Democracy’s Discontent: Michael Sandel with David Brooks

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Join renowned political philosopher and Harvard University professor Michael J. Sandel and David Brooks, accomplished New York Times columnist and commentator, for an exploration of the new edition of Sandel's book Democracy’s Discontent, which addresses the perils democracy confronts today. Now, a quarter century later, Sandel updates his classic work for an age when democracy’s discontent has hardened into a country divided against itself. He shows how Democrats and Republicans alike embraced a version of finance-driven globalization that created a society of winners and losers and fueled the toxic politics of our time. In a stirring new epilogue, Sandel argues the necessity of reconfiguring the economy and empowering citizens.
Streamed live on December 1, 2022.
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[@universalrun4705]

Michael will always be a teacher, even in an interview he sounds the same.

[@ryanmather5665]

In response to Sandel's criticism of UBI that it diminishes our producer identities. I'm skeptical! I would love to pay my bills with UBI and make paintings, hang out with friends, create little side projects, and maybe sell stuff as a side hustle. I can contribute to society w/o all of my contributions being financialized. I would think of UBI as a kind of de-financializaiton tool rather than permission to sit on the couch forever and consume content and goods

[@joehutchinson24]

I respect both of you greatly and agree with so much of what Michael Sandel has written. But as a simple midwesterner who was in the middle of watching the destruction of a once thriving working class (auto workers, steel workers..) by the mid and late 1980s, I see that both of you were completely out of tune with the general zeitgeist of millions of average Americans in my neck of the woods. It wasn't only the feeling of being looked down upon by the upper classes, but the real poverty that we were all being thrown into under Reagan and Clinton at the time.

[@lauriecosme6025]

There is a lot of anger on the southwest borders of Arizona , California, and Texas over immigration issues.

[@jljones6343]

The general zeitgeist of millions of Americans seems to be marked by the erosion of community and [civil] public discourse and trust - maybe starting as early as the '70s with "what's in it for me" ism - as well as a lack of desire to accept any personal, individual responsibility, i.e. much easier to blame government, upper classes, corporations, schools, unions, scientists, whatever (elites?) and leave it at that. Imagine someone saying to us "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" today. Imagine "politics" as not a dirty word, an exercise in name calling and denigrating, but a means of articulating problems, civilly voicing opinions, compromising to reach solutions on a regular basis... Yeesh, I must be dreaming.

[@jljones6343]

@@lauriecosme6025 Paradoxically, there are many farmers and food processors in this country who need immigrants to work for them. Instead of bussing or flying them to Chicago, New York City and the like. Florida and Texas governors maybe could send them to farming and processing sites around the country? As an aside, I wonder who pays for all that flying and bussing DeSantis and Abbott are providing...

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

I think the idea of what we can do for the nation has now been what can the nation do for us. The problem with this idea is that it is only popular with 50% of the American population and that that side who supports this has a tendency to self-canibalize (worldwide left wing parties post-deregulation and the victorious secularist factions of revolutions in France and Russia breaking down into infighting, usually ending in a victorious autocrat). Too much of this economic socialist view also causes a country to be noncompetitive economically compared to other nations and causes much political instability. This is certainly a failure of the elites following the 60s. We need some kind of war or religious reawakening that unites us all together again. P.S. I don't agree that blaming your failures on growing inequality is a totally solid thing. What you do personally determines 85% of your success. Growing inequality provides 15%. It's like the chefs in a Kitchen Nightmares episodes, if you blame your shit cooking abilities on being depressed about the economy, prepared to get a loud talking to by Gordon Ramsay. In non-first world countries, the people there do whatever makes them money, from owning food stalls, to collecting guano and selling them, to making food out of weird ingredients like bugs. Humans are innovative creatures and telling them that they'll be less successful because of something outside their control rids them of their agency. It's like what elders would respond to you if you told them that you are depressed about life, that they'll tell you to man up and stop being depressed. Even if it's politically incorrect to say so in today's culture, it's the truth (even if political reform is nice and all). That 85% may be 100% some years ago, but it's 85%. Too many people complain about how that 85% is not 100% and end up putting in 0% of the work.

[@direwolf6234]

previous comment .. 'they are NOT going to share that' ...