People need security

Is Brooks getting it? or not?

Again, David Brooks is a compelling read in the Atlantic. There is some very good information about protest movements, their success, their failure, and a path forward. And he seems to get that the underlying issue here is feeling secure. He writes:

“The Progressives and Populists of that era also intuited something that psychological research would validate decades later: If people are to thrive, and to take productive risks, they need secure foundations from which to operate.”

Nailed it. Secure foundations.

Now, he may be talking about security a bit differently than I do, as later he makes the claim “Cultural and intellectual change comes first—a new vision. Social movements come second. Political change comes last.” Again, cultural change comes from changes in the material conditions under which people live.

Finding common ground is going to be essential between the active political left/progressives and their more conservative counterparts who have been left behind by the neoliberal/globalization polices of the past 50 years.

And Affordability is the main issue for 90% of Americans. That is the common ground. That is the positive message. And a Job Guarantee and tax reform are at the heart of it.