S4E16 Encore of A Table Talk on Democracy with Historian Joel Kauffman

<p>What is the state of our democracy in the U.S. today? What does it mean to be a democracy? Lamar and Tom check in with historian Joel Kauffman on these and other questions. </p><p>Joel Kauffman is a professor, coach, reader, and world citizen. His interest in the world in which we live has led him to learn more about it through the study of history and in conversations with people from all walks of life. Joel taught courses at Hesston College, including a couple with Lamar, engaged students and pushed them to think more carefully and critically about the world they were inheriting from their elders. In this Table Talk, Joel similarly pushes Lamar and Tom to thoughtfully consider the state of American democracy and what it will take to preserve it.  </p><p><strong>Learn More</strong></p><p><em>Walden</em> by Henry David Thoreau - <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm</a></p><p><em>The Constitution of the United States of America</em> - from the Bill of Rights Institute <a href="https://bri-wp-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Constitution.pdf" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bri-wp-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Constitution.pdf</a> also from the National Constitution Center <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution</a></p><p><em>What is a Democracy?</em> Department of Government, Georgetown University - <a href="https://government.georgetown.edu/news/democracy-governance/what-is-democracy/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://government.georgetown.edu/news/democracy-governance/what-is-democracy/</a> </p><p><strong>A 3rd Space Survey: Acts of Kindness</strong></p><p>Kindness seems out of vogue right now. But we don’t believe that to be true. We believe there are a lot of people in our world who are choosing kindness even in the face of cruelty.</p><p>Do you have an act of kindness that you’d be willing to share? You can participate through a Google Forms Survey at this link:<a href="https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5</a></p><p>There you will find two kindness questions we’d like you to consider and then respond to:</p><ul><li><p><strong>What is an act of kindness you’ve received that made a difference to you?</strong></p></li><li><p><strong>What is an act of kindness you have done which you hope changed another person’s life?</strong></p></li></ul><p>What do we do with the acts we learn about in this survey? We save them and feature them in our Thanksgiving show each year…anonymously unless you prefer we use your name.</p><p>Finally, please share this survey because an act of kindness shared begets others.</p><p><strong>How We Check Ourselves</strong></p><p>Fact Checking: Because there are a lot of things happening…some true, some false, some unbelievable…we use the following fact checking sites. Take a look for yourself:</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.snopes.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Snopes</em></a> - <a href="https://www.snopes.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.snopes.com/</a> </p></li><li><p><a href="http://factcheck.org" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FactCheck</em>.<em>org</em></a> - <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.factcheck.org/</a> </p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.politifact.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Politifact</em></a> - <a href="https://www.politifact.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.politifact.com/</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>RealClearPolitics</