Our guest today is Theda Skocpol, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University, and the director of the Scholar Strategy Network, a network of professors that seeks to improve public policy and strengthen democracy by organizing scholars working in America’s colleges and universities, and connecting them and their research to policy makers, citizen’s associations, and the media.
Professor Skocpol is an expert on the history of American civic and political institutions. Her recent work has applied this knowledge to the Tea Party, the Koch Brothers, and the range of organizations currently marshalling resources and political energy on the right and the left. Today, we talk with her about how the Koch Brothers have transformed American democracy, and whether any corollaries are emerging on the political left.