Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Expertly-curated progressive politics, news, and culture produced by leftist humans, not algorithms or AI. This is an award-winning podcast that dives deeply into a wide range of national and international issues facing society and governments. We draw from hundreds of sources of progressive news and commentary. Est. 2006. Save time by listening to a range of perspectives on a focused topic in each episode and be introduced to new sources you will not have come across on your own!
Episodes
Air Date 7/2/2025
The militarization of Trump's deportation regime and response to protesters is the clearest example of his desire to implement a fully authoritarian government. Pure and simple.
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Check out our new show, SOLVED! on ...
Air Date: 6–30-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
- Shifting the way we think and talk about the benefits of peaceful nonviolence at anti-fascist protests
- The unlimited patience for capitalism vs. the knee-jerk “Impossible!” for left-wing ideas
- The centrists Democrats (and their consultants) missing the forest for the trees
- An antidote to decades of neoliberal approaches ...
Air Date 6/28/2025
The militarization of Trump's deportation regime and response to protesters is the clearest example of his desire to implement a fully authoritarian government. Pure and simple.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on the infamous Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
Full Show Notes
Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube!
Air Date: 6-25-2025
We thought we were going to have an episode about the war Israel is conducting ready for you last week but then they started another war. So, it would have felt odd to release an Israel episode without the latest major updates including Iran. I can only imagine what will happen between the time I speak these words and when you hear them that will make this episode feel out of date.
Air Date: 6–23-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
- The long history of nostalgia in politics as we find ourselves reliving the 1980s
- How MAGA Youth have a lot in common with Reagan Youth (a la Alex P. Keaton) without the context
- Trump’s Reaganitis: All the ways Trump is just straight up copying Reagan and how he could fail like ...
Air Date 6/21/2025
The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month, we're focusing on the way authoritarian movements operate across multiple fronts simultaneously to reshape society.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on the infamous Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
Air Date 6/18/2025
Critics of capitalism like us often advocate for the system to come to an end and be replaced with another that aligns better with human needs and continued existence. Well, it's possible that the system is close to having run its course and will be making way for something different. Unfortunately, the natural course of capitalism is to concentrate wealth and, by extension, power so that's what's happened and we...
Original Air Date: 2-20-2024
"Luddite" should never have become the epithet that it is as the Luddites were never afraid of or opposed to technological advancement, they only opposed the exploitation of workers and the degradation to society that came with the unfair distribution of the benefits of the targeted technology.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on the i...
Air Date: 6-11-2025
Following the 2023 attack and counterattack between Israel and Hamas which brought the simmering conflict into the mainstream of American politics, we're now living with the opportunistic weaponization of antisemitism being used as a pretext to crack down on anti-Israel protests and universities that just aren't teaching a Trump-aligned curriculum. Meanwhile, genuinely inexcusable antis...
Air Date: 6-8-25
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Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
- The right’s attack on free speech and academic freedom
- Trumponomics, men, and tradwives
- The lessons to learn about culture wars from the fight for gay marriage
- How the internet and Trump force us to live in and re-litigate the past
- How the left can avoid Trump’s culture war traps
Air Date 6/6/2025
Today, Trump's administration is doing everything in its power to end the era of educational dominance the US has enjoyed for decades. The simple fact that explains the change is that democracy used to be valued across the political spectrum while todays Republican Party is authoritarian and understands that an educated public is a public that demands democracy while an uneducated public is much easier to manipula...
Original Air Date: 12-8-2023
Neoliberalism has created a lot of economic suffering and insecurity in addition to weakened social ties over the past few decades. And now, in what may be the most devastating result of the ideology yet, neoliberalism may be leading much of the world toward fascism bolstered by legitimate grievances about economic precarity which are coopted by the false promises of right-wing...
Air Date: 6–2-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
- The role of art in political movements and moments under capitalism
- The problems with the Democratic Party that go far beyond Biden
- The Democrats’ gerontocracy that is literally dying and allowing Trump legislation to pass
- Our response to the latest DNC Executive ...
Air Date 5/30/2025
Given the overwhelming weirdness of Trump and his malfeasant style of governance, it would be perfectly understandable for casual observers to believe that his signature piece of legislation, weirdly named in reality the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," was itself also likely to be pretty weird; a potential departure from usual Republican Party policy priorities. In reality, what's weird ...
Air Date 5/27/2025
Slippery slope arguments persist because good ideas taken to extremes become bad ones. Eugenics exemplifies this—often starting with good intentions.
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KE...
Air Date: 5-26-25
*CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE “SINNERS”*
You thought you were going to listen to SOLVED! today, and you're not alone. We also thought we were going to make an episode of SOLVED!, but this turned into something a little bit different. So, we're calling it a “special” in which Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss storytelling and mythology in general, and the extremely rel...
Original Air Date: 6/29/2020
From 2020: Today we take a look deeper at the concept of "I can't breathe," going beyond the literal utterances by victims of police brutality and COVID-19 sufferers to the metaphorical epidemic of exhaustion, burnout, depression and disaffection in the US and around the world.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTh...
Air Date: 5-21-2025
A popular MAGA refrain is, "promises made, promises kept." The key is having known which promises to take seriously. Weaponizing the government against his enemies and attempting to wield dictatorial power, sure. Benefit his supporters or the working class more broadly, or rid the government of waste, fraud, or corruption... not so much.
Air Date: 5-19-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was on vacation) discuss:
- The origins of and problems with “the one way” Christian mindset
- Why Finland’s happiest country title and happiness itself are terribly misunderstood by Americans
- How our globalized world is messing with perceptions of our cultural similarities and differences <...
Air Date 5/18/2025
The full quote from today's title is from one of the most celebrated writers of Southern American literature, William Faulkner, who said, "The past is never dead. It’s not even past. All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born, webs of heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of history and eternity.” The new film, Sinners, set in the Jim Crow South, attempts to t...
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