Bill Cosby, Brock Turner, Roger Ailes, Anthony Weiner: How Many Men Must Fall Before We Start to Help Them? A Conversation Among Inner Revolutionary Men

As Inner Revolutionary Radio comes to a close, we’re taking stock of what we have and haven’t accomplished over these past four years. We’ve interviewed some amazing guests. We’ve addressed important issues — the personal, the political, the shocking and the hopeful. But we have also missed opportunities: topics we didn’t cover, guests we didn’t get to interview, listeners we didn’t reach. Now time has run out, and we feel regret. Many of us feel the same way about our lives. Some of us meant to call in to this radio show and didn’t. Some of us have remained silent about injustice in our world, or we told ourselves we were too busy to call to a suffering friend, or we didn’t protect a child who we suspected was being abused or neglected. What opportunities have we missed? What has that taught us? How can we live differently now? Here’s an opportunity you don’t have to miss! Tune in, call in and let us all gain greater wisdom. You can also tune into all the great archives of our show.

Most of the work being done toward changing how people relate to the environment and social justice is well-intentioned, but ends up being ineffective, or worse, counterproductive. Achieving true, lasting changes in behavior, it turns out, requires changing our worldviews so the new action becomes part of who we are. But if you've ever tried to change a worldview or pattern of behavior in yourself or another person, you know it's quite an effort! Cassandra Vieten, President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, along with her colleagues, has been studying the science of behavior change for years. She’ll join us to discuss the research and how it is being applied in working with people all around the world. If you are someone committed to bringing about sustainability and justice in your life and for the planet, if you want to be able to communicate more effectively and be a more powerful change agent in the world, you will want to hear this conversation!

Beth Green claims that our society is waging war against us. The White House proposed tax cuts are supposed to help the majority of Americans, yet more than 2/3 of the benefits would go to the top 1%. Income keeps floating to the top. In 1965 CEOs earned 20 times the amount earned by typical workers in their industries. Now they earn nearly 300 times more. The minimum wage isn’t keeping up. From 1973 to 2013, productivity rose 74%, but earnings rose only 9%. Collective bargaining has been gutted. Economic and trade policies have allowed business to exploit the less powerful. Our air, water and soil are being raped. We’re stressed and insecure. The question isn’t whether or not our well-being is being eroded. The question is why we put up with it. Our guest says it’s because we are distracted by fighting for our gender, race, religion, party, culture or geographic region instead of fighting for a future that brings economic, physical and social well being to us all. Can we change that?

What is it like to grow up in a nation dominated by chain stores, multinational corporations, scarce well-paid manufacturing jobs, a culture of money and economic anxiety? What’s it like to live in a society where about 80% of the population lives in urban clusters? What’s it like to grow up inside 21st century American capitalism? What do we tend to value? How do we see ourselves and our world? What are our fears? How does capitalism shape our psyches and our lives? You are invited to share your story, but first, we will be interviewing Economist Prof. Richard Wolff about how capitalism has been changing for more than fifty years. For Blacks, women, gays, workers and others, there may have been no “good old days,” but there were jobs and there was more security. Today, capitalism is a different bird. So let’s hold the spotlight on capitalism as it is now, and let’s talk about what it feels like to live inside its belly. Tune in and call in as well! This is OUR story. Let’s tell it.

In a world where 62 individuals own as much as half the world’s population, where 1% of people own MORE than the other 99% combined, where for decades DuPont knowingly poisoned us by using a toxic, cancer-causing chemical, where since the 1990s Big Oil has been denying climate change while secretly preparing for it, where workers are told that a $15/hour minimum wage is too much, where real wages are going down and money controls much of the media and the political system, don’t you think it’s time to ask if capitalism is working for US? We’ve been told that capitalism and democracy are the same. Are they? Dr. Richard Wolff, former Economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, has long had the guts to question the system. He says there is a better way – a form of socialism that is more democratic. What is it? Could it work? How does it relate to the Inner Revolution? Tune in. Big business and billionaires may control the government and the economy. But they can’t control us!

The InnerRevolution supports an evolution in our economy to move away from the disproportionate distribution of wealth toward an economy and society where individuals' needs are met. How can we do this? Esteban Kelly has some answers. As an important leader and creative force in a solidarity economy and co-op movements, Esteban will share the reality of what it takes for the economic model to transform. Lets challenge ourselves to move beyond our ego's view of life where only MY needs matter and be inspired by the cooperative movement. With Oneness, Accountability and Mutual Support, we can co-create a different world!

Everyone knows that there is a lot of fighting and rage in our country and our world right now! So much hatred, so much blaming! Why IS that? It’s because people are not getting our needs met and we are blaming each other. What can we do about it? Just think: What would happen if we had a world where everyone’s needs were met? What if we had a world where every person felt important, safe and cared for? Would we still be fighting against each other? Would we still be behaving the same way? Not so, says our guest, Beth Green, AKA Granny Rocks. She says that when you listen to our opinions, we are divided, but when we can listen beneath the surface, we hear a different song. Can we do it? Can we change the way we think, feel and treat ourselves and one another so that we can co-create a world that works. Can we envision a world where that meets the needs of people and the earth? What could that look like and how do we get there? Join us for this creative and powerful conversation.

The economic and political system that reigns supreme does not care about the health or welfare of anyone. It's a machine that chews up executives, secretaries and fast food workers alike. But what if this wasn't the case? What if our economic system was based on a wholly different model – based on the notion that quality of life should be measured by more than national income? U.C. Berkeley Economics professor Clair Brown will join us to answer these questions and more. She'll share her approach to organizing the economy that embraces questions of values, sustainability, and equity. In her new book, Buddhist Economics, Brown incorporates the Buddhist emphasis on interdependence, shared prosperity, and happiness into her vision for a sustainable and compassionate world. We cannot thrive in a world where we sacrifice ourselves to an economy and societal norms which put short-term self-interest before our health and the health of the earth. Join us for this important conversation!

Many people are angry about the policies of the new U.S. government, and the word “resistance” is on many people’s tongues. But is resistance enough? How would this resistance be different from the right-wing resistance to President Obama, when the “other” side felt excluded and disenfranchised, which in turn, helped swing the pendulum to Trump? How can we move past divisive politics, where the pendulum keeps swinging back and forth, problems don’t get resolved and a lot of folks get hurt? Is it possible to free ourselves from the tyranny of the pendulum, go beyond resistance and achieve a revolutionary shift in the foundation of society? Tune in to this show, where co-hosts Beth Green and James Maynard talk with Helen Hillix, Co-Director of Outreach of TheInnerRevolution.org, and learn more about what some people are doing to overcome the tyranny of the pendulum swing and to bring about the historic changes we need for a better world. Call in if you can.

Do men and women, working in the same job, with the same level of education and experience, make the same amount of money? All too often the answer is no. Co-hosts Todd Benton and Helen Hillix will speak with Natasha Lamb, a woman who is working to change that, as well as a host of other issues. She is a managing partner in Arjuna Capital, whose engagements with Apple, Intel, Amazon, Expedia, and eBay have led all of them to commit to Gender Pay Equity today. Her 2014 landmark negotiation with Exxon Mobil led to the company’s first public report on global warming and carbon asset risk. What led Natasha to this line of work? How does she and her partners get these companies to make these kinds of changes? What's next? And what can we learn from her and her organization’s approach? Join us!