So…my local radio station kinda sucks. They don’t post streaming (or even podcasted) content of some of their shows? Makes me want to record it off the air and then offer it here. So, I heard Matt Miller on this program tonight. It’s an incredible show, and definitely worth staying up late to hear again (unless you’re lucky enough to live far enough east of us that 4am PST is a decent hour in the afternoon). He’s discussing his new book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, which sounds like a damn good read.
The best line? While answering a question about how to overcome partisanship in the face of the giant crisis we are facing, he said: “In a democracy, you get the government you deserve.” Oh yeah.
It’s enough to shame even this old, jaded, activist carcass off the couch, shrug off the defeat from 2003 and get back in the game. In other words, it’s up to us to build the safety net for the politicians to think outside the box, because they are physically incapable of doing it on their own as they spend far too much time navel gazing on re-election poll findings and how many fundraisers’ bottoms still need kissing. That’s taking his statement a bit out of context to be fair, but it is still true to the point he was making. If we want to see the world change for the better, it’s up to us to make that happen. It’s time to start acting like we already are the change we want to see in the world.
I’ve heard so much about this book and am excited to start reading! It’s a little steep in price for this college kid but my University library has a good program (http://prospector.coalliance.org/) that let me check it out from a Denver library.