insurance Companies, large Corporations and taking care of themselves giving themselves pay increases, making sure they have plenty of money for retirment and Medical Benefits. The people we elect to offices in Congress, the House of Representatives and the Presidency only care about making sure that the Taxpayers pay tax dollars while they wastefully spend it.

• Tony Marvin,

  I wish you’d asked Robert Royal how much money he’d need to live on

• Adele in Clarkston WA

  I just saw the show featuring Nuns on the Bus and want to extend my suport to those women for their outstanding activism; to the priest who runs Faith and Reason, I find much less reason than I found the usual “don’t let government run social policy”. His comment that there is no free lunch hit a real sore spot with me as I have just finished reading “Free Lunch” about how the policies that are enacted by senators and representatives many times written for them by corporations/lobbists provides them with so much of an advantage that social justice is greatly weighed in their favor. Thank you Bill Moyers for your tremendous contribution in getting people information that is essential for our knowledge of how our country is operating.

• http://www.facebook.com/pepe.soria Pepe Soria

  Dear Mr Moyers, on the show you did with the nun and the conservative, I. Believe that many of the numbers he was using were inaccurate. I wish you would have asked him to support his assertions. He parroted right-wing talking points, and you were the mechanism by which he achieved this.

• Steven

  In particular, I was referring to the period under George W. Bush.
  However, as far as Clinton is concerned, I consider his administration a failed one, an era of false prosperity, like that of the 1920′s. Clinton, with the help of the Republicans built upon the foundation laid by Ronald Reagan, a foundation that was the beginning of policies that lead to the current economic collapse.
  As has been pointed out by Mr. Moyers before, the monied interests have bought our government to the point that the same policies continue no matter who is in power. Yet, a Republican three branch government will hasten the end through no checks on an extreme agenda.

• Steven

  In particular, I was referring to the period under George W. Bush.

  However, as far as Clinton is concerned, I consider his administration a failed one, and era of false prosperity, like that of the 1920′s. Clinton, with the help of the Republicans built upon the foundation laid by Ronald Reagan, a foundation that was the beginning of policies that lead to the current economic collapse.

  As has been pointed out by Mr. Moyers before, the monied interests have bought our government to the point that the same policies continue no matter who is in power. Yet, a Republican three branch government will hasten the end through no checks on an extreme agenda.
  Please excuse if this is posted twice, it seems my first attempt did not take.

• Paul Wortman

  I found Robert Royal VERY irritating. He’s not an economist (nor am I), but he kept making economic pronouncements supposedly from some vague place of faith. What he and others have missed is the great political unraveling over the last century as the Rooseveltian works to create a more equitable and just and viable society through Teddy’s progressive income tax and trust busting, and Franklin’s social security, Glass-Steagall, and home refinance programs have been chipped away by conservative Republicans and some Democrats like Bill Clinton to the point where there is once again a huge economic and social imbalance. We need to restore the balance by restoring the policies that have been dismantled–a more progressive income tax, a new Glass-Steagall to separate and regulate investment banks, a new home refinance program like the New Deal, and an increase in the minimum wage. Royal harped on it being too “complex” and the need for local action, BUT the great unraveling is the main problem and that has occurred mostly at the federal level. Deregulation under a misguided view of laissez-faire, free market capitalism has ignored history and pushed us once again into the endless “boom and bust” cycles that plagued our country in the 19th century, culminating in the Great Depression of the 1930′s Unfortunately, that generation has passed away and collective memory seems to have passed away with it.

• http://www.facebook.com/buddy.james.332 Buddy James

  New York Bankers and the FDIC, how can we get away from them. What if Mitt has a legitimate point. Don’t do business with them. Off shore accounts are a legitimate option aren’t they? Discover the possibilities.

• lorielevine@yahoo.com

  Having lived on a kibbutz for a few years, I was able to see both socialism and capitalism exist cooperatively. Big business is an activity that supports the general society, and government supports both. In the US unfortunately, people are almost “systematically” alienated from their true needs, in order to be “regulated” into a Pavlovian plan of “fetch(a paying job)” and “retrieve(bring home the wages and pay your bills)”. Their only alternative is jail or homelessness.

• http://www.facebook.com/katina.jordan.9 Katina Jordan

  Sensational shows….you’re a national treasure and you’re guests are FANTASTIC! GOD BLESS!!

• Roberta

  People need to realize that President Obama’s hEALTH cARE has given millions opportunities that they would not have especially for their children. It is my opinon that the Republicans would rather destroy America than to really practice democracy. I also think if Romney and Ryan get elected, anarchy and civil war might occur. The way Presidemt Obama has been called names and disrespected also shows that racism is
  very much alive today. I think the Nuns have the best idea that everybody work together
  as the Christian Nation founded by the Pilgrims in1620.

• Mike

  This reverts back to the Nuns/Bus program, which we’d recorded and only tonight had the chance to watch. Joe J. and Chris Peterson, below, are on target. I’ll add that they were too kind to Robert Royal, who misses the points, not only of Catholic social teaching, but of what poverty, hunger, and medical need mean, both to the poor, hungry, and needy and to the society that inadequately responds to them. His notion of economics seems simplistic–even simple-minded–and he gave no evidence that he has even a simplistic concept of social justice. He should (try to) read, e.g., Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, who (however ironically) show far better what actual Christian economic thought and social practice should and could be than the egregious Paul Ryan, who, on his own admission, was primarily influenced, not by any Christian/Catholic social teaching, but by Atlas Shrugged. On what that means, see Krugman, especially his column, Galt, Gold and God.

• LNelson

  You are deaf to the false charges against Mr Romney.. He’s been called a felon; he has been called a murderer of someone who is not even connected to Mr Romney Ops.. that OK because liberal can play dirty but don’t like a conservative anything negative.. We dare not mention “Chicago” because your proprganda network NBC stated that was racist.. It appears all white conservatives are racist

• ACousin

  Dear Mr. Moyer
  Please dedicate yourself to ensure your insightful voice of reason will speak out and inform us throughout the turmoil that is surely upon our doorstep. This may sound somewhat omnious, but history will repeat itself. We can slip into chaos very quickly and the world stage is fraught with potential trip wires. It appears that informed, temperate political governance has given way to the base forces of money and power. and the public has given up thier political responsibilities for theatre and spectical. Rome is burning.
  The party is over…and Mike Lofgren has given us an insiders clarity of the rot that is festering in the body politic.
  Like him, we ernestly hope that somehow this will all right itself – but remain deeply concerned that the battle lines are being drawn…and the people will be sacrificed…America needs a new vision….go back to the Declaration of Independance and enshrine the ideals…She has the heart of greatness…don’t let the dream get hijacked…we need you to be a strong partner on this planet as we move into the future.

• Gail O’Leary

  I am not fooled by the Republican message not the Democratic plan of tax and spend. I AM JUST A VOTER TRYING TO FIND THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS. If I vote for Romney, it doesn’t mean I have been duped by Reed. If I vote Democratic it does not mean that I am pleased with Obama’s performance. I have not heard one plan to get us out of 15 trillion debt. Most of your shows are informative but sometimes you just fan the flame of hate between both parties. My vote for the last 5 elections have been cast with doubts and without enthusiasm. I want facts not slogans about candidates. I would like a position paper with definite ideas from each candidate. Why do elections use emotional rhetoric? Do they think I vote with my emotions?

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Ned-Smith/100000172127034 Ned Smith

  How can I vote for someone who has reneged on every promise he made in ’08 and has proposed nothing of substance in his acceptance speech. Not one single word on how he proposes to deal with – the unemployment crisis, the energy crisis, the budget crisis, a bloated defense budget, the war on drugs fiasco, the failure of our educational system. And that’s just for starters. The Pragmatist in Chief has no political philosophy – doing “whatever works” will not lead this country out of the crisis we’re in.

• lakshmi

  I am tired of hearing about the safety net. Why do people need help from taxpayers? It is because a person who works hard does not make enough to meet their basic needs, such as rent, food, health care etc. The minimum wage is not a living wage!!! In other words, the government allows businesses to pay low wages and makes up the deficit by giving Food Stamps, Medicaid and Earned Income Credit. These programs are a subsidy to businesses and not a hand out to citizens.

