Ezra Klein

I think it is some set of forces that I don't really understand. But I don't feel like it was like that as much when I was young. And it definitely wasn't like that as much in the past. That's right. And sort of separate almost from everything else, I think this is a huge failure in parenting culture. This just inability to say we have views on what is good or bad. That's right.

I think it is some set of forces that I don't really understand. But I don't feel like it was like that as much when I was young. And it definitely wasn't like that as much in the past. That's right. And sort of separate almost from everything else, I think this is a huge failure in parenting culture. This just inability to say we have views on what is good or bad. That's right.

And they don't require 16 years of randomized controlled trials. They're just actually our views on virtue.

And they don't require 16 years of randomized controlled trials. They're just actually our views on virtue.

And you can, I think, see this spreading throughout society. The idea that this is just about the kids is wrong. I know you don't want to be political, and I know that the John Hyde agenda is being adopted in red and blue states alike, and we will talk about that.

And you can, I think, see this spreading throughout society. The idea that this is just about the kids is wrong. I know you don't want to be political, and I know that the John Hyde agenda is being adopted in red and blue states alike, and we will talk about that.

But you were saying earlier, look, liberals and conservatives have these different moral foundations, and conservatives care a lot more about the moral inputs. Mm-hmm. And maybe that was true. I look around, I don't see it.

But you were saying earlier, look, liberals and conservatives have these different moral foundations, and conservatives care a lot more about the moral inputs. Mm-hmm. And maybe that was true. I look around, I don't see it.

I'm not asking you to say whether Donald Trump is a moral or immoral person, but what I will say is that the Republican Party under him has become unconcerned with what was traditionally understood as vice in a very different way. So some of that is politeness and etiquette, but some of it is what should the policies be about sports gambling, right?

I'm not asking you to say whether Donald Trump is a moral or immoral person, but what I will say is that the Republican Party under him has become unconcerned with what was traditionally understood as vice in a very different way. So some of that is politeness and etiquette, but some of it is what should the policies be about sports gambling, right?

There is a massive deregulation of sports gambling, which is consuming young men. Yes. Crypto is an adjacency of that, right? There's perfectly fine things about crypto, but what we are specifically permitting is crypto as a casino. I was somebody who was very supportive of marijuana legalization, and I think it's gone terribly.

There is a massive deregulation of sports gambling, which is consuming young men. Yes. Crypto is an adjacency of that, right? There's perfectly fine things about crypto, but what we are specifically permitting is crypto as a casino. I was somebody who was very supportive of marijuana legalization, and I think it's gone terribly.

And it's gone terribly, I mean, among other things, because we have just allowed capitalism to get its hooks into it and create more and more and more potent products that are advertised everywhere online. I don't know if either side is particularly concerned with vice right now, but the right has embraced a lot of this too. And I think part of that is just a collapse, right?

And it's gone terribly, I mean, among other things, because we have just allowed capitalism to get its hooks into it and create more and more and more potent products that are advertised everywhere online. I don't know if either side is particularly concerned with vice right now, but the right has embraced a lot of this too. And I think part of that is just a collapse, right?

There is no one left who has political power in this society who feels confident making, I would say, judgments to go against the market, right? There was a market for sports gambling, so we're going to allow it. There's a market for crypto. I think about a lot of things in modernity, as capitalism is itself a kind of moral logic.

There is no one left who has political power in this society who feels confident making, I would say, judgments to go against the market, right? There was a market for sports gambling, so we're going to allow it. There's a market for crypto. I think about a lot of things in modernity, as capitalism is itself a kind of moral logic.

And it is a moral logic built on individual expression of wants in the moment. And it was counterbalanced by much more potent religious logics. And these two sort of forces held each other at a rough equilibrium for much of 20th century America. And at some point, the religious counter forces weakened so much That the system fell out of equilibrium.

And it is a moral logic built on individual expression of wants in the moment. And it was counterbalanced by much more potent religious logics. And these two sort of forces held each other at a rough equilibrium for much of 20th century America. And at some point, the religious counter forces weakened so much That the system fell out of equilibrium.

And now the religious forces are just not very powerful at all. I'm not myself highly religious, but I do think that these were countervailing players and we just don't have them anymore. And like the evidence of that being a problem is actually all around us.

And now the religious forces are just not very powerful at all. I'm not myself highly religious, but I do think that these were countervailing players and we just don't have them anymore. And like the evidence of that being a problem is actually all around us.