APV Video Favorites
This gallery contains some of our favorite video shorts and documentaries. They are selected to help show our values and priorities. Let us know via email if you find others we should highlight. We can change these out over time.
We are inspired by Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-MI). She gave an inspiring speech on April 19 describing herself as a straight white suburban mom with strong values of service and equality. She showed everyone how to deal with Republican hate speech.
INEQUALITY -- If there's one thing most voters share, it's distain for extreme wealth, unfair taxation, and political corruption. The wealth gap keeps widening as corporations rake in record profits, but worker pay has not kept up with improved productivity. Democrats can exploit this bipartisan issue in their favor. It's behind every other important issue today.
Inequality for All is a documentary that follows former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich as he looks to raise awareness of the country's widening economic gap. After watching the 1:44 trailer, watch the 43-min film.
Does Trickle-Down Economics Actually Work? To the extent the Republican Party has any economic platform at all, it’s trickle-down economics. Unfortunately, it’s based on three giant myths that former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich debunks in this short (5:53) video.
Legalized Corruption: In this 5-min "lightning round game," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) challenged the House Oversight Committee to shed critical light on U.S. campaign finance and legalized corruption.
Legalized Corruption: In this (5:50) video, Princeton University and RepresentUs walk us through three lines that show what's wrong with our government and how we can fix it. It shows how the government usually does not represent the people. Fixing the problem -- a source of cynicism, distrust of institutions, and voter apathy -- requires getting organized, politically active, and building coalitions that include everyone. The opportunity is to bring together liberals, conservatives, and moderates with a unifying focus against extreme wealth and legalized corruption.
Corporate Money in Politics: In this (2:24) video, Ben & Jerry's cofounder Ben Cohen uses BB's to show how much money corporations spend to influence our elections compared to regular people. If you just follow the money, you'll get new appreciation of how politicians can be corrupted, and social culture influenced.
Saving Capitalism (2:10) is a feature-length Netflix documentary that examines America’s fragile democracy. Rather than labeling people as liberal or conservative, and putting them in blue tribes or red, Robert Reich went around the country asking people what they thought about Politics, the Economy, and Values. He found that they had shared concerns with crony capitalism and the wealth “establishment.”
DISINFORMATION -- If you're discouraged by what's happening, that's largely by design but influenced by your perspective. If you look at facts from only one perspective and only see the world through the lens of Fox News, for example, you may have a distorted view.
The Brain Washing of My Dad (1:29:35) -- How is it that we have become so culturally divided and so many vote against their own financial interests? This documentary uncovers some of the forces behind conservative think tanks, messaging, and media brainwashing of the Trump cult. The story looks at a WWII vet father who changed from a life-long, nonpolitical Democrat to an angry, right-wing fanatic, and how he was cured. Trailer (1:38) here.
Why Republicans are NOT the Party of Freedom (2:08) The party of "freedom" is trying to ban abortion. Why? Because it was never about freedom. It was always about power, as Robert Reich explains.
CYNICISM: The Oligarchy's Ultimate Political Weapon (3:18) If you're discouraged by what's happening, that's by design. Beyond their lobbyists and media megaphones, the monied interests have an even more powerful weapon: cynicism, according to Robert Reich, "The forces undermining our democracy, polluting our planet, and stoking hate are counting on you to give up." Don't. Instead, join Progressives in our fight for a more-perfect union.
The Social Dilemma (1:34:30) -- Moderated by Katie Couric, this feature length film documents the dark side of social media and the shocking ways it has shaped our world and disinformation politics. See how our behavior is being tracked online by companies like Facebook. This was the basis of our June 2021 program on "QAnon and Social Media in a world of Fake News Politics." Trailer (2:35) here.
Other Video Collections
Inequality Media, a nonprofit co-founded by former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, uses the power of storytelling to inform and engage the public about the realities and impacts of inequality and imbalance of power in America. It has become an immensely influential media outlet promoting progressive values and deserves our support financially and by sharing their work with others online.
The Lincoln Project, founded by a disgruntled group of Republican Party leaders, launched with two stated objectives: (1) to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box and (2) to ensure Trumpism failed alongside him. The group is named for Abraham Lincoln, a Republican who fought to keep the country unified. They also campaign against U.S. Senators up for reelection who support Trump, and they are known for regularly producing short video ads of about one minute in length.
Our mission is clear: Protect America (1:00 TV ad) Please consider supporting this group to help fund other ads.
Represent.US brings together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to pass powerful anti-corruption laws that stop political bribery, end secret money, and fix our broken elections. Until this is addressed, corruption will continue to block progress on every issue.
MeidasTouch is a political media organization that describes itself as "producing the most hard-hitting and impactful political videos and content" because "truth is golden."
Randy Rainbow is known for his parody songs that can be quite funny.