Master Plan

Today, we are sharing the Season 3 premiere of The Future of Our Former Democracy, the Signal Award-winning podcast from More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies. The Future of Our Former Democracy has spent two seasons exploring what the U.S. can learn from democracies around the world, most recently Germany and then Ireland.

This season, host Colin Cole, Director of Policy, Outreach, and Communications at More Equitable Democracy, is joined by new co-host Ruth Greenwood, Director of Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic and proud Australian expat, as the show heads to the other side of the world.

Australia built its democracy using America’s blueprint, then kept innovating. Today, its elections are famously “boring, boring, boring,” and voters across the political spectrum trust the results in a way Americans rarely do.

With the 2026 midterms approaching and confidence in American democracy continuing to erode, Colin and Ruth explore why, with help from Dr. Marija Taflaga (Australian National University), Professor David Smith (University of Sydney), and Professor Thalia Anthony (University of Technology Sydney). Along the way, they ask a provocative question: if Australia learned from the United States, what can the United States learn from Australia?

Follow and listen to more episodes of The Future of Our Former Democracy here: https://play.megaphone.fm/lmfwb0zrqham8b4xmpo43q

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This week we’re sharing a special episode from You Might Be Right, the chart-topping politics podcast from the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee. It was recently named a “must-listen” by both NPR and Spotify.

The show is hosted by former Tennessee Governors Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam. Coming from opposite parties, they bring leading experts into substantive conversations about the public-policy questions that affect all of us.

Their new season looks at the forces shaping the 2026 midterms, including the topic of redistricting. What does it mean for voters when the politicians get to choose their constituents, instead of the other way around? In this episode, Governors Haslam and Bredesen pull back the curtain on gerrymandering, the once-obscure process now at the center of America’s fiercest political battles. They sit down with Jonathan Rodden, professor of political science at Stanford University, and Sam Wang, founder and director of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project and the Electoral Innovation Lab, about fair maps, how the newly drawn district lines might impact this midterm election and the implications for future elections.

It’s a thoughtful conversation about the incentives, institutions, and public pressures that will shape the next election, without the usual cable-news shouting match.

For more episodes like this, make sure to follow You Might Be Right on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And tell them we sent you.
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In the season finale of Master Plan: The Kingmakers, we ask Democratic leaders what the next U.S. president should do with the expanded executive powers that Trump will leave behind.

Featuring exclusive interviews with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y), Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I), Sen. Michael Bennet (Co.), and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode.

Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade

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A little-known conservative operative spends years figuring out how to bend the machinery of government to a president's will. By the time Donald Trump returns for his second term, a shadow government is ready to seize control.

TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore archival sources related to the episode.

Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade

To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism.

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Obama vowed to restore the rule of law after the War on Terror. But behind closed doors, his administration created a secret system that allowed the president to decide who lived and who died.

TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode.

Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade

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