  Why don’t people like you talk about the cause of poverty including bad environment , inadequate education and low wages?

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001557595834 Rose Rohal

  It is my understanding the Walmart Family is the richest in the world. I understand that they pay their employees minimum wage and PASS OUT FOOD STAMP APPLICATIONS to new employees. THIS IS A DISGRACE!!!!! When taxpayers are funding the food stamps.

• mary franzese

  Great show ,l Learned a lot of information.
  Thank You , Mary Franzese

• Johrio

  Thank you Bill for the wonderful work you are doing. You bring people and issues to light that aren’t getting covered in the mainstream media. You touch my heart and mind and I am grateful.

• Lynne Gray

  I listened to your Q&A with Bernie Sanders today and must say I’m still puzzled about who to vote for. It’s definitely between Pres. Obama and Jill Stein, however, I’m so disappointed in his performance as Pres. Yet Bernie makes a point that we need to keep the radical right out of the White House and work later to energize the masses — a populist movement that I long ago endorsed. It seems that the country’s timing and my timing are quite different. I thought that is what we elected Pres. Obama for–but no, not yet. The question is when? I may be 6 ft under by the time it occurs. Thanks for all your great shows and thoughtfulness.

• Dean Kisling

  Republican bullies vs Democrat weasels. Darwin vs Yahweh. Sex, lies, and politics. Bad language, bad faith, and bad actors. All your favorite cocktail party topics. An invitation to both conservatives and liberals to use their brains to recover democracy. wp.me/2JT3v

• Jan White

  I think the flaw of Anthony Scallia and the other originalists on the Supreme Court is that they treat the US Constitution fundamentally as an experiment, and, as such, one that may either ultimately succeed or fail, it really isn’t up to them which. Their job, in other words, is merely to interpret it theoretically as it was intended in the eyes of the original framers, as seen in their day and time. And if America falls apart as a result of their intellectual pastime, then so be it. They fail to realize that they are charged not with theorizing, but with ensuring that the Constitution succeeds, and that it must in fact succeed at all costs for all our sakes. Thereby, by playing theorists, they shirk their most basic duty as Supreme Court justices. Scallia, for example, can write the most obtuse law books endlessly discussing the most subtle points of law, yet he fails to realize that what he does on the Court is an everyday make or break test for America. The future and success of America are not merely theoreticals that should be taken for granted by any of the intellectuals on the Supreme Court.

• Jan White

  Is the Constitution merely an experiment to the originalists?
  I think the flaw of Antonin Scalia and the other originalists on the Supreme Court is that they treat the US Constitution fundamentally as an experiment, and, as such, one that may either ultimately succeed or fail, it really isn’t up to them which. Their job, in other words, is merely to interpret it theoretically as it was intended in the eyes of the original framers, as seen in their day and time. And if America falls apart as a result of their intellectual pastime, then so be it. They fail to realize that they are charged not with theorizing, but with ensuring that the Constitution succeeds, and that it must in fact succeed at all costs for all our sakes. By playing theorists only, they shirk their most basic duty as Supreme Court justices. Scalia, for example, can write the most obtuse law books endlessly discussing the most subtle points of law, yet he fails to realize that what he does on the Court is an everyday make or break test for America. The future and success of America are not merely theoreticals that should be taken for granted by any of the intellectuals on the Supreme Court.

• Andrew Mills

  Dear Bill,
  I’m hoping you might have heard that the “9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out” video has, for the last ten days, been the FIRST most watched and FIRST most shared video on the national PBS website. I invite you to take time to view this excellent film at http://video.pbs.org/.
  Andrew Mills
  Lower Gwynedd, PA 19002
  helenandymills@comcast.net

• M. Cox, retired

  I don’t know if this is the right forum, but it’s one of the few I access – even when I was a Republican, I admired Bill Moyers. I recently received an email I think all of you should think about – I hope many of you have already received the same email – Warren Buffet’s suggestion for breaking the Congressional ‘logjam’: Congressional Reform Act of 2012. Find it, think about it and pass it on

• George T. Karnezis

  I’ve been grateful in the past for the presence of Kathleen Jamieson on the program; however, her last appearance (9/30) was less than rigorous and too often filled with sanctimonious platitudes. For me the worst moment was when she committed the ultimate verbal sin of using the word “entitlements” erroneously. She did this when she said that both candidates had to come clean about the possibility of “raising the entitlement age.”

  Huh? How can someone as smart at Jamieson fall into the stupid habit of referring to social security payments as “entitlements,” a word that is used disparagingly by conservatives to designate unearned and undeserved income. Surely she knows that social security is no such “entitlement,” but a program that has been paid for; and mindlessly designating it as an “entitlement” only furthers ignorance, and promotes the conservative belief that “liberals” want something for nothing. Surely someone who has studied language as carefully as Jamieson should not fall into such linguistic traps.

  The other low point in her “analysis” was her general respect for the presidential “debates” as somehow being the means for sorting out the truth. Instead of acknowledging that the debates, as conducted, were merely a series of speech prompts, not an occasion for real dialogue, she missed the opportunity to dwell meaningfully on her hint that the quality of the debates depended on human agents, namely, the “moderators” and those chosen as questioners (who, curiously, are always media people, never college professors or, like her, those who have some insight into the language and technique of argument i.e. rhetoricians.) How true! But do these human agents ever really help to deepen the discussion? Hardly. The moderator’s role seems to be to “manage” the event by keeping time and the questioners just offer predictable speech prompts that merely enable stale talking point recitation. No questioner, much less any moderator, is capable of approaching a level of Socratic questioning and Jamieson, instead of trusting to the magic of “the debates” to separate truth from rubbish, needed to go into greater detail about just what a good moderator would do to deepen the discussion and challenge the candidates, not merely manage the event. In short, she needs to show us us how they need to be active participants in the discussion and, at times, real referees when it comes to “truth” claims on either side. (Consider an example from the UK: Jeremy Paxton was interviewing an MP and when he didn’t receive an adequate answer to one question, he simply kept repeating it back to him…He did so numerous times. Can you imagine any moderator or interviewer during a debate doing that?)

  I would have appreciated some effort on Jamieson’s part to analyze the strengths and, for me, the obvious weaknesses of this telegenic debate format and the often disappointing performances of both the moderators and the questioners. Instead, Jamieson offered “insight” into a couple of campaign ads, one that pretty much could be arrived at by most politically astute middle school students.

  Again, while in the past I have cheered Jamieson’s commentary, this show left me stunned by what seemed to me a distinctly mediocre performance with entirely too many sanctimonious jibes at journalism’s obvious failures which she believes can be remedied. But the fact is that these journalists, and many of the so-called communications consultants and “experts” (many of whom I’m sure are graduates of communications’ programs) have done little if anything to raise the level of public discourse or change the routine means we have for tuning into candidates’ positions.
  The fact that so much of the program’s time was spent on reshowing and “analyzing” a couple of ads was particularly disappointing.

  Finally, as for Jamieson’s faith in Americans’ analytical abilities and decision-making skills (oh, yes, as evidenced, according to Jamieson, by their consulting medical experts when they’ve got a serious illness — a fatuous analogy at best; yeah, everyone agrees also that Americans will rationally choose a mechanic when their car ails, but that’s hardly evidence that they favor facts when it comes to arguing policy or values questions) —- it would be interesting to have a show where Jamieson and Professor Drew Westen, author of THE POLITICAL BRAIN, had a conversation of what influences peoples’ thinking when it comes to choosing those it is entrusting to govern them.

• Barry Buchanan

  I always enjoy watching Bill Moyers & Co. Our politicians won’t answer the question when challenged to defend bigotted, xenophobic, intolerant, repressive, inconvenient or elitest policy positions. The core Republican Party from Lincoln to Romney advocates the interest of Privileged White Protestant Old-School Men. This is the meaning of Conservatism, a 19th century theory of social organization rooted in the demographic facts of post Civil War America. The Democrats are less worse, responding to the demography of post World War II America. Harvard is the school for Democrats; Republicans go to Yale. Our common interest, the well of good government policy, should look forward to the demography of the 21st Century, diverse in culture, dense in population, and limited in physical resources.

