Radio
Breaking news, as well as the most pressing issues of political, economic and social life. Opinion and analysis. Programs produced and made by journalists from Sputnik studios.

Dr. West on Republicans & Democrats Failing the Social and Moral High Ground

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr. Cornell West, activist and provocative democratic intellectual. Dr. West is a professor of public philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of professor emeritus at Princeton University.
Sputnik

What I think about you and what I believe you stand for are a moral basis for justice and consistency. In this current political landscape as we look towards 2020, the Democrats have constructed this anti-Trump narrative and hold themselves out as a moral alternative to the Republicans. But as I look at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support for the continued US attack on Venezuela and Sen. Chuck Schumer's support for the government in Israel, it really seems to come down to a thinly veiled, ongoing support of empire. I mean, I hear talk about jobs and healthcare, etc., but when asked where the money will come from to support the programs, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is the only one who talks about cutting the war budget. We'll discuss this issue and so many more regarding justice, politics and the moral high ground lacking in today's economic structure.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was under growing pressure to resign Wednesday after her final Brexit gambit was rejected across the board by lawmakers and even criticized by some of her own ministers. Where does it go from here? In her last pitch on Tuesday to get her divorce deal approved by Britain's deeply divided Parliament, she offered lawmakers a vote on whether to hold a second Brexit referendum — once her legislation passed the first stage — as well as closer trading arrangements with the EU in the future as incentives. But the backlash was swift and fierce.

President Xi Jinping of China has called for the Chinese people to begin a modern "long march," invoking a time of hardship from the country's history as it braces for a protracted trade war with the United States. Xi's call, made on Monday, referred to the Long March, a grueling 4,000-mile, one-year journey undertaken by Communist Party forces in 1934 as they fled the Nationalist army under Chiang Kai-shek. From there, they regrouped and eventually took control of China in 1949, making the Long March one of the party's foundational legends. This sounds to me like Xi is digging, not backing down. What's going on here?

GUESTS:

Dr. Cornel West — Prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is a professor of the practice of public philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of professor emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris. West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his MA and PhD in philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13.

Lee Stranahan — Co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik Radio.

Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression."

We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

Discuss