Ben Burgis is a columnist for Jacobin magazine, host of Give Them An Argument, and an author. This week, he’s the guest on episode fifty-nine of Krystal Kyle & Friends, and we’re thrilled to have him. At Jacobin, Ben has debunked the statistics that promote the U.S. as a stronghold of economic freedom; critiqued U.S. foreign policy in Latin America; argued against the alienating practice of cancel culture; and made resonant arguments in favor of democratic socialism.
We have a lot to cover with Ben from his career as a leftist journalist to today’s current events to his new book revisiting the life and work of Christopher Hitchens. That book, Christopher Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters delves into the many phases of Hitchens life from when he was at his best exposing the Clintons and Henry Kissinger to when he was at his worst carrying water for George W Bush and his neocons.
Ben’s latest for Jacobin is a piece on the “antidemocratic” nature of the Supreme Court — how it safeguards a reactionary status quo, how it prevents the expression of the popular will, and how it keeps the same people at the helm of our society.
Read the article below if you’re looking for a sneak preview of this week’s conversation. Subscribe now if you’d like to receive the video of our conversation one day early, on Friday night. The audio podcast will be free to all once it releases on Saturday through all major streaming platforms, including Pandora, Apple Music, Spotify, and more.