Thomas Frank, Listen, Liberal...Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? (Also by Thomas Frank: Pity The Billionaire, The Wrecking Crew and What's the Matter with Kansas? For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - we're going to take a closer look at what happened to the Democratic Party. From the New Deal until the middle part of the 20th century - the Democratic Party - like most left or center left parties the world over - was the party of the people. It was the home of unions - social security - medicare - and American working and middle-classes. But then something strange started happening. Over the course of the 1970s - the 1980s - and then the 1990s - the Democrats - well - they got a lot less democratic. They were still "liberal" - or said they were - but they now got their economic policies from Wall Street - and their trade policies from multinational corporations. And that was just the beginning. Then came school "reform" - welfare "reform" - the bankruptcy bill - the bailout. What happened? What happened to the party of FDR - Henry Wallace - and Lyndon Johnson? When did that party disappear and become the party of Bill Clinton - Tim Geithner and Larry Summers? Joining me now to help answer these questions and more is Thomas Frank, founding editor of the Baffler - contributor to Salon and author of numerous books - including his latest - "Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?"

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Joel D. Joseph, Made In the USA Foundation/Inequality in America: 10 Causes and 10 Cures joins Thom. The United States of America is the most unequal society in the developed world. Is that just a natural result of capitalism or is it the consequence of specific policies that have been put in place since the Reagan years?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Norman Lear, (Pt. 2) is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the advocacy organization People For the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights and progressive causes. Shows like "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" didn't just shatter ratings charts - they changed the way we thought about American society. Why is that - and what can that tell us about the power of socially-conscious art? I'll ask legendary television producer Norman Lear - the man behind "All in the Family: and "The Jeffersons" - in tonight's Conversation with Great Minds. His new book is Even This I Get to Experience.

In Conversations with Great Minds Rev. Barry W. Lynn, God and Government: Twenty-Five Years of Fighting for Equality, Secularism, and Freedom of Conscience - An Insider's Account/Americans United for Separation of Church and State, joins Thom.

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Greg Palast, BBC News / Al Jazeera / The Guardian / Vultures and Vote Rustlers & Brad Friedman, The Brad Blog join Thom Hartmann. Americans love to think they're number one at everything. But when it comes to the integrity of our election process - new studies say that we're more like 26th. Why is that?

Francesco Femia, The Center For Climate & Security joins Thom. Since it began in 2011 - the Syrian Civil War has killed over 240,000 people and displaced millions more. What role has climate change played in perpetuating this awful conflict?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Bill Press, Buyer's Remorse: How Obama Let Progressives Down/The Bill Press Show joins Thom. Based on his campaign promises - many progressives thought President Obama would usher in a new golden age of liberalism upon taking office. But 7 years later - that obviously hasn't happened. So what went wrong? I'll ask renowned radio host and columnist Bill Press in tonight's Conversations with Great Minds

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!