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As the opportunity structure began to burn in recent decades, the Democratic Party stepped up with a solution: upward mobility via education, help to "make it if you try."
But an escalator is no good in a burning building.
Meritocracy was a mistake. https://the.ink/p/dignity
But an escalator is no good in a burning building.
Meritocracy was a mistake. https://the.ink/p/dignity
Today in http://The.Ink , a conversation with one of the most influential political philosophers of our time, Michael Sandel.
I'm going to share some highlights, as always. And sign up for the newsletter to get future posts if you haven't yet.
I'm going to share some highlights, as always. And sign up for the newsletter to get future posts if you haven't yet.
Coming to power in the wake of the great neoliberal hijacking, center-left parties had a choice: fight to end the hijacking, or to make the hijacking more bearable, with pretzel packs.
Sandel argues that they tended to choose the latter course.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
Sandel argues that they tended to choose the latter course.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
"What they missed," Sandel says, "was the insult implicit in this advice. And the insult was this: if you didn't go to college and you're not flourishing in the new economy, your failure is your fault." https://the.ink/p/dignity
Sandel calculates that @BarackObama used variants of the phrase "You can make it if you try" 140 times during his presidency.
But there are two problems with that idea.
One, it's false for most people.
Two, you should be able to make a decent life even if you don't try!
But there are two problems with that idea.
One, it's false for most people.
Two, you should be able to make a decent life even if you don't try!
(That's where we get into the territory of UBI discussions. Is there a certain minimum existence we should guarantee people regardless of "trying" levels?)
cc: @AndrewYang
cc: @AndrewYang
"Meritocracy is not an alternative to inequality. If you think about it, it's a justification for inequality...The effect of this has been to generate hubris among the winners and anger, resentment, even humiliation among those left behind." https://the.ink/p/dignity
Now, being the great gossip that I am, I couldn't help but ask Michael Sandel about the fact that he, among our finest dismantlers of neoliberal pretensions, is childhood besties with Tom Friedman, the great prophet of everything Sandel works to shred. https://the.ink/p/dignity
Sandel argues that center-left parties like the Democrats won't be able to beat back the threat of demagogic, populist autocracy without honestly reckoning with their own failures in managing globalization, deregulating finance, and responding to 2008.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
https://the.ink/p/dignity
"The standard account that breathes a sigh of relief and says 'Thank goodness we got rid of Trump; now we can go back to the way things were' lets Democrats off the hook. It spares us the need to reflect critically on why what we were offering was found so lacking" -- Sandel
If Biden's plan is to restore the era of market-driven neoliberal globalization, he will be paving the way for another Trump, maybe this time one who can read.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
https://the.ink/p/dignity
So I decided to nominate Michael Sandel as chief political philosophy adviser to Biden.
What would he counsel?
"Shift the main political message, the main political theme. To put less focus on arming people for meritocratic competition and to focus more on the dignity of work."
What would he counsel?
"Shift the main political message, the main political theme. To put less focus on arming people for meritocratic competition and to focus more on the dignity of work."
Sandel offered four policy areas to help achieve this shift -- both as real programs to help people and as potential spurs of debate to change minds about neoliberalism.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
https://the.ink/p/dignity
I'm not an economist, but I found the lattermost particularly intriguing:
Eliminate the payroll tax on workers, and instead levy a tax on high finance.
DISCUSS. https://the.ink/p/dignity
Eliminate the payroll tax on workers, and instead levy a tax on high finance.
DISCUSS. https://the.ink/p/dignity
Michael Sandel's ideas clearly rhyme with the political agendas of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But he thinks there's one element missing from many progressive pitches.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
https://the.ink/p/dignity
And Sandel talked about how the meritocratic college chase is deforming even to its winners.
It turns them into credential monsters, and that "gauntlet" cannot be unrelated to the callous leadership many of them go on to practice in corporate America.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
It turns them into credential monsters, and that "gauntlet" cannot be unrelated to the callous leadership many of them go on to practice in corporate America.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
And I asked Michael Sandel whether, given his critique of institutions like Harvard, he is thinking of going elsewhere.
https://the.ink/p/dignity
https://the.ink/p/dignity
Michael Sandel's new book is excellent. Give "The Tyranny of Merit" a read: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374289980
And if you enjoy these interviews and other posts, support the work of http://The.Ink by subscribing today!
