The Alliance Party After Dark

David Houle, futurist, author and keynote speaker, drops by again to discuss the most disruptive decade in our lifetimes; the 2020s. This decade will see a transformational shift in technology, the environment, politics, and just about everything that impacts our lives.  David is currently writing a series of books that speaks directly to the events in this decade, including: The phenomena of cognitive dissonance The need to unlearn, learn and relearn The acceleration, collapse and rebound of society Finding opportunities and success in a world where the only thing that doesn't change is change itself.  Spend a fascinating hour with someone who's successfully predicted and succeeded in a world whose only motto seems to be "evolve or die." Visit David Houle's website, or his site dedicated to the 2020s.

We're on a bit of a break here at the Alliance Party After Dark, so we thought it would be interesting to revisit a podcast originally released on March 22 of 2020, where we talked with Lee Drutman, political scientist and author of the book "Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America." Though the podcast is well over a year old, the topic of the Duopoly and how it's tearing apart America, is as relevant as ever. Note that Lee Drutman recently published an article in the New York Times, which includes a real-time questionnaire that analyzes your answers and places you onto a political map. It can help you identify which of the six political parties most closely aligns with your views. The article can be found at https://nyti.ms/2VBOFgx

In our first on-the-spot interview, Theodore Theopolis, the Alliance Party's Ohio State Chair, drops by to talk about politics in Ohio. Theodore describes the current redistricting efforts in Ohio, which consists of a fairly convoluted set of rules that are designed to make the drawing of political district lines "less unfair." We then move on to the biggest scandal currently unfolding in Ohio, which has, so far, resulted in arrests, indictments and ongoing FBI investigations of several politicians in a political "pay-for-play" scheme, where $60 million in campaign funds were used to influence the creation of a bill that would benefit an energy company to the tune of $1.3 billion. We wrap up by talking about the Alliance Party's efforts to insert themselves into the political process going into the 2022 elections.

Chelsea Tobin, Staff Director for the Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE) drops by to discuss climate change and other environmental issues, with an emphasis on the Great State of Texas. What does climate change really mean? How is it going to affect our lives? And most importantly, what can we - each of us - do about it? Chelsea worked in environmental offices across the nation, including New Jersey, Pittsburgh, New York and Denver.  In September 2020, she took over the role of Staff Director in the Austin, Texas TCE office. TCE’s mission is to engage people and communities through face-to-face public education, grassroots organizing and action-oriented research for a cleaner and healthier Texas. They work on polluter accountability and enforcing regulation for bad actors in the industry, among many other fights!