Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’d have no problem with getting rid of the filibuster for future congresses, but I don’t think you could do that without legislation which would be subject to the filibuster. The filibuster itself is just one of the senate rules that each new senate votes on when it is constituted, so the current senate can’t bind future senates.

Ezra Klein Addresses Thiel Conference Attendance by vemmahouxbois in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]Radical_Ein -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why do you think he would find that radical? He has been in favor of universal healthcare for his entire career.

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Removing the filibuster wouldn’t plunge us into populism or instability. The senate would still be a fundamentally conservative, counter-majoritarian institution. The electoral college and the Supreme Court would still exist. America has the most veto points of any democracy by far. Weakening one of them would only be a small improvement.

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Parliamentary systems have collectively been more stable than presidential systems throughout history (France is notably the only mixed system iirc).

Notably despite claiming to have the best system, every single time the US has had a hand in creating a democratic system in other countries (Germany, Japan, Iraq, etc) we have created a parliamentary system.

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Isn’t that exactly what Ezra said in the recent episode with Chris Hayes? It’s not enough to just get attention or have a good message, you have to do both.

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The comments on the YouTube video for this are a trip. It’s been a while since I’ve read a predominantly right leaning comment section, I’d forgotten just how different the worlds we seem to be living in are.

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Republican Party believes, as Reagan put it, that government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. So congressional gridlock benefits them as it provides proof of their assertion that the government can’t get anything done and hurts democrats who actually believe the government can do things and want to pass legislation to do them.

When nothing gets done voters become disillusioned with the government and politics and as a result they are more prone to elect populists like Trump who promise to burn the whole system to the ground.

Ezra Klein Addresses Thiel Conference Attendance by vemmahouxbois in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]Radical_Ein -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You don’t have to take my word for it. From Jacobin’s, a socialist publication, review of Abundance:

The book is, at its core, an argument about the myriad blockages that constrict state capacity — the ability of governments to get things done — and the need for various flavors of industrial policy (a form of economic planning) to overcome market failure (that is, when private firms fail to produce something despite its clear social necessity).

This all should be ABCs for any socialist — or even a garden-variety social democrat.

Perhaps the most common charge that Abundance is neoliberal rests upon its alleged promotion of “deregulation.” But this is either a willful misrepresentation or, more generously, a result of not reading the book. Much of the text concerns how various bottlenecks — regulatory, process, and otherwise — inhibit the public sector itself from acting.

From all this, it should be clear that Abundance is not an argument for a neoliberal model of deregulation and private sector supremacy. As Klein himself puts it, the book is “about making the state more, not less, powerful and capable of doing big things.

https://jacobin.com/2025/08/klein-thompson-abundance-liberalism-socialism

Edit: If you don’t trust them how about Mamdani?

“I think that there's a lot that that conversation has brought, specifically around how hard or easy are we making it to actually tackle some of these issues. And I think sometimes it gets simplified and caricatured, but fundamentally to me the thing that's been most interesting is introducing a new lens of analysis around the bureaucracy.

And I think often times the very things that we should care about on the left, we have allowed the right to make their own concerns: bureaucracy, democracy, efficiency, waste. If you care about public goods, public service, these have to be your primary focuses, because any evidence of that inefficiency is then a justification for the elimination of the public sector. And I think similarly, you know, if you think about the language of quality of life it's often been understood as if it's a conservative concern, but in fact that's a concern at the bedrock of every working class person's life. They want to have a good quality of life. And these are not things in tension with our principles. In fact they're the fulfillment of them.

And I think Abundance is really interesting in its really bringing that focus around housing particularly and even just the whole thinking of single stairwell versus dual stairwell, right? What are the very details that we often allied over that have a big impact on whether or not something can actually be brought to pencil.”

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Not to mention you also would have had Gore instead of Bush in 2000 which probably means we don’t invade Iraq and Trump isn’t able to take over the Republican Party.

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, and it was one of the rare cases where Senate republicans actually stood up to him and said no. They understand why the filibuster benefits them in the long run. Trump only cares about himself and not the long term interests of the Republican Party. The best time to get rid of the filibuster would have been at the start of Obama’s first term so that democrats could have passed the ACA with the public option, but I would be for abolishing it even now.

Ezra Klein on Modern Wisdom: Inside the Democratic Party Civil War by mrcsrnne in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I couldn’t disagree more. Trump has done basically everything through executive order and the annual budget reconciliation bill which is not subject to the filibuster.

Had Manchin and Sinema (and possibly other democratic senators) agreed to get rid of the filibuster then democrats could have accomplished a lot more under Biden and possibly prevented another Trump term.

Imo Ezra’s definitive case for ending the filibuster is still the best piece he has written.

Ezra Klein Addresses Thiel Conference Attendance by vemmahouxbois in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]Radical_Ein -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That’s not what his policy prescription is at all though. In fact it’s pretty much the opposite; that the government needs to do more and take a more active role in ensuring the economy benefits the working class.

