- The Introduction and the long Epilogue to this new edition of this classic book, first published in 1996, are absolutely fascinating. They throw a whole new light on US politics over the last 40 years, and put the current Trump/Harris contest into a deeper, more meaningful context.
- If Trump wins, which he is likely to do, then readers of this book will know why.
- Sandel is a highly respected Professor of Government at Harvard University. In this new edition he is very critical of Democratic presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama for their support of the highly influential and reckless finance industry and its takeover of the US economy.
- Although finance is essential to a flourishing economy, it is not productive in itself. Its role is to facilitate economic activity by allocating capital to socially useful purposes - new businesses, factories, roads, airports, schools, hospitals, homes. But as finance came to dominate the US economy in the 1990's and 2000's, less and less of it involved investing in the real economy. More and more involved complex financial engineering that yielded big profits for those engaged in it but did little to make the economy more productive.
- During the Clinton years his economic team had promoted finance-driven globalisation and deregulated the financial industry. By 2008 their policies led to financial meltdown. But Obama followed their advice to restore the profitability of Wall St banks rather then reduce the power of finance or help the millions of Americans who lost their homes...he betrayed the civic idealism of his campaign, cast a shadow over his presidency, and prepared the way for the rancorous, polarised politics that would find its dark expression in his successor Donald Trump.
- The success of right-wing nativist populism is generally a symptom of the failure of progressive politics. When liberals fail to defend the people against the powerful by holding economic power to democratic account, the people look elsewhere. This is what happened in 2016. As Americans went to the polls after eight years of the Obama administration, 75 percent said they were looking for a leader who would 'take the country back from the rich and powerful'.
-Sandel’s article in the New York Times on July 27 titled How Kamala Harris Can Win is superb. He argues she needs to address the legitimate grievances Trump exploits. But is she up to it? Hardly.
- Defeating Mr Trump means taking seriously the divide between winners and losers that polarises the country. It means acknowledging the resentment of working people who feel that the work they do is not respected, that elites look down on them, that they have little say in shaping the forces that govern their lives.
- Sandel is far more positive about Biden. But he never really offered a broad governing vision, never explained how the policies he enacted added up to the new democratic project...His presidency was a legislative triumph but an evocative failure.
- He suggests a range of policies that Harris could adopt - ambitious, popular, substantial and focussed on the lives and circumstances of the immiserated working class.
- But will she do it? The election season is too short, she might argue, and the stakes are too high; elevating the terms of public discourse is a project for another day.
- Goodbye Kamala.
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