IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices

Series produced by Guy Rathbun

Series image

This weekly show is devoted to political, social, economic, ecological, philosophical and religious ideas.

This series has been broadcast on public radio, and podcast on National Public Radio for the past 10 years, and has included such luminaries as Robert Reich, Chris Hedges, Michael K. Hudson, Vincent Buligosi, Richard Heinberg, and many more.


561 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
A Defense of Freedom
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Professor Peter L.P. Simpson
Illiberalism. Now that’s a word you just don’t hear very often. If it sounds like a play on liberalism, you’re right. It’s the lack, or even oppos...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 08, 2019
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
How Democracies Die
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Professor Steven Levitsky
Democracies around the world are struggling. Autocratic regimes are on the rise. Now, America’s democratic structures are showing signs of stress.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 03, 2019
  • Length: 28:59
  • Purchases: 1
Sparking Prosperity
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Robert E. Friedman
The financial crash of 2008 hit middle and working class families especially hard. They are still struggling.

Bought by KBUT Crested Butte, Colo. and KCBX


  • Added: Jan 23, 2019
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 2
How Fascism Works
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Professor Jason Stanley
When the people of a country become severely divided, it becomes easier for power to fall into the iron grip of fascism. All it takes is well-desig...

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  • Added: Jan 17, 2019
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
State of Confusion
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Dr. Bryant Welch
Americans are having difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction: Moral from immoral. Society norms are being toppled every day. The word unprecede...

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  • Added: Jan 10, 2019
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Ensuring Poverty
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Professor Felicia Kornbluh
A central idea of feminism is “Looking at the world as if women matter.” Yet, during the most important public policy debate about women and povert...

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  • Added: Jan 03, 2019
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
Mortal Republic
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Edward J. Watts
Citizens of ancient Rome willingly sacrificed their freedom for autocracy. When people are convince they have a lot to fear, it’s easier for a powe...

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  • Added: Dec 27, 2018
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
End Kids Cancer
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: End Kids Cancer
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children from 1 to 14 years old. According to the American Cancer Society more than 10,000 children ...

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  • Added: Dec 18, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
America First
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Bradley W. Hart
In September 1941, a hero-celebrity stood before a crowd in Iowa and emphatically stated the words, “America First.” Charles Lindbergh was the spea...

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  • Added: Dec 04, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 2
Redlined: A Memoir of Race, Change, and Fractured Community in 1960s Chicago
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Piece image
The home ownership gap continues to widen.

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  • Added: Nov 27, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Decolonizing Wealth
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Edgar Villanueva
He calls it a “colonizer virus” that has festered for centuries. According to social justice philanthropist Edgar Villanueva the virus was planted ...

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  • Added: Nov 19, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
A Gift of Peace
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Book Jacket Cover, Credit: Hawkeye Publishers
Hindsight is not a good way to view history. Yet, we frequently see our past with an expression of “what if”. On the other hand, even the slightest...

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  • Added: Nov 13, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Grading for Equity
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Joe Feldman
You probably remember, all too well, your grade school experience. Especially memorable is how you were graded. Everyone was funneled into the same...

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  • Added: Nov 05, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
This is an Uprising
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Paul Engler
Central Coast Bioneers held its first conference in San Luis Obispo in 2010. Looking at their mission statement, It reads … To create a resilient a...

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  • Added: Oct 30, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
People Like Us
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Sayu Bhojwani
Less than two-thirds of the U.S. population is white, yet Congress is comprised of 81% white men. The discrepancy is also reflected in elected offi...

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  • Added: Oct 19, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Sleepyhead: The Neuroscience of a Good Night’s Rest
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Henry Nicholls
Sleep. It’s one of the most mysterious things about life. No one fully understands why we sleep. Yet, we make things even more confusing when we co...

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  • Added: Oct 11, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 2
Then They Came for Me
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Professor Matthew Hockenos
Most of us are familiar with the Nazi concentration camp confession, “First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I was not...

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  • Added: Oct 04, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Malinda Maynor Lowery
Sometimes they are known as the invisible Indian tribe. Most American’s don’t even know they exist; yet, they’re deeply wrapped in our folklore.

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  • Added: Sep 26, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Tango War
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: The Tango War, Credit: Jacket design by Danielle Christopher
At the beginning of World War II, the Roosevelt Administration understood all too well the strategic value of South America.

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  • Added: Sep 19, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Exiled: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to California and Back
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Katya Cengel
Most of us have a basic understanding of events surrounding the Vietnam War. That understanding, however, is usually vague, and incomplete. Especia...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 14, 2018
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1

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