LA Times Festival of Books: What's Up With America?

I went to the LA Times Festival of Books and, as always, sat in on a number of panel discussions: 8 to be exact. One of those 8 was listening to a panel discussion on What's Up With America?

Here's a short bio via the LA Times of the panelists:

James Poulos is one of America's most original social theorists. A contributing editor at National Affairs and American Affairs, he has mapped the future of freedom for Foreign Policy, The Federalist, and Vice, among many other publications. Holding degrees from Duke and USC, he was a doctoral fellow of the Tocqueville Forum at Georgetown University.

Jeff Chang has been a hip-hop journalist for more than a decade and has written for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice, Vibe, The Nation, URB, Rap Pages, Spin, and Mother Jones.

Mugambi Jouet teaches at Stanford Law School . . . His book, “Exceptional America: What Divides Americans From the World and From Each Other” (University of California Press), explores the relationship between American exceptionalism and the intense polarization of modern American society that precipitated Donald Trump’s election.

Jane Mayer is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three bestselling and critically acclaimed narrative nonfiction books, most recently “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.”

Here are my notes from the conversation, hopefully there aren't too many errors.

Jane Mayer: Her book was a product of spending a couple decades in D.C. She felt that the country wasn't seeing the full story. Money was capturing Congress/policy making. Around 90% of Americans want money out of politics, but getting money out of DC is not gaining traction. Democracy works well for only a small number of people.

Elected officials feel money is necessary. Folks voted for Trump, because he wasn't beholden to big money. They are waiting for what happens next.

She wrote her book mainly to research and get the truth out there. She wrote about people who wouldn't speak to her. Many of those individuals are libertarians, yet have an approach that is intolerant to others. Charles Koch was in rebellion against his over-bearing father.

Jeff Chang: What is exciting is how people are thinking about how to find connections between different movements, thinking across gender, economic justice. What Obama did for the right, Trump is doing for the left. The left is still the majority.

He went to Ferguson a year later. Being there, he recognized the re-segregation. It became a launching pad to research. How can we talk about economic inequality, but not discuss re-segregation?

Mugambi Jouet: Republicans are market fundamentalist. They believe that taxes and regulations cause problems. Many are Christian fundamentalists. They don't like to compromise. Market fundamentalists and religious fundamentalists are the same people.

James Poulos: One thought is that we're stagnant. People aren't willing to leave their towns for new opportunities. Too many people are turning inward. We're scattered, pulled in different directions. We feel out of control, resulting in growing anxiety.

When he was writing his chapter about money, Donald Trump had just won the South Carolina primary. He had to spend a month comparing the Art of the Deal with his book the Art of Being Free. Trump's deal is about bargaining. Americans are refusing to deal with things.