Former governors host live podcast in Chattanooga

Former Tennessee governors Bill Haslam (right) and Phil Bredesen (left) holding a live episode of their podcast “You Might Be Right” with political scientists and brothers Hyrum and Verlan Lewis at the Chattanooga Rotary Club.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Two former Tennessee Governors held a unique meeting Thursday at the Chattanooga Rotary Club.

A live podcast discussing the state of political discourse.

Former Governors Bill Haslam and Phil Bredesen have co-hosted the “You Might Be Right” podcast since 2022, and have discussed a variety of political topics.

Thursday, they discussed the division that has grown in American politics, and what could have led to the current situation.

“What we are against is this idea that, if you think differently than me, you’re not just wrong, but you’re wrong for bad motives. That’s our malaise, like if you’re on the other side, you’re not really trying to get to the best answer, you just have your own personal agenda that’s driving that,” said Governor Haslam.

Despite both former governors belonging to different parties, Governor Haslam, a Republican, and Governor Bredesen, a Democrat, they believe talking through key issues is the best way to arrive at solutions.

They were joined by political scientists and brothers; Hyrum and Verlan Lewis, to help discuss why America is so divided.

“We think this is driven by a lot of factors. You know a lot of people have talked about the things that are going on. Social media doesn’t help right? That we’re increasingly online instead of having face to face conversations with our neighbors like we are doing here,” said Hyrum Lewis.

One of the key talking points of the live podcast was the left-right political spectrum.

Those on the podcast stated they believe the spectrum is leading to a lot of the division we are seeing within our country.

“What would you say if a sociologist came into a high school and said, “Every high schooler is either a jock or a nerd, or somewhere on the jock-nerd spectrum. Jocks are good looking and athletic and dumb, and then there’s nerds who are ugly and unathletic and smart, and you’re somewhere on a magic line between these two sides.” You would say that is ridiculous because those three things have nothing to do with each other,” said Verlan Lewis.

All agreed the temperature needs to be turned down.

“I’m kind of a scientist at heart, and what you’re always looking for is that you have this chaotic system, so you’re looking for the underlying rule, what’s the explanation for this? I accept that the conventional liberalism versus conservatism is not the explanation. You have convinced me of that,” said Governor Bredesen.

The podcast is produced by the University of Tennessee’s Baker Center for Public Policy.