Derek Thompson

And then someone in Georgia can look through that lens and see the right policies to increase clean battery manufacturing in Georgia. And someone can look through that lens in the Commerce Department and say, next time we want to spend $40 billion in rural broadband, let's get that money out in nine months rather than not get the money out at all in four years. I see a lot of people...

reading the project as it was intended, as a kind of mimetic inspiration for them to apply their own ideas about how is this going to work in Maryland? How is this going to work for upstate New York? How is this going to work for Pennsylvania? And I think that's cool. And it makes me optimistic that there's a lot of people that are reading the book in the way that we intended to be read.

reading the project as it was intended, as a kind of mimetic inspiration for them to apply their own ideas about how is this going to work in Maryland? How is this going to work for upstate New York? How is this going to work for Pennsylvania? And I think that's cool. And it makes me optimistic that there's a lot of people that are reading the book in the way that we intended to be read.

That's certainly true in the last 100 years. It was New Deal liberals who enlarged the government in the 1930s. It was Republicans who acquiesced to that larger government in the 1950s. And then starting in the 1970s, 1980s, it's typically been conservatives who tried to constrict government. Sometimes they failed. while liberals have typically tried to expand, certainly, taxing and spending.

That's certainly true in the last 100 years. It was New Deal liberals who enlarged the government in the 1930s. It was Republicans who acquiesced to that larger government in the 1950s. And then starting in the 1970s, 1980s, it's typically been conservatives who tried to constrict government. Sometimes they failed. while liberals have typically tried to expand, certainly, taxing and spending.

That's certainly true in the last 100 years. It was New Deal liberals who enlarged the government in the 1930s. It was Republicans who acquiesced to that larger government in the 1950s. And then starting in the 1970s, 1980s, it's typically been conservatives who tried to constrict government. Sometimes they failed. while liberals have typically tried to expand, certainly, taxing and spending.

But one thing that I was thinking as Ezra was talking, and I was just writing this down because I thought Ezra's answer was really lovely, but at a really high level, I thought, maybe you disagree with this, I thought about distinguishing between liberals and conservatives based on three factors. What each side fears, what each side values, and what each side tolerates.

But one thing that I was thinking as Ezra was talking, and I was just writing this down because I thought Ezra's answer was really lovely, but at a really high level, I thought, maybe you disagree with this, I thought about distinguishing between liberals and conservatives based on three factors. What each side fears, what each side values, and what each side tolerates.

But one thing that I was thinking as Ezra was talking, and I was just writing this down because I thought Ezra's answer was really lovely, but at a really high level, I thought, maybe you disagree with this, I thought about distinguishing between liberals and conservatives based on three factors. What each side fears, what each side values, and what each side tolerates.

I think liberals fear injustice and conservatives often fear cultural radicalism or the destruction of society. And as a result, they value different things. Liberals, I think, tend to value change. And at the level of government, that can mean change in terms of creating new programs that don't previously exist.

I think liberals fear injustice and conservatives often fear cultural radicalism or the destruction of society. And as a result, they value different things. Liberals, I think, tend to value change. And at the level of government, that can mean change in terms of creating new programs that don't previously exist.

I think liberals fear injustice and conservatives often fear cultural radicalism or the destruction of society. And as a result, they value different things. Liberals, I think, tend to value change. And at the level of government, that can mean change in terms of creating new programs that don't previously exist.

It's typically been liberals, for example, who've been trying to expand health coverage while conservatives have tried to cut it back. Just in the last few years, it was Biden who tried to add a bunch of programs, whether it was infrastructure, the Chips and Science Act, the IRA, and then Trump comes into office and is unwinding it. And then I also think they tolerate different things.

It's typically been liberals, for example, who've been trying to expand health coverage while conservatives have tried to cut it back. Just in the last few years, it was Biden who tried to add a bunch of programs, whether it was infrastructure, the Chips and Science Act, the IRA, and then Trump comes into office and is unwinding it. And then I also think they tolerate different things.

It's typically been liberals, for example, who've been trying to expand health coverage while conservatives have tried to cut it back. Just in the last few years, it was Biden who tried to add a bunch of programs, whether it was infrastructure, the Chips and Science Act, the IRA, and then Trump comes into office and is unwinding it. And then I also think they tolerate different things.

I think liberals are more likely to tolerate a little bit of overreach, a little bit of radicalism in terms of trying to push society into a world where it hasn't been. Well, I think conservatives are more likely to tolerate injustice. They're more likely to say there's a kind of natural inequality in the nature of the world, and we're not going to try to overcorrect forward with our policies.

I think liberals are more likely to tolerate a little bit of overreach, a little bit of radicalism in terms of trying to push society into a world where it hasn't been. Well, I think conservatives are more likely to tolerate injustice. They're more likely to say there's a kind of natural inequality in the nature of the world, and we're not going to try to overcorrect forward with our policies.

I think liberals are more likely to tolerate a little bit of overreach, a little bit of radicalism in terms of trying to push society into a world where it hasn't been. Well, I think conservatives are more likely to tolerate injustice. They're more likely to say there's a kind of natural inequality in the nature of the world, and we're not going to try to overcorrect forward with our policies.

And so I think that Even at a layer above what Ezra was articulating with the policy differences between liberals and conservatives, there's almost like an archetypal difference between what they fear and value and tolerate.

And so I think that Even at a layer above what Ezra was articulating with the policy differences between liberals and conservatives, there's almost like an archetypal difference between what they fear and value and tolerate.