Does anyone listen to some good thought provoking podcasts? One of my favorites is Radio Lab. Great storytelling and very well produced. I listen to them before bed to help me sleep.
This one is just insane called The Political Thicket. A discussion emerges around how powerful the courts should be over the political process.
It concerns whether or not the judicial system and in particular the Supreme Court should interfere with the democratic process and the implications on our civil liberties and the entire democratic process at large when this occurs.
On one horn of the dilemma is the conservative idea that the Courts should not intervene at all because in theory, the will of a judge would supersede or replace the will of people and their elected representatives. On the other horn, is the more liberal notion that Courts ought to intervene to in order to protect minority groups, free speech rights etc.
The political thicket....once the courts gets involved, there is no turning back. Someday the Courts would be forced to declare winners and losers of very important elections. Sound familiar?
http://www.radiolab.org/story/the_political_thicket/