December 24 – Who Didn’t Vote and Why; Big Money was Decisive in the Last Election; The Reverend Billy and the “Shopture”

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Full Program	LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM	–
Part 1	We begin with a new report on how many Americans did not vote in the last election, which for all that was at stake, attracted fewer voters than the 2004 competition between John Kerry and George W. Bush. Aura Bogado, a writer for The Nation joins us to discuss her article at The Nation “Figuring out Why 93 Million People Didn’t Vote”.
Part 2	The we speak with Thomas Ferguson, a professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and author of an article at Alternet.org “Revealed: Why the Pundits Are Wrong About Big Money and the 2012 Elections”. We discuss his article and the extent to which big money is behind the Republican House members who humiliated their Speaker in refusing to raise taxes on the wealthy who they apparently so faithfully serve.
Part 3	Then finally on Christmas Eve we speak with the Reverend Billy, an anti-corporatist activist who takes on the role of a revivalist minister. He led a demonstration in Times Square on Friday against rampant consumerism and Christmas shopping on the day that, according to the Mayan calendar, the world was supposed to end. We discuss the “Shopture” the Reverend staged in Times Square.