Post No. 66a: Television Broadcast of Interest -- America - United We Stand

As this article is being generated, C-Span2 Book TV (http://www.booktv.org/) is airing a panel presentation conducted on November 1, 2008, several days prior to the election of the President. It was a presentation made during the 2008 Texas Book Festival, entitled “America-United We Stand.” The panel explored the social and political divide in America and how it developed over time.

Paul Stekler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stekler), a political documentary film maker and Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, served as the Moderator.

The assembled authors presented some very interesting arguments, even prior to the election. The panel consisted of three authors.

Robert Cushing (http://www.texasbookfestival.org/Author_Page.php?aid=276) is a retired sociology and statistics professor from the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart (http://books.google.com/books?id=mbjOZTx9u_cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22the+big+sort%22&ei=DCUXSfHLAZLKM5CW6Z0L).

Bill Bishop (http://www.thebigsort.com/home.php) is a journalist who, in 2004, first coined the phrase, “The Big Sort.” He is Cushing’s co-author.

Ronald Brownstein (http://www.nndb.com/people/149/000104834/) is a CNN Political Analyst, and author of The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America (http://books.google.com/books?id=mSPCGAAACAAJ&dq=%22The+Second+Civil+War%22&ei=hiYXSf-VLIaoM9eVvfsL).

Interestingly, a couple of the speakers made strong arguments for the continuation of the Electoral College. They fear that direct popular vote would actually bring out more bitterness and extreme partisanship.

Since this discussion is so pertinent to the events of the day, we are reasonably sure that C-Span2 Book TV will air it again at some point during the coming week.

In that same vein, later this afternoon, Sunday, November 9, 2008, at 3:15 pm, C-Span2 will air another panel discussion from the 2008 Texas Book Festival, entitled “The War over American Ideals” (http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9964&SectionName=&PlayMedia=No). The panelists discuss the Bush Administration’s war on terror and its effect on America’s standing in the world.