Robert Putnam

I think that the Democratic Party, this may be controversial, I think the Democratic Party has got to start focusing more on those class differences and less exclusively on the racial or other identity issues. Now, it sounds like I'm saying let's forget about black folks, and I'm not saying that.

I'm saying let's really focus on working class black folks because they're the ones who are falling further and further behind.

I'm saying let's really focus on working class black folks because they're the ones who are falling further and further behind.

Yes. And there's certainly... Much more likely to be socially isolated. I mean, they've got at least two strikes against them. Well, maybe three. A, they're more socially isolated. Okay. And B, they're poorer financially. And C, they have got less education. So all those folks are... in a pickle. And what that means is it's important to just understand the math. This is simple, simple arithmetic.

Yes. And there's certainly... Much more likely to be socially isolated. I mean, they've got at least two strikes against them. Well, maybe three. A, they're more socially isolated. Okay. And B, they're poorer financially. And C, they have got less education. So all those folks are... in a pickle. And what that means is it's important to just understand the math. This is simple, simple arithmetic.

We could have a clean system here in which we had all the colleges that could be educated people, you know, vote for the Democrats and all the non-colleges educated people vote for the Republicans. What's wrong with that? Well, there are a lot more of them than of us. We, the Democrats, if we're going to retain power democratically,

We could have a clean system here in which we had all the colleges that could be educated people, you know, vote for the Democrats and all the non-colleges educated people vote for the Republicans. What's wrong with that? Well, there are a lot more of them than of us. We, the Democrats, if we're going to retain power democratically,

We've got to begin appealing, not ignoring race, I'm not saying that, but appealing more to the class-based interests. I want to try to end with three to-dos.

We've got to begin appealing, not ignoring race, I'm not saying that, but appealing more to the class-based interests. I want to try to end with three to-dos.

I'm going to try to keep it simple. Not because you guys couldn't understand something more complicated, but because I think we've got to understand in very simple terms. One, go young. It's much more important that we focus on young people, regardless of where they are right now, because they are the future. And I'm now talking as an historian, looking back, not just over the last...

I'm going to try to keep it simple. Not because you guys couldn't understand something more complicated, but because I think we've got to understand in very simple terms. One, go young. It's much more important that we focus on young people, regardless of where they are right now, because they are the future. And I'm now talking as an historian, looking back, not just over the last...

you know, 5, 10, 20, 50 years. I'm looking over the last 125 years. In my last book, which was called The Upswing, I looked over the whole of American history over the last 125 years. And big changes are not the creation of old guys like me. Old guys like me, sometimes we've been around so long that we understand that it doesn't have to be the way it is today.

you know, 5, 10, 20, 50 years. I'm looking over the last 125 years. In my last book, which was called The Upswing, I looked over the whole of American history over the last 125 years. And big changes are not the creation of old guys like me. Old guys like me, sometimes we've been around so long that we understand that it doesn't have to be the way it is today.

But we're not the people who have the ideas that will... work to build social capital and save America in the, I don't know, 2050s or something. I'm going to be long gone. So first thing is go young and inspire the young people to come up with the new bowling leagues. It's not going to be bowling leagues.

But we're not the people who have the ideas that will... work to build social capital and save America in the, I don't know, 2050s or something. I'm going to be long gone. So first thing is go young and inspire the young people to come up with the new bowling leagues. It's not going to be bowling leagues.

It's going to be something else, but almost surely will involve something of high tech, but it will involve real personal relations with other people.

It's going to be something else, but almost surely will involve something of high tech, but it will involve real personal relations with other people.

Go local. all the times that there've been major social revolutions, they bubbled up from the bottom. And at local levels, people can more easily cooperate across party and other lines because somebody's got to fix the sewers. And so you don't have to have an ideological discussion about how important is, is the environment. Everybody knows that the sewer has got to be fixed.

Go local. all the times that there've been major social revolutions, they bubbled up from the bottom. And at local levels, people can more easily cooperate across party and other lines because somebody's got to fix the sewers. And so you don't have to have an ideological discussion about how important is, is the environment. Everybody knows that the sewer has got to be fixed.

If we're going to be able to survive in this town or the schools, you know, you can have a national debate about, I don't know, some issue in education, but somebody's got to fix our schools right here. And so sometimes left-wingers are in favor of national solutions.