• RLF

  I love your program, but why not just tell the people of the world that Mother Nature/God gave us different skin color to protect us: England: white, Equator: black, etc. This should be taught in grade school, but tonight, I wished you had said it! Thanks for doing
  what you do. RLF

• TG

  Mr. Moyers: I really enjoyed Sunday’s segment with Ms Salinas and Mr. Ramos. Impressive–two reallly articulate journalists. I am an American–of Spanish descent–Hispano, not Latino. I want to stress that I in no way object to any person coming to the United States–after all, our country is a melting pot–so diverse with so many interesting peoples and their cultures and wonderful foods. However, to what I do object are people who come here illegally, who get paid under the table, don’t pay taxes, and send their money back to their countries. I have friends in the medical profession who have told me that there are unwed young women (one was 16 years old) having babies almost every year, In one case, during the discharge instructions, the young woman’s mother was asking when the hospital was going to give them a car seat–gutsy, ay? Not only are they demanding but feel they’re entitled. I’ve also heard them say that they have no desire to become citizens. So I say to those people, if you don’t want to come here legally and become an American citizen with two passports (like Mr. Ramos), then stay in your own country and quit trashing and disrespecting our cities by hanging out your laundry and your mattresses on the chain link fences.

• M

  If Romeny has oversea’s money, which country is he claiming… how can someone who owns overseas property, as well as have so much money overseas, say they are an american. I Presidents residents, has his money, belongs, is 100 percent an American.

• http://twitter.com/senuv1 Joseph Elliott

  President Obama endorsed Senator Feinstein’s Bill to repeal the Federal Law which states that Marriage is between a man and a woman. President Obama stated before he was elected that marriage is between a man and a woman. He has now changed his mind. President Obama swore on the Bible that He would defend the laws of the USA. He has broken that promise twice. He refused to defend the law when a gay couple where asking for their federal rights. He refused to defend the Immigration Laws in a respectable manner. He had promised to act on immigration reform in his first year of office. He had Democratic control of congress at that time. His excuse for not acting is I was too busy with economic recovery. He did have enough time to repeal the Don’t ask, Don’t tell policy. He decided after three years of his Presidency to finally help the people who where brought here illegally by their parents. While I agree that these people should be respected as any other citizen, I disagree with the President’s method of assuming more power than Congress or the Courts. Senator Feinstein is not representing the majority of Californians who passed Proposition 8. Governor Brown refused to defend Proposition 8, which was his Sworn Duty. The courts have decided proposition 8 is unconstitutional and that expert witnesses are more reliable than the Majority Vote of the State of California. We the People, the Majority, are no longer being represented by our Representatives or the Courts. We the People have a clear choice this November. We can vote for Democrats who endorse abortion, contraception, and abnormal families or vote for Republicans who believe in promoting normal families and natural birth control. Please send copies of this to everyone.

• Thomas I. Ellis

  Dear Bill–

  You are by far the finest, most honest, intelligent, and decent journalist we have in the nation right now, and probably the best we have ever had. At present, you are the only source of truth left on television. If Romney and Ryan win (or steal) the election, we will probably lose PBS, and at that moment, the ideal of free inquiry in our mass media will vanish from the airwaves, and we will be left with what Orwell aptly called “Prolefeed”–24/7 brainwashing of the public by mindless distractions, advertising, and empty, jingoistic propaganda to prop up our corporate-run plutocracy and our endless warmongering.
  Before the final death of democracy and free speech, I have one favor to ask you. Although you have featured many courageous truth-tellers in your interviews over the years, you have never featured anyone who questions the “official story” of 9/11–which is the keystone event that catalyzed the dismantling of the Bill of Rights and the rise of corporate/militaristic fascism throughout our nation and the world. I can understand why you have refrained thus far to interview David Ray Griffin, Stephen Jones, Richard Gage, or Niels Harrit–four men of impeccable credentials and integrity whose efforts have completely discredited the “official story” by demonstrating it to violate the basic laws of chemistry and physics alike. You have not interviewed them because you knew that if you did, PBS would remove you from the air in an instant, and you would probably lose all your grant money. But if Romney and Ryan win, you have nothing to lose in exposing the Big Lie of 9/11, which has enabled the subsequent dismantling of our democracy by the military-industrial complex. If you have the time, I would like you to look at the following extended interview with Dr. Niels Harrit, who authored the peer-reviewed study in Bentham’s Open Journal of Physical Chemistry which proved decisively that nanothermite particles were found in abundance in all the dust samples they collected from the 9/11 site…thus proving, beyond any possible doubt, that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition. Here is the link: http://vimeo.com/20574556

  Best wishes,

  Tom,
  a long-time admirer.

• Anonymous

  I am sorry but simply making all viewers aware of the various corruptions and dire situation are not enough. No one is dealing directly with the corporations including those purporting to be NGO’s aren’t aware of the sick in difference as long as there is money to be fleeced out of any taxpayer . If my point is not dramatic enough please check on the billions of dollars spent on so called efforts to help Haiti and imagine if you lived like they are force to and yet major private criminal enterprises set up (here we go again) phoney charity private corporations are making a financial killing, literally. I have seen and heard enough —how about some action—boycotting and withdrawing tax funding of any governmental level that perpetuate a discovered misuse of taxpayer funds. Bottom line corporations and banks act as though they are totally in charge.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Annette-Tchelka/100003018127131 Annette Tchelka

  I agree with a lot Christia Freeland said on your show. However a great book is Janine Wedel’s Shadow Elite. Both Taibbi and Freeland mentioned their stints in Russia and the privatization they saw there. They did not mention the role of the Harvard Institute (yes, that Harvard U in Cambridge, MA) and their infamous relationship with the Chubais group that was responsible for most the privatization, bilking the Russian peoples out of all their resources. Larry Summers was involved (yes, him again). Wedel also exposes Flexians and the Neocons and how they have infiltrated the business world, academe and work as government consultants the world over including in the US, enriching themselves while avoiding accountability and prosecution. A book worthy of your show.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Annette-Tchelka/100003018127131 Annette Tchelka

  The $716 billion cut Obama made that Romney is always crying about is actually overpayments to doctors and hospitals that Obama is putting back into Medicare, extending the Medicare program for another 8 years. Ryan wants to take the exact same amount from Medicare and give it to the wealthy–who don’t need it. Also how do you know Romney is not going to adopt some version of the Ryan plan? Romney’s head swivels around like Linda Blair’s in The Exorcist–first he says one thing, then he retracts it the next day. And you want to put the fate of the nation in this man’s hands? Also don’t forget if anything should happen to Romney, Ryan would be President, God forbid!

• http://www.facebook.com/ewan.fallon Ewan Fallon

  Bush loving AGAIN. How original

• http://www.facebook.com/ewan.fallon Ewan Fallon

  Change that to “The Contender in Chief” and you got it right

• Kathleen Ropoer

  So how does the takeover by the plutocracy differ from fascism? Does the fact that corporations are now people figure into this? Just asking.

• Anonymous

  Its been pointed out by many sources that if Obama takes 716 Billion dollars from doctors & hospital as well as other providers they will be less likely to service medicare patients..Some hospitals will close.. my doctor said he will retire rather than take less for his services. This affects the senior on Medicare.. not matter what the admin says..They are doing some “creative accounting with public” I for one would welcome a Ryan presidency vs Biden in the oval office.. That would trouble allot of folks. A court juster is not a presidential qualification.

• Guest

  Has it occurred to you that Obama understands that there is both good and back in capitalism. He actually does say that we are living in a time when the benefits of capitalism are not lifting all boats. What do you think his legislative is about? He has made it very clear that wealth does not make some people better than others.

  Change of this magnitude has to happen slowly or you end up with Russia and puppet governments and we have seen this time and again. You and the rest of us should not be so naive. What is your manifesto?

• Guest

  Has
  it occurred to you that Obama understands that there is both good and bad in capitalism. He actually does say that we are living in a time
  when the benefits of capitalism are not lifting all boats.

