Our Damaged Democracy: Joseph Califano, Jr. with Robert Semple

A top insider from the LBJ and Carter administrations joins a half-century veteran of the New York Times to examine the strains on democracy — and what we can do to heal them.

In Our Damaged Democracy Joseph Califano notes that he has never in all his  85 years “been so concerned about the destiny of our democracy.” The Harvard-educated lawyer grew up in Depression-era Brooklyn, served in the White House of President Lyndon Johnson, acted as an attorney for the Democratic Party during Watergate, and represented clients as varied as the Black Panther Party and Coca-Cola in his years as a Washington and Wall Street lawyer. “It’s not enough to be mad as hell about the situation,” Califano writes. “Now is the time to do something about it, and we the people—and only we—can.” 

Citing obstacles such as an unbalanced concentration of power in the executive branch, partisan politics and gerrymandering, campaign finance laws, income and education inequality, Califano has the perspective to explain where our democracy has taken wrong turns, and how we must act if we are to save it from eroding completely.

Joseph Califano speaks with Robert Semple, who spent a year covering President Johnson himself, and has served for 30 years as the associate editor of the The New York Times Editorial page.

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