#8: Dreams, Schemes & Time Machines

Current Affairs

The Current Affairs panel discusses what the end of racism and sexism might look like, legal star Ian Samuel enters the Lefty Shark Tank to pitch Supreme Court packing, and we all share our favorite historical what-ifs. (Plus, the segment breaks are haunted by disturbing 20th century ghosts!)

Further reading on racial and gender utopias:

Matt Bruenig and Economic Policy Institute have good data on the racial wealth gap here and here. The New York Times Magazine had a report this past spring on the crisis in black maternal health. Data on the gender gap in government is here and gender and racial pay gap information is here. We also read two conservatives in preparation for this episode: Michael Lind on the melting pot and John McWhorter on identity politics. The question that inspired this segment was asked by Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy, who wrote about it here.

Further reading on Supreme Court packing:

Ian's original tweet is here. His Tucker clip is here. National Review responds to his proposal here. Dylan Matthews has a court packing Voxplainer here. Oren and Brianna's Current Affairs take on the whole idea of judges is here.

Further reading on our historical what-ifs:

Read Ho Chi Minh's Declaration of Independence here. History of Science is a really interesting discipline — read its wiki page here. Read more about free labor in Michael Sandel's Democracy's Discontent and Eric Foner's Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men. Read about one type of hierarchy organization here. Inside Job is here and Too Big to Fail is here. Joseph Singer's law review article on the Youngstown factory closing case is here.

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