America's Last Best Hope
49,748
Published 2022-06-24
In this interview George Packer speaks to the BBC's Justin Webb about how America got here, and how it can move forward. He presents a hopeful vision for a radical reform of American life - one that enables meaningful change, via policy, legislation, executive action, civic activism, scholarship and the media. Drawing on the best of American history - what once made it great - without being trapped in the past, Last Best Hope dares America to step into a new and better era.
All Comments (21)
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These problems of democracy are also the result of losing our focus on quality education and we are still attacking the humanities and social sciences
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George Packer—Wow! Your observations and analysis is spot on! Glad to learn about you. Thanks for such intelligent conversation.
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The only hope is that Americans threw out Donald Trump —- but got Biden instead. Not much to base your hope on.
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I'd like to thank Intelligence Squared for introducing me to the writings of George Packer. I don't think I've heard a more balanced and unflinching assessment of what is happening in US politics today. It gave me a real perspective on the daily cant pouring from the news channels.
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These guys are the one-two punch of serious, relevant political discourse. They're smart, calm, serious and optimistic. I've learned more in the past 45 minutes about our nation's political and social divide than I ever knew... Let's do this again!
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Karl Rove was the architect of the divisive politics being discussed. His axiom of "51% is all you need" killed the willingness to compromise that is needed to have a sustainable democracy.
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Incredibly insightful and articulated with remarkable precision. This relatively unknown George Packer is one of the best I've heard.
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George, I just finished Last Best Hope. Great read. Highly recommended especially for those still in shock as to how we got here. I hope we can salvage this once great human experiment.
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Wow!! Thank You.. shared on multiple sites to try and get people to listen..
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Frank Furedi did a talk in Australia and warned everyone. He said, “hold on to your middle class as tight as you can. Do not let it disappear as it will lead to lots of social problems”. He also said the middle class in the USA was disappearing
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I'm amazed that I've never heard of this guy! His political insights, from his characterization of Trump to his analyses of both the Democratic and Republican Parties, are spot on! I guess I'll remember the name George Packer from now on. Thanks, Intelligence Squared!
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its obvious to many of us, but put forward perfectly. we need more of these guys in mainstream, but knowing how these things work these days, he will be put into the 'elite' corner
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He's a keenest political observer!
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I got fifteen minutes into this and he hadn't mentioned the names biden or harris. what was the point of getting rid of trump if the democratic party couldn't find anyone who even looked like they had a grip on anything.
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Great speaker. Great interview. Also, you let him talk without constant interruptions
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I was about to move to Mexico permanently when I discovered that I have a life threatening illness and endless medical appointments. The US is finished and fortunately I'm 75 and will avoid the worst of the carnage.
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Exactly, it’s like a layered cake, as I’ve always said, it’s not what you know, but who you know., more than anything else, my highly educated brother one told me that the connection one make at school are in many ways more important that the education or degree one earns, the real education start after graduate, most graduates don’t work in the fields they majored in…
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I agree with some of what being said here but it spirals the drain pretty fast when the jaded DMC garbage oozes it's way out.
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Looking on a slightly longer timeline it has all become clear. Mariner Eccles, FED chair 1934 – 48, observed what the capital accumulation of neoclassical economics did to the US economy in the 1920s. “a giant suction pump had by 1929 to 1930 drawn into a few hands an increasing proportion of currently produced wealth. This served then as capital accumulations. But by taking purchasing power out of the hands of mass consumers, the savers denied themselves the kind of effective demand for their products which would justify reinvestment of the capital accumulation in new plants. In consequence as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing. When the credit ran out, the game stopped” A few people have all the money and everyone else gets by on debt. Is that why Keynes added redistribution? Yes, it stopped all the wealth concentrating at the top. A strong, healthy middle class developed in the West. Maggie and Reagan removed the redistribution and inequality soared as things returned to the old normal of neoclassical economics. A few people have all the money and everyone else gets by on debt.
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If farming is a dying field, then we'll all die hungry.