  What do you
  think his legislative accomplishments are meant to do? He has made it very clear that wealth
  does not make some people better than others.

  Change of the magnitude happening in the world can be done a number of ways. If it happens too quickly, you end up with
  a company like Russia or a puppet governments and we have seen this time and again. We should not be so naive.

• http://www.facebook.com/lucy.garrick.5 Lucy Garrick

  Has it occurred to you that
  Obama understands that there is both good and bad in free markets. He
  actually does say that we are living in a time when the benefits of capitalism are not lifting all boats.

  Who do you think his legislative accomplishments are meant to benefit? He has made it very clear that wealth does not make rich people more entitled to opportunity than poor people.

  Change of the magnitude happening in the world right now can be done a number of ways. If it happens too quickly, you end up with a country like Russia or a puppet regime. We have seen this time and again in the world.

  We should not be so naive as to think we can just rip off the band-aid without pain. We need to keep moving forward deliberately and methodically, with craft and insight to overcome the plutocracy. Fighting back with an eye toward unintended consequences.

  The best thing you can do is vote in Obama and a democratic congress.

• albumin

  Love it! Shakespeare was right in the economy ” Certainly, the Jew is the very Devil incarnation”

• Dan Athearn

  The claim by your two guests that the left has no compelling ideas that do not invoke the specter of big government seems to ignore the thought of Richard Wolfe, endorsed by Jim Hightower and others, of ownership of corporations by workers cooperatives. Should you have Prof Wole on the show?

• Anonymous

  What is an alternative definition of virtue?

  One suggestion:
  Lynn White Jr., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis,” SCIENCE, 10 March 1967,Vol. 155, No. 3767, pg. 1203-1207

• fedup

  I think the Plutocrats who have become so thin skinned need to realize that if they continue to disenfranchise us, cut off social benefits, leave us to the unemployment line, take away any tax benefits we might have (earned mortgage interest and earned income credit), or hire us at a non living wage, continue to make fuel, food and medicine beyond our reach we will not just go off and die quietly. No sir, we will not go quietly!

• Lorraine

  After watching this episode I think of one thing only in despair.. the quote Jesus gave “No rich man shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” How can we arge with him?

• Sloppy Tomson

  You talk a lot about the too-big-to-fail banks. How about the bailed-out insurance company AIG (American International Group)? I worked for them way back in the 1970s, and they were squirelly even then. Questionable bosses’ bosses, silly but serious amateurs running things. Bosses getting eye-bag surgery, rather than doing their jobs, that sort of thing. Might you look into AIG? It might be an interesting inquiry.

• Anonymous

  we can no longer just pray for renewal and rebalance. we need to fight for it as well. thank you for the poem just the same.

• Anonymous

  you may not vote via your emotions but too many americans do! what I wonder is why it is sooo difficult to find the truth. here’s one more reason I won’t vote for robme.

  http://truth-out.org/news/item/12210-greg-palast-mitt-romneys-bailout-bonanza

• Kathryn Bonnell

  I’m trying to find your program on ALEC. I saw it once, and want to see it again. I also have recommended it to friends and want them to see it. Where did it go?

• Leroy Evans

  How do I order materials?

• Herbert Pairitz

  The Value of Free Enterprise

  Politicians frequently promote the phrase “free
  enterprise” so that their big business investor donorscan be unregulated and exploit the working- class
  citizens by outsourcing their jobs, trade with $2/hr. labor countries, etc.
  Free enterprise also fosters middle-man occupations where a person or company
  intercedes between someone who has something to sell and someone who needs that
  item or service. One of the latest middle-man scams is the businesses that
  offer to obtain Social Security disability payments for people who don’t want to
  fill out the forms or get help. There are so many of these businesses on the
  computer web that it is difficult to find the true government program on ssa
  .gov. This should not be permitted. They now
  advertise on TV and state that ” you don’t have to pay us until you obtain your
  benefits.” (How generous?) For a full
  explanation of what is wrong with our government and how to resolve our economic
  dilemma read the book entitled Fixing Our Government.

• http://profiles.google.com/joyrip.r Joyce R

  Re: Matt Taibbi and Chrystia Freeland on Plutocracy Rising

  I have just finished listening to this interview and I am a bit upset by Ms. Freeland’s declarations about Canadian banking being so solid. Banking is a globalized institution and I would expect that all countries, including Canada, would feel the results. It is not true that Canada’s banks were not bailed out. They were. Canada’s banks are being de-regulated, too, but in a way that is allowing banks to become insurers, investment banks and deposit banks all in one as well as undergoing mergers with smaller American banks (especially RBC and TD). We may be 10 years behind the US but we are going in the same direction with TBTF:

  The Harper government has said that the Canadian banking system withstood the financial crisis better than any of the GC 7 or OECD countries because of their fine
  regulations and capital requirements.

  That may be true but Canadian banks are global institutions and were NOT untouched by the crisis.

  First, Harper and Flaherty initially insisted that Canadian banks were not bailed out.
  But they do admit that the banks received “liquidity” right after the crisis and others would call a bailout.

  See: http://gangstersout.blogspot.ca/2012/04/great-canadian-bank-bailout-fraud.html

  The blog above has links to sites that show that the Canadian government bailed out the banks to the tune of $69 Billion!

  Also see: http://www.globalresearch.ca/canada-s-75-billion-dollar-bank-bailout/12007

  Second, not much was made of a Canadian bank receiving indirect bailout funds from the AIG bailout.

  See: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1395655
  and http://www.aig.com/aigweb/internet/en/files/CounterpartyAttachments031809_tcm385-155645.pdf

  http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1395655
  for BMO money from AIG bailout;

  Third, five Canadian banks tapped the US Fed discount window for
  funds:

  See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/big-five-tapped-fed-for-funds-during-financial-crisis/article1820857/

  See: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/gono/CPFF%20Foreign%20Banks.jpg

  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.ca/2010/12/fed-data-shows-b-of-and-wells-fargo.html
  (goes with above graph)

  One would hope that Ms. Freeland would be more aware of Canadian banking before she makes statements about how great Canadian banking is.

  Joyce from Canada

• Myron Chapman

  I was surprised last night when you were interviewing the authors of “Winner Takes All”, that you didn’t acknowledge that the entire conversation described our loss of democracy because most members of Congress have sold their votes to the highest bidder. They no longer represent the people in their district. They represent the people who have bought their votes. This is most plainly called bribery.

• James D. Poisson

  Today I watched the show about Winner Take All Politics. The analysis of the problem was clear and well grounded. My question is: what can I do about this? The affluent right wing is well organized and has been since the days of Reagan. What specific steps can I take to help get the 99% organized so that we have a voice? The authors of the book featured today gave no suggestions about what we can do. I fail to see what the good people at Occupy Wall Street have accomplished or can accomplish. Back in the days when Gramm-Leach-Bliley was before the Senate, I pleaded with our two Rhode Island Senators not to vote for this bill. Both of them voted for it. Since then I have continued to write to them to point out their complicity in the destruction of the middle class that this bill has engineered. Neither of them has ever answered my letters and emails. Jack Reed is still in office, and Lincoln Chafee is now our governor. I think they are both honorable men but are as helpless as I am to do anything to solve the problem. What organizations are there already in place that we can join? I was born during FDR’s first term; I have very little time left.

• Robert G. Stepanovich

  Ok, Bill, now that after 45 years thinking the Liberals were going to fix everything and finally figuring out they are all Republicrats, maybe you are ready to listen to the Cato Institute and the American Institute for Economic Research among others who can teach you about the gold standard, getting rid of the Federal Reserve, and all the things the Austrian School of Economics and Ron Paul could teach you. You’re my age but hopefully we’re not too addled to learn.

  Robert G. Stepanovich

• http://www.facebook.com/molly.cruz2 Molly Cruz

  This is a question to which I can’t get an informed answer: isn’t it possible that if laborers due to retire at sixty five were offered the same deal to retire at sixty; a whole generation of jobs would suddenly be available, as well as a generation of retirees young enough to enjoy it spending money and travelling and doing charity work and in general stoking the economy??? I’d adore an informed response. mollycruz2@hotmail.com

• Susan Kilroy Hahn

  To reform campaign finance and the corruption we need to adopt the British system of political campaigns. The campaigns last 3 or 4 months and all ads are on public radio and t.v. The government gives each candidate so much money for campaigning so there is a level playing field. Of course this would need to be implemented probably through a constitutional amendment from the states because Congress would not pass such legislation.

