Ezra Klein

And I mean, that is true for like, look, we build we they build transit much better, much cheaper, much faster in Spain, in France, everywhere. in Japan than we do. And the difference there is not that Spain, France and Japan don't have governments. It's not that they don't have unions. They have higher union density than we do.

And I mean, that is true for like, look, we build we they build transit much better, much cheaper, much faster in Spain, in France, everywhere. in Japan than we do. And the difference there is not that Spain, France and Japan don't have governments. It's not that they don't have unions. They have higher union density than we do.

And I mean, that is true for like, look, we build we they build transit much better, much cheaper, much faster in Spain, in France, everywhere. in Japan than we do. And the difference there is not that Spain, France and Japan don't have governments. It's not that they don't have unions. They have higher union density than we do.

It's that they have a very different structure of how they do government. So a big thing I'm focusing on the book is the way we have begun to restrain government in this country through process and adversarial legalism, where you can just tie it up in lawsuits again and again and again and again.

It's that they have a very different structure of how they do government. So a big thing I'm focusing on the book is the way we have begun to restrain government in this country through process and adversarial legalism, where you can just tie it up in lawsuits again and again and again and again.

It's that they have a very different structure of how they do government. So a big thing I'm focusing on the book is the way we have begun to restrain government in this country through process and adversarial legalism, where you can just tie it up in lawsuits again and again and again and again.

That was one way of trying to avoid tyranny, but what you created is a very ineffective form of government. So one thing I think worth just saying is that we can see this working very differently in different places. As I just mentioned, Colorado and California have quite different housing outcomes. even though they are both currently governed by Democrats and they both have have government.

That was one way of trying to avoid tyranny, but what you created is a very ineffective form of government. So one thing I think worth just saying is that we can see this working very differently in different places. As I just mentioned, Colorado and California have quite different housing outcomes. even though they are both currently governed by Democrats and they both have have government.

That was one way of trying to avoid tyranny, but what you created is a very ineffective form of government. So one thing I think worth just saying is that we can see this working very differently in different places. As I just mentioned, Colorado and California have quite different housing outcomes. even though they are both currently governed by Democrats and they both have have government.

So I always think it's good to stay a little bit more grounded than that. But the other thing that I do think you're getting at is both parties, in my view, have a sort of scarcity side and abundant side inside of them. This cleavage that I'm trying to cut occurs on both sides, on the on the Democratic side, on the liberal side.

So I always think it's good to stay a little bit more grounded than that. But the other thing that I do think you're getting at is both parties, in my view, have a sort of scarcity side and abundant side inside of them. This cleavage that I'm trying to cut occurs on both sides, on the on the Democratic side, on the liberal side.

So I always think it's good to stay a little bit more grounded than that. But the other thing that I do think you're getting at is both parties, in my view, have a sort of scarcity side and abundant side inside of them. This cleavage that I'm trying to cut occurs on both sides, on the on the Democratic side, on the liberal side.

I see is I see this is between, you know, you can call it different things, but the New Deal left and the new left left. So the New Deal left was very growth oriented, very building oriented. It created a lot of physical infrastructure, created highways because Dwight Eisenhower was sort of part of this political order. And it did things very fast.

I see is I see this is between, you know, you can call it different things, but the New Deal left and the new left left. So the New Deal left was very growth oriented, very building oriented. It created a lot of physical infrastructure, created highways because Dwight Eisenhower was sort of part of this political order. And it did things very fast.

I see is I see this is between, you know, you can call it different things, but the New Deal left and the new left left. So the New Deal left was very growth oriented, very building oriented. It created a lot of physical infrastructure, created highways because Dwight Eisenhower was sort of part of this political order. And it did things very fast.

And in doing that, it created a counter reaction, not just sort of conservatism as we think about it with Ronald Reagan, but also the new left Ralph Nader and Rachel Carson. And, you know, this sort of raft of environmental legislation passed, by the way, under Richard Nixon, California Environmental Quality Act passed under Governor Ronald Reagan.

And in doing that, it created a counter reaction, not just sort of conservatism as we think about it with Ronald Reagan, but also the new left Ralph Nader and Rachel Carson. And, you know, this sort of raft of environmental legislation passed, by the way, under Richard Nixon, California Environmental Quality Act passed under Governor Ronald Reagan.

And in doing that, it created a counter reaction, not just sort of conservatism as we think about it with Ronald Reagan, but also the new left Ralph Nader and Rachel Carson. And, you know, this sort of raft of environmental legislation passed, by the way, under Richard Nixon, California Environmental Quality Act passed under Governor Ronald Reagan.

So these things often were bipartisan in their times, but over time, they're not the right policy equilibrium for the next stage. On the right, though, you have the same issue. So you have a – I don't want to call it an abundance right, but a right that is more open to markets, more open to trying to create a lot of housing.

So these things often were bipartisan in their times, but over time, they're not the right policy equilibrium for the next stage. On the right, though, you have the same issue. So you have a – I don't want to call it an abundance right, but a right that is more open to markets, more open to trying to create a lot of housing.