{"podcast":{"title":"Best of the Spectator","slug":"best-of-the-spectator-45373","podcast_index_feed_id":45373,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb","website_url":"https://audioboom.com/channels/4905579-best-of-the-spectator","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/show-cover.jpg","author":"The Spectator","episode_count":2646,"summary":"Home to the Spectator's best podcasts on everything from politics to religion, literature to food and drink, and more. A new podcast every day from writers worth listening to. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-08T18:22:22.936028+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373"},"episode":{"title":"The Book Club: How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies","slug":"the-book-club-how-oligarchs-dominate-our-democracies","published_at":"2026-05-16T23:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/the-book-club-how-oligarchs-dominate-our-democracies","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373","url":"https://shows.acast.com/best-of-the-spectator/episodes/the-book-club-how-oligarchs-dominate-our-democracies","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/e/6a05ceb768dc584edabec0d6/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJpbiI6Imh0dHBzOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9hc3NldHMucGlwcGEuaW8vc2hvd3MvNjgzNThmYjVlMWFiYzRiZTZiMDMwOGViLzE3Nzg3NjU0ODI1NzQtYWVkZTc4YTctMTQyMi00ZDI5LWE4OTktYmY1NDA0YmRkOTBkLXB1YmxpY0ludHJvLm1wMyIsInN0YXR1cyI6InB1YmxpYyJ9&sig=o0N3qqu0WkZBrHPPcg0nGDccv9sPNi7rSZ-sp0evbyg","summary":"My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Jeffrey Winters, whose new book The Blind Spot: How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies makes the case that democracy as it functions now isn’t, as many of us imagine, the only thing keeping the robber barons in check – it is, in fact, the very system that has enabled them to thrive. He tells me how the wealth gap in the US is now many multiples of that in ancient Rome, how extreme wealth translates into political power, and how reforming campaign finance laws is only a tiny part of the solution we need. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Jeffrey Winters, whose new book The Blind Spot: How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies makes the case that de…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3457,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/the-book-club-how-oligarchs-dominate-our-democracies/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/the-book-club-how-oligarchs-dominate-our-democracies.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}