• Kohles

  I advocate that all vote. We must now be decided to vote not for republicans nor democrats. The two major parties have failed us over the decades. Lets vote for other parties and eradicate the plutocratic greed. That is how we can take back our country.

• Kohles

  The supreme court case of Citizens United has solved our tax problem! Since the court has decided that businesses are persons, then they must pay taxes as a person citizen.
  As the rest of us, we cannot deduct operating expenses as a household. We cannot deduct utilities, food, leases, mortgages and any other household expenses. Example: we cannot deduct electricity to conduct our personal household business (heating, cooling). A company (as a person) may not deduct these items. The tax deduction is gone and businesses (persons) pay a lot more tax!!! THE BUSINESS TAX IS GONE! The IRS should obey the law and tax the new persons as they do the rest of us persons.

• James Stewart

  So off we go in lock step to the voting booth.

  Our conviction so feeble that we put aside all the indignity of being lied to and pushed aside by big money to do our “civic duty”.

  Our civil duty should be to reclaim our government!

  Nothing will change however . . .

  Next election will be 3 Billion spent, more gregious tactics, lies and more Super PACs.

  And again we’ll march off to the voting booth.

  Bill Moyers, please start a John Doe Club?

• Don sassano

  After leaving his CBS anchor job, Walter Cronkite mentioned he’d felt uneasy about his ending summation, “And that’s the way it is.” This all-encompassing assessment was grandiose and inaccurate. Too bad that todays “newscasters” eagerly chirp out the even worse: “We’ve got all you need to know” or “We’ve got all the details,” etc. Really? You do? I’m comforted. I need not look elsewhere.

• ward riggins

  In regards to money well spent. Roughly, 710 million dollars
  were wasted on PACs that have no constitutional bases. How is this ok? Why does
  the silent majority ignore this abuse of our system? Doesn’t it bother you
  Bill? What can we do?

• Rob

  Enjoyed program as usual. One comment about and to Mr. Fallows, who was mostly right on is, though people and networks may say “mainstream media”, it would help all of us if he and others woul refer to it as it is, “the corporate media”.

  Thx for your great work over the years and you can not ever retire!!!

• BadgerBob

  Eliminating the gush, thank you Mr. Moyers. I’ve watched you since I was a young dog learning new tricks. I absolutely thank you for your work. Always.

• Jon Rivno

  Bill Moyers show is excellent. I never miss it. It’s the most real and honest news show on Sundays. Keep up the good work. The guests always make me feel called to get involved to make a difference and improve the US. I am very concerned about the lack of banking regulation, wall street stranglehold on washington, on the selling of American public assets to foreign entities to make up short falls in current budgets. What can we do to change this?

• Anonymous

  Why Jane…

  I heard a guest say he didn’t think the spending was a problem yet. I think it is the out of control spending that has sapped the strength out of the once great nations economy.

  Maybe this will help make the danger of fiat money clear.

  Imagine you and me are setting across from each other. We create enough
  money to represent all of the world’s wealth. Each one of us has one SUPER
  Dollar in front of him.

  You own half of everything and so do I.

  I’m the government though. I get bribed into creating a Central Bank.

  You’re not doing what I want you to be doing so I print up myself eight more
  SUPER Dollars to manipulate you with.

  All of a sudden your SUPER Dollar only represents one tenth of the wealth of
  the world!

  That isn’t the only thing though. You need to get busy and get to work
  because YOU’VE BEEN STIFFED with the bill for the money I PRINTED UP to get YOU
  TO DO what I WANTED.

  That to me represents what has been happening to the economy, and us, and
  why so many of our occupations just can’t keep up with the fake money presses.
  They print up what ever it takes to push, and push, and push us wherever they
  want.

  They have been beating us with our
  own stick.

  http://photos.imageevent.com/stokeybob/followthemoney/Supersingle640x537.jpg

• Philip B Fregeau

  Dear Bill

  I am much relieved knowing that Governor Romney has lost his bid for the Presidency. But, although I voted for President Obama, I did so with misgiving and trepidation. I am one of the many who, while appreciative of his accomplishments, view with alarm his apparent belief in the imperial presidency. I am frightened by his expansion of the Bush assault upon the Constitutional freedoms and principles which underpin our Democracy and which he had sworn to preserve and protect.

  I remain unable to reconcile his rhetoric with his pliancy and apparent eagerness to bend to the will of the Republican right. The result is my uneasy feeling that he would be much more comfortable as a center right Republican.

  I would very much like to believe that we will see a new Obama, using the steel backbone referred to by the Vice President, standing tall and strong for implementation of the grand concepts of his marvelous rhetoric. But I find it difficult to overcome the apprehension engendered by four years of disappointment and feelings of betrayal.

  There are many challenges which the President must confront in the new term. I fear that his temptation will be to plead again for bipartisan support and, once again, volunteer sacrifices, that are not justified or required, from the people, in order to appease the Republican establishment.

  I refer specifically to the Bowles/Simpson (BS) proposal for a “grand bargain” to solve a group think debt “crisis” which does not exist. Congress need only look to the current situation in Europe to witness the result of unwarranted austerity policies and foolish abandonment of stimulative measures. The loony policies of the World Bank and the IMF, in league with the discredited credit rating agencies, have forced the European Union into more lost jobs, renewed recession, and the chaos of near rebellion.

  Meantime, in the U.S. we provide a bottomless source of funding for the War Department, (remember when we used to call it what it is). We give tax cuts to the wealthy, subsidies to big business, fund “homeland paranoia” and 16 different “intelligence” agencies. We stubbornly fund a foolhardy “war” on drugs. And we squander blood and treasure on a “war on terror” that will never end.

  We are told that America is broke and must cut programs loosely classified as jobs, social well-being, the safety net, health care, and nation building at home because we can’t afford “luxuries”. Social Security is a target, even though it is self-funded and has 2.5 trillion dollars in reserve.

  The fact that the Congress saw fit to spend those dollars in return for government securities must never be considered justification for defaulting on the American people. Nor is it justifiable to diminish the benefits that have been paid for by current beneficiaries or to proffer the excuse that only the younger workers will be affected.

  Does anyone in Congress believe that the elderly harbor the attitude toward their children and grandchildren that, “We got ours, kid, you are on your own”? And why should low earners pay the tax on every dime they earn when high earners pay only on a portion of theirs?

  The cost of medical care will be solved when we cast aside national pride and devotion to the insurance and pharmaceutical interests. We must structure our program in a similar manner to the rest of the developed nations of the world because they do it better than we do. The United States does not have the best health care in the world and there is no acceptable way to make it better that requires a reduction in health care benefits.

  The above only scratches the surface of my concern. There is the economy, climate change, infrastructure, women’s rights, marriage rights, immigration, wealth disparity, and the victims of the mortgage industry. And what about education, the still too big to fail banking and investment firms, our unfair tax system, our broken Senate, and our hegemonic foreign policy?

  The media claim that America’s two parties are too far apart to solve our problems. I disagree. I believe that they have become two sides of the same coin. The Democratic party is now a shadow of what it was when I cast my first vote in its favor 70 years ago. It has forgotten the working people’s issues it once genuinely cared about and worked for.

  The media extoll the middle ground, but the middle ground is no longer in the middle. Our parties are now right versus extreme right. Perhaps President Obama’s most important job will be to re-infuse his party with the democratic idealism that it once had, to re-awaken the leadership it once provided for the “common man issues”, to re-invigorate its belief in government for the people, by the people.

  I am ready to help him. I know that you are ready to help him. We can only hope that he is ready to re-new the American dream and turn his brilliant oratory into the kind of meaningful achievement that once was the hallmark of the Democratic Party. All of our American brothers and sisters deserve nothing less.