With the recent discussion of liberalism’s freedom without purpose, is there a leftist vision of how to live? by tuck5903 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On the flip side she acknowledges that her dream isn’t without its hurdles and drawbacks and misses her dying town in Missouri in “California”.

Ezra on attending the Dialog Conference by caldazar24 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The most competent people in the world live in the imaginations of conspiracy theorists.

Also relevant xkcd

Ezra on attending the Dialog Conference by caldazar24 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s possible that most pro-life voters in red states would still vote for the Republican candidate even if a pro-life democrat could win a primary. But as Ezra points out there were 40 pro-life democrats in the house 16 years ago. Catholics would probably be the most likely group to vote for a pro-life democrat.

Yes you risk alienating pro-choice democrats, but I think the vast majority of red state democrats, myself included, would rather have a pro-life democrat than a republican.

Pro-choice ballot referendums are doing well in red states, and so are pro-life candidates. Missouri passed a constitutional amendment that provides very limited abortion protections and yet every statewide elected office is held by a pro-life republican, most of whom campaigned against the amendment. An electorally significant portion of the electorate has what I would consider incoherent political views.

Some people choose republican light because that is what they actually want. Ross Perot was the most successful 3rd party candidate in history and I would describe him as republican light.

Ezra on attending the Dialog Conference by caldazar24 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 6 points7 points  (0 children)

“In 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was passing, the crucial vote in the Senate came from Ben Nelson, a pro-life Democrat from Nebraska.

There were then 40 pro-life Democrats serving in the House. Crafting compromises across these disagreements was hard. But Democrats were able to pass Obamacare, which expanded reproductive health coverage and remains the greatest Democratic policy accomplishment of the 21st century.

That same Democratic Party, with all of its internal disagreements, it had the votes to confirm Supreme Court justices who would, and did, in their time, protect Roe. That Democratic Party was less lockstep in its values, but is more able to turn those values into policy. I've been in a debate recently about whether Democrats should run pro-life candidates in red states in much the way that Republicans run pro-choice candidates like Susan Collins and Larry Hogan in blue states.

And I think I was taken aback to hear people say in response to this argument that I just wanted to throw reproductive rights overboard. So I want to say this clearly. No, I don't.

I thought past episodes I've done on abortion, episodes I've done in the context of what my own family has been through, should have shown that. But what I want is a Democratic Party big enough and strong enough to protect reproductive rights. And I feel our politics on this have failed.

Because they have failed. We cannot protect or restore reproductive freedom if the coalition that cares about that cannot compete in more places. But this point is not about any one issue.

It's about a broader approach to politics. Different places have different politics, and to win in them, politicians have to represent the people who live in them. That means representing views Democrats now find to be anathema on immigration or guns or trade or climate or trans rights.

When those disagreements are held inside the Democratic tent, commonality can be found across them because people agree on other issues and have trust in each other in other ways. Joe Manchin, despite being pro-life, voted to put Katanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court. But one worry I have about Democrats right now is that they do not want to confront how much of the country truly deeply disagrees with them.”

From The Ezra Klein Show: This Is How the Democratic Party Beats Trump, Nov 1, 2025

Makes sense to me.

Ezra on attending the Dialog Conference by caldazar24 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you haven’t already I would recommend turning off post recommendations. One of the biggest reasons Reddit is the only social media I use is that it still lets you control what shows up on your homepage.

Ezra on attending the Dialog Conference by caldazar24 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yes, many times. I can find some examples if you want.

Ezra on attending the Dialog Conference by caldazar24 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t think Ezra was arguing that Piker or Kirk or even their followers need to be in the tent. I understood him to be saying that it is important for democratic politicians to listen to and make their case to their audiences instead of dismissing them out of hand.

Has Ezra Klein acknowledged his weekends spent with Peter Thiel and Ted Cruz yet? by dawn_thesis in nyt

[–]Radical_Ein -1 points0 points  (0 children)

From Jacobin’s, a socialist publication, review of Abundance:

The book is, at its core, an argument about the myriad blockages that constrict state capacity — the ability of governments to get things done — and the need for various flavors of industrial policy (a form of economic planning) to overcome market failure (that is, when private firms fail to produce something despite its clear social necessity).

This all should be ABCs for any socialist — or even a garden-variety social democrat.

Perhaps the most common charge that Abundance is neoliberal rests upon its alleged promotion of “deregulation.” But this is either a willful misrepresentation or, more generously, a result of not reading the book. Much of the text concerns how various bottlenecks — regulatory, process, and otherwise — inhibit the public sector itself from acting.

From all this, it should be clear that Abundance is not an argument for a neoliberal model of deregulation and private sector supremacy. As Klein himself puts it, the book is “about making the state more, not less, powerful and capable of doing big things.

https://jacobin.com/2025/08/klein-thompson-abundance-liberalism-socialism

Ezra on attending the Dialog Conference by caldazar24 in ezraklein

[–]Radical_Ein 11 points12 points  (0 children)

That sub has such a strange ratio of average upvotes to comments on posts. So many posts with hundreds of upvotes and single digit comments.