For decades, America used a system of race-based affirmative action to ensure that disadvantaged minority groups had a presence at elite universities. Was that the right approach? Richard Kahlenberg joins the podcast to talk about his book 'Class Matters', and make the case that class-based affirmative action is a superior way to get real diversity on campus.

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How can we build a more abundant world without scarcity in housing, energy, and more? Derek Thompson joins the podcast to discuss his and Ezra Klein's new book Abundance. We talk about the policies and the politics involved in abundance, how to spark more innovation in the economy, and why we desperately need the abundance movement.

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How do we balance the need to de-carbonize our energy grid with the need to lower energy costs for working class people? Elan Sykes is the Director of Energy and Climate Policy at PPI, and he joins the podcast to discuss how we can build out the grid, lower people's bills, and ultimately end up with clean and abundant energy.

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Why doesn't anything work? Why does it take so long to build housing, or green energy, or infrastructure? Why is the government so often inefficient and uncapable? Marc Dunkelman joins the podcast to discuss his new book Why Nothing Works. We talk about the history of the progressive movement and how two separate impulses - the centralization of power vs the decentralization of power - have caused progressive governance to run off the rails.

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The last two weeks have seen a number of controversies related to DOGE, the Department of Governmental Efficiency that Elon Musk heads in the new Trump administration. Jeremiah talks through what's going on, why DOGE seems to be breaking so many things, and what their real goals are.

Also check out our conversation with Jennifer Pahlka: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-government-more-effective-ft-jennifer-pahlka/id1390384827?i=1000679061794

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One of the most important trends from the 2024 presidential election was the rightward shift of young people - especially young men. Richard Reeves joins the podcast to talk about why this shift happened, what mistakes Democrats have made in courting male voters, and how they can fix their self-inflicted wounds.

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Over the last several elections, Democrats have seen worse and worse results with working class voters. The traditional party of the working class is now in danger of becoming the party of the educated elite. PPI President Will Marshall joins the podcast to discuss how we win back the working class.

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It's time for another books episode! Jeremiah breaks down the best books he read in 2024, covering topics like nuclear war, social media and web platforms, DC's lobbying industry, the nature of taking risks, how to make government more effective, and more!

Part 1 of the books episode from earlier this year - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-liberal-podcasts-best-books-of-2024-pt-1/id1390384827?i=1000669427900

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Substack is an increasingly important part of our cultural and media ecosystem. But is it actually any better than other forms of traditional media or social media? Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie joins the podcast to talk about content moderation, the economics of media, and much more as we dive into what exactly Substack is and where it's going.

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will be leading a new organization called DOGE, the Department of Governmental Efficiency. Can they actually make the government more effective? Jennifer Pahlka is the author of Recoding America and she joins the podcast to talk about why the government is so ineffective in so many ways, whether or not Elon and Vivek have the right ideas, and what needs to be done to build a better state capacity.

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