• Diana Legg

  My hope for America is renewed. The recent election confirmed that the overwhelming majority of Americans reject “Winner Take All” politics. For me the election was not about black or white or Latino or gay or straight or man or woman; It was a clear choice between Latin American style government of the wealthy as brilliantly outlined by your recent guests and a government that is truly By Of and For the People. We have spoken and all Karl Roves billions can t drown our voices

• Lauren Ayers

  I’m listening to “What It’s Like to Go to War.” You mention the high rate of suicide amongst veterans. Can you please follow up on this hopeful research (below)?? The Pentagon is doing nothing with it, a little journalistic investigation might kick start the process.

  http://iowaindependent.com/60560/study-links-dha-levels-to-military-suicide-risk

  “Study links DHA levels to military suicide risk,” by Lynda Waddington, 08.24.11

  Scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism teamed with researchers at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Maryland to analyze a sample of suicide deaths among U.S. military personnel on active duty between 2002 and 2008. The researchers compared levels of omega-3 fatty acids of 800 individuals who committed suicide with those of 800 randomly selected controls — service members who were matched with the suicide cases by age, sex and rank. They found that all the service members had low omega-3 levels, and that suicide risk was greatest among individuals with the lowest levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the major omega-3 fatty acid concentrated in the brain.

• Lewis

  Just got to see the re-broadcast of Mr. Moyers’ conversation with Karl Marlantes (Matterhorn, What it is like to go to war). That was one of the best. I particularly appreciate and agree with Mr. Marlantes’ statement something to the effect of “…. those kids are over their (killing and dying) because some adults failed to come to a resolution of this conflict … they are cleaning up a mess because of our failure ….”. We can blame the politicians until the cows come home but the ultimate responsibility stops with us, the citizens of the U.S. After all it is we who elected those politicians or at least permitted them to come to power. It reminds me of a comment in Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’ something to the effect of ” … don’t be surprised when your young men (now also women) come home from war talking dirty. If you don’t like obscenity you don’t like the truth and if you don’t like the truth be careful how you vote.”

  Lewis Downey
  Salt Lake City, Utah
  ex-SP4
  Army MARS Radio AB8AAL
  Phu Loi Base Camp, RVN 1971-72

• Herbert Pairitz

  Individual Voting vs. Political Parties

  When our founding fathers set up
  our government they established the right to individual voting by the
  citizens. Years later a number of them
  expressed their concerns about the trend of group voting through political
  parties, which gave certain politicians control of the voting process. This meant that on certain controversial
  issues like slavery many loyal members of the party had to accept legislation
  promoting slavery even though they opposed slavery. At our current time in history the political
  parties have perfected the political party voting process to the point where
  about half of the voters vote with their party to oppose controversial issues
  like abortion even though they may favor abortion. The founding fathers did not provide group
  voting with political parties but over the years the big business money
  purchased it from our politicians and office holders through campaign contributions
  and favors. All of this proves the point
  that we cannot have a true democracy (ruled by the ruled) with the existence of
  political parties. For more details on
  how to improve our government and our economy read the book entitled Fixing Our
  Government.

• Ken Piaskowski

  Mr. Moyers, Joe Campbell can Help Macafee. That’s all we need say about crackups.

• Herbert Pairitz

  The 47% Are Not Freeloaders

  In WWII many of the young men gave their lives to prevent
  Adolph Hitler and Hirohito from taking over our country, which permitted the
  wealthy big business investors to retain their freedom, businesses and wealth.
  Years after the war the big business investors continued to increase their
  wealth by exploiting the very same working class that saved them from
  catastrophe in WWII. They employed price
  gouging, replacing American workers with cheaper foreign labor, failure to
  fairly share the profits, improper money manipulation, etc. This was morally
  and economically wrong. The wealth of
  this country that the working class worked for, and also died for in WWII,
  should be redirected to the working class and also used to decrease our
  financial deficit. The greed of big business for money has denied the working
  class benefits to which they are entitled to under a democratic form of
  government. The book entitled Fixing Our
  Government explains in more detail how to provide prosperity to the
  working-class citizens of this country.

• Herbert Pairitz

  Big Business vs. the Working Class

  In the last ten years we have experienced a cultural
  degradation whereby businesses are no longer required to help the American
  workers and have resorted to reducing their benefits and sending their jobs
  overseas to the lowest bidder. With all
  of our resources we should be able to provide prosperity to every citizen, but
  greedy big business investors chose not to let this happen. The United States Government is not serving
  all of the people as it should. It is
  doing exceptionally well for the wealthy business investors, but doing poorly
  for the working- class citizens. And why
  is this so? The big business investors
  chose to exploit the workers by influencing the government and the politicians
  with campaign contributions and favors.
  Most working- class citizens have to depend upon business owners
  providing them with a job whereby they can earn a living wage to obtain the
  necessities of life and possibly a prosperous future. Our government should
  give assistance to those that are in a weak financial condition. This could be due to health problems, living
  circumstances or just a desire to avoid working for a living. I believe our government should assist them
  all, providing the loafer with only the bare necessities of life. For more information on how to achieve
  prosperity for the working-class citizens read the book entitled Fixing Our
  Government.

• Chet Horn

  Dear Mr. Moyers,

  I am regular viewer of your show and enjoy it greatly. This evening I was watching your commentary about the “revolving door” in Wash., D.C. and couldn’t help but notice your tie. Could you please tell me the brand name or the maker of the tie. Thank you!

  Chet Horn

• Susan

  I look forward to your program every week. Just watched the segment on Mr. Autry. Wow!

• Mark Baldirdge

  I believe why Obama will fail to solve our countries problems is because he is not a progressive. The
  difference between a progressive, capitalist, and socialist is that a
  progressive is a person that comes up with solutions to problems in order to
  create a better democracy. The best political progressives are Abraham Lincoln
  with the issue of slavery; Theodor Roosevelt with land development by creating
  National Parks; Franklin D. Roosevelt with the Depression by developing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) a public work relief program to create jobs, Social Security to help
  seniors citizens stay out of poverty, Federal Deposit Insurance
  Corporation (FDIC), and the Glass–Steagall Act; and Lyndon B. Johnson to deal with racism by passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

• George E. Wamser

  Dear Mr. Moyers, I deeply enjoyed your program on global warming, I am an environmentalist and what you covered was completely true. However, when you got to the commentary at the end on firearms, I must with the deepest respect disagree, because you paint all gunowners with a stigmatizing negative brush, that is not accurate, and is innapropriate. I pondered this, as you are one of my true heros, and I thought about how Joe Campbell might have handled this, because your myth system regarding your opinion on this issue is entirely lacking in objectivity, swayed by that most powerful thing in our lives. We LOVE those children SO much, that we hurt in equal porportion to that, this creates an atmosphere of myth clouded by such “good” agonizing excruciating pain. This is a weakness, especially for a journalist of your caliber, and it only shows your humanity, therefore I forgive you, for trying to take away a precious right from me.
  Yours, in deepest possible respect; George E. Wamser gewamser@yahoo.com

• Marie

  I am an 82 year old woman with a college degree and time that I could use to make changes in our country. What do you think is the most important thing I could do?

• http://www.facebook.com/aloysius.dalli1 Aloysius Dalli

  Dear Mr. Moyer please visit/read: http://www.dalli.com/updates/holidays/ and then do as you wish.
  Respectfully,
  Aloysius Dalli
  dalli@dalli.com

• Hans Heuchert

  Mr. Moyers: We have been watching your shows since we came the this country in 1969…and are very positively impressed. Your recent interview with Anthony Leierowitz about Climate Change hit the nail on the head. However, this subject is focused too often solely on CO2 emissions. Neglected are emissions of other, often deadly, pollutants such as, but limited to hydrogen oxides, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and so on. The EPA estimates that some 170,000 people die every year in the US due to such toxic pollutants. Furthermore it is often missed that dire consequences await the world for being insanely dismissive! The Popular Science magazine had some time ago an excellent essay explaining that the longer we wait for cleaning up our mess the more expensive the cleanup will cost. The cost go up in the square of time! There exists the distinct probability that the warming of the Atlantic Ocean will stop the Gulf Stream sending Northern Europe into a man-made ice age. Will the EU start a war to force the US to clean up? Similar effects can be expected in the Pacific where most. if not all, coral reefs are dying due increased temperatures and acidity.This will drastically reduce the fish population worldwide! Will then the Asian countries start a war with the worst – long time – polluter…the USA? To force the richest nation on earth to clean up?

  Why is it that 70% of Republicans don’t believe in climate change? What does party affiliation have to do with climate change science? Why is it that nearly 50% of Republicans don’t believe in evolution? Democrats are much more willing to believe in climate change and evolution. For heaven’s sake…why? Is it all because of our perverted capitalistic system, where the holy Dollar is more worth anything else on earth? Or is my theory correct that says that REASON has been lost in the US of A, because of lead and mercury poisoning, disturbing our brain function and the logical thinking and reasoning of humans, combined with an unprecedented love of greed and the advent of the age of the golden calf…all over again?
  In pictures: We are destroying our planet, which in fact may be the only one around.
  We are sinking the Titanic all over again, because we are unsinkable?
  We are cutting of the branch we are sitting on?

• Raymond Hoche-Mong

  Mr. Moyers, how about having Elizabeth Warren on as a guest soon?

  Thanks for having Paul Krugman on.

  Raymond Hoche-Mong

• J Vaccaro

  Dear mr. Moyers, I just watched you interview with Larry Cohen, You didn’t ask this question; What is the final vision of the progressive agenda? I’d like to know what do they want America to really be like. How America would be like to live in for the common folk .

• john m. giannnone

  Dear Mr. Moyers:

  Thank you this evening’s program on crony capitalism and Roe vs. Wade, and more for
  your superb work through the years. The country is lucky to have you in its life. That said, allow me to say that I want no one woman, or (the unacknowledged) man to feel
  or be forced to bring a fetus to term. Of course, men do not enter into conversation–as they did not in tonight’s program-and shall make no attempt to suggest it now. However,
  while to broadcast is still on and I am no longer listening, I want to say that I did not hear
  you raise the great moral question about terminating a life because of reasons that have to do with practicalities such as a “mother’s work schedule” or intentions of one sort or another.

  Clearly, I am not referring to matters of incest or rape which, I suppose, may trump the condemnation of taking a life. Specifically, you followed in the current approach that sees women as privilegedly in matters of her “own body”. Nowhere in your program did I hear any acknowledgement that abortion is a profoundly moral difficulty. Nor did I pick up anything that might reasonably be called accompanying complexities–those that make abortion a hell hole no matter which way one turns. Additionally, and likely the most obvious, and therefore most suppressed, did I hear anything about the importance of difficult and responsible sexual conduct.

  The general tone of the conversation centered on a womens’ self claimed political rights . . . rights they hold as absolute. However the struggle of a people does not always rise
  to the level of a ground . . . sometimes it is just required background in need of principles. The chief difficulty with today’s termination-of-life issues is that they fail to recognize the us-in-others whether those others are Vietnamese, Arabs in Palestine, native Americans, Iraqis, the fetus, or, for that matter, the natural environment.

  I wish you well

• http://www.facebook.com/mary.m.potter.5 Mary McAvenia Potter

  For some unknown reason, KERA in Dallas no longer has closed captioning for the Moyers program. As a person with some hearing loss, this really diminshes the impact and understanding of this fine program. I wish the closed caption option was reurned.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Bernard-Foy/100000132349992 Bernard Foy

  Mr. Moyers -
  regarding your comments about President Obama and Guantanamo Bay: you reported that Obama pledged to close the military detention center, and then failed to carry out his promise. What you neglected to report is that Senate Republicans prevented closure of the base — they acted to prevent any expenditure by the administration to close the facility, and they also prevented the trials of Guantanamo detainees in US courts within the country. Your summary mischaracterized Obama’s intentions, as many other journalists have done.

• Brian Dickinson

  To Bill, (I hope you read this),

  I posted the following comment regarding your show on 15th February 2013. I am interested in your comments:

  I always watch Bill Moyers’ programs and rarely disagree with the
  content of his guests but this last show of “The Fight to Keep Democracy
  Alive” I could not disagree with the content more.

  First it should have been titled “The fight to keep a REPRESENTATIVE democracy alive.” We don’t have a direct democracy.

  Second,I don’t agree with fighting fire with more fire. It’s as though we want
  to keep money in the “game” of politics. We should step back and ask why
  do we need a representative democracy in the first place? Like so many
  systems in place today we are perpetuating an old design. A design that
  is older than our nation.

  I analyze systems for a living (or used
  to), as part of analysis one must remove the old design so a new one
  can be identified that fulfills the real need. Unfortunately the old
  design, in this case the representative democracy, has gotten so
  entrenched that rarely is it questioned and it certainly isn’t
  questioned by those that profit from the current design.

  I took an objective view of this in one of my YouTube videos at :

  I’m not saying that a new design can be implemented easily; implementing an
  email system or online banking was not easy or cheap, but I don’t want
  to go back to the old designs of these.
  I’m also not saying
  everyone would want a direct democracy. people, usually want to delegate
  the decision making process (not I) but that is not a reason to stop
  everyone from having the option to vote directly on things they find
  important. I say in my presentations “Don’t get rid of the manual bank
  teller when you introduce the automated teller”, let the customer
  decide.

  I’ll stop here, I’ve probably upset enough folks already
  because a government that takes from Peter to give to Paul can usually
  rely on the support of Paul.

• life well lived

  I hope you receive this.

  First, thank you for all that you do and have done.
  Secondly, let me say that, at 70, having worked all my life,
  professionally as an environmental lawyer for nonprofits (back with
  nonprofits made no profits, when the pay was as much for the heart as
  pocketbook), I continue to be hopeful and inspired about the indomitable
  American spirit, which you frequently touch on, enabling us to infer,
  although you do not suggest, that there is something, somewhere that will
  take this country from the mess in which we find ourselves to something
  truly good, as Plato would define “good”.

  I have five college degrees — J.D., 2 MA’s, 2 undergrad degrees, am a
  licensed bartender, and licensed librarian, and licensed teacher. I am
  living on less than $1000 a month (because of the nonprofit work), waayyy
  below the poverty level.

  My specific question to Dr. Wolff: What about Darwin, evolution, Complex
  Adaptive Systems (CAS)? We are animal, we have evolved, and we are part
  of a CAS, worldwide and locally. Do you believe it is possible we might
  evolve our way out of this mess, not by rules, regulations, numbers, and
  nouns (I know you’re an economist, but nouns and numbers ain’t
  everything!), but by some sort of animal desire to be “true, good, and
  beautiful”?

• Jery

  Questions for Richard Wolfe – Do yo see tax reform as part of the answer to “fix” the economy? What do you think our tax system should be? It seems to me that it is counter productive to tax any corporation or business because they treat taxes as a cost of doing business and charge it back to us in the price of their goods and services where it is multiplied by their markup and even more importantly it becomes a “hidden tax” because we have no idea how much we are paying. Flat tax? Sales tax? a combination?

• dacodave

  Just watched Susan Jacoby’s interview. To quote her “…my God there really is a hell…”
  Interesting statement from an atheist.

• mel lederman

  Thank you. You are a true American. But I do not understand why you never ask the question which is on every citizen’s mind. If a corporation is convicted of fraud and pays a penalty of 700 million, why aren’t executives convicted and sent to jail? Those are the ones who are guilty, not the “person”, the corporation. What a difference this would make. Possibly restore some of the faith we have in our government.

• Herbert Pairitz

  The Right to Vote Was Initially A Powerful Tool

  We know that the writers of our Constitution represented the working-class citizens when they stated “promote the general welfare” in the preamble. They included the right of every citizen to vote independently in order to obtain the benefits of a true democratic form of government. At a later date some of those members expressed a concern over the formation of political parties that changed independent voting into a block voting system that was controlled by politicians. As time progressed the members of Congress, the White House and political parties were influenced by large campaign contributions and started to represent the big business investment donors on all economic issues, another case of taxation without representation. As a result, our form of government was changed to a plutocracy with money completely corrupting our government. In order to regain the power of voting the citizens should refuse to vote in any elections until the money is taken out of our election campaign system. All election campaigns should be financed by only taxpayer money. For more details and verification on this subject read the book entitled Fixing Our Government.

• Isabel Malavet

  Hi bill: I have been an avid listener and viewer of your show and an activist in my community. I just want to say that what I think we should be doing today is to start and develop an alternative or third Party in this country that willl not only run candidates if need be but primarily serve as a a source to pressure the system to do the right thing for the working poor and rising middle class. TO SERVE AS A PRESSUEE POINT TO THE PLUTOCRATES AND THE RICH to insure that the income levels stay as equal as can be.

  Isabel Malavet

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-Josloff/745381437 Bruce Josloff

  The framers of the Constitution gave considerable clout to the land owner class.

• Margaret Garcia

  I just heard about the value of cooperatives in the business world, Moyers interviewing a person (don’t remember his name) who praised Mondragon business in Spain for their cooperative company culture. However,in looking at the Monragon business site, only 1/2 of the company’s many businesses are cooperative. People, do your own research.

• Herbert Pairitz

  The Wrong Form of Government

  Years ago the writers of our Constitution set up a
  democratic form of government that promotes the general welfare, which includes
  prosperity for the working- class citizens.
  As time progressed they expressed concern about the growth of political
  parties that were promoting their own welfare rather than the general welfare.
  About 200 years later our democracy had been transformed into a plutocracy (ruled
  by money) with some questionable capitalistic programs. America had evolved into a form of government
  that consists of two political parties competing for the large campaign
  contributions from the big business investors who are then permitted to exploit
  the citizens by outsourcing jobs, etc.
  We now need to change our government back to a true democracy by
  eliminating the political parties, manufacture and sell most products and
  services within the United
  States and finance all political campaigns
  with taxpayer money. For more details
  and verification on this subject read the book entitled Fixing Our Government.

• Mike Gilmore

  Love your shows, and the great guests that participates. Sherman Alexie is great, i love his chastisement of the mono-dimensionality of the modern e-communicational tools as not being sufficiently “human”. but i wonder how this differs from the format of all poetry past and present. These forms do allow for the expression of emotion/feeling to come across but in the end, are not they still the same – just WORDS? like twitter? or whatever? (still one imagines how Shakespeare would have handled twitter….)

• http://www.facebook.com/RPManke.solar RevPhil Manke

  Dr.Jill Stein, Green Party candidate, who was arrested for trying to join the phoney debates, has a debt restructuring plan with meaning that, however, may shift wealth to other corporate entities with more jobs, less oil and coal and nuke wealth. So, you see untill there are more than TWO parties available, nothing will change.

• curt zimmer

  How about ‘The Constitution in Crisis’?

• Paul Scott

  Bill, I think your are one of the best interviewers and journalists alive today because you ask probing questions and get to the heart of matters. Recently, your interview with Marshal Ganz hit a note of truth I have yet to hear from others on your shows regarding the solutions to ineffective government and the corrupting influence of money. He said “making all votes count” will work. I agree. There are democracies that work very well – two of the most notable are Australia and New Zealand. In April 2011, the Stanford Institute for Economic Development (SIEPR) issued a policy brief titled “A Sovereign Fiscal Responsibility Index”. Australia and New Zealand ranked 1 & 2 respectively, the USA 28th, just after Italy and before Hungary & Ireland. Perhaps a look at how these 2 successful democracies vote for their government will be helpful. My understanding is that voters rank their vote for a particular office (who they most prefer, then less prefer and so on down the list). If a candidate does not get a majority of #1 ranked votes, #2 are counted, then #3 & so on until a majority vote is accounted for. In those democracies, people truly have a vote “that counts” and the results seem to have an enormous impact on many of the indicators of successful governance. I would love to see you do a program that takes a closer look at this issue (how we vote and it’s impact on our electoral process) as it appears to be a very simple and critical aspect of the USA’s overall health as a nation.

• Sunshine

  You sound wonderful…the man of my dreams. You are probably married and living on the west coast and I am unmarried and living in the south.

• Carol Marychild

  Bill,
  I am so grateful to you and to the unseen hand (not of the marketplace) that led you back into Service after your well deserved retirement. You and I and a lot of your guests and viewers know that there is a core issue underneath the glaring injustices of our “market economy,” our politics, our media, our whole American Way of Life. We are in a spiritual crisis, and life on our planet is at stake. We have already brought millions of species to extinction and are working hard at bringing ourselves to extinction.
  You and your guests are wonderful at exposing the fruits of our spiritual malaise: the worship of the “market economy” that leads to economic and political exploitation of everybody who doesn’t have enormous material wealth, and you look for practical ways that “we the people” can have more say. You do a lot of connecting the dots.
  I feel a need for even more dot-connecting. We are indeed all in this together. It is not easy to hold it all together, to hold all of us together. The primary manifestation of our failure in our culture is consumerism, the desire to fill our spiritual hunger with stuff. The fact that we need some things to survive as physical beings can obscure the fact that consumerism is a cancer, taking normal needs and turning them into unbound monsters that consume the whole creature. It is tempting to see the huge disparity of wealth as depriving the poor of the opportunity to join the consumer culture. And a great many of the poor want to join it. We are, after all, herd animals.
  We need to address head-on the vacuousness of our culture, the lack of a center that calls us to be part of something greater than ourselves. The impulse is there; it manifests when there is a natural disaster, when people rally to help and feel that their participation adds meaning to their lives. It’s harder to see the ongoing disaster we have created, and to see the malaise behind it.
  We need a new Great Awakening. Most religions, which were intended to be containers to provide a safe holding environment for spirituality, quickly become ossified shells that restrict the movement of Spirit. Religious traditions could still become more permeable and help to give direction.
  Maybe you could invite Matthew Fox or others who connect the dots all the way from spiritual longings to acts of justice to be on your show.

• Roberta Patrow

  Bill,
  Thank you for all your wonderful documentaries. I am currently the Indian Health Board (IHB) of Minneapolis, Board Chair. You did an incredible documentary called “Why Did Gloria Die” many years ago (1970s). Please come back and see us now – some things are better, many are not. Most respectfully and with the kindest of regards, Roberta Patrow

• Anonymous

  Is this the only place where one can comment on “Bill Moyers and Friends”? This spot is all but hidden from access; having stumbled on it, I’m still not sure that it’s designed for discussions of the shows.

  For lack of an answer, I’m plowing ahead and commenting on the show tonight (6/7/2013). I appreciate the discussion with Richard Woolf; very thought-provoking. Nevertheless, I’m sorely disappointed by the description of what were described as recent tax increases. The “increase” in the payroll tax was a rescinding of a *temporary* two percent cut in the payroll tax, an economic stimulus measure. It should not have been painted as a measure to harm the middle class. Such a painting ultimately undermines the integrity of the view that Social Security is a benefit that recipients have *earned*. Fixing income inequality problems requires more creative and broad-gauged views and discussion.

• Anonymous

  Mr Wolf posed many problems with the capitalistic system & a representative govt.. The system is far from perfect but he did not enlighten us on what system he would replace it with.. He quoted Senator Sanders who most folks libel as a Socialist. We have observed the Socialistic countries in Europe… I say no thanks The free market system has brought much wealth & prosperity to this country with leading innovatives & inventions which was encouraged by venture capitalist rather than big govt.. The stockholders of most US companies are the folks via Mutual funds or pension funds. Our biggest challenge is to acquire honest govt who will regulate industry

• Jimmy Cracks Capricorn

  Hey Bill, with regard to the NSA issues at Booz Allen Hamilton – This private company is owned by the Carlyle Group, a hedge fund, in the business of mergers, acquisitions, and competing with rivals in business. This spy network gives them an unfair disadvantage in the free market by allowing them to spy on competitors, gain inside information on M&A activities, inside information on competitors customers, and potentially blackmail or extort competitor CEO’s and executives, congressmen, SCOTUS justices, or even the POTUS, all paid for by US taxpayers.

  Why isn’t the media saying ANYTHING about this? This isn’t the Government spying, this is a private firm doing the spying and selling the spying network to the government!!!!

• Alan

  Good point.